From sleeping on a stranger’s couch to almost being arrested by the police, Steph Maskery managed four countries in a fortnight full of interrailing highs and lows.

Starting from top left clockwise: Relgious scene, Krakow, Poland; Cityscape, Berlin, Germany; Parliament roof, Budapest, Hungary; Palace, Krakow, Poland; Rooftops, Salzburg, Austria; Holocaust memorial, Berlin, Germany.

Making Tracks

First stop: Berlinur adventure began in the Prenzlauer Berg district in East Berlin. This arty area favoured by the young still shows scars of its turbulent past and is fi lled

with trendy bars and quirky shops. For those with only a few days to see the

German capital, New Europe free tours are the perfect solution. English tour guides, usu¬ally students, are hilarious and informative and pack in most of Berlin in three hours.

Our determination to save money and an infallibility that comes with having only been on holiday for three days, lead us to our fi rst self-made disaster. Feeling particularly dar-ing, we donned our Indiana Jones at¬titudes and attempted to board the underground with no ticket. After a few successful attempts and smug smiles to one another we were greeted by the not so smiling face of a German ticket inspector.

We were sent off the train and fi ned 40 Euros. I was more saddened about the fact the nice lunch we had planned had evap¬orated into the size of a small piece of bread than the realisation that we had just broken the law. Severely out of pocket, we learned never to be so smug again and bid farewell to Berlin.

Berlin at night

Second stop: Munich The ride down from Berlin to Munich was un-believably hitch-free. The German ef-fi ciency stereotype is no joke. Our high speed train took us nearly 400 hundred miles in fi ve hours.

Quintessentially medieval, its huge red brick cathedral has been almost completely rebuilt after the Second World War, not that you’d notice the recon¬structive work. Its huge loom-ing doors seem untouched - Munich is a city rebuilt seamlessly from the ashes of the past.

Having little time in Munich we de¬cided to opt for New Europe Tours again. In a city which seemed a bit old for two young girls, we de-cided some broke students showing us around could be quite a laugh.

Our guide was Scottish with long black hair and a dense beard. He looked like he’d just stepped off the battlefi eld at Bannockburn. As it turns out his job back home was head of weapon’s at the Royal Armouries (best not crack any Scottish jokes then). He lead us to where Hitler was almost killed in 1923 and wildly re-enacted the failure of the Munich Putsch, an event that could have rewritten his-tory.

Let the jounrey begin...Let the jounrey begin...

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After a day’s sightseeing I had my own sights fi rmly set on some Bavarian beer, a huge tankard of the stuff. Cold, cheap and bloody good. A view of Munich

Third stop: Berchtesgaden If the idea of city hopping leaves you cold then a detour to the Aus¬trian Alps is the perfect rem-edy. Although I’m not a musical fan the idea of running around lush green fi elds singing ‘the hills are alive’ seemed quite amusing.

From Munich you can buy a ticket to Ber-chtesgarden and from there you can easily visit Hitler’s Eagles nest, a hut teetering on the edge of a mountain.

We reached the Alps and didn’t even have to climb the mountain because, unbelievably, the Nazis’ had installed a lift. A huge bronze beauti-fully engraved thing that made us feel like we were in a Bond fi lm.

At the top, the mountains stretch out for miles, hulking craggy precipices with sparkling white tips. The hazy heat gave the whole scene an ethereal beauty. Below in the distance was Salz-burg, ringed by mountains - our next destination.

Fourth stop: Salzburg Two very important things that Salzburg is keen to cash in on are the Sound of Music and Mozart, and when I say cash in, I mean it. You want a souvenir of Mozart you got it. Chocolates, mugs, wall hangings, loo covers - you can pretty much fi nd his face on everything. I’m not sure how the musical prodigy would have felt about all this endorsement but it doesn’t seem to bother the locals one bit.

For those wanting a bit more authen¬ticity, the castle is worth the hassle of a fi fteen minute climb up a practi¬cally vertical street. The tour is a bit dry but it’s worth it just to see the stunning pan-orama at the castle’s tallest point. The viewing platform gives you an outlook of the city and the surrounding Alps.

Fifth stop: Vienna Austria is not cheap, so a little strapped for cash we decided to give Couch Surfi ng a go. For the uninformed, to go couch surfi ng you log on to a website that allows you to get in touch with people from all over the world and sleep on their sofa for free.

As we stood outside the train sta¬tion keenly scanning every young man that walked past, I couldn’t help but think this wasn‘t a great idea. Luckily our man arrived. Twenty-one year-old

Mountains stretch out for miles. Hulking craggy precipices with sparkling white tips.

Travel

Starting from left clockwise: The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany; The Alps, Austria;

Karlskirche Catholic Church, Vienna, Austria; Berchtesgaden, Austria.

Nik, a German student studying in Vienna. We fumbled our way through a string

of ‘hellos’ and ‘who are yous’ and entered what can only be described as a ‘Holy Jesus - this is nice’ apartment. It was a renaissance building typical of Vienna and its hallway was lined with nude statues of Greek god-desses. If this was student living in Vienna, I was enrolling on a year abroad.

