Bratislava, Slovakia

Sunday 26 June

The Zlate Piesky  campsite in Bratislava has several advantages – it's close to a major 24hr Tesco shopping centre, rail, tram, has loads of water activities including water skiing, has a very cheap overnight rate and close to the old town of Bratislava. The disadvantage is it's like staying in the Russian Gulag. The facilities are very basic, so much so that we're going to try our onboard shower for the first time tomorrow night. Picture showers with nowhere to hang anything, no curtains, missing tiles, and one push button – set temperature – lukewarm if your lucky. By the way, don't forget to take loo paper if you go to the facilities!!! Not to worry, it's only for 2 nights.

We almost encountered our first campsite rage tonight. A Soviet family had just pulled into the site near us (in a car, so pitching a tent), when along came an Italian couple in a motorhome to set up right beside without leaving very much personal space. With heaps of other spaces still available in the park, it was too much for a neighbouring Dutch man to bear and he went to tell off the Italian who thankfully moved, after much gesticulating. As that appealed to our sense of fair play we then had a lengthy conversation with the Dutch couple who it turns out are true grey nomads and basically spend most of their time travelling about, pitching their tent whenever it pleases them.

We thought Aussies were the BBQ champions of the world. So far we've encountered all nationalities BBQing their hearts out. But considering they spend half the year indoors eating hot, heavy stews, you can understand they love the outdoors and cooking easy meals. They also love a good beer or 10.

Monday 27 June

Public transport is very cheap here. Return tram tickets into the Old Town cost us 2.60 euro in total. Inspectors dressed in plain clothes inspect your ticket with hawk eyes on the lookout for forgeries.

Buildings in many areas are run down, many vacant, but there's all sorts of trade going on. 

In the Old Town most buildings are well preserved and geared towards attracting tourists. There are many palaces now housing museums and galleries (all closed on Mondays) and so many cafes you can't go wrong.

St Martin's Cathedral (Gothic 15^th century) is massive on the outside but from what we saw, is very modest on the inside. We decided against a full visit costing 8 euro as photos weren't allowed. Probably it's most impressive feature, the tower, was under repair due to the constant shaking the building receives from the busy motorway built next door in the 70s. A beautiful gold crown adorns the top.

From here you can also see the bridge across the Danube that was built with the Motorway, the locals refer to as the UFO.  We thought it was straight out of War of the Worlds.

A walk up to the Castle (still under reconstruction) gave a great view of the entire city and the Danube River. Once used by Hungarian royalty the Castle is now an historical museum.

After lunch we set out for a hill and step walk to the Slavin, a memorial to almost 7000 Soviet soldiers killed during World War II and another great view of the city. 

This location also contains some beautiful, big, modern mansions, so there is obviously some money in this town.

The Grassalkovich Palace built in 1760 (and reconstructed in 1996) now seats the President of the Slovak Republic, and is a magnificent building. The public gardens out the back can be visited until dusk.  

We're glad we didn't miss the opportunity to visit this city. Like Budapest, it's not a pristine place but is definitely has charm and worth a look. Just choose another location to stay!!

More photos from Bratislava are here.

Buda + Pest = Budapest

Budapest was formed by the merging of two towns, Buda on the west bank of the Danube, and Pest on the east bank, in 1873.  According to news reports at the time, the residents of Buda, the Budas, were not too keen, but the Pests voted overwhelmingly in favour of the change, and so we now have Budapest.

Monday 20 June


Although there is no border control any more since Hungary joined the EU, all the control booths remain, abandoned like a ghost town. We stopped at the border area to buy a E-Vignette which pays for the road tolls. 

Pest on the East Bank of the Danube

Some places accept euros but the currency here is HUF – Hungarian Forint. 200 HUF equates to approximately 1 Aussie dollar, so it was a little disconcerting when we bought our first coffees and had to hand over a 2,000 HUF note! But things are relatively cheap here – the coffee's about HUF620 apiece – just over AU$3 for a large one.

