Tag: Europe

Studio apartman, Zagreb, Croatia – a Review

Independent, Motel Hotel Review

Name:  Studio apartman also goes by the name Niko
Address:  Aleja Pomoraca 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

Why did we book this place?  Well, it had a wonderful array of offerings, including  dog friendly, close to attractions, washing machine and so much more.  Additionally, the 9.7 star review average on booking.com is practically unheard of!

We arrived at 12:30 pm.  The address is an apartment building, so we phone the guy – and then the problems started.

He informed us he would be there in half an hour to an hour to let us in.  We told him that would be fine, we could go grab a bite to eat in the meantime.  Then he asked if we still wanted the place to which we replied of course, we would go for lunch and return. He said ok and then questioned us a second time if we wanted the apartment. Nervously, we asked why. He said the hot water did not work, so we would only be able to have cold showers.

After a quick discussion between ourselves, we suggested a discount was in order and then we would still stay. He refused. So we told him no thank you and he instructed us to contact booking.com to get our money back.

Booking informed us that he had indeed contacted them and was requesting (demanding?) 50% of the booking cost!  We proceeded to explain to them why it was completely unfair and incorrect.  They graciously agreed to cover the difference and give us a full refund.  I do not believe this to be fair or correct, but it was certainly very courteous of them.

Now, when we were ready to settle in, eat lunch and do some sightseeing, instead had to start figuring out where we would stay.  Due to the time of year and short notice, we were unable to stay in Zagreb.  It was a huge disappointment, but an excuse to return!

Would I recommend staying at Aleja Pomoraca 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia?  No, based on our experience, no.  That being said, it seems like we are the only ones who had such a horrible experience and maybe it is almost perfect?!

How much would it have cost for 1 night? €40

We have possibly spoke with the one and only asshole in Zagreb when we tried to check in to our pre-booked apartment - thank goodness we met so many nice people.

 

Leander Haz 21, Keszthely, Lake Balaton – Review

Guest Apartment Hotel Leander Haz 21 in Keszthely, Hungary; independent motel review.

First Impression:  Beautiful, quaint, charming – clean and extremely well kept.   Bonus:  Dog Friendly!
Find out more about our experience in the area: Lake Balaton, Keszthely, Hungary.
Check In:  was uncomfortable and unfriendly
The lady who checked us in spoke absolutely No English or German, although the sign on the gate stated that “FLUENT” english is spoken.

The fully furnished bachelor style apartment is spacious enough for two people.  Our area was on the ground floor.

Accommodation:  Walk into a living / sleeping area with a small table with 2 chairs, book / shelving stand, small tv on a stand, wardrobe, big bed, 2 bed tables.

Through one door is the small kitchen with a small table with 2 chairs, stove, oven, small fridge, microwave, toaster, coffee machine, kettle, pots, pans, dishes, glasses, flatware, dish detergent, one tea towel, one sponge and a garbage can.

Through the other door is the bathroom with toilet, sink, shower and 2 bath towels. There is liquid hand soap and many shampoos. Not sure if these are included in the stay or left behind by previous guests, so perhaps not in every accommodation, nice touch in any case.  There was also a hair dryer and a bucket with mop.

Outside is a beautiful garden with flowers, fruit trees, grass, sitting areas (too bad they do not make the smokers go there) and a huge vegetable garden in another area.  The woman who checked us in is constantly working in the gardens.  There are seating / relax areas in the inner garden as well as tables along the guest apartment fronts.

Our Experience:
– Dripping shower; solution: lay it on the floor
– No fan or air conditioning.  The heat is drastic and in combination with mosquitos and other guests intruding on privasphere, there should definitely at least be fans.
– Lots of mosquitos at night – must close the window. No fan or air conditioning so very hot.  Our only relief was to open the window after turning out all the lights and electronic devices.
– Woke up in the morning to people sitting at the table directly outside our window, smoking and yakking. The table is right outside our window – look at the picture of the bedroom – it means they may as well have been sitting in our room! We get up, put some clothes on (who knows how long they have been getting a free show), and close the window. Hot again!
– The woman is a total bitch.  Really, I do not understand why she is in this business…
– Need a car to go everywhere

Would I stay here again? NO
It is really unfortunate, because the place is gorgeous, clean and for the most part relaxing.  However, the above mentioned problems combined with a thankless, rude manager / owner? is an absolute reason to not go back and not recommend it to anyone else.

