Interrail 2026 – timharnesstravels

Interrail Trip 2026 – Part 10

September 30th

I packed for the final time, thank God, and went through the moving out routine. I checked the sockets for our phone chargers, looked under the bed for odd socks and made sure I had my passport (several times). All my travelling worldly goods were squeezed into the little suitcase and my rucksack, and off we went, again.

At the Bahnhof we stocked up with food for the journey, and German bakeries are really good. Then we spent the rest of the day on trains:

Nuremberg to Frankfurt
Frankfurt to Brussels
Brussels to St Pancras
St Pancras to Waterloo
Waterloo to Whitton

We got home at about 8.30, dragging our little wheelie suitcases back on a very familiar route from Whitton Station back to our home of 39 years.

Postscript

People always ask “what was your favourite bit of the holiday”. The most beautiful day was the journey from Chur to Tirano through the middle of the Alps on the route of the Bernina Express. We travelled over 196 bridges and through 55 tunnels, its is an incredible engineering experience with the best views I have ever seen.

An unexpectedly wonderful experience was Bamberg, a town I hadn’t heard of until a couple of months ago. It has so many preserved old buildings, there is almost too much to take it. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and so are the Upper Middle Rhine, Venice, and the Bernina Express route. So we ticked off four UWHTs in a single holiday. Beat that Palin!

The best meal I had was a fantastic fish risotto in Venice, and the best wine was an Austrian Gruner Veltliner. The beer I enjoyed the most was the Union lager, which is the standard beer in Ljubljana. The best breakfast I had was a toss-up between the Eggs Benedict at the Petite Cafe in Ljubliana, or the Burek at the Trubar cafe. So Ljubljana wins on points for the best food and drink altogether.

The best flat for sheer convenience was in Ljubljana once again, because it was right in the middle of the Old Town. So like school kids, we could go home for lunch. A close second was the flat in Trieste where the hosts left little helpful notes all over the flat and actually gave us two bus tickets.

Useful Tips for Interrail Travellers

Research your destinations thoroughly before you go, so you have an idea of where to go before you leave.
Stay as close to the city centre or old town as you can afford. You don’t want to walk for miles or get a bus into town if you can avoid it.
Always visit the Tourist Information to pick up paper maps and find out if there are any festivals or other events going on.
Take a water bottle with you, if you are walking around on a sunny day it is thirsty work. Dehydration can happen without you feeling particularly thirsty, as I have found out to me cost.
Get to the station half an hour before the train leaves so you can find the right platform, buy snack and have a pee.
Have small change available so you can pay for a toilet.
Have a phone SIM that includes European roaming, and take a battery pack for long days out when you are using Google Maps a lot.

Altogether we travelled 2,916 miles (4,693 Km) by train over the course of a month and spent 59 hours on trains. we also travelled for about 7 hours by Flixbus in Croatia and Slovenia, because there were no trains.

Brucie Bonus

A few days before the end of our trip we both got alerts from Interrail that they had a sale on for next year. Tickets for a month were half price, just £353 for a month of rail travel in Europe, First Class! So we are off to the Baltics and Scandinavia next year, you only live once.

Interrail Trip 2026 – Part 9

Nuremberg

27th September

So farewell mountains, cable cars and Choughs, it’s time to leave Austria behind. This morning we dragged our bags for half an hour to the station for the next leg of the journey. Sunday morning at 8am is the best time to see Innsbruck old town, it was deserted and I could get a proper look at the lovely old buildings without being stuck behind loads of tourists.

Our OBB express took us prompltly at 8.20 to Nuremberg via Munich. Lots of people wearing lederhosen and dirndls got off to go to the beer festival. I think it’s just a big fancy dress party for men who like to wear leather shorts. In London there are special clubs in Old Crompton Street for that kind of thing. The journey took 4 hours, and was very uneventful, which is exactly what you want.

I didn’t know much about Nuremberg, and it’s much bigger than I anticipated. It is the second biggest city in Bavaria after Munich, and is very industrial, Seimens is the biggest employer. The city was very important to the Holy Roman Empire, and is in the centre of Germany. The Nazis chose it for their rallies in their 1930’s, which is what most Brits remember it for, which is a shame. We chose not to visit the rally grounds, I know enough about the Nazis already and it is all grim.

Nuremberg was heavily bombed in WWII, and 80% of the old town was destroyed. But it has been beautifully restored, and the old town is full of grand buildings and most of the old city walls are still standing. Also the old town is really big, it takes half an hour to walk across it. In Innsbruck it took 5 minutes to walk across the old town.

It was Sunday and the sun was warm, and the old town was packed with families enjoying the cafes and market stalls. The ladies in the Tourist Information gave us maps and told us where to visit. The biggest church is a huge twin-towered Gothic edifice dedicated to St Lorenz. In a park behind it there was a very lively beer festival going on, with many, many cabins selling beer and sausages.

We ate in our flats on some evenings and out at restaurants on others. Last night we ate in, and had noodles that came in a block wrapped in plastic. I really like them, but not too often. They were washed down with an excellent Austrian Gruner Veltliner from the Hofer supermarket.

For a change we went to a Vietnamese restaurant and had really good ramen with beef and soft eggs. I ate almost all of it with chopsticks, aren’t I a clever boy? But I dropped one stick on the floor and had to use a fork and spoon for the rest of the slippery noodles.

28th September

We carried out many hours of research for our Interrail trip, looking at the rail map of Europe and Google Maps. Google would give us an idea of the travel time between towns. Our criteria for places we wanted to visit were:

Towns we hadn’t been to before.
The route had to include the Rhatische Bahn in Switzerland.
It had to include some “seaside time” along the route.

The YouTube channel “Home from Away” suggested several good places in Germany and Austria, and “Rok Goes Around” was very good for Italy and Croatia. Nuremberg is not an obvious destination for a holiday, but the videos we watched showed it was very historical and engaging and close to other good places.

This morning we took the train for about 40 minutes to the city of Bamberg , and it blew us away! Bamberg is a UNESCO world heritage site (like the Upper Middle Rhine, the Bernina Express route and Venice) and it has 1,800 listed buildings. I had never heard of it before we researched the trip, but it is an amazing place.

The city has a very long history , and a thousand years ago it had a castle and a cathedral. In the middle ages it was the seat of the Prince Bishops of the Holy Roman Empire and flourished as a trading and manufacturing centre. It is on the river Regnitz, which is a tributary of the Main which itself is a tributary of the Rhine. The Regnitz river once had 40 waterwheels in the centre of Bamberg.

The walk from the station is down a pedestrianised street lined with cafes and bakeries (Germans love their beige food) through the Grune Makt, an old fruit and veg market. Then the Old Town Hall (Aldt Rathause) comes into view, and it is very striking. It is constructed on an island in the middle of the Regnitz, and has been destroyed several times, but it has existed in its current form since the mid 18th century.

The old town is full of strasses and narrow gasses with a mixture of half timbered buildings, bigger stone houses of the merchants and baroque mansions of the wealthy.

The Tourist Information office (always lovely people) directed me to the Schenklera Brewery where I could taste their famous beer made with beech-smoked malt. It was dark brown and delicious, with a smokey bacon flavour. The menu looked very enticing, so we both had pork schnitzel with potato salad.The potato salad looks like yellow mushy peas in this photo, but it was actually yummy. The meal was very, very substantial, and ideal with smoked beer.

Walking up a hill we reached the Cathedral of St Peter and St George. built in the 13th century. The interior is surprisingly undecorated for a Catholic church, without any of the painting, frescoes and gilding we have seen elsewhere. The most interesting feature is a stone statue of a king on a horse, created about 1230. It is thought to be the first equistrian statue sculpted since antiquity, and the sculptor managed to make the king look like he was wearing drag and had a perm with a tiara.

Oppoosite the cathedral is the huge Residence of the Prince Bishops, who ran the city for the Holy Roman Emperor until Napoleon and his Bavarian allies came and spoiled their fun and secularised the city.

The “blimey that’s amazing” doesn’t stop there. On the top of a hill overlooking the city is the Monastery of Michaelsberg. It was originally founded in the 11th century, and had its ups and downs, including several years of occupation by Swedish troops in the 30 years war. Swedes aren’t just Abba and IKEA yer know.

On our return to Nurmemberg we walked though the old town to the Pegntiz river and had some Primitivo and olives, bloody lovely.

Walking back through the old town we saw at least 50 cops, 6 of them on horses and all “properly tooled up with shooters” as Danny Dyer would say. In the street there were about 20 silly old buggers waving flags and probably being rude about immigrants and gay people . The other side of the cops were another small band of young people waving rainbow flags. I expect all those cops would be pleased with the overtime, but some poor sod from the council would have to clear up the horse shit.

