INTERRAIL copenhagen - budapest

almost everyone left home! and i still had half of the month to enjoy holiday, so... i decided to travel!

difficult to plan at the beginning because there was many people interested, with different free time, cities already visited by some and not by others... so we decided to arrange parallel trips in which we will meet each other in some places.

i took this interrail with Tonia and Melina. Tonia is leaving on 28th February, so this will be my goodbye trip to her... =/


16th FEB
16:25 GRAZ - 20:05 WIEN - 22:49 BUDAPEST

after 7 hours in 2 trains, we sleep one night in Budapest so we could pick the flight the next day to Sweeden. I didn't get much contact with the city at this time. I could just notice that the buildings are old and the life is cheap... The hostel was 5 euros per night and the conditions were very good. Highly recommended!
next day we woke up and pick a taxi to the airport (wich wasn't so cheap by the way)

17th FEB
11:40 BUDAPEST - 13:25 MALMÖ

13:55 MALMÖ - 15:30 COPENHAGEN

money, money, money! is everything that crosses your mind when you have to pay a lot to get from the airport to the city and than from this city to Copenhagen, which by the way is just across the bridge... bahhh and I just could see the Truning Torso tower far, behind the other buildings (my friends from architecture will know which special tower is this, don't you? programming lovers ahaha)
but it worths: Copenhagen is beautiful, from the first to the last minute! It's a city that you go walking and discover by yourself each corner, each fancy building, each fancy shop, each street, each canal. And everyone seems happy, good looking, fashionable, riding the bike, ignoring the bad wetaher... Amazing! I have to say that this people from the north are really pretty! We had such a great time there. But you have to pay a lot... the city is extremely expensive, as 'they' say "the most expensive capital in Europe". A cup of coffe 7 euros?! What?

and it was cold, very cold up there, but supportable i would say! it's a different cold, and only hurts when close to the sea, windy, freezing! most of the canals were frozen, even in the sea it was possible to watch lot's of icy platforms floting, beautiful! sorry, but i'm not used to it =)
I think eryone know the 'ex-libris' of the city, right? the Little Mermaid: the sculpture is a mermaid seating on a rock by the sea. and everyone uses to say: "it's so small" actually it's not small and it's not big (i mean, it depends on your expenctations but...) it's human scaled, it's your size! and i like it, looks sad. the only bad think is that you have to walk like hell to visit the sculpture because it's located on the end-east side of the city center... oh shity mermaid!
about to leave Copenhagen and a huge snow storm fell. there was more snow on my jacket then the jacket itself... but we survived and i want to get back there one day!

18th FEB
15:45 COPENHAGEN - 20:16 HAMBURG

I remember my friend Luis Maria talked to me about this, but i wasn't excepting to pass this way... Did you ever fell asleep in a train and wake up inside a ship? yes, it's true! One of the rail connections between Danmark and Germany is made by this ship on which they put the train inside to make the see travessy! Amazing experience!

Hamburg is so different then Copenhagen, so beautiful in it's own way! Surprising as well, Hamburg is strongly shaped by the presence of the harbor on the south riverband. it looks like a different world, a city of giants, from the future that sonner or later will cross the river and conquer you... sorry for the poetry, lol. but it's true! the big machines they use for the cargo of the ships design the background of the new Hamburg. As you walk south in the city you find many frozen dirty canals, where the buildings are made of bricks, no exceptions, the brigdes made of steel, the presence of the train, different walking high levels, everything fits into this industrial scenary. And suddenly a whole new urban plan takes care of the north riverband introducing modern good looking buildings. The Elbphillarmonie from Herzog & DeMeuron is still being built... unfortunatelly. I'm sure it would be a great building in this context!

the historic center is mainly marked by a business office occupancy. There are a couple of churches and monuments, but the city is not very 'happy'. The industrial and business economy working life is present everywhere! next to the main square where the city hall is located, a big canal is limited with some arcades that reminded me Venice, or a mediterranean architecture style! This canal lead to a huge huge huge lake and around it the best houses and neighbourhoods in Hamburg. Time for a pause in a coffeehouse just by the lake, observing the city skyline...
just when i was leaving, from the main square to the main train station, a discover a pedonal street, completly crowded, full of life, commerce, tourism... and Hamburg surprised me again!

