This is day three of our seven-day global pass.
Somehow, we seem to go through Vienna a lot but don’t actually have any time to do anything while we’re there. Perhaps another time I’ll get to spend more time here, but for the moment I shall have to be happy with using it as somewhere with lounge access and free peanuts.
Thankfully, our Airbnb was nice and close to the station which meant that we didn’t have to get up too early, but it was still a bit of a challenge. Über being my new favourite thing, we got downstairs and ordered, which gave herself time for a fag. We had time enough at the station when we arrived that I had bacon, sausage and eggs (3€) before we left.
Our first train of the day was the 08:15 from Bratislava-Petržalka to Vienna, a commuter train which was exceptionally comfy for the one-hour journey through the enchanted wind-turbine forest. I love wind turbines and have had a fascination for them since my childhood, but my travel companion thinks they are a blight on the landscape.
Nonetheless, we managed to agree that it was nice to see them actually being used for something; although Austria gets most of its power from hydro, 13% of its renewables mix comes from wind power. So there you are.
The train was slightly late into Vienna but I had planned plenty of time between trains which gave us time to sit in the lounge, drink coffee, and stuff ourselves full of nibbles to give us sufficient sustenance for the eight-hour rail journey to Oradea.
Ours is the 10:42 Inter-regional 143 Transylvania via Budapest to Cluj-Napoca, though we’re getting off in Oradea where we’re staying with friends for a week. There’s no restaurant car – surprising, given the length of the journey – however, we were prepared for this and brought a packed lunch with us.
This left on time, but the ÖBB hadn’t attached a first class coach which would be irritating were it not for the fact that we are more-or-less the only people on the train, once the masses descended on Budapest for Sziget. We kept our compartment locked for the best part of the journey, with the aircon on all the way. The seats slide towards each other to make beds, so we also did a lot of sleeping.
Hungary is large and appears to be quite flat. There are a few uninspiring-looking places as we approach Romania – Karcag doesn’t look like like a place I’d like to live. The station building itself is actually quite pretty, but the rest is a little grim; it appeared to be mostly silos and a recycling plant. However, it is entirely possible I am doing the place a disservice. I messaged a Hungarian friend from Szolnok asking her to remind me to “visit again” on the strength of the view from the train, only to be rebuked and told that “it is a charming place” and to Google the hotel and spa with its own hot source. I did.
I took it all back.
There were three changes of locomotive for this journey. The first at Budapest-Keleti where the locomotive changed end so we both got to travel in the direction of the train (our seats are facing).
We stopped in Püspökladány to change for a diesel locomotive as the electrification stops there. The last station before the Romanian border was Biharkeresztes, where the Hungarian diesel locomotive was changed for a Romanian one, and we sat and waited for people with guns to finish their cigarettes before boarding the train and checking our passports. The same thing happened on the other side of the border.
Our requests for passport stamps were denied.
We arrived in Oradea more-or-less on time and were met by my friend from the train. Oradea Gara de Nord was built by Kálmán Rimanóczy in 1857 and was, at the time it was built, the largest railway station in Eastern Europe. We didn’t get much time to explore as – after our mammoth journey – the only thing we wanted to do was get home and flop.
