West Europe 2019

This story tells about my two week trip around Europe, which was unique for me. I have never travelled so frequently over such a short period. I covered about 3800 kilometres by buses, trains, bikes, and walking and travelled between my destinations for approximately 50 hours. The main goal was to visit several of my friends who currently live abroad I promised to visit.

The very first day I just took a RegioJet train to Prague and from there a FlixBus to Berlin. It took me about 7 hours to get there, and I arrived in the late afternoon. I found my hotel very quickly; I had to walk there for about 10 minutes. Since the journey was quite short and it wasn’t late, I had time to start exploring the city.

I made a short walk to Charlottenburg palace surrounded by a park. The palace was already closed, but at least I have seen it from the outside and walked through the park. It was enriched by a nice lake with excellent views on the palace. Then I returned to my hotel and prepared a plan for the next day. I bought some tickets in advance, particularly a two-attraction ticket which could be used for any two out of five attractions which collaborated. I also purchased a ticket to a tower with beautiful view; some reviews recommended to buy it to avoid queues for tickets.

I woke up around 7 am so that I could start exploring Berlin early. The weather forecast predicted one of the hottest days for Europe, Berlin including, so I wanted to enjoy the morning freshness.

I took the metro to the city centre which took around 20 minutes. Even in the morning, it was very hot in there; there was no AC and no openable windows. I got off near a part of the Berlin wall and walked around it. There was also some exhibition about it, but it was closed in the morning. Then I walked to Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor), which took me some time and it started getting quite hot. The gate was really very picturesque; there weren’t too many tourists around in the morning.

Due to the increasing temperature I decided to rent a bike so that I can transport faster around the city. For that, I used a mobile app (Mobike), which was very easy to use. I had to charge some credit on it, then all I needed to do was to scan a QR code of a particular bike, and it unlocked. The fee was very fair - 1€/20 minutes, because under 20 minutes you can be on the other side of the centre.

I rode to my next goal - Sea Life Aquarium. It was just about to open when I arrived. I used the two-attraction ticket here for the first time, and I completely avoided all waiting in queues; however, there weren’t many people at that time. It was very nice inside. I have seen plenty of fishes and other sea creatures. It took me about an hour to walk through it all.

After that I walked for 5 minutes to Fernsehturm (a TV/radio tower), buying a ticket in advance really helped to avoid a queue for tickets, but I still had to wait in a line for entrance and then for the lift (just about 10 minutes). The lift itself was very fast (6m/s); we were on top in several seconds. The tower had over 200 meters and on the top was a floor with 360 degrees panorama view. The great difference between east and west Berlin was nicely visible from above. In 30 minutes I went back, there were no queues for the way down.

I had lunch in a restaurant nearby, I got a decent meal for about 15€, beer was for 5€. I visited Little Big City exhibition, which using very detailed miniatures displays the history of the city. It showed all the important historical events beginning from the first mention of the town to the recent events (it was quite focused on world wars).

Since the temperature was getting above 40 degrees around 3 pm, I decided to take a break and go back to the hotel by metro. I waited until 8 pm when it started getting survivable outside and wanted to ride to a park. But in the half-way, I decided to go back because it was getting late and it was more distant then I thought. I rather enjoyed a nice time sitting on a bench next to the river watching the sunset.

Day 3 (26.7.)

This day I was travelling from Berlin to Haderslev (Denmark). I spent 7 hours in FlixBus getting to Kolding, where I arrived before 6 pm and took a bus 900X to Haderslev. My friend Peťka and her husband Tobias we waiting for me. We walked to their place (10 minutes) - a lovely little flat, perfect for a couple. There they gave me a very warm welcome (see the photo below). They prepared a delicious dinner, and we were talking and playing board games for the rest of the evening.

After we won the morning battle with laziness, we went for a walk to see a nearby harbour and a school Tobias used to attend. At first I thought it was harbour build at a river, but actually, it was fjord - the water was salty. Then we returned, ate our lunch and went for a trip.

We travelled by bus for about 40 minutes to the coast where we took a ferry to a small island Årø just about 500m far from shore. There we walked a little bit and then headed to a beach where we spent a few fantastic hours. Before my trip started, I had no idea I would end up swimming in the sea. Well, we weren’t really swimming because the water was very cold. We played tennis-like game in water with Tobias to stay warm, Peťka wasn’t so brave. I had a really good time. When we had enough water and sun, we went to the “city centre” (in other words, a few random houses) to have a beer and chill in the shade of trees. Finally, we took the ferry and the bus back to Haderslev.