Our campsite has somewhat basic facilities but it has good quality WiFi included as well as the use of washing machines (brilliant) and if you stay 3 nights you get the 4^th free. We're already liking Budapest!! The onsite manager was lovely and couldn't do enough to help us settle in. The weather is also warm and sunny with a lovely breeze.

Tuesday 21 June

Caught the underground into the city where we decided to do the Hop On Hop Off bus for the first time. You get 2 days for the price of 1 and it includes a boat ride along the Danube, so we didn't miss out on doing that after all. We stayed on until lunch and went to find Govinda's Vegetarian Restaurant. Sylvi was introduced to the one in the Elizabeth St arcade in Brisbane years ago so was pleased to find one here.

We then did the hour long boat ride complete with commentary, which was really enjoyable. The Danube splits Buda on the west bank and Pest is on the east. Most buildings, bridges and churches have been destroyed and rebuilt during many wars and revolutions, but they are still outstanding. The Fisherman's Bastion looks fantastic (will explore that more tomorrow) and the Parliament House building looks very much like those in London.

Buda on the West Bank of the Danube

To visit the churches here is free, but if you take a photo it'll cost you 200 HUF, or some have a collection box as you enter with an attendant hovering which basically means make a donation. St Stephen's Cathedral is stupendous. Gold, gold, gold. And for the spooky factor, St Stephen's mummified right hand is on display in a gold lined glass casket. You can take a photo for free (no flash) but if you want it to be illuminated for 2 minutes to get a better shot you can pay 200 HUF for the privilege.  Here is a free photo of the poster!  And the exterior of the church...

Although the exterior of most buildings need a good clean and there is a lot of renovation going on, a lot of abandoned buildings too, this city has a good feel to it. The people are super friendly and helpful, the prices are good and transport is excellent. A couple of reasons why buildings aren't as gleaming as elsewhere in Europe could be that the population was too busy trying to stay alive and fight for democratic freedom during the many years of oppression from the Mongol, Hapsburg, Nazi and Soviet domination.

Speaking of which, we walked down a long wide Andrassy Avenue to the Hero's Square which also has the Millennium Memorial  with statues of the leaders of the seven tribes that founded Hungary in the 9th century and other outstanding figures of Hungarian history. The construction of the memorial was started when the one thousandth anniversary was celebrated (in 1896), but it was finished only in 1900 and the square got its name then.

Headed home on the oldest underground metro line in continental Europe - Budapest's M1 - which was built in 1896, after London, but before Paris.  The public transport system here is very efficient if still mainly very old.  We only ever had to wait 4 minutes for a metro or tram.  They do get crowded and hot at times, but its quick - we had a metro station about 150m from our camp site which had us in the city centre in 10 minutes.

The local community hall next door to our camping ground had a dinner/dance going when we returned. Luckily they finished at a very reasonable 9pm but there was much yipping and yehawing throughout the band's performance. To us their music sounds like they're racing to finish the song.  We did not try our local burger joint!

Wednesday 22 June

Exploring Castle Hill today and started off with a visit to the Gellert Hill Cave Chapel, which is run by the Paulite monks - the cave dates back to 1308. They named themselves after an Egyptian hermit, Paul, who exiled himself to be closer to God and whose only companion was a raven he'd trained to bring him half a slice of bread each day!! The temperature in the Chapel is a constant 20 degrees. This was certainly the most plainly decorated church we've seen so far but just as impressive in it's historical value. The temperature outside was an amazing 36 degrees but a lovely breeze kept it from being oppressive and it's a drier heat then Brisbane so not as noticeable (yet anyway).

Onto a tram to the back of Castle Hill and did our aerobic stair climb for the day to see the Fisherman's Bastion, a very impressive structure overlooking the city, built to commemorate the defence of the city wall in this place by the local fishermen in the middle ages.

Next door is the church of St Matthias which has a magnificent ceramic tiled roof.

