After a leisurely morning with the pups, we ventured into the Buda part of Budapest. There is a collection of stunning architectural sights, my favourite of which was the Fisherman’s Bastion which is just magnificent.
It’s an area you just want to potter around slowly and soak up all that’s around you – the architecture, views, sculptures and the bustling atmosphere. We walked miles, stopping occasionally for coffee and ofcourse some cake at Napfenyes. It’s just a wonderful city.
Returning to the van for dinner, we had planned to head back into town to visit one of the renowned ruin bars, but we don’t drink much and hadn’t left by 9pm and have now changed our minds and our tucked up doing coursework instead…I know rock and roll 🤣
Typically when we visit a new city we head straight for the centre and soak up the atmosphere. In Budapest we took a different approach and took the Zugliget Chairlift to Normafa Park for a fun steep ride up the hillside and a lovely view over the city.
Once back at the van, I got the exciting news that my Open Door Traveller Scheme was designed and ready to launch! This lovely concept is a free sign you can pop in your campervan so it acts like a little beacon to say you are open to conversation. If you see the green side, you can be sure of a warm hello, perhaps a cuppa and a lovely mini connection. This side steps the worry of whether people are on holiday for alone time. Click here for your free Download and there is a Facebook page where you can check in and share your experiences 😊
With great facilities and an easy tram ride into the city we are staying at Arena Camping. There isn’t an obvious place to walk the dogs so we thought we’d do a street walk around the neighbourhood. An absolute nightmare – the Hungarians definitely love dogs, and walking down one street we had 50+ dogs charge barking at their fences. Ernest and Mabel tried to join in barking and grumbling back, while Jasper just plodded on regardless. We kicked up a right cacophony of noise and I’ve got blisters on my fingers from holding on to Ernests lead. If nothing else it was great resistance training, and I did spot lots of my favourite breeds. Think we will try a different route though.
Visiting a city at night can make the buildings look even more spectacular. After a nice Mexican meal in The Vegan Street Food Garden we strolled down the back streets, looked in awe at the Dohány Street Synagogue and came out in a square ready for a beautiful and delicious ice cream from Gelerta Rose. Typically there are only a couple of vegan options but here there were so many! For my rose I plumped for a lemon and basil centre with strawberry and elderflower outer. I think we need to go back and try the rest 😋
Obviously I had a random end destination in mind, but we took in the ‘must see’ sights as well. The most magical of which was watching the birds fly over the parliament building – lit up from a distance they looked like fireflies. And oh what a breathtaking building that is!
Walking along the Pest side of the river Danube we saw lit up the striking architecture of Buda Castle and Fisherman’s Bastion, I’m sure these will look completely different up close and in day light, but there is a feast of impressive sites to see.
I always include a sculpture trail in our wanderings and to end our evening we arrived at the highlight – Columbo and his basset 🤣
Wow the Banská Štiavnica Calvary is stunning! We really hadn’t got a true grasp of what a wonderful position it had. As morning walks go it was a true gem.
Mark and I then walked into the main town in search of coffee, but actually found a wonderful tea house, with around 50 different teas to choose from, and having a complete mind blank on traditional card games, resorted in playing snap – even with this he has different playing rules to my family – just say snap, no slamming hand on first action 🤣
The town itself is beautiful, cobbled streets, huge houses, lots of cafes, boutique shops, and that juxtaposed newly done up next to boarded up ruin.
There is also the worlds first Love Bank. A place where you can put a token of your love inside the pages of the worlds longest love poem. I thought it a lovely if slightly touristy idea. The ever romantic Mark thought it totally naff, so you won’t find any love token from us. He chose to express his love for me by buying me food, a much appreciated and successful approach.
We visited the tiny restaurant BS Street Food for a big bowl of delicious tofu vegetable noodles, and sat outside in the sun. Trying to look the part I was eating with chop sticks and a lovely local chap sitting opposite us showed me how to hold them properly. I still need a lot of practice, but it does force me to eat slower.
