Breakfast today was what looked like a roll but turned out to be sweet and filled with jam, After this we went to book up the Vienna accommodation – very easy – weŕe getting good at this!

We then headed up to Heroes Square along the tree-lined Andrassy ut. The square contains a large monument constructed to honour the millenial anniversary of the Magyar conquest of the Carpathian Basin (apparently). It also is surrounded by beautiful buildings which house the Museum of Fine Arts and another few museums.

We walked up through the square and had lunch at a cafe. We then walked into the city park and through the grounds of an enormous castle which really did look like something from a Disney movie!

After this we walked back down Andrassy ut to the Terror Haza ( House of Terror) which, despite sounding like a theme park ride was anything but. The building houses a museum in dedication and memory to all the torture and atrocities that took place from the German occupation during WWII through the Soviet influenced regime right up to 1990. The building was the headquarters of various secret organisations including the ÁVH. Generally the job of these organisations was to terrorise anybody who attempted to resist the government of the time and to generally be excessively violent and inhumane in the process. The museum contained a reconstruction of the cells that were within its walss. It is truly disturbing to think that this kind of brutality continues in the modern world.

It was very interesting to gain an insight into Hungarian history of which I previously had no knowledge. Hungary has certainly come a long way in 17 years but its history is still evident in Budapests mixture of Eastern-block buildings and Western metropolitan lifestyles.

After the museum we head down past the opera house to the chain bridge where there was some form of jazz festival. You really can´t beat live music especially in such lovely surroundings with such a nice atmosphere. After enjoying the music we headed to the Parliament buildings. These would give Westminster a run for its money but all was very quiet around the area as it is in a commercial district and it is a Sunday.

We headed back and got ready for dinner. Pizza again!

Budapest is a very nice place and its charm means so much more when you know what itś been through to get where it is today. Buda tomorrow.

Today was a long day’ We got up very early at about 5, packed and got ready. We went to pay and the hotel even got us breakfast ready early. We managed to get to the staion in plenty of time and boarded our train at 7.20.

Unfortunately this train was not as good as the last and was very hot with no air conditioning. It also had very little leg room for an 8 hour journey and the toilets were disgusting.

Anyway we arrived in Budapest at about 3.30 and immediately took out some money as we had none. For some reason the machine would only let me take out 20000 Forints (about 55 GBP) but we needed a lot more than that to pay for the room. I would just have to explain when we got there!

Next we went into McDonalds to use the toilets and get a drink (we were stupid and took very little on the train). When I came to pay though I only had a 10000Ft note. This seemed to shock them and the manager had to sort out the change. Not only was this embarassing but also confusing. Had I taken out way more than I thought? Was I out by a factor of 10? If so, oops! I turns out that I was right after all but it was a bit of a daunting start.

We made our way to the guesthouse which is fine and in a good location. We then went back to the station to sort out Vienna tickets but were told we didn´t need to make reservations – hopefully this will be OK!

Budapest does not seem like any city we have visited so far and seems a lot rougher around the edges. The people seem like that too. The men are very tall and broad and they are naturally angry looking. Their body language is quite aggressive but I think this image is quite misleading as they seem nice to talk to.

Dinner was interesting and very nice. After choosing goulash and being informed that it is in fact a soup here and not a stew as it is presented everywhere else in the world I chose to try their gnocchi. Emma even tried it too! It wasn´t really pasta but more like potato dumplings and was covered in a pesto, chicken, bacon and paprika sauce – yummy.

We will try to experience some of the nicer parts of Budapest tomorrow.

Zagreb is quite small as capitals go so today was quite relaxed and slow-paced – a bit like Croatia really. We got up and had breakfast at the hotel before heading off into town.

Zagreb centre is split into two areas, upper and lower. The upper is older and contains most of the sights while the lower is much more modern and contains most of the restaurants, shops and businesses.

First we went to the cathedral which was unfortunately covered in scaffolding. We also saw another couple of churches and the government buildings before getting a drink in a quirky little Tolkein themed bar. A little out of place in Croatia we thought!

This seemed to complete our tour of Zagreb´s sights except for the museums which were either not of interest or not in budget.

