Three Countries

Friday, 23rd September

To complete our visit to Krakow, we were treated to the obligatory Polish evening in a country inn. :-) We were greeted on arrival by a three piece band and offered bread and salt as well as a glass of the national drink - vodka! We were the only people at the restaurant, which was rather nice. The meal was evidently a traditional Polish meal of five courses (none very large, thank goodness). First course was a platter with selections of blood sausage, liver sausage, some other kind of white sausage, smoked cheese and gherkins. Most of the people at our table did try the majority of sausages (one person decided to consider her stomach and the long bus ride coming up the next day), but there wasn't really a great rush to finish the platter! Next course was six doughy dumplings with cheese, mushroom and sausage fillings, next came mushroom or beetroot soup, then pork with potatoes and the customary cabbage, followed by an apple cake. During the meal we were entertained by a group of dancers, who did manage at times to involve most of the guests in the dancing. It was a fun night enjoyed by all.

Friday morning saw a few grumpy faces in the dining room before our departure (no idea why) for Budapest. Not much fog about, mainly haze for the first part of our drive into southern Poland. At last we have seen some hills and as we approached the Lower Tatra Mountains the hills became higher and steeper - and the road became windier! Very pretty countryside this morning, with lots of spruce, birch and maple trees - the birch and maples are just starting to turn colour. The housing in this area was more traditionally alpine and a welcome break from communist grey. We even passed a very picturesque castle which had been used as the setting for a couple of Dracula movies.

Our mid-morning stop was at a service station just before the border with Slovakia. Unfortunately, there was only one toilet in the Ladies while the men had two! Not fair, considering the number of women queued up and the time that some were taking. Lunch was in Slovakia at a ski resort (minus snow) and we had to dig deep for our remaining Euros from Germany. Our lunch choice was limited to 7.8 Euro and after looking at the selection of food on offer, we took the advice of those who had already made a purchase and bought an icecream and Snickers. Along with another couple, and Cat, who had made the same choice, we were definitely the envy of the bean soupers!!!

The afternoon continued through Slovakia with its typical communist concrete housing blocks to the Hungarian border and the drive into Budapest. We have been assured that our first view of Budapest was definitely not normal - tonight in the annual "collect all your rubbish" night. Of course, as in all places, someone's junk if someone else's treasure.

Tonight we have a dinner cruise on the Danube.