Eurotrop 3.0 : Venice!

After the incredible ‘high’ of Kranjska Gora, we moved towards the ‘low’ city of Venice. We were to camp just outside Venice, in the town of Marghera, at Camping Jolly. This was the first “Camping Village” that we were going to stay at. I was looking forward to it after the glimpse I got of camping at Camping de la Treille in Cavalaire-sur-Mer, France, earlier on in my trip.

A Camping village is set of row houses with the bare necessities – a few beds, dining table, kitchen with utensils & gas and bathrooms. They’re quite cramped on the inside, but with ample place on the outside – usually a sit-out area with a wooden floor, tables & chairs. I noticed several families completely setting up shop at these ‘villages’ as though they were going to stay there for weeks, if not months. And that’s how they usually go, I suppose, like a holiday home away from home!

Camping Jolly also had a supermarket, restaurant and pub in the premises – so one could do shopping for veggies, pasta & such for cooking themselves a good lunch, and then have a glass of wine & shake a leg in the evening. We bought a ton of stuff as supplies for the next few days that we were going to spend there. (In hindsight, these were low quality & expensive, so we actually shopped for supplies at supermarkets in the city instead).

The drive down from Kranjska Gora was quite eventful, with everyone agreeing at some point that we’d clearly crossed over into Italy – with drivers driving appallingly (in comparison to Austria & Germany of course; compared to India they were still angels!). We had stopped at a fueling station and I decided to check the tyre pressure. Turned out we had lost pressure so Hari & I went about filling some more air. Half way through we realized that we were actually seeing all readings in the wrong unit, so we had to release some pressure to get it back to where it was, which was normal to begin with!

We reached in the evening and were happy to have dinner at the restaurant in the village. The waitress at our table was in a particularly sprightly mood and danced in with the menu, and our subsequent order. The food was just about alright and we were ready to have a good night’s sleep before we set out to Venice in the morning.

There were regular buses from the village to Venice and we took one around mid-day. The weather was quite warm and our hats and shades were put to good use. The bus dropped us off just outside Venice and we were to take a train, the ‘Tronchetto’, to the other side, into the floating city of Venice. The train went past a port terminal where several luxury cruise ships were docked. As the mini-train rolled into the station at Venice, there were glimpses of a bustling city teeming with tourists. We didn’t really have much of a plan for Venice, apart from just walking around, having gelato & pizzas and getting lost!

And that’s pretty much what we did for the next couple of days… The idea for Day 1 was to go in the general direction of Rialto & then San Marco. There were several instances of us veering off track thanks to a promising looking street, but over the course of the afternoon, we did make it there. The big, expensive restaurants were overpriced and the food wasn’t all that appetizing. It’s the little ones tucked in alleys, that typically don’t have place to sit, that we figured served the best food. You can see a lot of people just streaming in and out of these joints, picking up food (usually pizzas) and leaving in a jiffy. We tried out one such place, with pizzas at just 1 euro a slice! For 10-12 euros, the five of us were a nicely ‘fed up’ bunch!

On the way, we picked up Vodafone connections from a proper Vodafone store that promised some 100 minutes of free calling to India. But over the course of the trip we realized it was a scam as we ran out of minutes with just 20 minutes of talking! Didn’t read the fine print, I suppose!

After walking for over 4 hours, we made it to San Marco, a large open square with a tower and church on one side. It was well worth going on top of the tower to get a glimpse of Venice in the setting sun! The views were to die for and the weather was perfect!

We headed back to the village for the night and cooked ourselves some nice pasta before retiring for the night. The next day, we were back to walk around a lil’ bit more and do the famed Gondola ride in Venice’s waters. 80 euros for a 20 minute ride in rather suspect, dark, smelly water, was a bit steep. It’s a usual bucket-list item, nevertheless, and I was glad I got that out of the way!

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Life seems to slow down when in Venice. Nobody’s in a hurry. Everyone’s just meandering through and has a smile on their face. It’s a place stuck in time, without any large, imposing, shining modern buildings. It’s also a place where everyone’s an equal. The millionaire and the pauper are both on foot. No BMWs, Mercs or Jags. The sounds you hear are the chatter of people, heels on cobblestones, sometimes church bells in the distance, and pretty much nothing else.