For something completely different we dared the Buda Castle Labyrinth where the temperature is 10 degrees, quite a contrast. Due to the abundance of thermal springs throughout Budapest (over 50 bath houses) the underground limestone was easily carved to make this labyrinth measuring 4000 square meters and used for many purposes throughout history including as a hiding place for many during the Second World War. There are many quirky statues, recreations of prehistoric wall paintings and a fantastic Ivy Grotto containing a four headed fountain continuously spewing red wine. 

Before exiting we tested ourselves in the Labyrinth of Courage in which you are in completely darkness with only a thin rope to guide you. We were both very courageous!!

For an afternoon treat we had coffee and cake at Ruszwurm, the oldest coffee house in Budapest then made our way home via the banks of the Danube, across the Chain Bridge and a train home.

Another dinner/dance on at the Community Centre, this time until 10:30pm, but we were both knackered from our day in the sun so slept pretty well.

Thursday 23 June

Bill's dad's birthday today so made the call home. The big day in the sun yesterday had really taken it out of Sylvi so we spent the morning loading photos etc then lunch at the local shopping centre where Bill also got his first haircut from someone who couldn't speak a word of English. The result was not disastrous, although it seems a “Number 3” means something other than a haircut in Hungarian!!  Fortunately that misunderstanding was corrected.

As we assume the Community Centre will be on again tonight we're going to outsmart them and head into Margaret Island for the afternoon and dinner out somewhere. Because it was another hot day our sole purpose on Margaret Island was to visit the Palatinus Swimming Pool for a cooling dip in the thermal fed springs. This is a huge complex which can cater to 10 000 people.

There are other interesting places to visit on the Island which measures 2.5km – St Michael's church, the ornate water tower, several restaurants – but we didn't have the time. We did see the ruins of the convent where Margit, the daughter of King Bela IV, was raised as a nun from age 12 as a result of the King's promise to God to do so if Hungary emerged safely from the Mongol invasion. She died aged 21 from tuberculosis.

We had a voucher for a free margarita at the Mexica restaurant “Arriba Taqueria”. In Brisbane, “Tuckeria” on Brunswick St is another of Sylvi's favourites, so we had to try it here, and it didn't disappoint. One thing that amazes us in Europe is that people bring their dogs with them everywhere – camping, into shops and restaurants, on public transport. It's just the norm. The animals are obviously used to it and well behaved like this cute little pooch.

We did a final lap of the city before heading home and came upon a large gathering of mainly young people having a few drinks outdoors and enjoying the balmy temps. There were no police or security anywhere to be seen. That also seems to be the norm in Europe, drinking in public anywhere you like.

Our cunning plan had worked as the Community Centre was just letting out when we arrived home. We heard some fireworks in the distance as part of the Summer Festival celebrations before a late storm which lasted for quite awhile, didn't really bring too much rain but certainly cooled things down a lot.

Friday 24 June

Another bright, sunny day but much cooler to begin. On the recommendation of a Danish couple we met here, we're leaving today to visit Lake Balaton which is Central Europe's largest expanse of fresh water covering 600 sq km.

After a 3 hour drive to what will be our most southern point in our trip, we arrived at Camping Napfeny, under steady rain and super cool temps, but no where near as cold as Hopfensee a couple of weeks ago. 

Our site directly faces the Lake so we can watch the water traffic as well as the swans and ducks. We also get to observe the locals who go for swims no matter what the temperature is. The Lake is actually 24 degrees but the wind chill factor makes the outside temp around 15 degrees, making it a bit too chilly for even Bill to venture in.

The Hungarian Mozzies were out tonight – they are large and slow moving, very passive and easy to kill – the mozzies that is.

Got a little taste of what drunken Hungarian teenagers sound like in the wee hours of the morning – just like drunken Aussie teenagers. Confirmation the next morning that the park did actually have some kind of security around reassured us that, as the other campers, we shouldn't be too perturbed by the occurrence.

Saturday 25 June

Thought someone had brought their cuckoo clock along on their holiday early this morning, and was cursing them, but later realised that it was actually real live cuckoo birds in the trees nearby sounding off.

