Ever heard of Debrecen? Probably not. Most people visit Hungary and go to Budapest, naturally. Other recommended cities you might find are the wine region of Eger or Lake Balaton. The great thing about Angloville was that we met people from different areas of Hungary, even better is if you get to know them they are happy to offer you to stay with them. This is what happened with Debrecen and the wonderful Judit.
Budapest was the biggest city we’d visited so far on our trip. Upon arriving after a long train journey from Bratislava I said to Mitch that it reminded me in some ways of London: busy, buzzing, metro stations, international restaurants and shops greeting us. He laughed in his ‘I-hate-London’ way and told me it was nothing like London. He was soon put in his place when we were told that the main bridge connecting ‘buda’ and ‘pest’ was designed based on Hammersmith bridge in London and other parts of the city were actually quite similar. For the record, I love …
We had no real plans when leaving England of which countries we would visit. As our journey progressed we found ourselves unintentionally visiting every ex-Yugoslavic country. Time was short but we wanted to make sure we visited Slovenia as it was the only one of these countries we hadn’t visited, and we felt the need to visit all of the countries and hear all sides of the story from each place. Strangely enough, we didn’t see or read much about it during our visit, and the few locals we met didn’t talk to us about it. Very different to our trip …
Dubrovnik Our first stop in Croatia was Dubrovnik, by far the most expensive and most touristy place we’ve visited so far. Hotel, hostel and restaurant prices all dramatically increase in this coastal town. However, let this not put you off the beauty of the city. The old town is the real attraction to see; you can walk around the old city walls (for a price, of course) and look into the old town which has been so well preserved. Grey houses with terracotta roofs, to look over them and their matching style and colours is really something. When you look …
Unlike Mostar, to walk around Sarajevo you aren’t immediately greeted with reminders of the war. You see banks, bakeries, shops just like any other high street, but if you look down occasionally at the ground you will see splotches of red paint, symbolising where blood was shed during the war. It’s a unique city as within a small space in town there is a Christian Cathedral, Jewish Synagogue and Muslim Mosque. We met up with a lovely local while there who not only showed us a brilliant bar but also took us to the top of the hill and showed us …
We’d met a few people on our travels who had expressed how much they loved Bosnia and Hercegovina, so I was excited to see what all the fuss was about. We spent a couple of days in Dubrovnik and then headed up to Mostar, mostly famous for its stunning bridge, Stari Most. We looked at the picture in our Lonely Planet book and thought that it must be photoshopped – it didn’t look real, but it really was. That photo is real and it does look that beautiful in reality. I was beginning to see why people loved this country …