29 September

Our plan today is to see Nuremburg old town properly, and try some local food and drink. We had already picked up a pocket guide from the TI office, so we set off into town with a plan. Our flat is literally “the wrong side of the tracks”, we have to walk through a tunnel under the railway tracks to reach the walls of the old city. The walls of the old city are 5k in circumference and 80% are still standing, so there is a lot of old town to see. Most of the old town we have seen have just been a a few hundred metres across, but in Nuremburg it is much bigger. It is a mixture of historic old buildings, modern retail streets, and municipal buildings. In one pedestrianised shopping area there is a statue called the marriage carousel which depicts the different stages of marriage. The sculptor must must have had a very unhappy marriage.

There are many picturesque bridges over the Pegnitz river, and most were perfectly rebuilt after the wartime bombing destroyed them. Near the delightfully named Hangman’s Bridge is the Executioners House Museum. The sign on the wall didn’t shout “Come in for a good time”.

Nearby is the Bratwurst Museum, which was actually a shop selling sausage-related merchandise. It is on Bratwurst Gasse, which sounds like a condition that I suffer from. I wonder if there is a Baked Bean Gasse?

Along Tanners Lane there are 20 beautifully preserved houses, but I’m sure that 500 years ago it was a very stinky place since dog poo was used to tan leather.Walking uphill gradually, and then more steeply, we reached Nurembeg Castle which dominates the town on a sandstone crag. The Holy Roman Emperor regularly visited with his court as part of his non-stop tour of the Empire. The castle was only occupied when he was visiting Nuremberg with his court.

There was a great view of all the roofs of the old town, with the spires of the churches projecting above them. In the distance, industrial Nuremberg was visible, tall chimneys, a telecoms tower and office block.

Just outside of the walls of the castle is the house of Albrecht Durer (1471-1528). He was the one of the leading artists of the Rennaisance north of the Alps, and is famous for his self portraits and illustration of a Rhinosuarus. The house was built in the 15th century and has survived remarkably well. It was badly damaged by bombing in the war but not destroyed like many houses near by.

Durer was an expert print maker, using both wood blocks and copper engraving. His original workshop has been furnished with reproductions of the equipment he would have used.

Culture is all very good for the soul, but does nothing for the belly. Near St Sebalds church we found the Goldenes Posthorn, a 500 year old restaurant serving local food. It took me very little time to select a roasted Pork Shoulder with Potato Dumplings washed down with Tucher Rotbier. After my travels in Austria and Germany, I think I am now at least 50% pork.

Next on our list of places to visit was the German National Museum, which is their equivalent to the V&A. It is housed in a magnificent building, a modern exterior which encloses a former Carthusian Monastery. The entrance is concrete, glass and steel, but you turn a corner and enter a cloister and then a sunlit monastery church.

The museum contains huge collections of religious sculptures and paintings. For many hundreds of years, the only subjects for art were Jesus, Mary and the Saints. So the paintings are nearly all of these subjects, a bit…samey. In the 17th century artists started painting biblical and mythological characters, so lots of men with beards and loincloths and bare-breasted ladies gambolling in forest galdes

The 20th century art was much more interesting for me. The Nazis didn’t like it of course, and non-traditional art was called degenerate. The artists had their work destroyed or they fled overseas.

After a couple of hours I had my fill of German high art and needed a beer. So we found a cafe next to the Pegnitz river and I had my final Helles lager of the holiday.

30th September

At the Bahnhof we stocked up with food for the journey, and German bakeries are really good. Then we spent the rest of the day on trains:

Nuremberg to Frankfurt
Frankfurt to Brussels
Brussels to St Pancras
St Pancras to Waterloo
Waterloo to Whitton

We got home at about 8.30, dragging our little wheelie suitcases back on a very familiar route from Whitton Station back to our home of 39 years.

Postscript

Useful Tips for Interrail Travellers

Research your destinations thoroughly before you go, so you have an idea of where to go before you leave.
Stay as close to the city centre or old town as you can afford. You don’t want to walk for miles or get a bus into town if you can avoid it.
Always visit the Tourist Information to pick up paper maps and find out if there are any festivals or other events going on.
Take a water bottle with you, if you are walking around on a sunny day it is thirsty work. Dehydration can happen without you feeling particularly thirsty, as I have found out to me cost.
Get to the station half an hour before the train leaves so you can find the right platform, buy snack and have a pee.
Have small change available so you can pay for a toilet.
Have a phone SIM that includes European roaming, and take a battery pack for long days out when you are using Google Maps a lot.

Brucie Bonus

Interrail Trip 2026 – Part 8

Innsbruck

September 24

Today was a travel day from Ljubliana to Innsbruck, and a welcome return to trains after slumming it on the National Express (Flixbus really). As predicted by the lady in the ticket office, our train from Zagreb was 40 minutes late. The first leg to Villach in Austria took us past Bled, with the castle visible in the distance. Then a change from a Slovenian train to an Austrian OBB train and another change at Schwarzach-St Veit. We got 15 minutes on the platform before the next leg to Woegl, and then a short 35 minute journey to Innsbruck. All these town names are like a load of Scrabble tiles shaken up in a bag and then radomly put together.

It was a long journey on the train, but the views of the mountains, valleys, lakes, viaducts and tunnels made it all worthwhile. Not as stunning as Switzerland, but very good.

At Innsbruck we used the instructions from the Booking.com host to find the correct bus to the flat. But we completely got the wrong bus and started heading out of town. We went to bus stop K instead of taking bus route K. A helpful lady sitting close by set us right, and we went back into the city centre and found the correct bus. Travellers often make these sort of errors, Michael Palin was forever getting the wrong bus but never admitted to it on camera.

The flat we have booked is all painted white, very functional and totally devoid of character. But it is comfortable and it’s easy to get into town. After orienting ourselves we walked down a steep hill and across the river (the Bruck over the Inn river) just as it started severely pissing down. The old town didn’t look its best, so we rapidly retreated to a proper tourist trap, the Stifskeller beer garden. Sadly there were no ladies in drndls and plaits delivering steins of foaming lager, but we weren’t in Munich.

After perusing the menu I decided on the usual Austrian choice, sausages. The option I chose was the Spicey Sausage, the Mel B of the sausage universe. I thought it would be like a curry wurst that they serve in Berlin. But I got three long skinny sausages and a small heap of what looked like coleslaw. So I took a good mouthful and Aaaagghhhh it was grated horseradish! That stuff is powerful, like having a mouthful of Colemans Mustard. I needed a few glugs of lager to quench my throat. I have had sausages three times on holiday now, and none has been as good as an English Banger. In future I will steer clear of them.

By the time we had finished eating it had stopped raining, and had a look around for a supermarket. I was pleased, nay overjoyed to find a Hofer. It is an Austrian Aldi, which is more or less the same but they have interesting offers coming up such as an air compressor and a huge log splitter. I can’t fit them in my bag and honestly I don’t have a use for them.

Julie loaded up the local bus app on her phone, and we caught the K bus back to our flat. Tomorrow it’s going to be sunny and everything will look a lot better.

25th September

Just 10 minutes by train from Innsbruck is Hall in Tyrol. The OBB trains in Austria are really good, clean and comfortable, and have the advantage of being much more modern. We had seen the town recommended by some YouTubers called “Home from Away” who travel around Germany and Austria. The old town is quite small, but it is perfect! It impressed me in the same way as Venice, because it is all wonderfully preserved medieval buildings.

The town was made wealthy initially by the making of salt, evaporated from brine. Austrians cure a lot of pork to make all those sausages and speck (ham), and that needs a lot of salt.

Then in the 16th century the town began making silver coins from silver mined at nearby Schwarz. This single town produced 85% of Europe’s silver at the time, and the poor miners had an average life expectancy of 35.

The buildings are built of stone and are rendered in white or earth colours. Doorways and window frames are left as bare stone, giving the buildings a very robust appearance.

In the main square we had coffee in the Rathaus cafe, and then walked around the 600 year old Rathaus (town hall) which is still being used for the original purpose.

Opposite the town hall is St.Nicholas church, which looks great from the outside and is genuinely stunning on the inside. It has big gothic windows flooding it with light, and almost every surface is decorated, and much of it is gilded. Salt brought a vast amount of money into the town.

Hall in Tyrol was originally called Hal from an old word for salt, as in halogens which are chemicals made from salt. Tyrol is an old county going back to the Hapsburg Imperial time, and is now divided between Italy and Austria. The town is full of narrow gasses (narrow streets) and very little traffic.

Close to the Inn river is the Hasegg Castle which houses the Mint Museum. It explains how silver coins were made in different ways from medieval times right up to the 19th century. Originally coins were stamped out by hand, but in the 16th century a water powered rolling press was invented for mass producing coins. The silver thaler (pronounced tarler) coins were of the highest quality, and were copied all over the world and became the standard unit of currency. The Spanish introduced them to South America using silver from Potosi mine, and they became known as dollars.

It is a really good museum, and there was hardly anyone other guests there. At the end of the tour we walked up the 45 metre tower which gave us wonderful views of Hall, the In valley and the mountains. The only “fly in the ointment” was the flies. They can get into the tower, fly upwards and get trapped inside the top floor where they crawl over the windows. They need to get some spiders of geckos in to sort them out.