We spent the rest of the day walking around, sitting in the park, having an ice cream and using the free internet at the hotel.

Dinner was delicious at a pasta restaurant. We had gnocchi (mine was with mushroom, salmon, shrimps and a tomato and brandy sauce) which has to be a candidate for best meal on the holiday so far. And it was only 49 Kuna (less than 5 pounds)!

We went back to the hotel to sleep before our early start tomorrow.

Today we travelled to Zagreb and it took most of the day. Our train was at elevenish so we got up and packed our things at a leisurely pace returning our key to the jolly, plump landlord.

As we walked to the station we picked up breakfast (pain au chocolat) and another piece of yummy chocolate cake for the journey.

The Croatians are obviously proud of the Split-Zagreb train as we were greeted and shown to our seats from the platform. We were then informed that a free coffee and sandwich were included in the price of the ticket, which, for us, was only about 70p anyway!

The train took 5 1/2 hours but the scenery was great! Sweeping valleys, huge mountains and evergreen forests. As we got further north the scenery got greener and greener – in places it could have been England. We also saw the Danube in all its blue glory against the lush countryside.

The coffee was interesting. A Nescafe instant coffee with powdered milk and sugar all mixed into the sachet. For someone who likes his coffee black with no sugar it was a little disgusting to say the least. Free though!

The sandwich was fine – we even got a choice of ham or cheese. Digestion was not aided however by the fact that the train was of the tilting variety but it was nice nonetheless. Britain really has a lot to learn about public transport and I am surprised to say that it need look no further than Croatia for an example of how to do it properly.

We arrived at Zagreb at about 4.30 and made our way to our hotel. A 15-minute walk into the business district and we found our hotel. It is very nice – 2/3-stars again with breakfast and free internet - not bad at all! And we can stay an extra night!

We headed into Zagreb to book our Budapest train – 7.20am so an early start but it takes 7 hours so we don’t want to leave it too late.

Dinner was pizza (again) -  a giant seafood one for me and a ham and paprika one for Emma. With a beer and a coke the bill came to 84 Kuna (about 8 pounds)!

We then returned to our nice air-conditioned room for a good night’s sleep.

We got breakfast from the local shop to start the day – fresh bread, jam and orange juice – and headed straight to the station. We thought hopefully their lunch break would be over by now. It turned out that we had been looking in the wrong place all along and that the ticket office was just down the road from the main station. Doh!

We now have our journey to Zagreb and our accommodation there sorted. After our Italian difficulties we now feel a great sense of achievement that we are back on track.

We next bought ferry tickets to Supertar on the island of Brač (rhymes with hatch). These were very cheap luckily, as everything seems to be here.

The ferry was very nice and took 45 minutes. Once at Brač we walked along the coastal path. It is disappointing to say that this beautiful island has been a little spoilt in some areas – namely those close to the port where lazy scallies of all nationalities can enjoy Europop pumping out from tacky cocktail and burger bars, jetskis and roasting themselves raw in the sun.

Beyond these parts though the island is very beautiful with evergreen woodlands next to rockpools and crystal clear sea. This is where we decided to sit and paddle and generally enjoy the scenery. It was lovely.

We returned to the ferry port and had an ice cream – almost half the price we paid in Italy although it has to be said that is one thing Italians do better. After catching the ferry back we went shopping for some dinner and returned for a nice meal, a glass of wine (at 1.60 pounds a bottle it would be rude not to) and an early night.

We arrived in Split a little after 9 in the morning after not a bad night’s sleep on the ferry. We were met at the terminal by a large, jolly chap who is the owner of our ‘hostel’. He walked us along the promenade (very slowly). The street is called ’Obala hrvatskog naradnog preporoda’ which is understandably shortened to ‘Riva’ whether just for convenience or to avoid the tourists a headache when they come to pronounce it I don’t know. Many of the street names here are ridiculously long but are nearly always shortened.