20th FEB
15:10 HAMBURG - 16:02 LÜBECK - 20:43 SZCZECIN

I had 2 options: or visiting Berlin for the second time with Tonia and Melina, or visiting the norwegian guys i met during the skitrip in Bag Gastein... they are studying in this Polish city, and even knowing that the city is not so pretty, i decided to take my chances and leave!
Tonia, Melina: I hope you had lot's of fun in Berlin, it's an amazing city as well, full of things to visit and offer!

I arrived in Szczecin and the train station was full of homeless and strange people, so i decided not to take money in the ATM, just keep going on my way to hostel. but i got somehow lost and i ask information for some young guys in the street. they were drunk, but they were very cool. they wanted me to join them in the disco and later put the backpack in the hostel... no way! and i had to meet my friends... the only girl that spoke english said: "be careful in this city" and they decided it was better one of them walk with me to the hostel, which i was very surprised and thankful! that moment i got to know the 3 basic rules:

1. never walk alone in the city

2. never look in the eyes of those big muscled skin head guys

3. never hit them on the shoulder when you pass by them

well, i can say that fell fear for myself lot's of times! u don't walk safely in the city, u don't fell happy, and the city doesn't help because the only pretty buildings are dirty and damage, they don't recover the city... the rest were built after the war with a soviet architecture style...

but after all i enjoy my time there because of this guy named Johannes, which i got so much consideration for. i know you had to study for the following monday exam, but even so, you manage to have some time to spend with me, to show me the city, specially the big graveyard where some of the russian and polish army soldiers were buried. and i enjoy a lot the lunch at the 22nd panoramic floor or the dinner at Radecki. thanks a lot for everything man, it was very kind from you! did i told you the norwegian chocolate is great?! Say hi to Lizy, the lizzard, for me! John, Asmund, hope we can spend more time together next time ;) And i'm glad you r all surviving in that jungle... joking!

21st FEB
23:20 SZCZECIN - 06:40 WROCLAW

with a long journey till the next city, i decided to spend the night in the train. uncomfortable of course... but while i'm young i can do this kind of stuff! this city was just a middle stop for me, recommended by my friend Raluca and, of course, a good choice for my inter-rail! There are a couple of monuments spread all over the city, but everything spins around the main square. and i had never seen such a square before, because actually i feel it more like large streets than a square! there is some building constructions in the center, with narrow streets bellow arches, and it's possible to walk through it, always having different perspectives of the space... cosy, charming, simple, beautiful!

the curious thing i find out in the old city center is this ugly small gnome statues, all different and in the most curious places. with nothing else to do, just making time for the train, i decided to find as many gnomes as i could... funny!

22nd/23rd FEB
16:08 WROCLAW - 20:48 KRAKÓW

08:40 KRAKÓW - 09:30 AUSCHWITZ - 13:30 KRAKÓW

Kraków was the meeting point! i met with the girls again, but i met also João, Mariana, Max and Georges. the first night i decided to stay home, resting a bit after spending the previous night in the train... the hostel was an apartment in the attic with just 2 rooms, and there was no one else there, even the receptionist used to leave in the night... so we were living in an house in Kraków = great!

next morning, very early, we pick a bus to visit Auschwitz, the biggest concentration and extermination field of the SS where millions of people were prisoned and murdered... I have no words to describe the feeling; what can i say about these crazy inhuman lunatic insane nazi ideals.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. just check the pics.

back to Kraków, we had lunch in a Georgian restaurant! strange food, but good after all! did i said that Poland is a very cheap country?! well, it is! everything! the price of a good dinner with drink is the same price of a single beer in Norway... but they ask you money to enter everywhere, even in some churches... well, i'm not catholic, but i think Jesus Christ and the Great God would be happy to know that people are being charged to enter in Their house... that's my opinion, and i refuse to pay! the city is pretty, not fabulous, not very well explored, but interesting! and there's is another square like the one i described in Wroclaw, maybe it's common in Poland...

