Train Stattion Europe continues....

So I showed the trainstations from Brussels, Amsterdam and Berlin. Next is Vienna, Budapest and Bosnia! It's thanks to you interrailers/travellers that we can share the pictures with each other. I think it's nice to see the main stations in other countries, so you have an idea what they look like and where you will end up! If you have pictures yourself from trainstations you want to share, email me! sheena@eurail.nl

Budapest (below) (temp13rec)                   Vienna (Fianna) Pretty in pink ;-)                         Bosnia    

                                                                    (  2613sayyeah)

Train Station Europe

(Redvers)  Travelling by trains means that you see a lot of different train station. I thought it was nice to give you a glimpse at what trainstations the girls from Europocket visited. To the left you see Bruxelles Central Station, beneath Amsterdam Central Station. They are renovating Amsterdam Central Station so don't be suprised if you arrive there. It's a bit of a mess and very busy! But from the outside it still looks beautiful!

                                                                                                   (Mindfieldz)                                        

Berlin Central Station (left) (Reidl Romeo)

Interrailing to Budapest

If you read my post yesterday you probally know that the girls will be in Budapest today. Well they are and I've will post the video of their arrival and their first experiences with Hungary's capital!

I've never been to Budapest myself so I don't know a whole lot about this city. Although I did hear a lot about Budapest from people who went there and I got to tell you, I think it's worth the trip! The funny thing about Budapest is that the city is divided into two parts by the river Danuba. Buda has the hills and nature and Pest has the lively centre of the city! (put them together and you've got Budapest ;-))

Budapest has about 23 districts, and they all have Roman digits (I, II, IV, etc). A leftover from the Roman period. Marget island is one of the 3 islands that belong to Budapest, and is a true recreational area for tourists. It has parks, danceclubs, swimming pools, fitness centres and is supposed to be a great place to be! Asside from entertainment the city also has to offer a beautiful collections of old monuments, so if you like to see impressive architecture Budapest is the place to be.

Travelling through Europe makes you see that there is a lot of beauty in our continent! Every country is unique in its own way and it's great that we can travel to see all of it! For those of you who want to know, Budapest has a continental climate, which means very hot in summer, cold in the winter. They speak Hungarian and they use the Hungarian forint (230.42ft. = 1 euro). Make sure you watch the video of Esther and Martha in Budapest, it will give you a quick taste of the city!

(picture taken by szem06)

Some info on Vienna/Wien, Austria

Esther and Martha travelled from Potsdam in Germany to Vienna in Austria. Vienna is the capital of Austria and has about 1,7 million inhabitants. It lies to the east of Austria, close to the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary! So you can easily travel to one of these countries from Vienna. The public transportation system is also very good. So you need not to worry about getting around in Vienna for there's always a train, tram of or bus to take you where you want to go.

Vienna is known for its art and culture. Music, theatre, opera, museums, parks and gardens. If you're into classical music, Vienna is the place to be. There are a lot of sights related to famous composers, like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Strauss and Ludwig Beethoven. There are also many Roman Catholic churches where their music is played.

Furthermore, Vienna is a true sight for architecture. You should visit the Schonbrunn Palace (Esther and Martha went there) and its garden. A collegue of mine who went to Vienna told me that near the palace there is this place where you can have some drinks en have something to eat and enjoy an amazing view of the palace and the whole city of Vienna. (See picture). It's quite expensive but really worth it.

The Austrian people generally speak German so it would be handy if you have a german language guide or maybe a travel compagnon who speaks German!

Vienna is also great to shop and for dining. They're famous for their wine for Vienna still has its own vineyards! There's a lot to see in Vienna so make sure to make a stop there while on the way to for example eastern Europe! I'll post the video Esther and Martha made in Vienna in a next post.

InterRail through Germany, Potsdam.

Esther and Martha, from Europocket travelled with InterRail from Barcelona to Brussels, from there to Amsterdam then to Berlin and now they arrived at...Potsdam! It's a small city next to Berlin. The city has about 145.000 inhabitants and is easy to reach by train (S-Bahn from Berlin). Potsdam is the capital city of the State Brandenburg.

A long time ago (around 1600) Potsdam was the summer residency of King Frederik The Great. The Schloß Sanssouci palace (see picture below on the left) is located in a beautiful park which has the same name.

Esther and Martha walked through this park and will show you its beauty. But there is more to Potsdam than the park and the palace. Potsdam also used to be a place where Dutch labourers were send to, to work for the German King. Herefore they build a Dutch estate which nowadays is a real tourist sight.                                                                          

Martha and Esther will give you a short tour through Potsdam so you have an idea what it looks like!

See the next post for the video of Esther and Martha in Potsdam! I'll post the video asap. The picture below was taken by 96dotsperinch.

InterRail tips...Italy

Italy oh Italy, where art thou.... Whenever I think of Italy, the famous play Romeo and Juliette comes to mind. The city of Verona plays an important part in the play! But Italy has a lot more to offer than dramatic love sceneries.

Italy is easy to recognize on a map of Europe thanks to the ´boot´ shape of this country.
Must see cities are ofcourse, Rome, Milan, Venice and Florence.
Rome, for its the capital of Italy and houses the amazing Collaseum which is a must see sight! Also don´t forget to visit the Vatican, maybe you´ll even see Pope Benedict XVI, you never know.