When we got back to Innsbruck we visited the Tourist Information Office, quite possibly one of the best I have been in, housed in a vaulted 16th century guard house. We picked up a free leaflet and followed a walking trail around the old parts of the city. In Herzog Friedrich Strasse there is a building with a Golden Roof. Emperor Maximillian had it built as an alcove balcony in 1500 so see what was going on in the town centre, nosey bugger.

To ensure we had the full Innsbruck experience we sat in a cafe close by and I had apple strudel and beer, Julie had sachatort and coffee. It were grand.

The walking route took us past the cathedral of St James (very fancy), the Opera House, the Hofburg (Royal Palace) and the Jesuit Church (a bit plain). By the time we had finished we had complete saturation of historic buildings and got the K bus back to the flat. It’s been a long day of sight seeing, and wherever we were, we could see the wonderful mountains.

26th September

The premier attraction on Innsbruck is the Nordketten Bahnen, a cable car to the Top Of Innsbruck. The city sits in the valley of the river Inn, and mountains climb up steeply to the Nordketten mountains. The journey begins in a small park between the river and the Hofburg, the former royal palace which is at an altitude of 560 metres. Beneath a Zaha Hafid designed canopy, steps lead down to a platform where you alight onto a four carriage funicular railway. This travels underground for a while, then back into the light and across the river.

The cable drawn train climbs steeply up to mountain side village called Hungerburg at 860m, solid where we changed to a cable car to travel up to Seegrube at 1,905m , then change to another cable car to Hagelekar at 2256m, the Top of Innsbruck.

Needless to say, the views are astonishing, with Innsbruck a mile below and views of the Alps and glaciers on the distance. I am a complete wuss when I’m at height, so walking along narrow shingly paths where I could stumble and fall to my certain death was not on my agenda. So we stuck to good paths where no scrambling was involved.

Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way

At ground level, sparrows are hopping around cafes looking for crumbs, at the Top of Innsbruck it’s Alpine Choughs. One happy flew off with my apple core. These are yellow billed Choughs who love the mountains. Red Billed Choughs live on the cliffs of Cornwall and are quite rare.

Some hardy souls were hiking to the Top and others rode up on electric mountain bikes. Others took bikes up on the cable car and rode down. Some Dare Devils flew down beneath paragliders.

Once we returned to the Aldstadt (old town) we wandered around, but it’s only a few streets full of souvenir shops and cafes. Hall in Tyrol has much more to see than Innsbruck old town, and it’s considerably less crowded. But as a whole Innsbruck is a lovely city, with a cloudy blue river running through it and views of the mountains from the city centre. It is very cultural, although we didn’t have time to visit any museums or galleries. There are 30,000 students in the city, which is about a quarter of the population so it’s a lively young city.

I saw this sign at the top of the mountain showing peaks in the distance. Make of it what you will.

Interrail Trip 2026 – Part 7

Ljubliana

20th September

There isn’t a train from Rovijn to Ljubliana, so we booked ourselved a Flixbus. It was a large green comfortable coach, which was travelling all the way to Zagreb eventually. The big bus set on on at dot at 10am, and stopped at numerous towns going north up the coast of Istria. At Umag bus station, two border guards got on before we crossed into Slovenia, and carefully examined everyones passports. One young woman was not allowed to continue, I don’t know what her story was, a sorrowful one no doubt.

Once it reached the city of Koper in Slovenia, the coach turned inland, joined a motorway and we really got shifting at last. Slovenia is a prosperous country, and is covered with mountains and forests, and in places it resembles Switzerland.

Our journey was a tiresome five hours, but I have been on worse trips. When I was 21 I got a Magic Bus from London to Athens, that took 48 hours. Once again we dragged our bags to another flat in a busy street in the old town. I could say apartment rather than flat, but it’s two extra syllables and is too bloody American. The flat is plain and functional, but has everything we need and is in the centre of the compact old town.

We ambled around a while in a post-busride haze, before having a beer by the riverside. The Union beer here is much better than the Croatian cooking lager. The wine was expensive at 5 euros for 100ml, twice as much as in Rovinj. The riverside is lined with busy cafes, with tourists and locals enjoying a drink in the sunshine.

Our tummies were rumbling so we walked down an alley past a bizarre bronze fountain, and found ourselves in a beer garden. A restaurant with an interesting menu beckoned to us, it said “come inside Tim and Julie, I have some delicious Slovenian food for you to enjoy”, so we did. I had Krasjska Klobasa (smoked sausage and mash) and Julie had beef goulash. It was very good, the menu didn’t lie. The waiters were very fast and efficient, and even brought a bowl of water for a customer’s dog. Which was nice.

We treated ourselves to breakfast in a cafe, and walked for 10 mintes to Le Petite Cafe near the University. I had Eggs Benedict which contained “Cured Pork Neck”, turns out that means bacon. It was absolutely delicious, but the coffees were tiny, just one shot with some milk in it, pah!

21st September

At 11am we joined a Free Walking Tour with a guide called Tina. She spoke perfect English with an American accent, and (of course) was very knowldegable about her home city.

She showed us the major sites in the city centre, which is only about 1km across. Many of the buildings are relatively new, because there was an earthquake in 1895 that destroyed a third of the city. Ljubliana was an Austrian city for 500 years, and the use of the Slovenian language was banned. Because so many buildings were destroyed, they were replaced with buildings designed in the fashion of the day which is Art Nouvea. Consequemtly there are many stunning edifices in the city centre.

The walk was a very good introduction to the city, and although it was “Free”, we gave the guide a good tip. By the way I spent four years as a secondary school teacher and the only gift I ever got was a plastic pencil holder. Parents were very tight in the 80s, mingey bastards.

After a Lidl-based lunch back at the ranch, we walked up to the castle, which is very close but up a bloody great hill. There was a funicular going up, but they are for tourists with weak hips rather than stout hearted Travellers. At the castle we met some Americans (firmly in the tourist bracket) who told us they got the Funkla up the hill. Oh how we laughed, inside of course, we are not rude.

The castle is mostly free to get in and wander round, and it has some interesting nooks and crannies, so of which are quite modern looking. I don’t think English Heritage would like what they have done, they like a ruin to stay a ruin. The Archers tower did give splendid views over the city and surrounding hills. There was a taller tower, but we would have to spend money going up that. We need that money to spend on Lidl supplies. There is a park next to the castle with a historic hump on it . I read a sign about the hump, but I can’t remember what the heck it said. It was a nice hump with more lovely views.

a redesigned water cistern in the castle

After descending down a zig zag path to the city centre we walked around admiring the lovely old and interesting buildings. It is a compact, and very attractive city. At the base of the castle hill we found Gorji trg, a street of old houses and restaurants that survived the earthquake. I saw some grafitti on a wall and asked Julie to take a picture of me. I posed like a punk on an album cover in 1977. Somehow I don’t look like Joe Strummer.

I cooked our dinner (penne with pasta sauce and chicken) and cracked a bottle of Limoncello we bought at Lidl. We were both convinced it said 4.99 on the shelf, but after drinking the citrus liquor I found the receipt and it was actually 14.99. Noooooo!!! It wasn’t a genuine bargain, I feel heartbroken. I may have to shop in Aldi in future. Luckily a big Aldi opens in Twickenham on 1st October.

September 22nd

The main attractions out of Ljubliana are the Lakes Bled and Bohinj. Getting to them is very tricky by public transport, so Julie found us an organised tour online.

At 9am we met Marko at the Dragon Bridge, along with five other people from Canada, Australia, America, Germany and India. A truly international band of travellers.

Driving out of Ljubliana on the motorway we headed towards the Julian Alps, a white limestone mountain range in Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. It was allegedly named after Julius Ceaser. That’s obviously bollocks because he wasn’t called Julian Ceasar was he?

Our first destination was Savica Waterfall, or Slap Savica in Slovenian. It is 78 metres high and is the main source of the Sava Bohinjka River. To reach the waterfall it’s 4 euros and 550 steps, which takes about 20 minutes. At the top is a crowded wooded platform about 5 metres square, packed with people taking photos of the waterfall on one side and the amazing Bohinj valley on the other. The valley is a perfect glacial “U” shape like we all learned about in geography.

The next stop on the tour was Lake Bohinj, which is the biggest lake in Slovenia, 4.2 Km long. It is very peaceful and beautiful, with a picturesque bridge and church. It’s also very cold. I saw two hardy souls in swimsuits trying to get in, but they didn’t get as far as their most sensitive parts before getting out again. The water was perfectly clear, and fish were visible swimming close to the bank.

Everybody back on the bus! Next stop was Lake Bled, the second most famous place in Slovenia. It really is an exquisitely beautiful alpine lake, perfectly blue and surrounded by pine forests. At its centre is a small island with a church on it, appearing to be straight off a chocolate box. On an eagles eyrie above the lake is Bledski Grad, a castle sited there not for defensive purposes, but because it looked really good.

Church on the island and castle on the crag

First things first, we had lunch at a lakeside restaurant, Mushroom Risotto, which was very good. At lunch I had a conversation with comeone other than Julie, which made a change. She was a software engineer from Dehli living in Stratford, east London.