But in my mind i take memories of the two crazy nights we spend there, the second more then the first! To have some portuguese sausages for dinner and drink beer and vodka... cannot except a good result!

"Zhei are coming" by Georges - i'd never forget! to run around the church in the square to escape from João and those portuguese new guys... bahhh the banana and Max play, João rolling on the floor, Mariana being attacked buy the crazy flipflop... and the hangover next day!

and i had to say my final (but still temporary) goodbye to Tonia. Melina and her left because she was returning to Greece... Hope you had a nice trip, keep going with your stuff there, we gonna meet each other sooner... =)

Georges also left to Graz. Max and João went to Berlin for a music festival... wish you both a nice trip!

25th FEB
13:05 KRAKÓW - 21:11 BRECLAV - 22:02 BRATISLAVA

why do the trains got late? we were supposed to go directly to Budapest, because Mariana already knew / hates Bratislava... She almost changed her opinion, but she don't want to admit it! ehehe We lost the train connection and decided to spend one night in this city before knowing Budapest.

the truth is that everyone says "i hate Bratislava, there's nothing to see there..." once again, i think it's good when your expectations are very low... or when you don't know exactly what you are going to find there! the city is small, there's no much things to do there, but the inner city is pretty and almost all buildings are very well preserved! i don't recommend this city, but i cannot say bad things about it as well. and the good thing is they are now turning their currency into Euro

we went into "La Bodeguita del Medio", a cuban bar, so we feel like Kraków-Havana-Budapest !!!

26th FEB
15:54 BRATISLAVA - 18:32 BUDAPEST

I don't know how much Mariana was excited about Budapest, but i'm pretty sure she exceeded all the expectations, just as me! this city is a-m-a-z-i-n-g. we decided to start visiting the Buda side, in the west side of the Danube river. there is a huge castle covering all the top of the hill, with a wonderful view over the Pest side. the cities with a strong topography are so much pretty, don't u think the same? i feel the same about my beloved Lisbon! =) there's another hill in Buda, the citadel hill, higher. we visit a bunker inside the fortress occupied first by the Nazis and then by the Soviets - interesting place!

Next day we visit Pest, much bigger than Buda. From the big city park with the medieval castle in an island, to the St. Stephen Basilica there's this big avenue were all the fancy shops are located, such as the best houses. And what a basilica... HUGE, you feel like a little insignificant rock with no value at all... all renewed inside, in my ranking of the most beautiful religious buildings! there's no need to describe everything, it's just surprising while you lose yourself in the streets! if you visit the city, walk along the river to the parliament during the sunset...

we hang out to a one of the most incredible bars i've ever seen! Szimpla has a decoration all made of trash, unused objects, or objects used in a different perspective, u can even seat in a half bathtub. very interesting and rare! we tried 2 different clubs but either the queue was big or the public was hysterical drunken children... we decided to play some bowling for free (?) and after we went into a club which i don't remember exactly how... =)

01th MAR
09:10 BUDAPEST - 12:13 WIEN - 14:33 GRAZ

after crossing 7 countries in 14 days and changing currency 6 times, i finish my trip! i have to confess i wasn't completely prepared for an interrail... everything went quite fine, the trains, the accommodation, the places... but it's tiring! i think i prefer to leave for a week, come back for a while and leave again! well, but it was such a great great experience!

every time i leave Graz i feel happy to return, to look to this city that i already call home and meet all my friends again! but this time was different... something was wrong from the moment i put the key in my door!

i miss you guys! all of you that left, u used to bring happiness and joy to these erasmus life... i'm glad there's some guys still here and i'm pretty sure the next semester will be very good as well, but this first days, trying to put the train again in the rails... it's another challenge, i prefer to think like this!!!