Wiiiiiinnnnddddyy today and the temp quite cool but the rain had stopped so we headed off to the local village for a looksee. This area goes off during summer holidays and the facilities reflect that. We are on the quieter side of the Lake. The opposite side is known as the Ibiza of Hungary.

We thought we had encountered all the variants of pets people bring along wherever they go, but today we extended the list further – a tortoise!! complete with enclosure so it could eat the grass without being eating by any of the 2,000 dogs here in the park.

Headed back to the village at 10pm for the Mid-Summer Festival fireworks. The Lake is so huge and each cove doing it's own thing that we had to wait half an hour to see our 5 minutes of splendour. The turnout wasn't huge, but not a bad effort for a small village. One spectacular set of fireworks was launched into the Lake (effect one) and then each ball of explosive set off it's own stream of colour out of the water (effect two). Had never seen that before.

This venture to the Lake was our way of recharging our tourist batteries and just taking time out to relax a little. It sounds funny, but it gets tiring looking at extraordinarily beautiful objects day after day, and because we've got a long time to go on this trip and want to appreciate all we see, it was nice to just be able to do not much for a day in such a beautiful location.

Sunday 26 June

Awoke to rain and cold so decided to pack up early and head for Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia - which we were previously going to skip. The roads from the lake out of Hungary were mostly off the main highway and were not the best but at least not narrow or with any low bridges. And we were amongst fields and fields of beautiful sunflowers. We spent the last of our HUF on fuel as Slovakia takes the Euro.

Not wanting to leave Hungary without trying the traditional food, we stopped in a small town for lunch. Sylvi ordered the Bean Goulash and Bill the Beef Stew. “Surely they've not made a mistake and called it 'Bean' instead of 'Beef'” Sylvi quipped. Well no, there were definitely beans in the Goulash, but also lashings of beef. It was delicious anyway and Bill got to have two helpings of beef!!

So far we've found that no-one in Europe makes a good cappuccino like we have in Oz, but we keep persisting. The one served here topped Sylvi's calorie horror count by having a good swirl of sweet, vanilla flavoured cream on top. It was delicious though.

More Budapest photos here.
More Lake Balaton photos here.

There are no Kangaroos in Austria

Thursday 16 June

Just a bit of rain to start the day which then cleared so we decided to make the most of it and bought a 2 day sightseeing pass which allowed unlimited bus travel and entry into most of the major attractions in Salzburg - "the City of Salt" - as it earned much of it's founding wealth from mining Salt. 

We had a great view over Salzburg from our camp, aptly named Camp Panorama, including the Fortress in the distance.

Sylvi wanted a bit of a challenging hill walk to start the day so we tackled the climb to the Hohensalzburg Fortress, which is normally accessed via the funicular that has been running since 1892. The Fortress was constructed in stages but the first in the 11^th century to house and protect the bishops of the time. 

A 30 minute self guided tour showed us the history of the building, the torture chamber, a climb to the highest point for a view of the city and a look at the barrel organ played at certain times of the day to alert the peasants below it was time to get back to work. We were then able to look at some Roman ruins found during excavations, the museum and the State rooms which, contrary to what we'd seen so far, had ornate wooden ceiling and wall decorations rather then plaster, ceramic and glass. 

 In the bishop's bedroom we discovered one of the first toilets of the time. There was no flushing system but it was better then using a bedside potty.

We came upon the cemetery (St Peter's) used in the filming of “The Sound of Music” by accident which Sylvi had already visited on a 1992 Trafalgar tour of Europe with her friend Joanne. Something she hadn't seen back then were the Catacombs which, apart from lots of stairs to climb to see not much, we could have done without.

A quick look at the Salzburg Cathedral revealed the highest barrel vaulted ceiling we've seen so far and of course much intricate detail in the decorations on every wall, ceiling, floor and furniture. Excavations revealed the first Cathedral built on this site dates back to 746.