After another lovely walk with the pups, we drove down into Hungary. I’d opted to take the slower route as wanted to visit the impressive Basilica of Esztergom. Arriving at dusk we hot footed it up the hill (so much hill climbing today!), and were afforded a wonderful view over the River Danube. The basilica itself is huge, those green doors are phenomenal, but the best view of it is as you cross the bridge into the city.
We were torn whether to drive on to Budapest or have an early night and ultimately chose the latter. The darker nights definitely encourage an earlier stopping point. While out on our bedtime walk we popped into at a small friendly bar called Trafo (it’s on a traffic island) and Mark tried an Hungarian stout beer while I had hot chocolate. We are recharged for another historic city tomorrow.
Almost 6 months into our trip and I’m still making daft mistakes. I had planned to climb Krivan mountain this morning. Peeked out the window at 6am and it was still dark and didn’t want to wake anyone so waited, but was conscious it was a 4hr hike, so thought I’d double check the route…its a 4hour hike to the top…and then you have to come down again so more like 8hrs…honesty what a plonker!
I didn’t want to leave Mark on his own with the dogs all day, so decided to skip the mountain hike and binge listen to podcasts and do my morning routine until Mark woke.
Our relaxing Sunday morning was going really well until the boys, Jasper and Ernest, had a big bust up over breakfast resulting in Ernest having a cut nose, and though only little there was blood everywhere. Meanwhile Mabel ignored everything and carried on eating her breakfast oblivious to the spurted blood all over her back. The van looked like our very own Halloween set. 10 minutes later, we are still cleaning up and the boys are snuggled together asleep on the sofa…honesty too much testosterone in one small van 🙈
Friends once again we took them for a nice long walk before driving to the thermal spring kada. Repeatedly my impression of thermal springs being warm has been proven wrong. I thought it odd there were several people huddled into a tight space while the rest of the pool was empty. When I dipped my toe in the pool, I found out why – it was luke warm at best. So being the eccentric English lady I am, I braved the refreshingly cool sulphur stinking water for a swim, before asking the locals if I could join them in their huddle in the slightly warmer bit. Fair play Markles even joined me in the huddle…though I can’t say he enjoyed it much. Still this lovely rustic option is free, so now I am less likely to pester for a posh spa experience 🤣
Our friend Chris had recommended the Ruzomberok region which we drove through, stopping at the charming UNESCO village of Vlkolinic which has original slavic log houses and is still lived in. Its lovely to potter around and only €2 but if you do visit please ignore Google directions otherwise you might end up driving your motorhome up a tight steep mountain bike trail, past baffled locals, then end up reversing it all the way back down (Mark walked down).
I had to laugh when a local chap followed me down watching me reverse and turn the van with no problem, he peered through the windscreen, took a minute to register it was a woman driving and then doffed his cap to me 🤣 haha I do love driving my van, but I should have applied commonsense sooner and not driven up there in the first place.
Tonight we are parked by the beautifully lit Banská Štiavnica Calvary overlooking the city. We took the pups for a quick walk to see it but are looking forward to a proper look around tomorrow.
You might want to grab a coffee, today’s is a long one.
This mornings plans went out the window early on, as I slept through my alarms and woke in a strange and restless mood. Typically Sundays are our reset days where we do little and just relax but I felt today some time to sit and think.
It turns out we were blind yesterday to the many trail options available – though sadly the majority are much too long for the pups. Still a short walk in stunning scenery is better than no walk.
I then spent the rest of the morning researching our next country to visit, Hungary, a process that takes hours but is especially satisfying when you find quirky more unusual things. After visiting each country I should really create a summary article of the my top recommendations (food, coffee, quirky things, must see, arty) – could be a good project for the winter months.
After lunch we nipped to the supermarket which was an adorable log cabin, with locals sat by the fire. My Slovakian is non existent so she just let me go behind the desk and pick whatever food I fancied. Looking in the fridge I thought I spotted fresh pasta…turned out it was cheese strings 🤣🙈
After another glorious walk with the pups that had rather more ascent than Mark and I are used to (Norfolk is flat lol), I settled on the bed and have been working on my personal mission statement (an exercise from 7 Habits of Successful People). This is a long slow process of deep thought and introspection, but ultimately rewarding.