Our guide Marko is 18 or 19 and perfectly polite. He is a great driver and took an interest in all his customers. He was trained by his Uncle who introduced himself. He greeted us all with a handshake (of iron) and told us we could ring him any time for advice, and spoke like he meant it. He was also a former international basketball player, and the American guest got quite excited about it. I know less about basketball than you can write on the back of a postage stamp.

There is a very scenic path all around the lake, and we promenaded slowly and took in the views of the island, castle and boats criss crossing the water. The flat-bottomed boats are called Plenta, and have a single oarsman rowing forward with two long oars. They have a dozen passengers crossing to the church, so the oarsmen are really strong.

Some of our Fellowship of the Lake, walked up a steep hill to get a better view, but we Couldn’t Be Arsed, it all looked perfectly nice from the lakeside. At one end of the lake people were swimming, because it is warmed by thermal springs. The gentlemen’s future fertility was not at stake. There is a rowing clubhouse and a very long rowing course marked out by buoys (not boys) down the middle of the lake. It looked fantastic for rowing, skifftastic in fact.

The Fellowship got back together at 5pm and Marko drove us back to Ljubliana., which only took 45 minutes. I have seen Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, Lake Louise, Lake Como and Lake Garda, and I think that Lake Bled is the prettiest of the lot.

23 September

Today is for relaxing and enjoying more of what Ljubljana has to offer. We also have to make sure that our trains all line up to get to Innsbruck in Austria tomorrow. Julie had read that the trains to Villach were replaced by buses tomorrow, so we needed to go to the railway station here to double check.

On the way we wandered, perhaps meandered, down an old street and came across a cafe that appeared to be patronised by local people called Trubar. I ordered us some Americano coffees and burek, cheese for Julie and meat for me. I wasn’t sure what to expect, bureks not being available in Wetherspoons at home. What I got was a pastry half the size of a dinner plate, bingo! My meaty burek was layers of flakey pastry with mince in between, so a bit like a Cornish pasty. Dear Reader, it was top notch scoff, and very filling. Also it cost 3.5 euros, a Euro Bargain, which I deeply appreciate.

Close to the station is Metelkova, an “alternative” / “bohemian” area of a few blocks of flats covered in unusual sculptures and graffiti. It also had a man shooting up on a park bench and other shady looking characters. I feared for the safety of my phone, so we hot-footed it outta there.

At the railway station information office, a very efficient and helpful lady reassured us that trains are definitly running tomorrow. However our train starts in Croatia and is always late. She told us the best trains to get to ensure our connections to Innsbruck, and we have to change three times on the way.

You may be wondering how we chose our route for the month. Our aim was not to go to cities we had already visited on our last Interrail, which meant avoiding Paris, Strasburg, Munich, Budapest, Salzburg, Verona, Sienna, Genona, Nice and Lyon. Our destinations also had to be enticing and well connected. So we watched a huge number of YouTube videos of cities we thought mighty be contenders. Then Julie got onto Booking.com to find suitable places to stay.

Close to the town centre and the station
With a washing machine for our limited supply of clothes
Fit within our budget
Have a balcony if possible

Mostly she has found very suitable places, Julie is really good at this stuff

Moving on from the station being well fed and well informed , we walked to Tivoli park. You can walk everywhere in Ljubliana, it’s a compact city. Tivoli is a lovely park with mowed lawns and benches that continues into a huge hilly and forested nature reserve. It’s as if St James Park was joined onto Richmond Park. Being gluttons for punishment we hiked up a steep path and then down another and discovered a delightful Swiss chalet style building with a cafe. There was only a few people there, but the drinks menu at Bistro Svicarija was enticing us. So we sat in the sunshine and ordered two Union pivos, it was the right thing to do.

Leaving the Bistro somewhat relaxed, we continued exploring , and whaddya know, came across another EVEN BETTER cafe at Tivoli Grad selling cocktails at very affordable prices. It was sunny, the view was amazing , it was a fucking no brainer! This is what holidays are all about, drinking in the sunshine in the afternoon when it feels naughty.

It’s a short walk back to the city centre which was still bathed in sunshine. This is the splendid view from Congress Square.

Interrail Trip 2026 – Part 6

Rovinj

15th September

Today is the halfway mark of our trip around Europe. Well it’s a few countries in western Europe to be honest. We decided to leave Belarus, Moldova and North Macedonia for another year, if ever. Leaving another flat means repacking all our worldly (on tour) goods into a small wheelie case. So here’s some tips:

Use IKEA packaging cubes and squash them well on the floor
Lay socks flat so they don’t make lumps
Lift your case onto a table to save your back and knees
Book accomodation with a washing machine
Just throw away that old tee shirt you have been keeping for sentimental purposes, new tee shirts can be bought anywhere, even in Croatia

I’m typing these fine words in Trieste coach station because our Flixbus to Rovinj is already 47 minutes late. There’s no point in getting narky, one has to take the Buddhist approach. The Almighty has cast a pebble into the river of time, and the ripples have slowed down a coach on the A3 road to Trieste. It is, what it is, a right old pain in the arse.

The green Flixbus coach passes through the Dinaric Alps south, through the Istrian peninsula. The first 20 miles or so is through the small part of Slovenia that faces the Adriatic. Then the road goes on into Croatia passing through verdant woodland and fields of grapevines and olives.

Rovinj is an exceedingly pretty town that has been passed from one empire to another for millennia and is now part of Croatia, a county that has been independent only since 1991.

Our new accomodation is up a steep hill paved in variously sized limestone blocks. After dumping out bags we walked about 50 yards before finding a pizza restaurant at the bottom of the street. There is a wide choice of places to eat in the town, dozens and dozens, mostly lining the water front.

The town is on a promontory so it’s almost surrounded by the sea, and very easy to walk around, or push your dog. Dogs in prams are a theme here for some reason. Old dogs used to stay at home where they could sit on their favourite cushion, chew a bone and fart contentedly. These days they are taken out on a pram like a hairy slobbering baby. They must miss sniffing other dogs bums and peeing on lampposts.

Another theme I noticed are bikes, hundreds of them and probably two thirds are electric. I noticed that in Europe as a whole, electric bikes are much more popular than at home. In years to come European legs will wither due to lack of resistant exercise, whereas stout British legs will enable us to win the Tour de Whatever repeatedly.

The town was very lively in the evening, there was some sort of local festival. In the piazza a stage was set up and a pop group were playing Croatian songs, plus a passable Uptown Funk, which I jigged along to. On a the habour wall there was a row of stalls selling food and drink. The biggest queue was for a stall selling fresh tuna with bread. A piscine butcher was carving up and enormous black tuna, and cutting it into slices which he passed to another man who slapped them on a barbecue.

We reached the sea wall just as the sun was setting, it was absolutely fabulous darling. Rovinj has a lot going for it, no wonder it is so popular.

16th September

Rovinj is really lovely town, the stone-paved streets are thronging with tourists perusing the fridge magnets, bottles of olive oil and souvenirs. There are many many places selling delicious looking pastries and gelato. Resisting temptation is tough, but I don’t want to be a Fatter Bastard than I already am.

The town was a Venetian stronghold for 500 years, and the town is still officially bilingual, Croatian and Italian. Practically it is trilingual, since i havent come across anyone who doesn’t speak English.

From the harbour there are views of the old town surmounted by the church of Saint Euphemia, which is reached by winding steep roads. Pedestrians and cars share the same narrow roads built for people and donkeys. You have to regularly pin yourself against the wall so another wealthy tourist can have their multiple suitcases transported up the hill. Tourists not travellers you see? I like to dress in a sack and crawl up the hill while whipping myself with a bundle of spaghetti.

Rovinj (or Rovingna in Italian) was originally an island surrounded by walls. The separating channel was filled in during the 18th century to make it a the town into a promentory. The church of St Euphemia is dedicated to an early Christan virgin martyr, virgins are obviously the best type because they haven’t done any of that filthy business.

Allegedly her marble sarcophagus floated to Rovinj from Constantinople. It was dragged up the beach by a boy and two calves. I’m a little sceptical, but seeing as it’s the Saints Day today I’m willing to suspend disbelief. There was a huge celebration taking place in the church with a full choir and an array of scarlet clad priests including a bishop.

After lunch at the flat and a brief snooze, we walked to Lone Beach. It’s a shingle beach, like most in Croatia which are painful to walk on. But I’ve been to Croatian beaches several times before and came prepared with water shoes so I can walk in and out of the sea confidently like James Bond. I could feel the admiring glances of German pensioners (ladies of course) comparing me to Daniel Craig.

The water is warm, but there aren’t many fish, they probably all go into Frito Misto in local restaurants. After some sunbathing I was in need of a beer from the cafe, so I bought one as big as my chest.

In the piazza in the town there were more saints day celebrations going on. There was a race of traditional batanas, flat bottomed fishing boats. The rowers stand up and row forwards. Being a rower of enormous experience, I could see the rowers weren’t experts. Right at the start there was a clash of oars and one of them was broken, so the guy continued with one oar. They all rowed around a bouy and back again. The guy with one oar came second, which shows the quality of the competition.

