This was part of the spa in the hotel and the reason why we didn't venture out that much. In the background behind where I'm swimming, there were two hot tubs. Around the edges of the pool there were showers, two saunas, an ice plunge, and a steam room. When we were done with those we would lounge in our bathrobes and towels on the reclining chairs. All our breakfast and lunch needs were free in the executive lounge. They also had computers, a TV, and newspapers/magazines. Bruno really liked the lattes they served, ones with huge foamy heads in tall glass cups. Slightly reluctant to leave this luxury, on the third day we checked out, left our baggage at the front desk, and ventured out to see the city.
Bruno in front of a musical fountain on a small island (Margitsziget) in the middle of the Danube. The water was choreographed with the music, so the spray would constantly wax and wane with the rhythm. It was a dark, rainy day so the quality of the photo could be better. After we walked around some, we went to a cafe and had some hot drinks, then went on to Buda Castle.
The funicular about to ascend. 95 meters long, 51 meters high, 48% grade.
At the top, looking down. The Danube wasn't beautifully blue that day because it was too overcast, but the rest of the view was superb. We sheltered from the rain a bit then headed out to walk around the grounds. We were running out of forints so we didn't go into the castle itself, but saved money by exploring the areas around it. The Trans-Balkan train was due to leave that evening, so we didn't have a lot of time for the rest of the city. We headed back from the castle, down the funicular, and caught a confusing bus back to the hotel, where we had some tea, then caught a cab to the train station.
Before boarding our train, we stocked up on food, drink and toilet paper. The Trans-Balkan is a fairly primitive train compared to the western European ones. There's no dining car. Its top speed is around 60mph or so. The sleeping arrangements are actually slightly more roomy/comfortable than the sleeper we had through Germany:
That's where we spent two nights. There's actually three bunks in there - another one opens above the top bunk (where I slept). I couldn't imagine dealing with three people in there, though. Two was enough. We passed from Hungary into Romania and then into Bulgaria. Every time we crossed a border we had to get our passports checked. In my case, they had to stamp it because I'm not an EU citizen. They stamped it when we left and when we entered. Once we got woken up at 3am for a check; another time I spent 45 rather worried minutes peering out the window at a Communist-era train station while they fiddled with my passport inside. There were stray dogs everywhere. We passed people riding on donkeys, in horse-drawn carts, holding chickens. Here's an example of one of the train stations:
We arrived in Greece in the wee hours of the morning. I had to get out and talk to the border police and convey to them, in simple English, what I was up to. I think they were surprised to see an American traveling to one of the islands via train, but hey, they let me through. We were only on board for another few hours before we arrived in Thessaloniki. It was still early. We caught the first train out to Athens and spent about 6 hours traveling down the spine of Greece. The scenery was beautiful and we were pretty high up for a train - looking down across the mountains/tall hills was breathtaking. I couldn't take any pictures, though, we were going way too fast.
Once in Athens, we decided to save the cab fare and take public transportation to Piraeus, the port. We hung out in Piraeus until Bruno could buy ferry tickets. By this time we were exhausted and pretty grubby (no showers on the train). When we got on the ferry to head to Santorini, we were just happy to sit down. I guess someone forgot to pay homage to Poseidon though, because we had just about the roughest sea journey I've ever experienced. The boat was rolling so hard from side to side that I could see the waves through the windows on each side as we barreled along. For the first time in my life I actually felt seasick. I think I would have been all right if I'd been able to go outside, but we were going too fast for that to be safe, and the sea was way too rough. When we docked at Santorini, the loading ramp was literally swaying hard from side to side, making it tough to unload the people and vehicles. Once I was on solid ground, though, I felt a lot better.
That was the end of the epic train journey. I'll update with pictures of Greece on the next post.
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