Thursday, August 22, 2024

Slovenia, Austria: Part 8 - Day 9: Bled to Salzburg

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 9.

31/7 Day 9: Train from Bled Lesce to Villach Hbf. Continued with a different train from Villach Hbf to Salzburg Hbf. 

Costs
(1) Train ticket from Bled Lesce to Salzburg - EUR14,30, reserved seats EUR3

Accommodation 
(1) 1 night in Hotel Vogelweiderhorf, Salzburg - EUR130 (shared room for 3 persons)
(2) City tax paid to the hotel - EUR1,75 per person

Food
(1) Breakfast from Pekarna Planika bakery - 3 types of buns (EUR1,75 each) EUR5,25
(2) River camping bled - Radler 500ml EUR3,70, kremsnite cake EUR5,40
(3) Lunch at Krcma Mexico, a Mexican restaurant - Chimichangas (a tortilla wrapped around a filling and deep-fried) pollo EUR14,90, tips EUR0,38
(4) Bistro in Bled Lesce train station - Iced coffee latte machiatto EUR3,60, Ice-cream 1 scoop EUR3,80
(5) Villacher Brauhof - Radler EUR4,40
(6) Wienerroither bakery in Villach train station - Buttercroissant EUR1,70
(7) Sweet energy drink Dirndl (Cornelian cherry) 330ml on the train from Villach to Salzburg - EUR4,30

The Story
31072024 : Today, we check out from our Airbnb. But before that, we took one last dip in Lake Bled and changed in the Airbnb. We got similar buns from the same bakery that we had our buns yesterday and the day before. We took coffee from the coffee sachets provided by the host. 


The plan for today is to walk to Bled Lesce train station where we will continue our journey into Austria. We decided to take the free bus that we saw yesterday, in front of Bled Jezero train station, and stop as near as we could to our start point to walk. It was a good idea because it was very hot! While waiting for the bus, I had my picture taken in front of the cafe that we had our lovely coffee 2 days ago. The cafe is next to Bled Jezero train station.


Last view of Lake Bled in front of the train station.


We disembarked at Secelo station and walked towards Lesce. When we planned this trip in January, we did not realise how tiring it will be to walk to Lesce and how hot the weather could be. The travel companion who suggested Lesce said that it would be a nice walk and we have sufficient time. If we did not know about the free bus, the walk would have taken us 2 hours but the walk was shortened to 50 minutes!

Thank you, free bus!! Bye, Lake Bled! I was satisfied and ready to leave Bled. 


The very hot walk. 


We stopped at River Camping Bled for a break. I got my usual radler and we shared a kremsnite cake. A termometer in the camping area showed 28 degrees. 


There were no tall trees or areas that provided shade. We were walking on the opened walkway to Lesce. We walked towards Bled Lesce train station so we could check if there is a timetable and have an idea of which platform to stand on. It is a small train station so there are not many platforms to choose from. Either towards Ljubljana or towards Jesenice. Ours is Jesenice because that is the last station in Slovenia before entering Villach in Austria.


Arrived in Lesce at 12.49pm.





Next is to look for lunch. I was really tired from the heat and dreaded to walk to our lunchplace. Thankfully, it is nearby and it is a Mexican restaurant. 



Burritos on the left and chimichangas on the right. I read that the difference between those two is the tortilla bread in burrito is not deep-fried whereas it is so in a chimichangas. The chimichangas does not look like it is deep-fried. It was probably baked in the oven or pan-fried. 



After lunch, we went back to Bled Lesce train station. Our train was due to arrive by 4.16pm. In the meantime, we had iced coffee and ice-cream. The train did not arrive by then and we were very anxious because we had only 9 minutes at Villach station to catch our connecting train to Salzburg. The train arrived at 4.29pm. 

Of course, we were delayed. 
Of course, we missed our connecting train to Salzburg. So frustrating! I lost the excitement of stepping into a new country, Austria. 


Our connecting train in Villach was scheduled for departure at 5.16pm and left at 5.17pm. We arrived Villach at 5.29pm. We hurried to ÖBB Customer Service office in Villach station before everyone else in the train so that we don't have to wait in line. Explained our situation to the customer service officer who knew already what has happened. The only option was to take the later train that will depart at 7.17pm but we could not reserve any seats as it was too late. We got our train tickets validated to take the later time. When we left the office, there was a long queue waiting for the customer service officers. 

As we had nothing else to do, we went to a restaurant, Villacher Brauhof, near the train station where we thought it would be cooling with air-conditioning but it was not. The doors were opened to the outdoor seating and the hot air surrounded the restaurant. It was a very slow service in the restaurant. The waiter who looked like he just finished college could not speak English. I was very surprised. In Slovenia, everyone could speak English - the young and old. It took 20 minutes for our drinks to arrive. The longest time I have ever experienced! When we asked the waiter when our drinks were arriving (in English), he explained in German...




We took the 7.17pm train from Villach train station and thankfully, we could find seats for 3 of us to sit together. In the train, the staff was very friendly and I got convinced to buy an energy drink which was very sweet. He said that it is a new drink and I did not realise it was an energy drink. It was so sweet when I tried it and could not finish it. I brought the drink back to Sweden and finally finished it after 2 months (the day I am writing this post - 20 October). Haha!




We arrived Salzburg at 9.50pm. If it was not for the delay, the 25-minute walk to our hotel would not have bothered me. We arrived at the hotel at 10.15pm and we had already informed the hotel that we may arrive late. So, we collected our keys from a locked box. I am so happy that we reached the hotel and could finally go to bed. WHAT A LONG DAY!

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