There we spent an enjoyable evening playing some board games and having dinner.

We woke up around 9 am and made some breakfast. The plan was to go to the city and see the centre and a park and many other things. However, just when we were in the park, a storm suddenly started. For me it was very unusual, the clouds didn’t look stormy-like, there was just one thunder, and then the rain immediately started. It was raining only for like 5 minutes, but we were completely wet in a minute because there was no place to hide in the park. So we just went home, and before we even got there (under 10 minutes), the sun was already shining. We changed clothes, drank a shot of vodka and warm cocoa to avoid catching a cold. Then for the rest of the day, we mostly played board games, had some lunch and dinner, and went for a short walk to a nearby lake. For some reason we were all tired and such a relaxing afternoon was simply excellent.

We said goodbye to each other and I left around 9 am by a bus to Kolding followed by Flixbus to Hamburg. It was quite close, so I got there fast.

Once I arrived, I went to my hotel, which I rented for one night just to rest. I wasn’t planning any particular sightseeing in the city. A funny thing happened to me when I arrived in my room. There was this strange loud noise, and I wasn’t able to identify its source. I tried TV, kettle, and all the other electrical devices there, but nothing helped. I was about to leave to ask the staff about it when I noticed it’s coming from my baggage - it was my razor, I probably accidentally turned it on.

Since I wasn’t exhausted, I made a short walk to the city centre. There was a beautiful harbour with tourist ships, a town hall and a cathedral. There were occasional light showers so I went back and for the rest of the evening I was just relaxing.

Day 7 (30.7.)

In the morning I finished packing and then went to a shop to buy some groceries, and I stopped in a restaurant for lunch. They had a delicious lunch menu for a fair price (8€).

At 1 pm, I took a Flixbus to Amsterdam. My friend Peter was waiting for me there. We used public transport to get to his place, which was a room in a dormitory. It was situated in a university campus. I stayed at his girlfriend’s apartment since she wasn’t currently there.

For the rest of the day we did my laundry, walked around the campus, had a beer in a local pub and then he gave me a presentation about his trip to China, where he spent a month with his girlfriend. He showed me over 1000 photos which took us a few hours!

The next day was very rainy. It is very usual in this country. For sightseeing, however, it is not very good. All we did was having lunch, and then we went with Peter’s sister Janka to an exhibition Future food in Memo centre. It was about alternatives to food in the future, what are the possibilities to maintain the similar food we are used to etc. Generally it was interesting. In the evening we went for a walk further from the campus to enjoy some lovely views (finally it wasn’t raining).

In the morning it was raining again. We got up late. I was watching the rain and the neighbour’s parrots flying around. They were free to go but always came back. Unfortunately, all the food for them attracted also other birds, namely pigeons.

Later we made a trip to the city. First, Peter showed me his university, particularly canteen and library. We had some small snack there so that we can have lunch later. We also went to the students’ desk for some documents. Since all the faculties were in one place, also the students’ desk was shared. There was a ticketing system instead of waiting in queues.

Then we took the metro to the central station, where we met Janka who gave us one bike, and we rented another one. From there we rode to Micropia (outside of the centre) where was an exciting exhibition about microscopic life. It was very kids-friendly and interactive. When we finished, we returned to the city, parked our bikes and met Janka again. We went to a terrace bar on the roof of a building, but it was closed, so we stayed on a square, order some food and snacks. It is time to note that waiters are not a very favourite job in this city and they aren’t very helpful. If you want to order something, you have to spend a lot of effort to get their attention, even then it takes a lot of time to order, get food/drink and pay.

Then we said goodbye to Janka, returned the bikes and went to Red Light part of the city, famous for prostitution. Finally, we briefly visited a roof bar to take some pictures. In the evening we ordered some Indian food which was also enough for the other day’s lunch.

Day 10 (2.8.)

In the morning I helped Peter to clean the room because he was leaving the next day. He was packing his stuff, and then we had lunch - the Indian food from the previous evening.

Then I took a bus to the bus station while there was a light rain the whole morning. From there, I went by Flixbus to Brussels. The journey took only about three hours. My friend and schoolmate Jakub from Brno currently studies his PhD in Brussels. Once I arrived, I was following Jakub’s instructions on how to get to his place. I had to buy a Mobib card (for local public transport) and charge it with GO unlimited for one week, which allowed me to travel by trains in entire Belgium for just 20€.

I took a train to Leuven where Jakub picked me up, and we travelled by public transport for an additional 15 minutes. Then few more minutes of walking to his flat which he shared with a flatmate also from Slovakia.

