Transportation Misadventures in Central Europe

Have you ever returned from a sightseeing vacation only to realize you missed some really neat sights? It happened to me in 2019, after spending 8 weeks in the Balkan countries, so this fall, with a bit of time to fill between Turkey and Switzerland, I decided to remedy 4 of my omissions. And a bonus, I could do most of it by train.

Things started off poorly. My leisurely noon hour flight from Istanbul to Sarajevo got switched by Turkish Airlines to a 7:25 AM departure, necessitating being at the airport by 4:30. I was less than thrilled, especially after learning the omelet station in the Istanbul lounge didn’t open until 5:00.

But even worse, the night before, I double checked on my Omission #1, a train ride from Sarajevo to Mostar, often ranking as one of the most scenic rides in the world. I had previously researched it and the website said there was no need for reservations. But for some reason when I rechecked the Bosnian railway website, Mostar was not coming up as a destination.

I checked the news to see if some light could be shed on why, and to my dismay, learned torrential floods a few weeks prior had wiped out the railroad. So much for my train trip.

After the crowds and touts in Istanbul, landing in Sarajevo was a breath of fresh air. The taxi drivers were honest, not inventing a non-existent toll charge on the airport road, and the lack of crowds was a pleasure. I met a small group of Asian tourists at the plaque commemorating the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in 1916, starting WW1, but that was it.

Instead of the train ride, I endured a 7 hour bus ride to Split, leaving at 6:00am ( why so early???) and arriving only an hour late. I’d like to say the scenery through the Bosnian mountains and quaint towns was spectacular but it was raining, cloudy and generally miserable outside.

My Omission #2, a visit to Plitvice National Park, went off without a hitch. The park is famous for its numerous and constantly changing waterfalls, caused by a unique chemical makeup of the water and rocks. Even the sun decided to appear:

From Plitvice, the plan was to take a bus to Zagreb, catch a taxi to the train station, then take a train to Salzburg, with a transfer at Villach in Austria. If all went to plan, I would arrive there about 7:30.

It did not go as planned. The bus to Zagreb miraculously arrived 5 minutes early, but I refused to pay the $30 the taxi cab wanted for the 5 minute ride to the train station. So I ended up walking, but it only took 15 minutes. The Croatian railroad train had seen better days, but it was comfortable and not crowded:

The train left on time, but shortly afterwards, the conductor came by and advised that due to service on the tracks, i would have to get on a bus at Ljubljana, Slovenia. So when we arrived there, me and all the other tourists followed some guy yelling “bus, bus” through the train station to some waiting buses.

A 45 minute bus ride ensued before we were dropped off at another train station. A local Slovenian train arrived, I was on it for 30 minutes before stopping at a train station, and transferring to yet another local train for another 30 minute ride through Slovenia before finally getting to Villach in Austria. Not surprisingly, my train connection had left an hour ago, and I was stuck waiting two hours for the next train. On the plus side, I found a Shawarma place nearby and a convenience store selling Prosecco at a reasonable price so I was not unhappy.

I made it into Salzburg late in the evening, but my hotel was just a short walk away. After a restful night, I set off on Omission #3, a day trip to the town of Hallstatt, often branded as the prettiest village in Europe:

It is beautiful and not even the bus loads of Chinese tourists could dampen the view, although they did photobomb some of my pictures. They started coming here in droves after a Chinese developer built an exact replica of Haltstatt in China. They come to Austria to experience the real Hallstatt.

Of course, I couldn’t come to Salzburg without visiting this lovely city. I had been here in 1995 and done a Sound of Music tour, so I wanted to avoid references to it this time. This wasn’t easy. My walking tour guide pointed out the famous fountain, the cemetery, the singing hall and sang Do Re Mi. But we also passed by Mozart’s birthplace and the Mirabell Palace, a lavish home built by an Archbishop for his mistress and their 15 children. In the garden are 15 delightful, although probably not politically correct, Dwarf sculptures dating from the 16th century and the inspiration for gnomes everywhere:

I had purchased a ticket to Zürich, scheduled to arrive at 7:30, but the first train, to Innsbruck, was 40 minutes late ( no explanation as to why) and my connection to Sargans had left on time, so I had a few hours to kill in the Innsbruck train station.

Over a glass of wine, I started checking travel options for Omission #4, a journey to Liechtenstein. Apparently the best way was to take a train back to Sargans from Zurich and catch a bus. As I now wouldn’t be getting into Zürich until close to midnight, this plan wasn’t making sense. I booked a night in a Sargans hotel and gave up my non-refundable hotel night in Zurich.

The bus ride from Sargans to Vaduz, the capital of Liechtenstein, took about 20 minutes. I was thrilled as I could now count country 125 as visited. But I cannot say there was a lot to do there. Hiking and mountain climbing were out of the question as it was raining. I walked around the center of Vaduz, taking photos of the church, the Parliament, the castle where the Prince resides, the pedestrian walkway and some modern art structures. There wasn’t much else to do. Even the tourist train didn’t start until 1:00pm.