We picked one of the many restaurants and had a fishy dinner. While we were eating a rock band started playing tunes I recognised and I got as excited as a kitten with a ball of wool. Replete with fish, we went over to the stage to see an excellent Croation covers band. They kept changing the drummer, honestly there must have been six or seven. There were also three or four guest guitarists, Saint Euphemia would have loved it. One of the singers was Angelica Zacchiggna, who was fantastic, an exceptional rock singer who covered “What’s Going On”. I was right in my element, they also covered “Money for Nothing”, “China Girl”, “Wish You Were Here” and bizarrely “You’re the One That I Want”.

17 September

Thunderstorms were promised , and arrived at about 8am. We had considered visiting Pula today, but not in the rain. So we walked to the Tommy supermarket for eggs and bread, and then looked for a good coffee

We found one just as the next torrent began, and sheltered with other tourists in kagouls. Our table had four seats that we shared with two sets of couples in progression who drank cappuccinos and didn’t converse. Naturally we had Americanos because we actually like the taste of coffee. The waiter was a particularly surly fellow, and smiling was not part of his vocabulary. Perhaps he wanted to work in musical theatre, but had suffered constant rejection at auditions.

The coffees were soon completed and were followed by a decision as to whether to have a cake or a “proper drink”. The booze won the fight and I had a Paulaner Weiss bier and Julie had a Limocello Spritz. Time passed in a very pleasant way.

Back at the flat we had good old egg on toast for lunch, followed by a lovely kip. Once the streets dried out we explored the streets of the old town, which are narrow and wind up to the church at the top.

In the evening we watched “The Gentlemen” on Netflix on my Chromebook. It’s very Guy Ritchie, with Ray Winstone going full-on Barking Mad Cockney Gangster. It is very sweary, violent and funny and won’t win any BAFTAs.

18th September

The weather forecast today has improved from shit to only slightly shit, so we took the bus to Pula at the southernmost tip of the Istrian Peninsula. Pula has been Roman, Byzantine, Ostrogoth, Frankish etc, etc etc and it now Croatian. The history here is complex and often very nasty, with completing empires and ethnicities. Like Rovinj it is bilingual Croatian and Italian.

The principal attractions are it’s Roman remains, which are very impressive. The Arena is complete and in very good condition, considering it’s over 2,000 years old.

There is also a Temple of Augustus, the first Emperor. It got bombed during the war, but was rebuilt and looks amazing. It looks very similar to the Maison Carre in Nimes that we visited in 2022. I’m surprised The Donald hasn’t built himself a temple. He has got the basement of a gigantic ballroom, which feels a bit camp to me. I never had POTUS down as a Strictly fan.

The Temple of Augustus and Roman Patricians

The square by the Temple is called, quite appropriately The Forum, and we arrived just as it started raining. We dashed for shelter in a restaurant where I had Beef Goulash and Gnocchi, which made a change from Italian nosh.

On the hill above the town sits the Venetian Fortress, built in the 16th century in a star shape like those built by Vauban in France. It had great views from it’s walls over the harbour and its huge shipyard. It was the home of the Austro Hungarian Navy in WW1, and the guns of the fortress protected it. The British Navy blockaded the Adriatic so that the Austrians couldn’t get out and they didn’t play any part in the war.

The small museum was about the life of Austro Hungarian soldiers who were stationed there in the 19th century. Their living conditions in the fort were very primitive, as you can see from their latrines.

Beneath the castle are long tunnels built for defensive purposes in WW1 which lead off in four directions from beneath the castle and emerge on the streets beneath. They also served as air raid shelters in WW2. The tunnel we took emerges close to the Roman Gemini gates through the old walls of the city.

Pula has some great historic sites, but the city is not as pretty as Rovinj. To be fair we only saw part of it, so it may have some scenic areas that we missed.

19th September

The sun is out again, woo hoo! After two days of rainy days we can soak up some solar rays again. To the south of Rovinj is a wooded promontory with a forest park covering it. We walked along the coast from the harbour, passing the marina and several swanky hotels. The first “beach” we reached was Mulini, which was a very nice concrete platform giving easy access to the sea. Julie settled herself in the shade while I went for a swim. Once again not many fish to see.

Mulini Beach – you have to be imaginative

The narrow shingle beach close by was completely covered in recliners and umbrellas, a set costs 100 euros a day. That’s a night’s accommodation for us.

The promenade became a gravel path through the pine trees within the Zlatni Rt Forest Park. We shared the path with cyclists, and everyone over 40 had an electric bike, probably 80% of passing bikes. I love cycling and done so for a good 65 years. I will consider going electric once my leggies can’t do it any more, but I hope that’s a long way off.

Towards the tip of the forest park is the Montauro Quarry. It produced limestone to build palazzos in Venice, it was good stone very close to the sea for shipping across the Adriatic. Today it is a popular site for rock climbing , and has over 150 bolted routes, like Stanage Edge but next to a beautiful sea rather than the dreary Peak District.

The day was mostly spent ambling through the pine forest and gazing out to sea. We did stop for a coffee and Julie ordered a Coffee with Cream. It turned out to be a single shot of espresso with a large portion of squirty cream on top, much more cream than coffee. It was gone in a mouthful.

At another cafe we stopped for a beer. An American overheard us talking about sherry (in the context of a trip to Jerez) so we explained what it is. He had never seen or tasted sherry before. Turns out his normal drink is Vodka, which was a surprise because judging by the size of him, he looked like a five pints of brown ale a night kinda guy.

I thought that Rovinj was a particularly attractive town, which is also a very popular resort. I would recommend it to anyone for up to a week, you can easily fly into Pula and get a bus here or hire a car to see more of the neighbourhood.

Interrail Trip 2026 – Part 5

Trieste

12 September

Trieste Centrale is just two hours by train from Venice Santa Lucia. The countryside is the flat rich farmland of Veneto, which reminds me a bit of the Lincolnshire Fens. But the Fens doesn’t have the same coffee, spritz, wine, and risotto. I won’t be holidaying in Spalding any time soon.

Out flat in Trieste is in an anonymous block where most of the tenants are doctors and lawyers. As usual we get in by taking a key out of a box with a combination. But it is the best organised place we have stayed inon this trip. There are little notes all over the place explaining how things work, and a big file full of instructions for the appliances. Just what you need in a holiday flat, because most flats are just terrible in that department. Often we have had to Google the instructions for their washing machine to find out how to use it. Our hosts even left a little bottle of Prosecco (which is an actual the name of village near here) and two bus tickets, sweet people.

The centre of Trieste was mostly built by the Austro Hungarian Empire in the late 19th century, so it resembles Vienna on the Adriatic. It looks stately, with wide street lined with cafes. Facing the sea is the Piazza Unita d’Italia, a huge square surrounded by very grand buildings.

Close by is the Canal Grande, a short canal that brings the sea into the city centre. When we passed by last night there was lots of excitement due to an international kayak polo competition. Two teams in small canoes battle it out throwing a soft football or wacking them with their paddles, trying to get it into a small goal a couple of metres in the air. It’s quite fun to watch for about twenty minutes, which is my annual limit for sport.

A pier called the Molo Audace projects out to see, but it has no ships tied up to it. It’s a great place to sit on an iron bollard and look at all the yachts. The Molo de Bersaglieri close by had two enormous cruise liners moored up full of people on a whistle stop tour of the Med. I travel by train and have to cook my own food, so I have an enormous amount of moral superiority. I am a Traveller, like Bruce Chatwin or Paul Theroux, not a mere tourist. One has to suffer for one’s better kind of holiday.

A cruise liner, suitable for the less committed tourist

In the Piazza we saw a band doing a sound test for a gig for a charity ball at Harry’s Hotel in the piazza. To make it clear, we were outside the hotel and so was the band, we didn’t crash the party in our shorts and teeshirts. We went to a canal side restaurant for dinner (crispy chicken and chips as it happens) and returned to Harry’s for a blast of rock ‘n roll. However it was a charity “ball”(there appeared to be no dancing involved) and there were endless people in dinner suits or posh frocks giving speeches about the charity and the goodness of giving them money. So we never did get to see the band, which was uncharitable as far as I am concerned.

The canal looked magical at night, with a sunset like the colour of an Aperol Spritz. Trieste is a majestic city that I knew very little about before arriving, but I like its a greta place to visit.

I look lovely in this one, don’t you think?

13th September

Dear little ChatGPT provided us with a short itinerary for the highlights of the city. So following its advice we went back to the canal and had a cappucino. It is breakfast and therefore quite acceptable to have a cappucino in Italy, to have one in the afternoon would be an abomination.. Trieste is the coffee capital of Italy, and it was a damned fine froffy coffee. They are smaller than at home, but taste of coffee rather than just hot milk.

On a bridge over the canal is a statue of James Joyce, who taught English at a Berlitz school in Trieste in the early 20th century. He wrote part of Ullyses and the Dubliners in the city.

Next on the itinerary is the Roman amphitheatre, which was worth looking at for a few minutes. But as a Seasoned Traveller I have seen several of them now, and they are sooo First Century AD. The best IMHO is in Syracuse in Sicily.