One element was thinking of the impression your family/friends/work/community would have of you at your funeral. How would they describe you and the life you had lived? This struck a deep chord with me. I recalled attended a family funeral and was reminded how upset I was at a priests opening description of the deceaseds hard life. Her life was painted so negatively and I hadn’t realised how unhappy she was. Our family is so coppiced and always silently at war – lava, pain and anger bubbling just below the surface. My coping mechanism has been to distance myself, stay neutral and often ignorant of the battles. In doing so I realised I had rose tinted the few memories I had of her, and never really knew her. In realising this, I now know the importance of taking time and effort to connect properly with my extended family. It’s been a thinly veiled ‘joke’, that I rarely visit and live as far away as possible…and that was before I started travelling 😥
So at my own funeral what would I hope for? The cliched ‘full and happy life ‘. To be thought of as kind, positive, generous, open and loyal. As someone who strived to push my limits, explore and be the best version of myself. Who appreciated the simple pleasures of family, friends, and the adventures of life. Someone who never stopped learning and trying new things.
I reversed the exercise and thought of what I’d hate – to be thought of as moody, selfish, greedy, lonely, negative, apathetic. One who wasted her life and saw only closed doors with no option to open. I life curtailed by fear and no ambition.
Its a powerful exercise…if you wish to…try it
I then thought about my roles and what they meant to me:
Wife – supportive, patient, loving, providing, generous (after writing these I quizzed my hubby, and would like me to do these and added listening as I keep adding dogs despite him saying no – definite room for improvement here lol)
Furmum – supplier of love, safety and treats
Friend – supportive, good listener, honest, reliable, non judgemental, generous, open and available
Community/Business – honest, successful, make a difference, valued, charitable, fair. (I have always been work centred with a desire/fear of being able to provide for my family – taking this gap year is proving hugely valuable in learning about myself and not hiding behind being a workaholic).
Daughter – I struggled a bit with this because I dont hold all the same beliefs as my parents, so I guess I want to inspire them, make them a little fearful of my actions as I push boundaries but confident I will work through anything and be supportive of their life choices.
The next step was to find quotes, ideas or notes that rung true with my core values (kindness, generosity, supportive, honest) and how I wish to live my life. These are some that felt true to me.
It sounds a bit naff, but Mabel came into my life at a difficult time. She is a rescue and is affectionately known as a grumbleweed as her nerves and past life mean she is less trusting. I love everything about her, and even though she pretends she hates the world, she has a way about her that means everyone loves her. You have to work hard for her affection…then never stop providing it. I know she trusts me, loves me and would protect me regardless of anything. I want to do my best by her, and would do anything for her. I should say I obviously love my two boys Jasper and Ernest, but they are far more independent and dont hold me to such high standards – are not so obviously needing, but get my love regardless.
I really feel this to be true for me. So often there are expectations put on you of what you should do, what you are capable of, how much you can achieve, how far you can reach…these can be other people fears and limits they put on themselves as comfort blankets. Pushing boundaries, testing your limits and self belief are hugely powerful. I still doubt myself regularly but I now recognise it has a bad habit, and try to rewrite it in my mind. If I prioritise it, then it can and will happen.
I am rediscovering the joy of learning. There is so much around us, people, places, culture, the internet, podcasts, books…if anything even slightly piqued my interest there is opportunity to learn. An open mind is surely one of the most healthy and valuable assets.
A beautifull quote by Mark Twain. It costs nothing to be kind and brings both the giver and receiver happiness. In today’s world we can be sceptical of those who are seemingly kind for no reason, but it shouldn’t deter from doing it. Let kindness be the norm.