Eurotrip 3.0: Kranjska Gora, Slovenia !

(As I look back on the trip and collate my notes & photos, I realize this was one of the highlight places of the entire trip. A place of immense natural beauty, coupled with some incredible food, made it so)

We drove into our hotel (The Korona Casino & Hotel) late in the evening of the 19^th (September), and were quickly led to our rather loud, red rooms. It was, of course, part of a casino, and the décor and upholstery was hardly ‘family’. In fact I thought it was bordering on the nefarious! Nevertheless, we settled quickly, had some of the leftover paranthas (which Vidya brought from London) with pickle. Some Rakija from my Croatian adventure helped keep us warm and served as the perfect drink for the tired lot.

I wandered into the Casino late into the night and parked myself at various game tables for a few minutes each following the games. A ‘guidebook’ helped make sense of it all. I didn’t really intend to play as much as understand. We knew we were going to go to the Grand Casino in Monte Carlo later on in the trip, and I was merely building my knowledge base before we got there! The casino itself looked full of sad, old people, clicking away at slot machines. Some of the younger lots were at roulette tables, but the place was largely empty, given we were bang in mid week.

The forecast was for the rain to clear up the next day and have some blue skies with a light breeze at some 18 °C. And it was pretty much on target, as we awoke to a spotless sky behind the massive green mountains that surrounded us. I was truly spellbound by what I was looking at. Our hotel room overlooked the entire town of Kranjska Gora, which was in a valley surrounded by mountains and with a stream coming down from them into a small lake.

We drove down first up after breakfast to that lake and, boy, was it a sight! Glistening green, with water so clear you could see right through to the bottom. A flock of ducks was pattering around and there was not a sound otherwise! The mountains stared at you from all angles in various hues of green. The dark greens were lower down. A mountain on the left had seemingly another bunch of trees altogether. And suddenly, the whole color scheme changed like an Instagram filter was on it, as a solitary cloud wandered over the sun. It sounded like one of those places meditations gurus ask you to imagine – “think of a beautiful place, clear skies, greenery all around, birds chirping, and silence”. And indeed, I just felt like sitting there, smiling and soaking in the heavenly atmosphere that enveloped me.

Heaven on earth!

We walked around the back of the lake to find its source, a stream of cold, crystal-clear water running down from the mountains. We all took turns at different points in the stream drinking some of it. Although it didn’t augur too well for my already strained throat! The cousins took turns jumping over a deceptively narrow looking stream, and promptly got their shoes wet.

A short 30 minute ride up into the mountains took us to the highest point in Kranjska Gora. It was bright sunshine but with a bone-chilling wind. It must have been about 4-5 degrees, I reckon. The views were majestic. A bunch of heavily haired cows were hanging about, bells around their necks. It looked like one of those images of Switzerland that is so often found in travel brochures. Only there weren’t other tourists around. Calm, serene, and freakishly inexpensive, as we soon found out for lunch.

The cold atop the mountain, combined with rumbling stomachs, ensured we got down in a hurry and headed straight for a restaurant. ‘Gostilna Pri Martinu’ was the #1 ranked Tripadvisor restaurant and was known for its particularly large portions of food. The towering, giant of a man, owner greeted us as we went up a flight of stairs to the restaurant. The interiors and upholstery were simplistic and had an old-world charm about them. The views, of the mountains, were, needless to say, stunning. With our stomachs growling, we began ordering many items from the menu. But I had read the reviews, and advised caution. After some discussion and convincing from my side, we halved our order. The food came. I had NEVER seen such large portions of food. We were lucky. The food was delicious, but we still couldn’t finish it all. By the end, people had stuffed their tummies, and to think we were going to order twice the stuff that we eventually did…!

That, very neatly, rounded up Kranjska Gora for me. Great views, great food and great company.