Milan is the city of extremes, its well known for its business climate, is the fashion capital of Europe and is very artistic. Milan is located in the north of Italy.

Venice is just a dream that shines on waters. I mean that quite literally for the best way to explore Venice is by ´gondola´. Although these gondola trips are a bit expensive, I believe it´s really worth it! So  plan it in to you budget!

Florence is the part of Italy where they have miles of beautiful and large vineyards, rolling hills and it actually is the Renaissance capital of the world. So the scenery is amazing. If you are into museums, make sure you visit the Uffizi, which houses work of Michelangelo, Titian and Rubens. Also Leonardo Davinci is from Florence! (nice to know for the Davinchi Code readers)!

Italy has much more to offer than the big cities, the Italian Tourist Board, has all the information you need. Also very informative is the Italy Travel Guide.

Taking the train is by far the best way to know Italy, so your InterRail pass is of good use here! Whatever your destination the train will take you there quickly (1000 trains running daily). You can check the site of TrenItalia for timetables, it is in Italian, but quite easy to use.

The cost of living in Italy is different, for the north and central regions are very properous, the south is comparatively poorer. The luxury products are usually pretty expensive as products like wine(!)are inexpensive. Shopping hours in Italy are different from other countries in Europe. Shops open their doors at 9 am, are closed between 1 and 4 pm and are then open again till 8 pm! The ATM machines are called Bancomat! Might be good to know!

It also might be useful to bring an Italian phrasebook, in the big cities you´ll be able to communicate in English, but when you go to the smaller villages some knowledge of Italian will come in handy!

Before you go to Italy make sure you read into the available information so you know where to go or not to go!! In my previous post about Croatia I gave a usefull link to whatonwhen. Here you can find out what there´s to do in Italy during your stay! The picture of the leaning tower of Pisa on the right was taken in Pisa, Italy, by chripstopher.

I hope you´ll enjoy la vita Italiana!
Sheena             

InterRailing through..... Croatia!

Croatia is the new hotspot in Europe !It is a popular destination under the InterRailers nowadays. This isn’t so strange because Croatia has something unique for everyone. I’ll give you some of the highlights of Croatia!

If you like to see old (welpreserved) cities and impressive architecture, Croatia hasn't only got beautiful buildings, cathedrals etc, it even has 6 Unesco World Heritage sites.                                                                                                  

(Picture on the right taken by mpecarevic)

If you’d rather go and enjoy the sun, the beach and parks you’ll be amazed, for Croatia is truly a land of islands. There are 1.185 islands in the Adriatic Sea on the Eastcoast of Croatia. This is a real unique area in Europe for motorboats, sailboats and the amazing underwater world.

Zagreb and Split are great cities fo some good (fashion) shopping. If you want to buy souvenirs, search for olive oil and the black and white truffels. They're supposed to be a real treat! Dubrovnik is a really popular city amongst most tourists.

I believe Croatia is really worth the trip. So if you’re going InterRailing through Eastern Europe make sure you’ll make a stop there! The capital, Zagreb, has good railway connections, as have the other cities. See the map. On the website of the Croatian Railways you’ll find a timetable, so you can easily plan your trip through Croatia. 

If you want more information about Croatia I recommend the website of The Croatian National Tourist Board, where you can find everything you need to inform yourself to plan your trip.

Croatia is also very environment minded. Since 1997 they’ve launched this project called Blue Flag. It’s idea is that every region, city, island is awarded a Blue Flag as a proof of cleanness and quality. The conditions to obtain the Blue Flag are very strict and it’s a great honour if the flag is awarded! I think this is a great way of cooperating to maintain the environment, reef and the unique monuments. For us ‘tourists’ it’s also a point of recognition, for a blue flag means clean, environment friendly and good sights and entertainment!

For hostels in Croatia you can use one of the websites on my post A Helping Hand with Hostels.

Curious about current Croation events? Check Whatsonwhen for a local guide for global travellers!

If you've been to Croatia and you have additional information to this post please let us know!

For people who are going to Croatia, I wish you a very nice time, let me know about you're experiences!

Sheena

 

Europocket goes RailDancing

Last Friday me and Stephan from Eurail.com B.V. met up in Amsterdam Central Station with two journalists from the video-weblog  Europocket.tv, that is sponsored by the European Union. Europocket.tv reports about current affairs in Europe on the internet and offers an exclusive look into different European topics spefically targetted towards young people in Europe. It's a young organisation which was founded to inform young Europeans about Europe.

At this moment Esther and Martha are interrailing through Europe to interview fellow interrailers on their way. They will report their experiences on various videoclips, like the ones currently shown on europocket.tv. Their goal of the trip is to meet lots of new people (interrailers) and get to know what's on their minds. It's informative, interesting and a lot of fun to watch! To give you a preview...they will be dancing with other interrailers at each destination! Esther and Martha will share their stories with us and in August the videoclips will be shown both on europocket.tv as on InterRail Station!

The girls started their trip in Barcelona, where they're from. Then travelled to Bruxelles, from there to Amsterdam where I met with them. In Amsterdam they went to, the for Dutch people, well know trance party 'Sensation Black' in the Amsterdam Arena. On Sunday they travelled to Berlin, I believe they're still there. I'll keep you posted when I hear from them again.

To be continued...

Sheena