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| One of Bratislava's most famous attractions |
I eagerly hopped on the 7:10 train from Glasgow to Manchester Airport, en route to Podgorica - the capital of Montenegro. Half an hour later, the train stopped in the middle of nowhere and didn't move for four hours. I think everyone figured out we weren't going anywhere soon when the conductor came round to ask if anyone had any medical conditions. Still, all was not lost - we all got a bottle of sparkling water (they'd run out of still) and a cup of tea (one of the worst I've ever tasted - I suspect it was made with sparkling water). By the time we got going, I'd missed my flight so I returned to Glasgow with my tail between my legs.
Sadly, the only compensation I appear to be entitled to was this card. At least the kind owners of the hotel in Montenegro (quick shout out to
Hotel Terminus in Podgorica) didn't charge me a penny even though they had every right to do so.
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| Still, this card might come in handy next time I'm on a night out with a couple of folk I won't mention! |
Bratislava
Once I'd put my toys back in the pram, I had to find another way to get to Dubrovnik - preferably one that require me to get up in the middle of the night. And so, a few days later, I hopped on a bus (easier to get off and walk if they break down) to Edinburgh Airport, and then had 24 hours to kill in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. It's not a large city, so I managed to see most of the touristic highlights, if not actually go inside them.
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The UFO tower: "Our elevator will take you in 45 seconds from 0 to speechless amazement."
(Their words, not mine) |
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| The Blue Church |
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| The famous castle (that I didn't have time to visit) |
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Those cushions weren't as comfy as they looked
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I stayed in a place that dubbed itself "The first NFT hostel in the world", and despite knowing what an NFT is, I'm still none the wiser about what this actually means. Still, it wasn't too expensive, and it was very clean and modern.
Vienna (Airport)
The next morning, I hopped on a bus for the short journey over to the border to Austria and Vienna Airport (border rating 0/10, but both countries lie within Schengen so my hopes were already low). I don't think anyone needs to see pictures of me sitting about Vienna Airport waiting on a delayed flight. Then they put us on the "wrong" plane. But the good news is that they managed to get us in the air mere seconds before Ryanair would have been forced to pay out compensation.
Croatia (Finally!)
It was approaching midnight when I finally arrived in Dubrovnik airport. I'd actually found a really nice apartment with views over the Adriatic, and even better, two massive cranes.
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| Apartment at night |
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Apartment in the day
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I had a couple of days before my Scottish chums arrived, so I hopped on the absolute rip-off of a cable car to the top of the unpronounceable
Mount Srđ, a mountain made infamous during the 1990s when Bosnian and Serbian forces bombed the old city of Dubrovnik during the Croatian War of Independence.  |
The view from Mount Srđ over Dubrovnik
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There was a Napoleonic fort at the top, which housed a museum which went into quite a lot of detail about the war ...
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Napolean's Fort. He was certainly ahead of the game when it comes to building communication towers.
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... and if I'm going to be honest, a little bit too much detail (something was lost in the translation process between Croatian and English). Still, there were a few interesting videos and artefacts left over from the war.
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| Some shells |
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| A battered door |
Next up. A foray into Bosnia & Herzegovina (and a lot more war chat). And another attempt to get to Montenegro.
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