Lake Balaton, Keszthely, Hungary – Dog Friendly European Road Trip

Popular summer vacation destination, Keszthely, Lake Balaton – Palace and Beaches

Saying goodbye to beautiful Budapest, we hit the road and are on our way to Lake Balaton, the largest lake in central Europe.  It is a sunny, 33 degrees and we are encountering lots of traffic jams and or slow moving traffic.  Rather than getting frustrated, we stop and have a picnic beside the road at a rest area, letting our dog Fritz have a little run and do some sniffing while the traffic hopefully lessens.

Finally, at 3:45 pm, we arrive in the holiday town of Keszthely, located on the southwest shores of Lake Balaton.
Without complication we find our guest apartment.  Check out my review here: Leander Haz 21, Keszthely, Lake Balaton – Review.

After quickly unpacking we are on our way to the beach! The walk to Libás Beach takes us around 15 minutes, but to our shocked surprise, not only are dogs NOT allowed in the beach area, there is an admission fee of 500 forint / €1.65 for adults and 350 ft / €1.15 for children.  It is advertised as the newest beach for those looking for “peace and quiet”; shockingly the beach was over ran with people.  If you want to go, the address is 8360 Keszthely, Libás strand.

Opting for a walk on the waterfront, we find a wonderful, quiet path with beautiful lake views.  A few people are suntanning, others are fishing, picnicking or just enjoying the peace.  The walkway leads around the marina area called Yacht Kikoto where sailboats are making their clanging sounds in the gentle, almost non-existent breeze.

Back at the apartment, we sit in the small, very pretty, deserted garden to have a cold drink and relax.  Fritz is content bouncing through the grass and sniffing at the trees.

For dinner we cook a pot of pasta in our apartment kitchen which we enjoy out on the terrace; drinking wine, eating pasta and relaxing!   A barrage of mosquitos arrives at dusk, chasing us into our room.

The next day, following a late self made breakfast of grilled sandwiches,  we are drive to the town of Fonyód where there is a dog friendly beach.  It was about a thirty minute drive by highway.  The temperature is a hot sunny 37 degrees – perfect for swimming. We drove into the area of the train station and turned left for dog beach.  There was lots of parking available. Surprisingly, there were hardly any people here, so it was a relaxing day with Fritz enjoying the opportunity to cool off!

Our third day we went to see the Festetics Palace home of the Helikon Palace Museum.  It was very quiet, considering it is one of the top attractions in Keszthely.  I guess everyone was trying to stay cool at the beach due to the 37 degree celsius temperatures with the sun beating down. We fought it off eating lots of ice cream and drinking cold beverages ;-).

Admission is charged for entry to ALL buildings on the palace grounds.  We simply wandered around the grounds as dogs are NOT allowed into any of the museum buildings. Entrance fees are varied, but to see everything, it will cost 4200 ft / €13.81 per person.

The rest of the day we lazed around in the Aparthotel garden with our hotdog Fritz ?.

Next stop:  Zagreb, Croatia

Info:  There are 3 beaches with ample parking in Keszthely – Helikon Beach, the Municipal Beach and Libás Beach – all cost an entrance fee. Also readily available are supermarkets, restaurants, a veterinarian, a park, a huge bus station, a train station, a museum / palace, shopping (of course) and a lot of people. It seems every house is a room rental. This is a resort town where people drive, walk or bicycle to the beach or downtown depending on where their accommodations are.  Restaurants are expensive and nothing is free.

Formula 1 Hungaroring, Hungary

Everything you need to know about the Hungaroring Race Track.

Formula One Weekend July 27 – 30, 2017

Pit Walk:  It is Thursday, 3 pm and we are in a hurry to get to the Hungaroring Race Track for the Pit Walk from 4pm to 6pm.  We are staying in Budapest (read the blog) and the track is about a half hour drive from our Motel DOJO (read the review).

The sun is shining it is a comfortable 20 degrees celsius and we are in a long line to get into the entrance / parking at the Hungaroring, Gate 8.  We finally get in at around 4:25 pm, find a parking spot – free today – and make our way to the pit, an approximate 5 minute walk.

We spent 1.5 hours strolling the track, doing the pit walk and getting lots of pictures. My husband bought a race program for €15.  Mercedes AMG Petronas driver Lewis Hamilton surprised the crowd by showing up, shouting greetings and giving autographs.  He was full of smiles and perhaps gained more fans; he was the only driver we saw interacting with the crowd.

As we came by the garage of team Sauber we saw the German driver Pascal Wehrlein; my partner shouted out a hello and was rewarded with a super friendly smile.  Thank you Pascal!

Back at the car (6:10pm), traffic is not moving – at all. Standstill. It finally started moving at 7:50 pm and 15 minutes later we were on the highway back to Budapest.