In a recent blog I confessed a few confidence and self image issues I am working through. I am so thankful to my family and friends who reached out to me after that, to check I was ok and tell me how they saw me. They wished I saw myself as they did. I am being kinder to myself. I know that only when I love myself (both strengths and weaknesses) will I be able to love others fully.
I love wolves and they aren’t scary, but this proverb still spoke to me. We have the ability to make fear anything we want it to be, and often it will grow to something we feel we could never overcome. What if it’s a trick of the mind, a puppeteer playing with shadows?…you won’t know unless you face it…and the reward is so often all the better for doing so.
A simple thing as a smile. I love my smile, and ponder my frown line. There have been many occasions on our travels where I couldn’t properly converse due to language barriers, but a smile opened a connection regardless and we muddled through with charades and odd words. My day is always brighter for smiling. Scientifically it makes you feel better even if you were sad to start with.
Ultimately on my death bed, I want to feel happy that I lived the best life I chose for myself. Not limited by background, gender, wealth, stereotypes, or the expectations of others. I have always been proactive and see no reason that would change. To inspire myself is a great motivator to make a difference in the world, live my best life and hopefully inspire others to.
This blog is far longer and not really on travel topic but part of my personal journey. I will no doubt review this several times as I continue to work through my mission statement. It’s an enjoyable exercise that will hopefully frame future decisions. Thank you for reading and sharing in my journey ❤
Last night we parked up at Ochtinska Aragonite Cave which is right out in the middle of nowhere and thus gifted us a clear starry sky.
Having seen many caves, Mark needed a little persuasion to visit this one, but it is one of only three aragonite caves in the world open to the public. These adorable little crystals are made up of calcium and start off as glittering dust, and in a mere 14,000 years morph into little stalagtights a couple of cms long. Give them half a million years and they will have grown to the size of a rugby ball. Plus they live in a cave with three different types of marble, they are fascinating!
It’s fair to say we were both enthralled and loved this magical cave. Its €6 to get in, and a further €10 if you want to take photos. There are guided tours in Slovakian but info sheets in various languages and the staff were really helpful pointing out and translating the key things for us. You can’t touch anything as it’s so delicate and protected by law, so don’t do as I did and try walking and reading simultaneously and come within mm of walking into a massive dangling rock formation. The guide saw it happen and laughed obviously sensing my embarrassment and profuse apology.
We then drove on to the perfectly set little village of Didinky, where we walked the pups near the lake and made vegetable soup for lunch. I’m definitely in Autumn mode and making soup most days, I’ve already made tomorrows mushroom soup lol.
We then planned to go to the Ice cave, but I hadn’t realised it closed in September – something we need to be conscious of travelling out of season. Still we get so much enjoyment from the driving, the terrain and vistas are wonderful.
Hoping to give the pups a further walk we drove on to Strbske Pleso which has a large mountain lake, but its evidently a major ski resort with multiple car parks and masses of people, which I didn’t fancy, so we skipped it and drove 20mins further to Podbanské which is a quieter resort with free parking but limited trails. We did both the short kiddies troll and owl routes. Tomorrow I’m tempted to climb the iconic Krivan Mountain…not sure if Mark is as keen lol
Having to be parked up by 6pm due to darkness certainly extends our evenings. I’m sure we will get plenty of reading, games, coursework and Mark’s guitar practice done through the colder months.
We took the pups for their morning walk around Levoca, and it’s true many of the buildings have embraced both colour and patterns. Though we saw even more brightly coloured houses, in electric blues, lime greens and pinks dotted in little villages on our drive to Paradise National Park.
One thing that made me giggle in Levoca was the gossip cage. If you were thought to be spreading ill thoughts or gossip then you could be put in the central square’s gossip cage! This really sounds to daft to be true, but who knows, the past springs up strange traditions.
I’d read about Narodny National Park (translated means Paradise) and its amazing trails. In snowy conditions there are ice climbing opportunities, but the rest of the year you have to make do with vertical steel ladders next to waterfalls, rotting wooden traverses over rivers, single steps clinging to cliff faces and the occasional chain to hold on to. As an adrenaline junkie it was indeed paradise, for Mark who suffers vertigo there was no way in hell he was going to do it.