After a small break, we took bikes and rode to the city, we had really delicious food - small bowls of different kinds of food (so-called tapas) with a Belgian beer. When we finished the meal, we had a walk/ride around the city centre followed by another beer in a pub. Belgian beers are usually small ones (0.33 ml) but also stronger than Slovak/Czech beers (around 8%). Then we rode back to the flat and went to bed soon.

We woke up at 8:30 am and rode to the train station. First, we had to lock the bikes in a bike garage, which was really huge and there was quite a problem to find a free spot.

We took a train to Bruges (90 minutes by train), quite a famous Belgian city. We spent there the entire day, we were walking around town, visited several churches. We had lunch in a local brewery, which was very good. Then we visited a shop specialised to beer; they had all kinds of Belgian beer.

On the main square we visited a museum of Bruges history. It started by a commented tour which was managed by devices with headphones they gave us; we could choose a language. Then there were some standpoints labelled with a number, which when typed on the device played some additional information. There was also a beautiful view from the terrace on the whole square.

When we got outside, we visited some more churches and had a refreshment drink in an exciting pub which was also a gift shop with many strange objects to sell. From there we returned to the train station through a park. We took a train (just 20 minutes) to coast town Oostende. There I tried boiled snail, but it wasn’t delicious for me (maybe because I used to pet them). We didn’t spend a lot of time there, just about an hour. We have seen the sea from a pier, some sand statues and castles. Before we left, we had waffles. I had waffles with chocolate, it was really huge, and it was enough for me for dinner. Then we took a train back to Leuven (120 minutes).

The next day was planned a trip to Brussels. We went there by train; it was very close. We went to Royal palace with free entry. There was a short tour inside showing the royal family; there were also some scientific toys for kids to interact with and a small exhibition of cosmology.

Outside we went to a park with a beautiful fountain, again visited several churches. Our next destination was Atomium building, which was used for Expo in 1958. The construction of the building looked like a molecule, but a huge one. There were some escalators and stairs inside, but to reach the top floor we had to wait for 30 minutes for a lift. It was worth it; the view was really amazing.

After that we went back to Leuven to attend a festival of food and beer. We first met with Jakub’s flatmate and her friend, later some other friends joined us. We had a lot of food and some special beer; we stayed outside almost until midnight.

Day 13 (5.8.)

This day I was travelling to Heidelberg (Germany). First got to North station in Brussels, from there I was supposed to go to Frankfurt by a FlixBus. I want to note that until now, most of my travelling was done by Flixbus and I was quite satisfied. However, this time, an alternative bus arrived, and it was quite late. The driver was looking strange as well as the bus itself and the toilet was broken. He was driving around Brussels, and he had obviously no idea how to get to the next stop (the airport). When we finally got on the highway, he forgot to turn to the airport, so we had to go back, then we got stuck in a traffic jam. To sum it up, after two hours we just arrived at the airport (it was supposed to take only 20 minutes). When I imagined that I should travel like this for next at least 7 hours, I realised that it is not worth it.

I got off the bus without hesitation and took a train back to the city (which took only 15 minutes!). Then I bought a ticket for an international train to Frankfurt. I just missed a train which was just leaving, because I had to wait in a queue for international tickets, so I had to wait for another 2 hours for the next train. At least I had time for proper lunch. By train, I got to Frankfurt just in 3 hours! It was quite crowded, but I had a seat, so I didn’t really care. From Frankfurt, I took a Flixbus, which was again normal, to Heidelberg. My friend and colleague Lukrécia was waiting for me there and went to her flat (a few minutes on foot). Lula prepared dinner, and then we were talking for the rest of the evening.

We spend the day in the city centre of Heidelberg. I bought a day ticket for public transport (I didn’t use it that much, but it does not matter). We took a lift to a hill above the city, there we had a short walk and enjoyed lovely views. The ticket we bought allowed us to get off next to a castle and also the admission to the castle was included. The castle was partially destroyed, but still very beautiful. There were nice views of the city too.

Then we returned to the city and had a very late lunch. We were in a restaurant near the river, we could hear the violin in the background, and the food was excellent. Very relaxing. After that, we enjoyed the view from a bridge and went to the coast of the river, where was some public space for barbecues and meeting people. However, a storm was getting close, and on the way back it actually caught us. Luckily we avoided the worst part of the rain and got home quite dry.

Day 15 (7.8.)

I spend my very last day of the trip by travelling. I went back to Frankfurt from where I took Flixbus to Prague and another one to Brno. This time it was OK, we were a little bit late, but it wasn’t a problem.