Roman Amphitheatre, looks very similar to other amphitheatres

Next little Chatty guided us through a car park and along a tunnel to get a lift to Cattedralle di San Giusto. I know that AIs may take over the world and make us all slaves to the machine, but for the time being they can be damned useful. It’s a smallish but ancient cathedral which is flooded with light due to a huge rose window. I liked it more than San Marco (in Venice), which was very gloomy inside. Behind the alter is a modern (1920’s) mosaic in gold and blue.

Outside of the castle are the remains of the forum of the Roman town which was on top of the hill. Walking over the forum you reach a ramp up to the Castello of San Giusto. It was built in the 1500s and deveoped by the Venetians and Austrians over the centuries and is now a museum. A very fine museum it is too, with fantastic views of Trieste from its round bastion. Inside what was formerly the Austrian Captain’s house is a huge display of swords, spears and guns. Everything you need for a zombie apocalypse, should it happen. Shaun of the Dead also used a cricket bat and chucked LPs at the Undead, but they were not on display. Hypothetically which LPs would work best; perhaps disks by The Zombies (ironically), the Grateful Dead or The Damned.

After lunch at the flat we took the No. 20 bus to Barcola “beach”. It is actually a concrete path next to the sea with a strip of pine woodland behind it. The locals were happily sunbathing on towels on the concrete, but being pale Brits we hid under the trees on a bench. There were steps into the briney nearby and I took a dip. The sea was a lovely temperature, but there wasn’t much to see, just lots of tiny fish, too small to dip in batter and make whitebait. Mostly we read our Kindles and occasionally looked at the sea.

Barcola “beach”, no sand just concrete for tough Italian bums

Out to sea I could see an enormous three masted yacht, the imaginatively named “Sailing Yacht A“, owned by a Russian oligarch called Andrey Melnichen. The yacht is 143 meters (469 feet) long with towering carbon-fiber masts reaching 100 meters above the water line. Italian financial police seized the vessel in March 2022 under European Union sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

14th September

We got outtta Dodge today, taking the No.6 bus to Castello Miramar about five miles away up the coast. BTW do you remember No.6 cigarettes? They were small, cheap and very popular with students in the 70s. Several of the people I knew who smoked them regularly are “no longer with us”. Fortunately No. 6 ciggies are no longer on sale.

Miramare is a mid 19th century mansion overlooking the sea built for Ferdinand Maximilian of Hapsburg, younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph. He was commander of the Austrian navy which was based in Trieste. He later became Emperor of Mexico, but was shot by republicans who did not fancy being ruled by an Austrian.

Maximillian, big in Trieste, not so much in Mexico

I digress! The castle is a big mansion on a limestone crag. Part of the sea that it faces is a marine national park and there are maritime research institutes close by. Our primary interest are the 54 acres of gardens which are very peaceful. The cafes all serve illy coffee, which has its HQ in Trieste. Coffee is a big deal in the city and there are several historic cafes that look like the old ones in Vienna.

The gardens are very lovely, with lots of summer flowers still in full bloom. It’s a relaxing place to just look at flowers being grateful for not having to work any more. Retirement isn’t all about bingo and ITV3 in the afternoon.

I found this statue bizarre, it is supposed to be Eros “strangling a goose“. Quite clearly the artist didn’t know what a goose looks like, also it sounds like a rude euphemism made up by Viz.

In the afternoon we went for a walk around the Citta Vecchia (old town) which is on the slope of the hill that rises to the castello. Its small but pretty, and the major landmark is the old Roman city gate called the Arco Riccardo.

Close by is a library called Biblioteca Hortis, which had an excellent exhibition of posters by a graphic artist called Marcello Dudovich. His work mostly included very sensual ladies advertising drinks, soap and a department store called Mele.

Walking back along the sea front we stopped for a Spritz and enjoyed the view. There has been a considerable amount of imbibing of Aperol Spritz on this holiday, when in Rome (or Trieste) do as the Romans do.

I like this statue of a little girl with a penguin, there has to be a story behind it.

Interrail Trip 2026 – Part 4

Venice

September 9th

We have left the mountains behind and are travelling to Venice via Milan. Milan Centrale is a huge busy station built in a grandiose style in the Fascist era.

The local train from Lecco to Milan was a stopper with only a few passengers. The Venice train is an express that we needed a reservation for, and it’s full.

I started getting excited when we crossed the causeway from Mestre, passing a huge oil refinery. The causeway was built by the Austrians in the mid 19th century, which changed Venice forever by giving it a connection to the mainland.

After arriving at San Lucia station we tugged our cases over 7 different bridges and along numerous alleys before reaching the plain green door of our rental room. They should get some British town planners to fill in the canals with old pasta and wine bottles and make some proper roads that you can drive a Range Rover down, it would make it much more convenient for tourists.

Our room is the best so far, it’s huge and has a ceiling about 10 feet high. We share a massive Common Room with the other residents that used to be a dance studio. The accomodation is in the San Croce district, about 15 minutes from the Rialto Bridge.

After getting our act together , we walked to the Rialto Bridge and across the island to San Marco piazza. It was, of course, heaving with tourists wanding around clutching gelatos in one hand and a phone in the other. Rain was promised but didn’t arrive. All the posh cafes in the piazza have a little orchestra of 4 or 5 musicians to entertain the guests. I enjoyed their arrangements of Careless Whisper, and the Wedding Theme from the Godfather. There must be some sort of special event on, because there were several very tall glamorous women in stilettos being pursued by photographers. They all seemed to be 6 feet tall and were unfeasibly good looking in clinging dresses. Wood woof Nursey !!!(as Flashheart would say).

Venice looks great from every angle, even when buildings are decaying they look good. A bit like me.

Everyone was taking photos of their girlfriends, there was a huge amount of posing and pouting going on. It’s actually great fun to watch, God knows what they do with all the pictures.

On the way back to our AirBnB we stopped at a cafe for a Spritz and chose a Select Spritz rather than an Aperol. It was red and more bitter than Aperol, but I have a sweet tooth so it wasn’t for me.

September 10th

I slept like a log, such a relief after three nights in a Lecco oven. Our host Antonella provided breakfast, croissants in plastic wrappers and instant coffee.

In our lounge there was a Venice guide book which we borrowed, and followed one of its itineraries. The city is a maze of calles (alleys) and the book I borrowed from the Common Room was useless for navigation so we relied once more on Google Maps. The most fun was watching a narrow section of the Grand Canal near Piazza Roma where water taxis, gondolas, delivery barges, and even Amazon deliveries all fought go space perfectly. The drivers/pilots/captains are very skilled and their vessels are very manoeuvrable. They steer with one finger on the wheel and talk on radios or smoke a fag at the same time. It is a great spectacle.

There are no motorised vehicles on land, and dustmen fill barrows with trash which then gets transferred to barges. Delivery men take everything on trolleys, and that involves goong up.and down stairs at every bridge. No wonder they eat lots of pasta.

Along one canal path (fondamenta) we watched workmen repairing the stonework in front of a big house. They had a crane on a barge to lift the huge stones.

The guides walk took us to Ca’ Rezzonico, a palazzo built on the 18th century for a family of the same name. We arrived just as the weather turned nasty, so perfect timing. It is a huge mansion full of frescos, paintings and sculptures, and the place where poet Robert Browning died. My favourite works were early paintings by Canaletto, which are different in style to those in the National Gallery.

The best sculpture was an incredible veiled head of a young woman, its hard to believe it is solid marble.

I didnt take this photo, I was the wrong side of the canal

Outside a considerable rainstorm had started, so when we got tired of culture, we went to the lovely cafe in the mansion and had an Aperol Spritz which came with a bag of crisps, perfecto! By the time we had finished our aperitivo the rain had almost stopped. So we rolled our trousers up a bit and skipped over the puddles. I negotiated the maze, but stopped at a gift shop to buy a stripey teeshirt like the gondolier’s wear.

At 7.30 we went for dinner at Murovenezia, just a few minutes away. I had the best seafood risotto I have ever eaten. It was creamy and perfectly cooked, full of delicious seafood that I think was lobster. A perfect end to the day

September 11th

After breakfast (croissants in plastic and instant coffee again) we had a short “domestic” about my lack of decisiveness regarding what to see today. I settled (under pressure) on the Basilico San Marco, and failed to book it on my phone. So I got the Chromebook out and finally succeeded without being beaten up.

Our booking was at 14.30, so we followed another of the walking tours in the guidebook, this time in the district of Canareggio. It was beautifully quiet in the morning, the biggest joy of Venice is the total lack of traffic. On land everything is moved by muscle power, and the porters have to shift the trolleys up and down all the steps at bridges.