Eurotrip 3.0: Salzburg

The drive from Wattens to Salzburg was quick, in more ways than one! Long stretches of the autobahns that we were on, were with ‘No speed limit’, and our Mercedes van easily revved up to 170 km/h! Once we got used to those speeds, an 80 or 100km/h on some stretches seemed like drab affairs.

Our hotel (Hotel Schöne Aussicht) was nestled on a hilltop with an absolutely stunning view of the city. We arrived in the evening to a brilliant sunset. The slopes of the hill were awash with fresh green grass, and it looked like a picture straight out of an album titled ‘Heaven’. We were lucky to have caught this glimpse, as there was a forecast for rain the next day and the whole scene can go cold and dreary quite quickly.

We decided to take short drive further up the hill to some even more spectacular views. We were greeted by a forest with a clearing just in front. A pair of exquisite deer walked in, took a dab at some grass and then disappeared back into the forest. It was absolutely surreal! Reminded me of the cartoon ‘Bambi’ which was tucked away in faint recesses of my memory. I sometimes feel as though I’ve lived 3 or 4 separate lives, depending on where I was, and this scene somehow seemed to connect them all back together.

We drove into the old city, parked our car and walked down the River Salzach as the night set with twinkling lights and the Salzburg Castle in the background.  Another stunning scene, and I was going into sensory overload – cyclists whizzing by on the paths, church bells somewhere in the distance, different lights reflecting off of the river, the smell of Austrian food mixed with the gushing water down below!

We ambled over to the other side, stumbled upon the Mozart Museum (which we were to visit the next day), and had dinner in one of the many pizza places in a nearby alley. I had begun to develop a rather menacing, hacking cough and so stuck to wine as the choice of drink although the temperature was more conducive for some beer!

We walked back to where our car was parked and on the way encountered a lady with her kid and a beautiful Labrador. The short meeting particularly stuck in memory because the lady asked my brother & me, much to our amusement, if we were artists or musicians – thanks to the funky hats we were wearing and possibly because we were walking around in artistic Salzburg!

After a good night’s sleep, we awoke to loud claps of thunder in the morning, as if right outside our hilltop windows. The scene had changed quite dramatically since last evening. Abundant sunshine had given way to menacing dark clouds and fog, and the city was hardly visible in the distance.

A short drive and a hunt for parking later we had food at yoga guru’s place called ‘Heart of Joy’. There were hilarious videos of the ‘guru’ curing terminally ill people with a wave of his hands and such. The food was vegetarian and quite good so we weren’t exactly complaining. Next stop was the Mozart Tour. We were bundled into a van not too dissimilar from our own Mercedes, and the driver took us around showing various places related to Mozart. We drove out to a castle just outside the city and that was quite scenic but the cold rain was making things not all that enjoyable. The tour ended at the entrance to the Mozart Museum. At 21 euros per head for the tour, it was a touch expensive but I would still recommend it as it packs in everything including the entrance fees for the museum.

The next 2 hours or so at the Museum were extremely engaging. I was hooked to the audio guide as it took me through the life of the musical maestro. I would highly recommend the audio guide to anybody, irrespective of whether they have any knowledge or interest in music or Mozart. It’s an inspirational story and more than Mozart himself, it also gives a good idea of how life was in his time. The last exhibit is particularly exceptional as it takes one through each of Mozart’s ‘tours’ in Europe, how he and his father traveled around enthralling audiences from Rome to Paris to Berlin to London!

A completely drenched and still pouring journey awaited us as we stepped out of the museum and headed straight out towards the magical lands of Slovenia. If it weren’t for this trip, Slovenia would’ve probably remained ‘a country in Europe’ whose map location was slightly suspect in my head, and possibly convoluted with Slovakia. As it was, I then knew exactly where it was, and hopefully it was going to conjure up some more magic on our trip!

Eurotrip 3.0: Wattens (The Home of Swarovski!)

After the high of my Croatia sojourn, I had the long train ride out of Osijek to the quaint little town of Wattens in Austria. I took the night train out of Osijek and reached Zagreb in the wee hours of Monday 17^th (Sep) morning. In a couple of hours, I’d take a train out to Rosenheim in Germany and then onwards on another train to Wattens (station name Fritzens-Wattens) in Austria.