Practice Sessions: Friday – The sun is shining and it is 28 degrees celsius. We left at noon in order to give ourselves enough time for traffic, lineups and parking; arrived at the 2 pm second practice session where we had great seats in the Gold section!  Very exciting!  Parking was once again free, but we were a little further away this time.

Qualifying Sessions Q1, Q2, Q3:  Saturday – Parking today cost us 2000 Hungarian Forint / €6.50 – until today it was free parking and you could sit wherever you wanted, today you pay for parking and sit in your assigned ticket seats.  It is a hot, sunny 31 degrees celsius.
Note:  They DO NOT sell sun cream so make sure you take some or start a weekend business!

Formula One Race Day! Sunday – sunny, 34 degrees celsius
Sum it up:  Super hot, huge crowds, exciting race ?!!!
Sebastian Vettel came in first followed closely by team mate Kimi Raikkonen.  Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton respectively took 3rd and 4th positions.

We happily accept that, according to Sebastian Vettel himself, the win was due to my husbands wild cheering and thumbs up every time he passed us by! Congratulations on a great race!

Quoted from the Formula1.com Post Race Conference, Mr. Vettel said:  There was a guy out of the chicane, every single lap he was thumbs up, thumbs up and keeping us going, so it was really great.

Weekend at a Glance:
Thursday, 27 July 2017
16:00 - 18:00 Public Pit Lane Walk For 3 day ticket holders only
18:00 - 18:30 F1 Experience Track Tour F1 Experience guests only
18:30 - 19:00 F1 Experience Pit Lane Walk F1 Experience guests only
Friday, 28 July 2017
10:00 - 11:30 FIA FORMULA ONE FIRST PRACTICE SESSION (P1)
11:55 - 12:40 FIA FORMULA 2 PRACTICE SESSION
13:10 - 13:25 F1 Experience F1 2-seater
14:00 - 15:30 FIA FORMULA ONE SECOND PRACTICE SESSION (P2)
15:55 - 16:25 FIA FORMULA 2 QUALIFYING SESSION
16:45 - 17:30 PORSCHE MOBIL1 SUPERCUP PRACTICE SESSION
17:50 - 18:35 GP3 SERIES PRACTICE SESSION
Saturday, 29 July 2017
8:30 - 9:15 FIA FORMULA ONE Team pit stop practice
9:45 - 10:15 GP3 SERIES QUALIFYING SESSION
11:00 - 12:00 FIA FORMULA ONE THIRD PRACTICE SESSION (P3)
12:20 - 12:50 PORSCHE MOBIL1 SUPERCUP QUALIFYING SESSION
13:00 - 13:20 FIA FORMULA 2 Drivers' Track Parade
14:00 - 15:00 FIA FORMULA ONE QUALIFYING SESSION (Q1,Q2,Q3)
15:15 - 15:35 F1 Experience F1 2-seater
16:00 - 17:05 FIA FORMULA 2 FIRST RACE (37 laps or 60 minutes)
17:35 - 18:20 GP3 SERIES FIRST RACE (22 laps or 40 minutes)
18:30 - 18:50 Promoter Activity Drivers' Fan Forum
Sunday, 30 July 2017
9:10 - 9:45 GP3 SERIES SECOND RACE (17 laps or 30 minutes)
10:20 - 11:10 FIA FORMULA 2 SECOND RACE (28 laps or 45 minutes)
11:30 - 12:05 PORSCHE MOBIL1 SUPERCUP RACE (14 laps or 30 minutes)
12:15 - 12:20 F1 Experience F1 2-seater
12:30 FIA FORMULA ONE Drivers' Track Parade
13:00 - 13:15 FIA FORMULA ONE Starting grid presentation
13:40 FIA FORMULA ONE Pit Lane closed, grid formation
13:46 FIA FORMULA ONE National Anthem
14:00 - 16:00 FIA FORMULA ONE GRAND PRIX (70 laps or 120 minutes)

Things to know about the Hungaroring:

– ample washrooms / toilets and hand washing areas
– shade is not predominant so take sun cream and hats, unless you are in the gold seating which has a roof
– there are many food and drink booths, but you may take your own food and drink in.  Exceptions:  No Glass, No Cans
– park in your area or you will have a long walk, remember where you parked
– Dog boarding is within a 20 minute drive of the Hungaroring.  See my review of Dogmopolite Dog Boarding.
– Hungaroring is approximately 20 minutes from Budapest, but allow sufficient time for traffic jams (in both directions)

If you have more questions or suggestions, please use the comments section below.