We walked past the birthplace of Mozart, but a huge tour group was about to enter so we went on. The old city of Salzburg is bustling with tourists visiting the many shops (some quite expensive) and cafes mostly still set within historic buildings.

The gardens of the Mirabell Palace (1606) which feature in the song “Do-Re-Mi” in “The Sound of Music” are absolutely gorgeous and symbolise the four elements. These days the Palace serves as the seat of regional government and weddings are held in the Marble Hall.

We'd had enough by then so caught the bus back home where we were able to buy Mirabell Balls from the camp site shop. Mirabell Balls are slightly different to Mozart Balls in that they contain pistachio as well as marzipan and still covered in dark chocolate. Those salivating will have to wait for Christmas when Aldi stores stock them in Australia.

We are pleased to report that the local church chimes its last bells at 10pm until first bells at 7am the next morning. The local train is also very polite and doesn't blow it's horn at night.

Friday 17 June

A few sprinkles of rain to start the day but we headed off hoping the sun would make an appearance. Caught the bus to the Hellbrunn Palace, built in 1619 and used to entertain guests of Archbishop Markus Sittikus - no-one ever really stayed there.

Set up for entertainment, there were trick water fountains installed throughout the grounds, including a royal table in the gardens with a special feature. When the Archbishop decided it was time for his guests to leave he would signal his Master of Fountains to flick the switch sending a jet of water up into their pants. However no-one was allowed to leave until the Archbishop stood and declared the party over. His chair of course was the only one without the water jets installed. 

There were many unusual statues and fountains with comical motifs as well as ingenious mechanical inventions all powered by water. Everyone got a taste of the Archbishop's humour as jets would go off as you walked over certain areas. Lucky it had turned into a warm, sunny day.

We were then able to visit the interior of the Villa containing beautiful frescos by Italian designers and details of the many exotic animals kept by the Archbishop as a sign of power. The surrounding gardens were stunning and contained the famous gazebo featured in “The Sound of Music”.

Another bus ride took us to St Leonard at the base of the Untersberg Mountain where we took the 7 minute ride 1,200 metres up the cableway to the platform. You can do a 30 minute walk to the peak at 1850 meters but contrary to the guide book which claims this walk is flat, one look at the steep, rocky terrain put us off. We may have ventured on but the flimsy looking rope used as a guardrail really sealed our decision to refrain. 

Thankfully it was no-where near as cold as we thought it was going to be up there, and the clouds cleared every now and then to give us views down the valleys.

We really enjoyed today. It was good to see a place built for the enjoyment of many back then as today. Just to top off the day, a fantastic fireworks display from a fete down in the valley set off at 10pm - when it was dark enough to give them effect.

Saturday 18 June

A big 4 hour drive to Vienna this morning. We had emailed the Vienna Donaupark campsite a request for a site, hadn't heard back so went there anyway only to be told they were full. An hour later, once we had traversed a windy mountain to the next place (Vienna West, which they also own), we received an emailed response stating they were full. We're not sure if we got the raw end of the deal with Vienna West, but it's a pretty dodgy place. Not to worry, it's only for 3 nights and is relatively cheap (hot water is included).

After setting up we noticed 3 English speaking guys having a few drinks in front of their van, who had also been noticed by 2 pretty, young German girls just arrived on their bicycles. Could be some fun and games tonight!!!

And then the rains came and continued all night, very heavily, plus the Chinese water torture as we were under a tree.

Sunday 19 June

Slow, cold start to the morning as we waited for the weather to brighten before heading into Vienna city by train. We didn't really have a plan of what to see so did a recommended loop on foot. 

 St Charles Church looked huge from the outside and probably was inside too but you had to pay 15 euro for a visit so we gave it a miss. St Stephen's Church had a tower you could climb for a view of the city. We would have done that except you had to pay 15 euro for the privilege of visiting the entire church as well as the towers. You were able to walk around a part of the interior which quite frankly had a dark look and feel to it. That is apart from the tacky coloured plastic strips they'd placed in front of the highest windows, giving it a comical look. We didn't like this church at all.