The promenade itself is very beautiful. We were informed in broken English that the street had been refitted at a cost of 1 million euros. It was worth every cent. The street is pedestrianised and the pavement is laid with marble which glistens in the sunshine. All along the waterfront are benches interleaved with modern designed flower beds all sculpted in an ultra-modern style whilst keeping the character of the place. On the other side of the street are numerous cafes all with carefully designed awnings. Along both sides are very contemporary street lights. All of these contrast beautifully with the buildings which are old but well kept. Most notably Deocletian’s Palace.

The palace was built by the Roman Emporer as a ‘retirement home’ and it is truely lovely. Now a UNESCO world heritage site the area is a warren of Roman streets filled with restaurants and boutiques. We will explore more of that later.

I guess what I am trying to illustrate is how modern and civilised it is here. This is not the Croatia I imagined. In almost every way this place is more civilised than any part of Italy we experienced!

Our room is actually what I would call a studio appartment with a large bedroom, kitchen/dining room and bathroom complete with fridge and cooker! It even has a hot shower and flushing toilet as the landlord so proudly demonstrated on our grand tour!

Once we dropped off our bags and showered after our stuffy ferry journey we went to the laundrette to do some washing – it’s amazing how much you miss machine-washed and dried clothes – and then headed into town.

The whole place is so laid-back and clearly has a slow pace of life. We really felt like we were on holiday and it is so nice. We headed to the market which was full of every type of produce you can image – and so cheap too. We bought lunch here – a local cheese pastry thing – it was interesting to say the least!

Next stop was the beach. There wasn’t a lot of sand but a lot of concrete all around the bay. Not particularly nice but then I’m not a fan of beaches anyway. We stayed fo a while – it was nice to relax.

Afterwards we tried to book our train to Zagreb only to find that the station staff were still on their ‘lunch break’ at 4 in the afternoon – so laid back. After a little more wandering we headed back to get ready to go out for dinner. The meal itself was in a lovely little restaurant in the old town with live music. The stroganoff was delicious and so was the beer ( especially at about 1.40 pounds for half a litre)!

We meandered back to our room after dinner enjoying the street entertainers on the beautifully lit-up promenade. This place is so nice!!

Today was very stressful and difficult but had a happy ending. We left our hotel after breakfast (we were glad to be leaving the area it was in) and dropped our bags at the station.

We had until about 3.00pm to explore some more of Rome. We decided to visit the last few highlights in the guidebook and walked to the Trevi fountain. The fountain is an elaborate front to one of the city’s many palazzos and was well worth the visit. We had to resist the urge to jump in though as it was very hot again.

We then proceeded up Rome’s main shopping streets past the Spanish Steps, another couple of palazzos and up to the large park to the north of the centre with great views of the city.

For lunch we went to a trendy pizzeria which was worthy of our last meal in Rome. I ordered a Hawaiian pizza expecting ham and pineapple but it seems the Italian idea of Hawaiian is a little different to Pizza Hut’s consisting of rocket, sweetcorn and prawns – it was still very nice though.

A leisurely walk balk to the train station followed where a nightmare was about to unfold. We got on our Eurostar train which looked like the first Eurostar train ever and appeared to have no air conditioning or opening windows so was hotter than outside. All was fine until shortly after we left the station when an announcement was made. Apparentlz very few people on the train spoke or understood English and it took a while for us to work out that there was a fire on the track between Rome and Ancona so we would have to catch a bus part of the way.

After this there was much confusion about exactly which station the bus was to go from but our fears were reduced when the train stopped unexpectedly at an unscheduled station. Another announcement followed.

This time in our desperation Emma managed to find someone who spoke English who told us that there was another fire on the track for which we were waiting to clear. An hour later and the train still hadn’t moved.

Suddenly everybody left the train and it was only due to our acquaintance who came back to explain the situation that we left at all. He said that the train was returning to Rome and that there was a bus waiting to take us to another station where a further train would take us to Ancona.

By this point all our hopes of catching an earlier ferry had been dashed – there was no way we could make it.

The bus took us past the fire – we could see why the track was closed – and then to another station. We waited here for a good while before they decided which train we should board. In this time we managed to find some more English speakers – a South African and an English couple, one of whom was an Anglo-Italian translator.