Our first stop was the Ghetto, the Jewish district of Venice that gave its name to other ethnic concentrations around the world. It looked like other districts in the city, but had some bronze plaques on the wall showing some of the horrors heaped upon the community during the war. Mussolini sent 20,000 Italian Jews to German concentration camps

At 2.30 we had entry tickets to the Basilica of San Marco. It was once the private church of the Doge (Duke) of Venice, but is now the cathedral for Venice. It was started in the 11th century and has been added to over the last 1000 years. The interior is covered with golden mosaics of all the usual subjects: Jesus, Madonna (not that one), assorted regular saints and in pole position Saint Mark. Somewhere in the basilica are relics of St Mark, which must be a bit shriveled after 2,000 years.

In the museum of the basilica are four bronze horses that the Venetians stole from Constantinople during the 4th Crusade, which probably came from the Hippodrome (race track). On the balcony over the entrance of the cathedral are copies overlooking the piazza.

In the evening we went to the eastern district of Castello to a street of restaurants called Via Guiseppe Garibaldi. To keep the evening symmetrical we ate at Trattoria Garibaldi, and I had some extremely good sardines. I love oily fish.

Venice at night is just as gorgeous as Venice is the day.

Interrail Trip 2026 – Part 3

Lake Como

6th September

As we pass Lago de Poschiavo it is a milky turquoise blue, and reflects the mountains above it. We are completing the remains of our Ratische Railways trip from Poschiavo to Tirano, and I’m overwhelmed by the beauty of the landscape . At Brusio the train does a complete spiral, and I could see the front and back of train curving around the tight bends.

At Tirano the Ratische line ends and we changed to a Trenitalia towards Lecco on Lake Como.

Lecco is at the foot of the eastern branch of Lake Como. It is not as touristy as other towns on the lake, but it is very convenient for trains and boat trips up and down the lake.

The city is surrounded by massive mountains and is well connected by rail to Milan. Our Airbnb is half an hour walk from the centre and fourth floor of a block and no lift. Our attitude is that it’s all good exercise. It’s also over 30 degrees, Scorchio! It is getting a bit tiresome, hauling our bags up 60 steps. This flat is not one of the better ones, its too far from the lake and is in an uninspiring part of town. BUT its only 7 minutes walk from a LIdl, so I’m not gonner starve!

When it cooled in the evening we walked down to the lake front, which is full of promenaders eating ice cream or enjoying cold drinks. A small market has stalls selling cheap jewelry and (weirdly) magnesium supplements. I’m not a follower of social trends, but I do notice lots of pseudo science wellness bollocks coming in and out of fashion. It’s always been around, I remember my mum visiting Mr Fiddling (honestly) who was Horncastle’s local bone setter, a kind of community physiotherapist. He was probably as useful as our local GP.

7th September

On Monday we travelled north up Como to Varenna. The train was rammed, and we stood like sweaty sardines for half an hour. People poured off the train and walked down the road to the lake much to the annoyance of local motorists. Those guys should try driving through Twickenham on match day.

Varenna is a small extremely photogenic town strung along the lakeside. There are pink and yellow villas along the water front, and expensive looking speedboats racing over to Belagio across the lake. There was a high proportion of young women in the town trying to get the best Instagram shot. There was lots of posing and flicking of hair while patient boyfriends/girlfriends/fathers took lots of photos. We just watched in amusement and passed rude comments to each other. A couple of Korean newly weds were getting their photos taken at various locations across the town. They had a team of three photographers making sure they looked perfect.

We spent hours in the lovely botanic gardens of Villa Monastero. It is a long narrow garden on the banks of the lake, which was a convent 500 years ago but now belongs to the town.

The town was full, like St Ives on a Bank Holiday, but the views over the lake are unbeatable. The streets and alleys are narrow and steep, and there are many opportunities to get a Spritz.

8th September

Looking for local things to do in Lecco, I came across the Piani D’ Erna cable car up a mountain overlooking the town. It looked promising, and could be reach by bus. Finding the bus stop was slightly challenging, and I had to ask a gentleman taking his grandson out in pram. He couldn’t speak English but understood “autobus cinque” and much waving of arms. He walked us to the correct stop and I thanked him with a grazie mille. We took the number 5 bus up a very windy road to the cable car station. Everyone on the bus bought tickets and we squeezed into the same car. I steadied myself on the escape ladder on the ceiling.

The cable car stations at the bottom and top are quite scruffy, they look like they were built fifty years ago and haven’t had a lick of paint since. However the mechanical apparatus was sound.

At the top was a lacklustre cafe, like you would get in Morecambe in the winter. The whole place looked neglected, and municipal budgets did not extend to refurbishing it.

A stoney path lead up to a panoramic viewpoint, and the view over Lecco.and the lakes was literally awesome. The whole city was on view, and places well beyond it. I had to hold the railing tightly because I get Tingly Balls in high places. There’s probably a medical name for it, but I haven’t discussed it with a doctor. If anyone knows what it is please let me know in the Comment. The viewpoint was at 1362 metres, which is Very Fucking High in English.

The paths were all broken up rock, which is a bad reminder of the walk down Pulpit Rock on Nelson, British Columbia where Julie slipped and broke her leg in 2012. But this time she didn’t, which is nice.

A wide road lead downhill and eventually rewarded us with more amazing views of the mountains to the north. A wooden sign advertised Refugio Marchett, with a menu attached. We came to a cluster of houses and central to them was a wooden chalets with tables outside, it looked very promising. I ordered Tagliolini with Wild Boar ragu, and it was the best meal of my trip so far. We sat on the sunshine on the perfect silence of a mountain top. I expected Julie Andrews to come from behind a tree and sing to me, but sadly she is Los Angeles somewhere. The Refugio had two snowmobiles in a garage, so there must be lots of snow here in the winter. I expect that’s why it’s a refuge.

Refugio Marchett – the best restaurant so far

Interrail Trip 2026 – Part 2

Switzerland

4th September

Rule No 1 of Interailling: Don’t plan short transfer times! If the first train is late you are buggered for the next one.

DB (German railways) are not like Swiss railways, they are often late. So if you have five or ten minutes to change trains you will be severely stuffed by a short delay.

Our train from Koblenz to Mannheim is half and hour late, which affects all the the other connections to Chur. It’s all part of the travelling experience, and worse things happen at sea (and in airports)

The Rhine is noticeably lower than the Moselle, it looks 1 to 2 metres lower than normal levels, judging by marks on the banks. The train to Mannheim is squeezed in next to the cliffs, passing through picturesque small towns and castles every few miles. It is a very beautiful landscape. The journey to Mannheim and Zurich was uneventful, apart from mild anxiety about making our connections, which we didn’t.

The Rhine valley opens up from a gorge into a wide plain scattered with ox bow lakes. Julie reckons it looked like Lincolnshire.

I manage all my Interrail tickets via the Rail Planner app. I put in the start place and destination, and the app gives us all the trains we can get. I can filter them to see if we need a reservation. Once I have saved that journey I can add the journey to my Pass and I am given a QR code which is my ticket. I can show the QR to the inspector who can then scan it.

Once we got to Zurich we had to make another spirited dash for platform 7 to continue our journey to Chur. We asked the ticket inspector about Chur , and pronounced like churn. He gave us a funny look, so I showed him our itinerary. Then he understood what we meant, it is actually pronounced Cu Hur. The Swiss countryside was very beautiful, with neat houses by lakes with people in sunbathing on lush lawns. The green fields were scattered with wooden barns and chalet houses. It was everything I expected about Switzerland.

Chur is a prosperous town and is the oldest in Switzerland, but didn’t look it. Our mobile data provider (Lebara)doesn’t cover Switzerland in our roaming plan, so it took us a while to find the hotel. I asked a charming lady the directions, and sent me off up the wrong street, damn her! Julie asked in a hotel and they gave us a map. We tracked it down in the old town.

The Franzankana hotel is old fashioned, has no lift and shared bathrooms. When we went up to our room there was a man walking the corridor wrapped (modestly) in a towel, having just used the shared shower. We had to make ourselves decent when going for a pee in the bathroom in the corridor during the night, what fun! But I did sleep very well it must be the mountain air.

Saturday 5th September

Today we traveled through the Alps from Chur to Poschiavo on the route of the Bernina Express. I say “on the route” because the actual Bernina Express is a luxury train with bigger windows and bigger prices. It would normally cost 100 Euros on the Express. We took a regular local train which is just as good and you don’t have to reserve a seat. At the start a group of small children pulled the window down and loudly shouted “hallo” at everyone they saw. They were cute to begin with, but became irritating after twenty minutes. Luckily they got off soon after.

Without doubt it is the most beautiful rail journey I have ever taken. The red Rhastiasche Bahn train gradually climbs through narrow valleys, crosses many bridges and viaducts and plunges into black tunnels. There are 55 tunnels and 196 bridges and the gauge is 1000 mm or 3 foot 3 and a half inches, whereas the Standard Gauge in the UK is four feet eight inches. The narrow gauge means it can take much tighter bends, and it winds down mountains and does complete loops under mountains.

The windows slide half way down so you can feel the wind in your hair and smell the pine trees. You can see the front of the train as it takes yet another tight bend before disappearing into a tunnel.The views are sublime and fulfilled all my expectations of seeing cows grazing in fields next to wooden chalets, proper chocolate box images!