St Peter's Church on the other hand was beautiful and light inside, covered with the usual grandeur and amazing embellishments, but it also had a spooky memorial to “Saint” Josemaria Escriva. This priest born in 1902, founded Opus Dei. The memorial was of a skeleton dressed in clerical robes, however the priest is actually buried in Rome.

We wandered through the museum district, not going in but just admiring the splendour of their exterior. And then decided to do what Sylvi was convinced no other tourist would surely want to do – visit the cemetery where all the great composers were buried. Well the tram was absolutely packed with those with the same intention. The Central Cemetery or Zentralfriedhof is enormous containing over 2.5 million graves, the largest cemetery in Europe (600 acres). Not only are the great composers here – Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms – but also many Austrians of note and anyone who can afford the large and very expensive looking headstones or family tombs.

Although we enjoyed our day, we were a bit confused about what we should actually be doing here in Vienna – visit museums or yet another castle, catch a musical performance (none available actually), go for a trip down the Danube.  But most things were tacky but expensive tourist traps.  Frankly, we just didn't have a great feel for Vienna, so decided to up stumps and move to Budapest to what will hopefully be a much nicer campsite and the chance to see some different sights not already experienced.

Monday 20 June

With the alarm set for a 7:30am wake up, Sylvi was up like a shot to do some washing before we left while Bill headed back into the city to an English language book store which was closing down, so had a really good sale for some travel guides and general reading books to be purchased before we head off.  It has been very difficult to find any English Language books or newspapers so far.

As the T-Shirt says, there are no Kangaroos in Austria, so we will go hunting them in Hungary!

More photos from Austria here.

Munich

Sunday 12 June

Awoke to a fine day – always the way – as we pack up and leave for Munich. On the way we decided to visit another of King Ludwig II castles in the town of Linderhof which meant a short detour under a mountain and via Austria (that was the easy part). The rest of the journey was following the Lake Plansee (gorgeous crystal clear glacial water) on a narrow road filled with Sunday sightseers, cyclists and us in our huge motor home before crossing back into Germany.

The Linderhof Castle was the smallest and the only one to have been completed. It was inspired by the Petit Trianon at Versailles and has many references to King Louis XIV (the sun King), but is a fraction of the size. Our guided tour took us into several magnificently yet overly decorated rooms including his enormous bedroom, the hall of mirrors and his dining room complete with state of the art 19^th century engineering – a table that decends through the floor to the kitchens below to be set and served by the servants and then returned so as not to bother the King. 

After the tour we thought we'd seen it all, only to be dazzled by the Grotto set uphill. This was a man made cave and underground lake containing a shell boat in which Ludwig would sit whilst servants rowed him into the wave pool where he could appreciate works of his favourite composure, Richard Wagner. The full lighting affect he required was a thing of the future, taking BASF much research to accomplish. This was also the first installation of electricity in Bavaria -undertaken by Siemens. The castle is set on the former hunting grounds of his father Ludwig I so there were many beautiful paths to explore, gorgeous fountains (including Neptune's), flower beds and a small chapel built for one.

After a quick hotdog lunch (yes, Sylvi is eating meat on this trip) it was a one hour trip along the autobahn to what many reviews depict as a dodgy camping site in Munich. Maybe it is so during Octoberfest, but we have found it to be good, in fact cleaner then the one near Wurzburg. One downer though is you have to pay 1 euro for a hot shower and 50 cents euro for hot water to wash up, but considering the overnight rate is relatively cheap we can live with it. 

Monday 13 June (public holiday)

Took the U-bahn (underground) into the city and spent a huge day exploring all the important parts – the magnificent facade of the Rathaus highlighted by red geraniums (just missed the 11am performance of the glockenspiel but caught the last musical part), St Mary's Cathedral (one of the less impressive), St Michael's where King Ludwig II tomb is located but although we went back twice more we still missed seeing it.