Eventually we boarded the train and after another hour we were back on our way. At about 9.30 (after 6 hours traveling) we arrived in Ancona. Thankfully, Gabrielle, our original helper led us to the hotel in which he was staying where he knew the owners. He was obviously a clever guy, about 22, studying economics at Rome and speaker of 4 languages!

Unbelievably luckily for us he managed to get us a discounted rate (70 Euros from 95) for a room with breakfast in the 3-star hotel. Bearing in mind that we were expecting to have to spend the night in the ferry port and we wouldn’t have even found that in the dark on our own, we were extremely lucky. At least we have somewhere comfortable to sleep and have a nice hot shower!

We have done a lot today mostly around the Vatican area. After breakfast we headed for the Vatican museums and joined the very long queue. Thankfully it moved relatively quickly and we were in within one and a half hours. The museums house huge amounts of art ranging from Ancient Egyptian tombs and statues right up to modern religious art. Also they contain many treasures that the Catholic church has acquired over its long history.

The highlights of the museums were the Egyptian collections, Raphael’s rooms, some of the the modern art section (particularly a couple of Dali paintings) and, of course, the Sistine Chapel which has to be seen to be believed.

After 3 hours in the museums we went to St Peter’s square and Bascilica. They are both huge and very highly decorated. It was surprising that neither were particularly crowded but maybe it’s because the Pope is on his holidays.

After this we returned to our hotel to to change for dinner. We are in a very nice restaurant near the Pantheon and headed back for a much needed rest.

A leisurely breakfast and a short walk to the train station started our day today. It is still very hot but wasn’t so bad in the morning sun. Pisa is about an hour’s train journey and free with our rail passes.

What the guidebooks, and a man we spoke to in Florence, said about Pisa was true – there really is nothing of note there except the tower. Although tourist information gave us a map detailing about 30 ‘places of interest’ in the old city it soon became apparent that they were pretty desperate for things to show off.

Nonetheless we headed for the cathedral and its famous bell tower. The cathedral consists of 3 buildings, the cathedral itself, the baptistry and the bell tower. All three of these lean to a certain extent though none is more pronounced than the tower. Apparently the tower started to lean just 2 years after construction began with only 3 of its 7 floors complete. It could be called a major cock-up but it was an ingenious way of attracting tourists to a frankly otherwise unremarkable cathedral easily surpassed by that of Florence (or even Gloucester) for example.

Despite my skepticism I still enjoyed it and we had a nice bowl of pasta, next to it, for lunch. After that we viewed some more of Pisa’s ’sights’ and headed back to the train station.

Another ice cream awaited us at Florence and a bit more of a wander around. Dinner consisted of salami sandwiches and then a, most importantly, cool and relaxing evening.

Today we explored Florence some more although the extreme heat (36 degrees according to a pharmacy sign) did its best to slow us down.

We had breakfast at the hotel and then headed for the Galleria degli Uffizi (full of famous Rennaisance art) only to find that a 4 hour queue awaited us. We thought better of it ad will try again on Tuesday.

Instead we headed across the river up to the Piazzale Michelangelo which appeared to be not much more than a coach park but nonetheless had very good views of the city.

Upon descending the hill we went for lunch (a calzone, or folded pizza, with ham and cheese – yummy). After this we decided it was time to sort out the ferry to Croatia, our next major hurdle. We managed to sort this out without problems on an overnight ferry (twelve and a half hours) to save on accommodation. We also booked accommodation in Split.

After such hard work we decided we deserved an(other) ice cream so headed for what the guide book recommends as the best gelateria in Florence. Eventually we found it and you could tell it was in the guide book – it was packed! It was worth it however with about 50 different flavours. The chocolate was so chocolatey it was more like frozen mousse! Good though (but not as good as Venice)!

After a swift shower back at the hotel to cool down we headed out for tea. We found a place that did pizza and a drink for €10 (about £8) in the main square. It was pretty good for the money.

On the way back we were briefly entertained by a man dressed as Laurel (or Hardy?) being ‘entertaining’ with balloons – a strange sense of humour these Mediterraneans have!

Today was a little disjointed and we didn’t seem to get much done. The heat here is almost unbearable which means we slow down a lot. Florence is a lovely place though.