The journey is divided into two stages, the Albula line (Chur to St Moritz) opened in 1904, and the Albula line (St Moritz to Tirano) finished in 1910. They are almost unbelievable feats of enginerring that should be exprienced by all train lovers. Between Ozpezio Bernina and Tirano there is a 1,800 metre (5,900 feet) difference in elevation.

At Bergun Fislsur station people walked across the tracks confidently, one of them carrying a baby. Try that at Clapham Junction…

In the valleys there are unfeasibly green pastures like golf courses, there has been no drought like we have in England. The train wasn’t very busy so we could move from seats on the right to seats on the left to get better photos. Close to the top of the climb at Ospizio Bernina (2253 metres) we had fantastic views of glaciers and cascading waterfalls. I was blown away by the entire experience.

After Alp Gruen, the train winds its way to the valley of Poschiavo, where the Swiss speak Italian. Our hotel in the town is Hotel Centrale, one of a small cluster of hotels in the village centre. The hotel is three hundred years old, doesn’t have a lift but we do have an ensuite this time. We have got used to carrying bags up lots of stairs.

Once we sorted out our room, we walked about three miles through beautiful countryside to the lake at the bottom of the valley, which was (of course) Mediterranean Blue. I sat by the lakeside and listened to Bob Mortimer’s “Hotel Avocado” as an audio book. It is read by Bob and is laugh out loud funny. To return to the hotel we took the Rhatische train from the village of Le Prese. The rail tracks run straight down the high street, so we stuck our hands out like flagging down a H22 bus. It took 5 minutes to get back to Poschiavo.

Interrail Trip 2026 – Part 1

Tuesday 1st September – Twickenham to Koblenz

This is our second Interrail trip around Europe,the long-awaited followup to our 2023 trip. On our last journey we winged it for much of the way, booking accommodation as we went along. This time it has been planned in great detail so we can get the best places that fit our needs. Only time will tell.

It was a lovely morning when we set off to St Pancras on Tuesday the first of September, a little fresh but clear and dry. We caught the 6.50 train from Whitton and got to St Pancras International spot on time at 7.45.

Then the tannoy announced a 10 minute delay at Ebbsfleet, bollocks! This put our connection in Brussels at risk right at the start of our journey.

The Eurostar train was commodious and comfortable, with more leg room than easyJet, but that is not a high bar. I’m always amazed by petite Japanese ladies travellers who drag along massive wheeled suitcases they could happily fit into. They must rely on their charm to entice fellow passengers to get the monster bags on and off the trains.

It took 45 minutes to get to the Chunnel, about the same time as the stopping train from Whitton to Waterloo.

We did miss our connection at Brussels Zuid for Cologne, and waited an hour for the next train. I went into Hema (a bits and pieces shop like Tiger) and almost bought a substantial bag of drup, Dutch salty licorice. But then my dentist Mr Arora appeared to me in a vision and warned me of the dangers of eating sticky sweets, so I walked away from the shop.

At Cologne we changed trains again to get a slow train down the Rhine valley to Koblenz, the train was packed with commuters and tourists.

Our AirBnB is in an anonymous block overlooking the railway tracks, but it is really nicely decorated in Ikea chic. The curtains give a modicum of privacy, they are more like my mums nets rather than blackouts. There’s a Lidl nearby so we stocked up with essentials in a very familiar retail environment. There was a splendid collection of Parkside tools that I steadfastly ignored, I don’t have room in my bag for a welding mask.

Hazy view of a train through our hopeless curtains

Not wishing to walk far, we went for dinner at a Croatian restaurant round the corner. It was like stepping back to the 80’s, complete with Europop music on the speakers. The food was solid Balkan fare, large pieces of pig with chips and rice. If we wanted to build muscle for a contest to lift large boulders, it would be ideal, but Grace Dent wouldn’t give it a good review in the Guardian.

Wednesday 2nd September – Exploring Koblenz and the Rhine

The rail track, which is about 50 yards from our flat, was remarkably quiet. The busy road just beyond it has the same constant hum as our own A316, so we feel at home. Our itinerary today was planned in advance; boat trip, cable car, fortress and then the altstadt (old town).

Feeling refreshed and frisky we walked north towards Deutsche Eck, the most prominent landmark in Koblenz. More on that later. Our tour boat La Paloma was docked next to Rhine cruisers at Bridge 2. It was twice the size of our local Turks boats at Kingston, and had table service. We chugged a few miles down the Rhine, stopped and chugged back.

The weather was warm and the views from the deck were a constant delight. There were plenty of 19th Century castles built for indulgent princes. They would buy an old ruin and then tart it up in a Wagnerian style. The final castle Marksburg, was a genuine mediaeval schloss, but honestly I couldn’t tell the difference between it and the fakes.

I enjoyed watching the enormous barges delivering oil, containers and even coal. Rhine cruisers passed us with captive passengers “enjoying” a week watching passing castles, two hours was quite enough for me. The boat trip was fun and all that, but like drinking a whole bottle of Martini Bianco, once is enough.

Deutsche Eck means German Corner, and is the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle. By the way it’s pronounced Mozul, a bit like the city in Iraq, and not Moselle. On the Eck is a huge plinth and on top of that is a massive statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I. He was the first German emperor who presided over Germany when it was first united. He is not to be confused with his son Wilhelm II who started World War 1. He should have been shot, but he was George Vs cousin so he was allowed to retire to the Netherlands and died in his own bed.

From the Eck we got a cable car across the Rhine up to the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, a vast edifice built by the Prussians to guard their newly acquired Rhineland territory two hundred years ago. The fortress sits within a modern park on top of a steep hill, great for shelling any cheeky Frenchmen who might have a go at it. The Germans would probably say “your father is a hamster and your mother smells of elderberries, ah fart in your general direction”

A splendid lookout tower at the northern end of the park gave us wonderful views over the entire city and Eiffel mountains in the distance.

On the lookout overlooking the Rhine and Koblenz

The fortress itself is quite good without being a knockout, lots of rooms with very thick walls and cannons ‘n shit. In a baroque style building, where all the officers probably hung out, there was a museum. It was modern and engaging and had displays about the way of life of ordinary folk in the 18th and 19th centuries. I always enjoy finding out about working class Sid and Doris (or the German equivalent names) rather than regal Wilhelm and Augusta.

The cable car took us down back to Koblenz and we explored the old town. The RAF and USAAF destroyed 90% of Koblenz, and sadly we didn’t leave much of the good stuff. The basilica of St Castor was very old and impressive. The other notable church, the Liebrauenkirche (church of My Ladies Favourite White Wine) was totally covered in white plastic and scaffolding, the sort of thing a mad German artist would do.

Having walked around a bit we needed sustenance and nipped into a discount store called Netto. It is like Lidl was twenty years ago, all the cans are still in boxes on the shelves and it is very cheap. Their croissants were very adequate and stopped us from expiring and making the litter-free pavements untidy

Thursday 3rd September – Along the Moselle to Cochem

I remember my mate Peter Cotterell telling me about Cochem fifty years ago. He had lived in Germany for a whle because his dad was stationed there with the RAF. We did a hitch-hiking tour and quite possibly thumbed it through Koblenz and Cochem.

We are terribly Modern people and used an AI to plan our trip, ChatGPT gave Cochem a good review. It was only 35 minutes on the train, all along the Moselle valley which is very pretty. The banks are terraced with grape vines and there are lots of little castles. Cochem is another town that took a pasting during the War, so lots of it has been rebuilt. It is a major tourist destination, with many cruise boats moored up and loads of retired people on electric bikes trundling along the river. Most of the charming half timbered buildings in the town centre are now shops, bars or restaurants. It reminded me of Bowness on Lake Windemere, you are always close to a fudge shop or somewhere selling fleeces.

The Tourist Information shop had a QR code for an audio guide that lead us around the town to interesting sites, including a statue of a fox getting squashed in a wine press. There are a few old gates and bits of town wall left over from when the town was mostly destroyed by the French in 1689. On the signs about the destruction of the town, King Louis 14th was referred to as Ludwig. That’s a useful pub fact to dazzle your more parochial friends.

At the top of a hill overlooking the town is the Imperial Castle of Cochem. It was blown up by the French, and left a ruin. In 1875 a Berlin businessman called Louis Revene bought it and rebuilt it to impress his young wife. Sadly she wasn’t impressed and divorced him. It is now owned by the town, and they run guided tours in English.

Our guide was one of the worst I have ever encountered. His grasp of English was not great, and he was a really dull bloke who couldn’t answer questions. He was very impressed by an oak cabinet that WAS ON LEGS, like it was a big deal in 19th century Germany. When we were all a captive audience on a balcony he bloody sang to us. WTF! It was definitely “a no from me”.

The castle was furnished in a mock medieval style that would suit the Adams family, all dark oak and discomfort. From the outside it looked proper Hogwarts, and I expected a flock of bats to fly out of a window. But the views down the Moselle were fantastic, and the castle looks great from a distance.

Cochem was worth visiting, but it was more like Blackpool Upon Moselle than I expected.

Our next stop Switzerland.

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