Clearly I had the idea to write up this great trip we did ... about 2 years ago!
It was a really great trip - I'll summarise it now and maybe add photos later.
My idea was to take the benefits of using Interrail, in which you buy a pass allowing use of trains throughout Europe (potentially) over a period of time. I'd done this as a youth a couple of times and thought it was great. This time, the added benefit was that you could also use a number of ferries - and the plan I made was to travel from Paris (where we lived) to Italy, cross the Adriatic, ex-Yugoslavia, the Alps, then back to Paris. I only had 9 days so this was enough!
I'll just say that, when you have time pressure, Interrail/Eurail is probably not economic. For example, we started with an overnight train to Milan - this is mostly not funded by the Interrail. Also, fast trains typically have a supplement which can end up being as expensive as cheaper (but slower) routes between the same places.
Anyway, off we went.
We departed Paris in the evening from Gare de Lyon. It was early summer - and the day was hot. This Italian run night train was not properly air-conditioned, while being completely full. Also, the police entered the compartment in the early hours to harass the Tunisian guy on one of the bunks - entirely unnecessarily.
So we arrived in Milan at about 6am, with my youngest, who is autistic, looking very ill. I was quite concerned, however it seemed to be a form of travel sickness and after 20 or so minutes he was okay. We then found our way to the area of the Cathedral where we were to wait for an old (Milanese) friend of mine. In the meantime we looked around the area and had some drinks in a quite reasonable café.
My friend showed us around and we had lunch together. This was my second time in Milan - this time I liked it better, but much a prosperous European city like French or Spanish ones - according to this brief encounter. My boys enjoyed it - both the company and, for instance, the quality ice-cream.
In the afternoon we took a fast train to Rome, stopping there briefly before going on to Naples. The objective in the area was Pompeii, however Naples is a fascinating and charming city. There's no question that it's significantly poorer than Milan, however there is a richness to the place - medieval alleyways through ancient crumbling buildings. We stayed in a hotel built into a very badly maintained place - but inside it was fine - room large, airconditioner worked well. Breakfast was around the corner at a great little restaurant, specializing of course in pizza. Perfect with the boys.
We took the local train the next morning to Pompeii. I was expecting it to be overrun with tourists - and that seemed to be borne out as we arrived. But the tickets were cheap and once in the grounds, you realize the saving grace: it's just so huge! You just have to walk a bit and you're entirely separated from everyone else, and as much as anything it is the experience of wandering in this ancient place that is most amazing - imagining how it would have been to live in an ancient Roman town.
I could have stayed longer, but a couple of hours were adequate and I didn't want to tire my boys attention. I hadn't been sure it would be possible before I came, but I was pleased to see that their was a bus up the mountain of Vesuvius (responsible for the destruction of Pompeii) so I booked tickets. There was little English spoken so we had to just see how it went - and this was quite interesting. We took a minibus to a stop on the side of the mountain - and then transferred to a type of all-terrain vehicle, since the rest of the trip was on steep dirt roads. Uncomfortable but fun!
We walked for about an hour - very hot and a bit difficult for my boys - but one we reached the crater rim, their fascination took over and we had a good time. There was a little smoke, but no lava - to their partial disappointment! The crater itself is huge and deep though, which was impressive for all of us.
So we returned back, very pleased by the local train. It was crowded and in our car full of rebelious teeenagers daring eachother to do this and that... when one broke in to a control room at the end of the car I intervened - I was a little worried they might get violent at that! In the end it was cool and they were okay with us.
We walked around Naples the next day and had some good meals - great fun "The Three Boys"!
Our next destination was Bari on the other coast so we could take a ferry to Albania. It was an excellent high-speed train - very impressive. We were in the front carriage. The scenery was great rolling hills, farmland, rivers...
It was a day later in Albania that we heard that the following day's train - the same as we'd been on - crashed at high-speed killing and injuring many people.
We arrived at the centre of Bari and went about finding the port, the right ferry (basically a cruise ship) and how to get on it. Quite involved!
We had light inflatable matresses and sheet bags - we were "deck class". In fact the ship was enclosed so we found a place on the floor and lined up our mattresses. We had a reasonable meal in the ship's restaurant and slept quite well. Coming into Dulles was quite impressive - a fine port city. I'd met a young MBA student of Abanian/Italian heritage who was their to stay with her uncle. They helped find a place to withdraw money, and book a bus to Tirana - and we had a coffee with them. Good people!
Tirana is a smallish quite modern city, not wealthy, not particularly attractive but interesting enough for a couple of days. It is almost entirely Muslim but totally European - which gives it some charm. We stayed in a backpackers place there which really added to the experience: well run, a good internal café/restaurant - even good internet. My older son had a bad migraine there however - it's alsways sad to see a child in pain.
We took a bus the next day to Podgorica, capital of Montenegro, on the way to go on to Sarejevo. Montenegro? It's practically empty, that's my main impression. That whole area would be brilliant for long relaxed holidays... I suppose this will be discovered pretty soon!
From Podgorica we took a direct route to Sarajevo. You would have thought that a road between two capitals would be straight and well-maintained, even in that part of the world... and you would be very wrong. It's winding, goes very high and is for significant stretches unpaved and shared with goats and cows. It is also intensely beautiful climbing above gorges and lakes between significant mountains. We stopped in pretty Alpine towns on the way. Neither son (nor myself!) were travel sick to my relief. 10 hours but great!
As we crossed the border, the first sign we saw was "Welcome to the Replublic of Serbia". I later found out this was the work of Serbian nationalists in the region - it seems the conflict still simmers... but we saw no more evidence of any hostilities - quite the contrary, Bosnia has a relaxed and rather happy feel.
Arriving in Sarajevo, we took a taxi to the AirBnB I'd arranged. A nice little 1 bedroom flat a short walk the other side of the old historical centre - perfect for us.
TO BE CONTINUED!!!