Going alone, Mark was worried I might get injured but I’d seen a large group was going to do the harder trail route of Sucha Bela (the easiest is Prielom Hornadu and it’s by no means easy!), so I thought I’d do that one and hopefully catch them up or be spotted if something went wrong. When you buy your €1.50 entry to the park they have details of air ambulance and emergency numbers to call – great for confidence lol.
Spotting a green dash mark in a river gorge lined with cliffs and trees isn’t the easiest thing and I did initially go wrong but retraced my steps and from 10mins into my trail was on the right path and absolutely loving it. I honestly felt like Cheryl Strayed from the brilliant book Wild. It was 45 minutes before I saw anyone else on the trail, and to be honest at the ladders I was glad others were close by.
The trek itself was not physically taxing but definitely mentally exhilarating and a bit scary. There is no way the UK would allow this without helmets and harnesses. In fairness any sensible place with basic health and safety wouldn’t allow people to do this…we can’t be trusted…despite all the danger warnings I saw people doing the trek in office shoes 🙈
I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and was so thankful for Mark looking after the pups so that I could go. He took the pups on a less hazardous incline red route through the trees but swapped onto the cycle way as even that was hairy with 3 dogs getting excited by all the new smells.
I was enjoying listening to podcasts and just taking in the beautiful scenery, so after finishing Sacha Bela, I did the yellow route heading west, then red route to Nad Podleskom before joining another yellow route to Pod Klastoriskom and meeting up with Mark several hours later on the green route back down to Podlestok. Having been in cities for so long, it felt amazing to be back in nature, and the trails are far less busy in Autumn.
We then had a spectacular drive, through the national park, with plenty of hair pins, glimpses of mountains and little villages. Slovakia seems like a hidden gem. I really knew nothing about it and am so excited to be discovering what it has to offer.
Autumn has most definitely arrived, and how beautiful it is! This morning we drove into Slovakia towards stunning mountain ranges and had a lovely long walk in the Upper Tatras at Tatranska Lomnicka.
As I was happily kicking my way through the leaves, I realised this is Ernests first Autumn. No wonder he is snuffling about in the leaves so much, he is likely wondering what they are all doing on the ground? Mark thinks I may be anthropomorphising him just a bit, plus his lack of brain cells makes it more likely he hasn’t noticed 😜
As part of my self bettering I’m listening to a classic business book on Audible – 7 habits of successful people and would highly recommend it. It makes so much sense to live by principles and your own values rather than the current culture that seems fueled by get rich schemes, selfish pursuits, shallowness, false expertise, and greed. It’s going to take a while but I’m working on my mission statement, so that I’m less work centred and align my life choices to what is really important to me.
Walk completed, I was back on google finding the best coffee shop and took Mark to Cafe Mozart, which I hadn’t realised was in a 4* hotel. I’m sure they really appreciated two slightly muddy, sweaty folk plonked in their fancy chanderlier adorned room of suede chairs and newspapers on sticks (think the purpose is either to stop you walking off with it or to limit ink on your fingers 🤔).
We then drove on to a little town called Kezmarok. After a brief stock up of groceries from lidl we pottered down the cobbled high street of colourful buildings and visited their castle and two churches. One is a bright imposing creation and right next to it a humble white church. Within those humble walls is the most breathtaking painted wooden articular church. It is UNESCO listed as a rare example of Slovakian baroque, built by the local lutharians inside an ancient pub (the royal commission chose the site to humiliate the protestant community). They were only allowed to use wood, so even the nails are made of wood. I managed to sneak a few discreet photos but it’s got to be seen to be truly appreciated.
Slovakia seems a treasure trove of history and just 40 minutes away are the hilltop ruins of Spiš Castle which dates back to the 12th century. To get the best view we visited Spišské Podhadrie which is the town below the castle. As a little step back in time we even saw the stereotypical horse and cart.