After we got settled, Nik offered the grand midnight tour of the city leading us to his favorite night time views, in particu-lar the Rathaus whose gothic facade is lit by hundreds of glowing white lights. It was breathtaking.

The Rathaus, Vienna

Sixth stop: Budapest The train station in Budapest was frankly a little scary. The old dusty building was fi lled with people selling fruit, phones and money – wads of the stuff. They had drawn all the cash out of the nearby machines to force people to exchange Euros for a poor rate.

Desperate for a bit of fresh air we de-cided to join a free tour - going by the last two tours we were expecting big things. A big thing is what we got in the form of our guide – a hulk of a man wearing far too little and exposing far too much. Deter-mined not to be put off by appearances we tagged along anyway.

Walking at a snail’s pace and breaking for a rest every ten minutes, I wondered if our guide was used to taking pension-ers on their midday stroll. Still it was free, so we felt obliged to stay. After four hours of missing every site in Budapest, we were quickly thinking of excuses to leave. Should we pretend to fall over, fake a call from a friend who needs our help or maybe just run away?

That night we headed to Bar Simpla which turned out to be possibly the coolest club I have ever been to. The place is more of a warehouse than a bar, with exposed brick

Its beauty was much more ragged that the West...The clean lines of Vienna were replaced by a slightly worn out feel.

Interrail is a great way to see Europe for arelatively low price. First of all decide where you want to begin. Steph flew from London toBerlin where she started

How to do it...

walls and stylish graffi ti. Outside, the court-yard was lit up like something from a Mid-summer Night’s Dream and better than all of this was the beer. It was cheap.

I was beginning to fall in love with Buda-pest - its beauty was much more ragged that the West, its culture seemed more fast paced, more eager. The clean lines of Vienna were replaced by a slightly worn out feel and I loved it.

Final destination: KrakowThe next and fi nal leg of our journey was to be the most arduous – the night train. We had heard tails of muggings and gassings, of great lines of people waiting for the oppor-tune moment to steal everything you had. The

journey from Budapest to Krakow was go-ing to take just over 10 hours and we were dreading it.

Once on the train our fears were real-ized. It was so old it made the Parthenon look new. The humid air inside the carriage was barely breathable. Lined along the narrow passageway people were attempt-ing to sneak a last breath of fresh air before the journey began.

We arrived in one piece and set off for our hostel located right on Market square. Mama’s Hostel is probably one of the most memorable places I have ever stayed in. If you’re looking for a peaceful night in, this is not the place. Every evening the kitchen was fl ooded with groups of people drink-

ing, laughing and playing Limbo. Krakow is a pretty medieval city - like a

smaller quieter version of Prague. But after strolling around its small cobbled streets for a day we decided to get away. From the train station you can catch a minibus for about £10 to Auschwitz and it takes half an hour. It’s free entry but if you want an in-depth tour expect to pay about £20.

Rows upon rows of huts sit in a vast green fi eld and glancing inside their murky win¬dows you can see the graffi ti of those who lived and died there. It still looks fresh.

On our last day there was talk in the hos-tel of a lake. Two Aussies were romanticiz-ing about its crystal waters and we were determined to fi nd it. Petra the receptionist had the day off and told us she’d take us. It was top secret, no tourists usually went there.

After a tram ride into Krakow’s suburbia and a short walk, we discovered that the lake was in fact an abandoned quarry. It was beautiful, its water was a clear mes-merizing blue and its outer lip was dotted with apple trees.

The only problem seemed to be getting to it. The almost sheer walls of the quarry did not look like something I fancied traversing in my summer dress. I could see the papers at home now: ‘TWO GIRLS DIE IN QUARRY FALL.’ Not the best end to our travels.

Annoyingly the two boys we had roped into coming seemed keener and eagerly clambered down the rock face. The water looked so good and I hadn’t come all this way not to dip a toe in. As a clambered down, or rather slid on my bum, I was pretty sure I was exposing myself. Still, better to fl ash than fall. At the bottom we stripped to our undies and dived in.

After two weeks of nearly being arrest-ed, homeless and legless, this seemed like the perfect fi nish to a fantastically perfect adventure. Now to get back up.

her journey. You canget great deals on flights to destinations across Europe if you book far in advance. Alterna-tively you could leave it to the last minute and

bag a bargain. Check out Ryanair (ryanair.com), Easyjet (easyjet.co.uk) or lastminute.com for the best fares.The actual Interrail ticket can be bought

before you leave from www.interrail.net. Theprice you pay depends on how many days you intend to travel for and where you want to go. Fares start from €159 (£118).

This ticket allows up to five days travel-ling within a 10-day period. You’d be su-prised at how much of Europe you can see in this time.

Travel

This page: Monastery of the Norbertan Sisters,Salwator, Krakow, Poland. Opposite page:

Parliament buildings, Budapest, Hungary.

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