I got a mild shock when the stern lady at the ticket at the counter in Zagreb told me that it would cost me about 140 euros to get to Rosenheim. Yes, it was a longish journey (6 hrs), but 140!? Nevertheless, for me, the coolest thing in Europe is I can just buy a ticket and get on the train. I can’t imagine doing that in India, ever!

The ticket itself was funny. It had instructions in German, Croatian and French. No English! And it wasn’t a fully printed one. The lady had just written out the boarding & destination on a printed sheet of paper (it did look like a ticket). So around half past seven, I was off.

The ride was one of the most stunning ones I’ve ever taken - passing through picture-perfect Slovenia & the Austrian Alps bathed in abundant sunshine! If ever you’re traveling out of Zagreb to Germany, I suggest you take this train. It goes all the way up to Frankfurt, is comfortable and the views are to die for! (Not so sure of the views during winter though :))

Rosenheim to Wattens was an interesting journey in a 2-carriage train. At one point an old grandmother helped with some directions as I was wondering if I had to change trains (most people got off and took a train from the next platform). Later a mother of three came in with an infant nicely fitting in one of those front baby bags. I kept making silly faces at the baby, and soon enough the baby was smiling at me uncontrollably (I probably reminded her of some disheveled clown!) and that delighted the mother and her other two daughters no end. She got off a smiling ear-to-ear a couple of stations before I did and I had that feeling of joy when you know you’ve made someone’s day!

Wattens station was as idyllic as it could get. It seemed literally in the middle of nowhere with a nice little bar right at the station as if the life in the city revolved around just that bar! I couldn’t see much when I looked toward the ‘city’, except the shining logo of the Swarovski factory.

And that’s the only reason we were here. My brother (Shyam), cousin (Hari) & his wife (Vidya) & kid (4-year-old darling Riya) joined me in Wattens. They had made their way from Milan via Liechtenstein (pronounced lick-ten-sty-n). The shining new Mercedes van, hired from Milan airport, and full of wonder-eyed passengers who’d just driven through the Alps, wandered into the driveway at Wattens station right on cue. We drove straight to our hotel and I took a much needed hot shower. Late evening, we took a walk down what seemed like the only street in Wattens and came upon some beautifully crafted modern architecture.

Wattens is one of the more visited destinations by Indian tourists, because it’s the home of the famed ‘Swarovski’ brand of crystals. I can imagine business families loaded with cash coming here on “Star Tours & Travels” & splurging. But I think they would live down in Innsbruck rather than at Wattens.

We woke up leisurely in the morning, and what a splendid one it was. The green hills were gleaming in the sunshine and it looked like a picture right out of the Windows wallpaper (which by the way is a real picture, taken in Ireland I think, or California perhaps)! Destination Swarovski!

A grand, green grass face water gushing out of its open mouth greeted us at the entrance of the Swarovski Crystal World. And the entrance was somewhere around its right ear.

One is transported into a world of glittering crystals as soon as they enter. The door, the upholstery, the photos, everything has a crystal element to it and the attention to detail is clearly visible in every element around you. The whole ‘walkthrough’ builds up to grander & grander displays of art using crystals and light. Particularly, I enjoyed Jim Whitling’s Mechanical Theatre the most. It’s excellently conceptualized with a dazzling array of mechanical exhibits the shine in the carefully placed light sources.

By the time we went through all the exhibits, we had a crystal overload / craving (depending on who you’d ask :)) and the whole thing, very cleverly, led into a massive crystal store where there was everything from Swarovski beads & necklaces, to kingfishers, to elephants. Supposedly at a massive discount... Clearly it was a shopper’s delight, and I never quite have been one. And for jewelry crazy Indians, this was a must visit place.

I wasn’t thus too surprised to walk into an Indian restaurant right after we exited the store. These guys know their key customers well. Some biryani and such later, we were driving off to our next destination – the city where Mozart was born, Salzburg.