Left Grenoble a couple of weeks ago and had the longest train ride ever. Took 3 trains to get to Graz, Austria which included an overnight train between Zurich and Graz. I only had 10 mins to race through the train station to get to the train, didn't want to think about having to sleep in the station overnight. Arrived at Graz early the next morning and spent the rest of the day exploring the city before meeting up with the people on my bike tour for a few drinks in the evening. Graz is the second largest city in Austria after Vienna, but doesn't seem to be too crowded with tourists. They've tried to modernise the city and have a couple of weird structures around the Mur river running through the city. One of the buildings resembles something out of the Alien movies, and houses the modern art gallery (figures!!).
Had such a great time on the bike tour, it was so nice to not have to think for 10 days since everything is done for you. Never thought I would like an organised tour, but I think it helped that we were cycling around instead of being driven around in buses, and the sightseeing was mostly what we saw along the way rather than stopping at lots of museums. I was a little bit worried that I'd be the youngest there and there would be mostly couples, but there were a couple of us in our 20s and only 3 couples out of 16 people on the trip. They were mostly Brits except for one Canadian guy, but since Explore is a UK company they only really concentrate on marketing in the UK. Everyone was really nice, and the whole group got on really well together. Our guide was a Polish guy in his mid-20s called Michal, extremely good looking and we had a running joke between the girls about his preference for light grey lycra bike shorts (as you can imagine there is a reason why most guys go for black shorts!!). Needless to say, the scenery wasn't the only thing that the girls were admiring along the trip :)
Anyway, each day we cycled between 30 and 70 kms. Started off in Graz, then went on to Slovenia and finished in Hungary. Of the three countries, Slovenia was definately the most picturesque. It has small rolling hills covered with little old houses and vineyards.
The locals were really friendly, and it seemed that whenever we stopped some toothless old lady would appear and want to know where we were from and what we were doing. One of the best days was biking to a thermal bath (really a cross between Hanmer and Jelly Park - with hot pools and hydroslides). Had the craziest experience of somehow getting involved in a fitness class in one of the hot pools together with all these old overweight Slovenians. One minute they were lazing around and the next there was some instructor at the front of the pool getting them all to do the Macarena!! That afternoon we biked up to a little village called Jeruzalum. We had a very gay guide show us around the little church and give a talk about the history of the place. He was so enthusiastic, but I'm sure he was making up most of what he was saying because it was so implausible. He was telling us that they have a belief that if you ring the church bell, your wishes will come try. While he was saying all this he was giving Michal meaningful looks, so afterwards we were giving him such a hard time about what this guide was wishing for! That night we had dinner and a winetasting overlooking Croatia (we were only a few kilometres from the border).
During the tour we went to three vineyards to sample the local wine. Slovenian wine is very good, which meant that we tended to have a little too much of it and were a bit wobbly on our bikes for a bit afterwards. The best tasting was at a family run place just before we crossed over into Hungary. The old grandmother made us bread fresh from the oven that she wrapped around pieces of straw so that it was all twisted, the best bread I've ever tasted. Interesting border crossing, because since there are no longer border controls we just crossed through through the bush carrying our bikes. Felt like we were trying to illegally enter the country but Michal assured us it was perfectly ok.
Spent a few days biking around Lake Balaton, which is 75 miles long and seems to be where all the Hungarians and Germans spend their holidays. Lots of them were swimming in it, but it looked a bit murky to me so I wasn't so keen. Finally got to Budapest, where we finished the tour. The day we arrived there was the Hungarian Grand Prix, so the place was buzzing with lots of petrol heads. I spent an extra day there to see some more of the sights. So glad I did now, since the place is huge with tremendous old buildings.
Now I'm in Croatia soaking up the sun before going to chilly London before heading home. Started off taking a train from Budapest to Zagreb. Zagreb is lovely, but unfortunately all the locals are having their holidays so not much was happening.
My second day there I took a bus out to Plitvice Lakes for the day. These lakes are classified as UNESCO protected, which when you see them is totally understandable. Never seen anything like them, there are a series of lakes with the clearest blue water that flow one into the other creating spectacular waterfalls.
Just come from Zadar where I spent the day yesterday. The old town is enclosed within old Roman walls and is so cute. I spent ages just lying next to the waterfront, because they've put in a sea organ which plays as the sea washes into it, so relaxing.
Arrived in Split this morning, seems to be backpacker central. Really hot, has to be in the mid 30s.
Staying in a nice little hostel run by some Aussies, really handily placed within the old town, next to the sea. Got a couple of days here before heading to Dubrovnik then London.