Another gorgeous church we visited was the Theatine Church, with distinct yellow exterior and baroque white stucco work inside, the detail was breathtaking.

After a quick lunch in the Hofgarten (Royal Garden) we tackled the Residenz (Royal Palace) which took us the better part of 3 hours. Apart from the usual spendor there was a very unusual display of religious artifacts supposedly containing bones, skulls or mummified remains of religious figures (the skull of John the Baptist, the mummified bodies of some of the first born ordered murdered by King Herrod). Possibly hard to believe true but a fascinating and very different display to come upon.

Too overwhelmed by the grandeur of the Palace, we couldn't bring ourselves to also view the Treasury room containing jewels etc, and decided to return to St Michael's to see Ludwig II tomb and also catch a local orchestra performing. Little did we know it was a full on production complete with bishop and incense and standing room only by the time we arrived. After a big day's sightseeing, we only lasted 3 numbers and left (much to the delight of the height challenged, senior German ladies standing behind us, tisking that tourists with “rucksacks” were blocking their view).

You would think we'd sleep through anything following such a big day, but angry ducks returning to their nests as 1am make quite a bit of noise. Luckily the bus load of young Contiki adventurers sleeping out in tents did behave themselves.

Tuesday 14 June

A slow start to the day but we met a lovely Aussie couple from Mudgee and were glad to chat in our own language for awhile.

Caught the U-bahn back into the city to visit the English Garden, designed for Bavarian prince Karl Theodor in the 18^th century. It is 5km long and 1.5 km wide and contains a boating lake, 4 beer gardens, a Chinese pagoda, several monuments and an enormous gaggle of geese all deciding it was time to leave the lake and venture onto the lawns for a feed as we walked past.

As we were leaving the gardens we came upon some surfers who were taking turns hanging ten in the rapids of a tributary of the River Isar. It goes to show you can be a surfer in the middle of a major city without the need to find a beach.

Tried St Michael's one more time to see Ludwig II tomb but once again we arrived in time for a service and the crypt was closed. It just wasn't meant to be.

Had dinner at a beautiful beer garden near our camping ground and met some young Aussies (Brisbane and Gold Coast) also travelling in a motor home also experiencing the fun and challenges this type of holiday presents.

Wednesday 15 June

Up and off early today (glorious weather for a change). As we went to pay for our 3 night stay we discovered that the “cheap” 14 euro a night fee didn't include another 10 euro per night for other charges such as rubbish, so this council run place turned out to be a bit dodgy after all. 

On the way to Salzburg we stopped at Prien to catch the ferry to one of Chiemsee's islands to see Ludwig II 3^rd (incomplete) castle – Herrenchiemsee. 

This is by far the most opulent and once again modelled on Versailles and basically a museum in honour of France's King Louis XIV. The Hall of Mirrors is incredible and the “continuous room effect” in the bedrooms by placing mirrors on the walls either side of the chandelier hanging from the ceiling never ceases to amaze. This time we got to see the mechanism underneath for yet another “drop table” in the dining room as well as a magnificent, golden carriage Ludwig enjoyed horse drawn outings in during winter. Though the castle was never finished Ludwig did stay here 10 days during its construction. For the first time we were able to see the unfinished rooms as they were when construction was halted.

As this year marks the 125^th anniversary of his suspicious death, a special exhibition detailing his life was available. It was a very insightful look at this young man and the dreams he wanted to fulfil but also his total disinterest in state affairs.

After the short ride back across the lake it was only 20 minutes or so to the Panoramic Campingplatz overlooking the city of Salzburg. This is a fairly small place, is a bit more expensive (hot water is included in the price), but the facilities are new and you can't beat the view. And they sell Mozart Balls in their shop!!

Hanging our Aussie flag out once we'd set up paid off yet again as we met a couple from Cairns travelling for 4 months in Europe and the UK. It's always good to hear stories from others and get useful tips about places they've already visited.

More Munich photos are here. 

Next: Austria!