From Budapest to Promanja (or not….)
Oh my word! I almost jumped on an aeroplane twice to go back home. The feeling of being a stranger in a foreign land is very real. However, the work, cost, and stress, associated with obtaining a Schengen visa remind me to take advantage of those 90 days granted to explore Europe.
Hungary was spectacular. There’s no other word to describe it. However, by the time we left, it was getting mighty cold! It was the end of November after all. If you’re into beautiful architecture, then Budapest is the place for you. Every building has something to look at – be it a statue, carving, stained glass or tiling of some kind, it’s all there to spark your imagination. And the history…hundreds of years of wars left, right and centre. People killed fighting for/against the invaders and buildings destroyed, some to be replaced, others to be left in the ruins they are now.
If you visit Budapest, always remember to pronounce it correctly – pesht, not pest. After all, pest derives from the word pestis and Budapest is not a place of plagues!
Buda, Pest and Obuda were separate cities, only recently (in the timeline of the land) joined into one divided by the Danube. Check out Wikipedia for more on the history of this incredible city. It’s worth digging into.
We visited many of the sights in the city and walked many, many miles and, bonus, I finally discovered how the pedometer on my phone works!
I spent many hours at the Museum of Ethnology just off Hero’s Square, where the meals were tasty and the views excellent! Whenever I needed some quiet time to complete work or write, that’s where I would go.
I can’t say I have a favourite place in the city because there are so many I spent hours simply looking at or wondering around in awe. For a city with beauty wherever you look, Budapest is certainly a place to consider visiting.
However, I digress. On to Croatia, and the village of Promanje. We took the bus from Budapest to Split, a coastal town and port in Croatia. Once again we passed through a border post as Croatia (in 2022) was not part of the Schengen Borderless Countries. We walked across the road from the bus station to the edge of the sea. The bus station in Split is right at the port, but we had little time to explore. It was dark and pretty much deserted when we arrived, and our bus to Promanje was about to leave.
Did I say it was dark? The bus took off down the winding coastal road towards the town of Makarska. We told the driver where we needed to get off the bus and were startled when he pulled off the road and told us to get off. There was a tiny bus shelter on the side of the road and a cliff on the other. That was all we could see. Trusty Google Maps told us we needed to walk (in the dark) back up the road a ways, then down to the village and our apartment.
Now, this might not seem strange to seasoned travellers, but to me, I had to tamp down the panic and remind myself where I was. After all, this was Europe, and walking the streets at night and knowing you are safe, is a common thing. However unexpected this diversion was, it was nothing compared to what greeted us at the apartment we had booked. It turned out that the 2 bedroomed apartment was actually 2 separate rooms, each with it’s own miniature kitchen and bathroom. Not what we were expecting at all. Neither room had a view of the magnificent Mediterranean Sea and we had no common space.
The owner graciously suggested one of us move into the room in front which would be available the next day and would allow us access to a balcony with a view and a shared kitchen with a table for us to work at.
BUT… this was not the end of our woes in Promanje. We did not understand what ‘tourist season’ means on the coast of Croatia! Only essential shops for the few locals who remain in the villages throughout the year were open. This meant that we had access to a small supermarket, but none of the restaurants were open. We resigned ourselves to cooking every day – it wasn’t that big a hardship, after all. We were on the coast, with a splendid view of the sea and beautiful coastlines to walk whenever the fancy hit us.
Then, the drilling began. Turned out that the plot in front of the apartment building we were in, had been empty for years, but now the owner had decided to build. This meant tools and banging and crashing and loud conversations ALL day. Unacceptable when one wants to work. We’d just left an apartment in Budapest that had buildings going up on 3 sides, but with double-glazed windows, we could shut the noise (mostly) out. Here, there was no such option. We had to move or go insane and broke.
Then, as luck would have it, we found the most magical place in the beautiful town of Makarska. This was not a tourist village, but a bona fide town. There was a small mall, several supermarkets, a fresh food market and a town square all within easy walking distance.