Orient 2001

In this, my first visit to Eastern Europe, my travelling companions were Tecio, Louise, Tisio and Dario. Having rented a Peugeot 306 station wagon in July, on the morning of 4 August we set off towards nearby Eastern Europe.. After a pleasant evening in Maribor, in the early hours of the afternoon of the 5th we were already on the disappointing Lake Balaton, in Hungarian territory. On this very famous and popular lake we spent 3 nights in the company of Hungarian tourists and lots of Germans. In practice the Germans come to spend their holidays on nearby Lake Balaton to get drunk and go wild, since the cost of living is lower than in their Germany.

Leaving that big lake, we headed for Budapest. In the Hungarian capital we settled for 4 days in the city centre at the VASARHELYI Hostel (1111 Budapest XI Krusper U. 2-4) and the only negative note was having to give 100,000 Lire to the policemen so they wouldn't take away my driving licence, since they had stopped us and I, who was driving, had tested positive on the breathalyser. I still remember that they took me to the station with 2 policemen speaking to me in Hungarian (I naturally understood nothing) and another brandishing a baton.. strange films about people arrested abroad came to mind.. Fortunately, with money in those days you could sort out everything (or almost everything..)...now I don't know... Apart from that negative episode, Budapest remains a wonderful city.

Our adventure, after crossing the small Slovak state, continued into Polish territory... we reached Krakow and settled at the SCHRNISKO MLODIEZOWE Youth hostel located at ulica Oleandry 4.!! Krakow is a wonderful city!!! In every sense!! Its square, its old town, its surroundings and its beautiful girls!! This is one of the few cities where I felt like a king!! I did exactly what I wanted... in practice, here, if I wanted something... I took it!! What a great place!! What great memories!!

Krakow offers a lot to the tourist. There is much to see both in the city and in its surroundings. Since we had our own car, one day was necessarily devoted to visiting Oswiecim, far better known by the name of Auschwitz.. This place, where at the entrance there is the German inscription "Arbeit macht frei", I think needs no introduction or description...

Our stay in the city of Pope Wojtyla had lasted longer than planned and was interrupted only because Louise had his bumbag snatched, with his camera and passport inside. We therefore had to cross the whole of Poland to reach Warsaw, where the Italian consulate is...