On the edge of the town is a beautifully set church and Siva Brada Geyser. We were lucky to arrive at dusk and the light was very atmospheric.
This evening we are parked in the UNESCO village of Levoča, which is a walled city. I’ve read it is very beautiful with painted houses of multiple colours as seems popular in Slovakia. It was already dark when we walked around the central square, but the classic architecture was made extra special by choral singing coming from an upstairs room. I’m looking forward to a proper look around in the morning.
I love it that my body puts me to sleep when I’m ill. I slept through my alarms, had a monster 10 hours and woke feeling great.
The plan was to walk the pups on the park and then head south into the Tatra National Park. Well the first stumbling block was that the places I’d flagged to visit had no road access – these were evidently longer hikes than the pups could cope with.
So we went back to Weinkle Cafe, for a coffee and I did more research. Mark is still bemused how long it takes me, but I read blogs, guides, reviews, ask forums and google to try and ensure we don’t accidentally miss a stunning vista, UNESCO site or quirky treasure. Coffee drank, and Slovakia planned out, we had lunch and were ready to go.
…nowhere…the van was dead…a flat battery. I guess we haven’t driven much this week but we hardly use any power and it’s meant to run off out solar powered leisure battery, so we are still confused how it’s happened. True to our different personalities, we try two different approaches, while Mark tries to get through to RAC, I’m outside in the carpark asking strangers, via a mix of charades, poorly pronounced polish and English if they have jump leads. Several people come and look, 1 has leads but we don’t know where to put them, and then a lovely old gentleman who spoke no English spends ages with me – calling his son, asking in a restaurant, shop, calling taxi companies…and finally he says a taxi will come in 10mins to jump start you. I was so thankful, and he was happy I’d be ok so on he went.
Mark came out really angry that RAC had refused to come as wrong type of policy, I said not to worry all sorted…and then we waited…and the taxi never came 😞 (most krakow taxi services have 2* reviews on Google so they might not be the most reliable). Meanwhile Mark had checked our policy documents and we were covered, so was having to email proof to the Europe RAC office, who then had to argue with the UK office who had listed our policy wrong on their system.
Long story short, we were stuck in the van until 5pm when RAC finally rocked up and charged the battery. It is a 2.5hr drive to the Tatras and its meant to be stunning scenery so once it got dark we pulled into a minor road and will try for a spritely start in the morning.
Not the best end to a wonderful time in Krakow, but there are definitely worse places to be stuck.
Up bright an early to make the most of our last day in Krakow. I had a lovely 2mile jog around the park then did my exercises and picked up Mark and the pups for a further walk.
We have been planning for winter, and our route keeps changing as we find out more about the weather, driving conditions and in the back of our minds what impact ‘B’ will have on our freedom of movement with the dogs.
We are now thinking of wintering in Spain/Portugal with less travelling around and longer stays in one spot. With less driving we will have more time for hobbies, and Mark has been missing his electric guitar. Theory is with more free time, he would be able to practice, and so off we went to the music shop to treat him to an acoustic guitar. The pups and I now have weeks of scales practice to look forward to 🤣
In the afternoon Mark had the joy’s of laundry to sort out, while I braved a new hairdresser and got my monstrous 6 month roots done. And while it wasn’t the lovely chatty pamper I typically have with Poppy my Norwich hairdresser, they did work a miracle and I feel so much better.
Mark knows I like to celebrate my new hair (which with typical flourish, he had said looked fine 🤣), so we went to Massolit Books and Cafe for cake, a look at maps and to ponder how far we could go before the snow arrives.
He then confessed he needed another burger for dinner, so despite being stuffed we went out. I’ve no idea how he managed it, but he ate a full combo whereas I literally couldn’t eat half of my burger and I felt so sick that I came home, collapsed on bed and was asleep in minutes. Bless him Mark slept on the sofa as didn’t want to disturb me, but don’t feel too bad for him as he popped out for a sneaky Good Lood ice cream, and I didn’t even notice him eating it!
SofaWolves 