After all the Croatian fun it's time to go home - by train. First up: the EC train to Vienna. To blend in better with the Balkan surroundings, the OeBB carriages even have quite some grafiti on them.
As the scenery during the first few hours is exactly the same as on the Graz-Zidani Most-Zagreb trains on the inbound, I won't post anything and just take a nap. Below is a thread what you can expect to see if you take this journey, in case you missed it.
The Slovene border guards are on it again at Dobova with thorough checks. They even kicked out my friendly Croatian compartment mate for not having a negative corona test - despite the fact that this is not needed for transit! Poor guy.. ~1 hour delay and counting.
OK just one video as this stretch is just so beautiful. And also because it features a group of waving school children!
This time the train takes the bypass tracks at Zidani Most station, which can be seen in the distance across the dual bridges (the tracks form a triangle here basically). Just a few days earlier, I was enjoying a beer at the café of this beautifully located station.
Austrian border check at Spielfeld-Straß was super fast and smooth. Just a quick look at my passport and onward train ticket to confirm I'm indeed on transit. At the border, the on-board restaurant finally opens too. Let's start with a beer at @seatsixtyone in this wagon!
Time for lunch! Gulash soup with warm and crispy, fresh brötchen and an Austrian red (Blauer Zweigelt) to go with it.
On the line from Graz to Bruck an der Mur.
Let's check out which @_DiningCar has the better Wiener Schnitzel. The Austrian Railways (OeBB) I'm on now or the Slovenian Railways (SZ) a few days back. Although this one is certainly tasty, my vote goes to the Slovenians.
Climbing up on the famous Semmering Railway.
The Semmering Railway. Not the best weather but still highly scenic!
Quite a journey. You get so much of a better idea of place and time when travelling by train compared to taking a flight.
Ah well, a full detox and diet can wait for home. Let's finish this trip in style with some strudel!
Approaching Vienna..
Wien Hbf!
It's rainy out here today..
The Dacia night train from Vienna to Bucharest arrives!
My @sleeping_train compartment on the EN Dacia to Bucharest. Quite spacious and certainly comfortable. Now if only there would be a chair at that desk..!
The departure of my train as seen from the platform!
And this is how it looks like from on board the train.
Onwards to Hungary!
Budapest Keleti Pályaudvar. One of Europe's grandest railway stations. I'm super tired but just had to stay awake to have a walk again on the platforms here.
Goodmorning from Romania! I had am excellent night of sleep despite the 2am border formalities, which fortunately were super quick. Riding on a seemingly upgraded railway line at speed (both rare for Romania) to Sighişoara.
The Transylvanian countryside..
Arriving - one hour late - at Sighişoara. The famous Medieval hilltop citadel can be clearly seen above town!
Sighişoara station. The very friendly Romanian provodnik came buy with some strong coffee and even offered that I could use one of the - now empty - compartments with en-suite shower. Which I will probably do later.
So this is what a compartment with shower looks like. Lukewarm water at best - but certainly refreshing.
Cața (German: Katzendorf) with its fortified church. If you look closely you can see the church towers in the distance! For a bit of background on these Saxon fortified churches, check out an article I wrote.
paliparan.com/2021/02/19/sax…
Back at more traditional Romanian railway speeds. Unfortunately, no dining car attached this time around :(
Racoş might not look like much, but it has an abandoned castle (Cetatea Bethlen) a cool extint volcano, an emerald lake and some beautiful basalt columns up the hill.
On the borderlands between Braşov and Covasna county.
The village of Ormeniş, called Ermesch in German and Ürmös in Hungarian, is quite ethnically diverse like so many other towns in this region. Hungarians and gypsies both number around 40% here, while Romanians are a minority at 17% of local inhabitants.
Rain and even some thunder on the line to Braşov.
Approaching Braşov..
Braşov station! As we racked up quite a delay, just a quick stop only before we immediately move on towards the Carpathians.
We sneak uphill through dense forests to one of the highest points in the Romanian rail network at Predeal. Houses like the one on the 4th picture feature typical architecture for the Prahova Valley region, but ofc there are also lots of modern-day apartments and bungalows.
Unfortunately not the best weather and not all mountain peaks are visible, but still a beautiful stretch of rail.
This is how it looks like on a beautiful winter day with the Carpathians visible in full glory at Buşteni.
Arriving at the beautiful station of Sinaia, a popular Romanian mountain resort famous for its Peleş Castle, the old summer palace of the Romanian royal family.
Departure from Sinaia. From here it's down the valley to the Wallachian plains. First the oil city Ploieşti, then to the final stop Bucharest.
It's a lot sunnier today on the southern side of the Carpathians.
Bucharest Gara de Nord. With a 50 minute delay. This time all due to the extra time needed for document checks at the AT-HU border.
And Pixie the cat is happy for me to be back home, doing her usual welcome routine of rolling on the kitchen table demanding belly rubs.
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