CityStar Ticket

Summary

Discover a special rail tariff which offers cheap deals for travels from Slovakia to destinations in the Alps, eastern Europe and the Balkans.

hidden europe 56 / Snippet / By hidden europe

There was a time when it was possible to buy a return train ticket from Bratislava to Vladivostok and back for under €150. Not a bad price for 23,000 kilometres of rail travel. The ticket was valid for one month.

The CityStar family of tickets from Slovakia to Austria, Switzerland, eastern Europe and the Balkans is still great value. It’s merely that the ticket is no longer available for Russian destinations. There are good discounts for couples and small groups.

This is just an excerpt. The full text of this article is not yet available to members with online access to hidden europe. Of course you can read the full article in the print edition of hidden europe 56.

Editorial hidden europe 56
Editorial

By hidden europe

It is de rigueur these days to keep oneself busy when travelling. Where once travellers would just enjoy being in a place, it’s now almost essential to have an experience. It is with this fad for hyperactivity in mind that we dedicate this issue of hidden europe to the gentle art of doing nothing.

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Return to Marienbad: The Ghosts of Mariánské Lázne
Feature

By Nicky Gardner

Few place names resonate in the way that Marienbad does. The celebrated spa town tucked away in the hills of Bohemia is, like many of the traditional spas of central Europe, a place apart. Today the town is known by the Czech name of Mariánské Lázne and hints of a Habsburg past are draped with a soft veneer of Soviet-style central planning and the sharp edge of modern capitalism.

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Dancing by the Danube
Feature

By Rudolf Abraham

In the town of Mohács, on the bank of the River Danube in Hungary, the single most important cultural event of the year is the Busójárás, which is part of a wider European Shrovetide tradition. Rudolf Abraham stopped off in Mohács to report on this extraordinary festival for hidden europe.

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For the Love of Libraries: Leuven
Feature

By Caroline Mills

Libraries are much more than bricks and mortar, as Caroline Mills discovers during a visit to Leuven in Belgium. The vandalism of war has twice struck Leuven, with its university library set ablaze by marauding German troops in 1914 and again in 1940. Caroline recalls the tale of how her great-grandfather took the initiative in helping restore the library after the first conflagration.

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Lithuanian Enigma: A Visit to Druskininkai
Feature

By Nicky Gardner

Lithuanians are firmly asserting a confident national identity which transcends history and occupation. A key asset in the new Lithuanian narrative is the artist and composer Mikalojus Ciurlionis, who spent his childhood years in the small town of Druskininkai. It is, we discover, an appealing place with winsome wooden villas and some oddball Baltic modernist buildings.

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Drawing a Line in the Water: The Caspian Sea
Borderpost

By Nicky Gardner

Is the Caspian a sea or a lake? Aristotle averred it was certainly a lake. Pliny and Strabo suggested it was a sea. No other trans-boundary body of water throws up quite the same issues as the Caspian. We take a look at international frontiers that bisect lakes (or seas!).

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Another Switzerland: The Road to Jyrgalan
Europe beyond Europe

By Laurence Mitchell

Rustic and homely, albeit perhaps a little frayed at the edges, the village of Jyrgalan brings to mind a parallel universe Switzerland where life has just gone a little feral. Enjoy this report from Kyrgyzstan by hidden europe author Laurence Mitchell.

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The Swiss Jura by Train
Routes

By Nicky Gardner

For first impressions of the Swiss Jura, hop on the red train which plies the narrow-gauge rail route from Glovelier to La Chaux-de-Fonds. Green landscapes aplenty, but tucked away in these hills are communities which were influential in the development of European anarchism.

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Life on the Lake: The Isola dei Pescatori
Message in a bottle

By Nicky Gardner

Late afternoon, the day trippers are leaving Isola dei Pescatori. Come sunset, the island in Lake Maggiore becomes a quieter, gentler place as the hum of motorised vessels on the lake is hushed for the day. Join us on a trip to the Borromean Islands.

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Northern Promise, northern Woes: Beyond the Arctic Circle
Flightscan

By Nicky Gardner

How might better aviation links help bring a greater sense of regional identity to the North Calotte? Four countries share these northernmost reaches of mainland Europe, a sparsely populated territory which extends from the Lofoten Islands to the White Sea.

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Bohemian Waters
Snippet

By hidden europe

Here's a hidden europe briefing for first-time visitors to the Czech spa towns. Often referred to as the spa triangle, north-west Bohemia actually has more than just three spa towns.

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Russians in Bohemia
Snippet

By hidden europe

Where would the spa towns of Bohemia be without the patronage from the great and good? The Romanov family's enthusiasm for taking the water has encouraged generations of Russians to visit the region.

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Central Europe by Night
Snippet

By hidden europe

New rail timetables kick in across Europe on 9 December 2018. There are new direct daytime links from Bratislava to Innsbruck and Zürich, and from the Austria city of Linz to both Halle and Berlin. But the showpiece innovation is a new direct night train from Berlin to Vienna.

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Boundary Lakes
Snippet

By hidden europe

A whistle-stop tour of some of Europe's trans-boundary water bodies, from Lake Peipus to Lake Prespa and beyond.

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CityStar Ticket
Snippet

By hidden europe

Discover a special rail tariff which offers cheap deals for travels from Slovakia to destinations in the Alps, eastern Europe and the Balkans.

Read on
A Trio of Leuven Carillons
Snippet

By hidden europe

Few sounds quite match that of the carillon in giving a sense of harmony to a townscape. We listen to a trinity of carillons in the Belgian city of Leuven.

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Dzukija National Park
Snippet

By hidden europe

Great sand seas seem at home in the Sahara or Namib deserts - or even perhaps on Mars. But in southern Lithuania is a striking sandy landscape shaped largely by the winds. Dzukija National Park is a region of fossil dunescapes.

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Preview: hidden europe 57
Preview

By hidden europe

A look ahead at hidden europe 57 which will be published on 15 March 2019.

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hidden europe 56

CityStar Ticket

Summary

Editorial

Feature

Feature

Feature

Feature

Borderpost

Europe beyond Europe

Routes

Message in a bottle

Flightscan

Snippet

Snippet

Snippet

Snippet

Snippet

Snippet

Snippet

Preview

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