Trains
Where is Sean Connery when you need him?
There we were, winter 2024, drifting off to sleep to the comforting sounds of our train across Eastern Europe. This stage of our sourcing trip was an overnight passage from Budapest to Cluj-Napoca, an important historical city in Transylvania, its unofficial capital and home of many prestigious universities. We had been to Transylvania more than once and loved it (as does King Charles who has 3 lodges there!) but never to Cluj. Our Romanian friends all described it as a vibrant, attractive, city buzzing with students, cafes, music, culture and life in general. Excited to be returning to Transylvania, one of the prettiest parts of Europe, we finally manage to nod off to the hypnotic rhythm of the railtracks.
We will ask the questions!
Suddenly there is a loud banging on the compartment door at which we jump, disorientated for a moment. It is still dark and snowy outside, and the train is no longer moving.
“Open the door! Border control!”
We scramble to find the light switch and some modest covering.
“Hurry up!” … the forceful banging continues, and we finally unlock the door to … three beautiful, raven-haired women in sharp uniforms, armed with guns and red lipstick; perfectly manicured long, red nails complete the look.
“Your passports!” they say in synchronicity. We are speechless – not expecting to be confronted by such glamorous border officials.
John’s attempt to take a photo are met with stern expressions.
“Nu, Opreste-te” (no, stop!)
Bad idea!
He has to accept he hasn’t the persuasive gifts of 007.
Following comprehensive checks of our paperwork, our compartment thoroughly searched, the three unsmiling beauties withdraw and the train once again picks up its pace and enters Romania.
Otherwise the various Shengen borders we crossed went unnoticed. Brexit!
The Plan
This year, for various reasons, we had decided to stay close to home, exploring parts of central and Eastern Europe and see what treasures might reveal themselves along the way. And what better way to travel between European cities than by train. It’s a relaxed, comfortable, reasonably quick and inexpensive way to connect cities and they bring you to the very city-centre, avoiding luggage carousels, overpriced “plastic” airport catering and the nightmare of shuttle buses or taxis. We’ve previously used train travel across Eastern Europe, as well as other continents, so we prepared a rough plan of destinations and routes using “The Man in Seat 61”.
(If you aren’t familiar with this book and website, we recommend becoming so!)
For years we’d heard that the annual gems and jewellery exhibition in Munich is gemmological heaven, but our winter travels often took us further afield. This year’s trip through Europe will be a perfect excuse to attend the show and that became the only fixed point and date of the journey.
Ljubljana
Ljubljana by night
The starting point was to be Ljubljana, a wonderful sounding city; thence a leisurely route across the Julian Alps through Austria to Munich.
What a way to begin! Ljubljana is a beautiful, clean, safe, and altogether gorgeous capital city that we’ll revisit as soon as we can. Think Switzerland but more relaxed and smiley. Side trips to Lake Bled (heart-stoppingly pretty) and Postojna (gob-smacking caves) just confirmed that this little country is an utter treasure.
One of our researched aims was to find makers of glassware. Ljubljana has some famous glass factories and an ancient glassworks school but the only source we can find is Rogaska crystal, favoured by our late Queen and with a history of 4 centuries. Unfortunately, It has been recently subsumed into a large conglomerate of brands, along with Waterford Crystal and many others, and examples are available on Amazon. Not really Drift.
We failed to find any appropriate treasure source in Ljubljana and left empty handed but with warm, happy memories of this small but perfectly formed capital city and its inhabitants.
Ljubljana, lovely by day too
Salzburg. Mozart, The Sound of Music and chocolates
(So why not happier?)
Our route from Ljubljana passed through the Julian Alps – a gentler, softer stretch than its more westerly relatives but at least as picturesque.
However, as we crossed into Austria, our journey was interrupted by a bus replacement service…. there’s surely a joke there.
Anyway, we would be passing through Salzburg, where neither of us had visited, so… why not? A quick stopover here, too much patisserie and some fabulous views of the Alps and handsome architecture, an epic organ concert in the cathedral but then onwards.
Munich
We arrived in Munich a day before the jewellery fair to get our bearings of the city.
Staying in a guesthouse near the train station was a good idea. The area was a real melting pot and a multicultural culinary heaven.
A busy, buzzing Uyghur café became our favourite place to people watch and eat delicious and very inexpensive noodles.
The gems and jewellery fair blew us away. We’ve been to the London, Bangkok, Istanbul & Delhi gems fairs in the past but we didn’t really know what to expect here.
Our long-standing Swiss goldsmith, Erich, advised us to book tickets (trade only entrance) for 2 days. We thought about a slower pace and, luckily, booked 4 days.
And we’re so pleased that we did! The show was huge with so many different areas – cut and uncut gemstones of all sorts, tools, store design, packaging and of course, silver and goldsmiths from around the world showcasing their beautiful creations.
Maria & Gianis, goldsmiths from Thessaloniki
An aquamarine, diamond & gold ring commissioned from them
5000cts of Aquamarine Katia created 3 stunning necklaces from these!
A fancy-cut tanzanite set in 18ct gold & silver
We were slightly overwhelmed by the choice of gorgeous gems, some with mind-blowingly high prices. Boulder opals, rubies, emeralds, diamonds, tsavorites, tourmalines, aquamarine (we could not resist buying some and they are world-class!). To be honest, we felt that Munich made the recent London gems fair look small and unexciting
Maria & Errikos Goldsmiths from Athens
We could have easily stopped and chatted at every single booth but we had to set some goals as to what, and who, to look for.
We met many talented lapidarists and goldsmiths from different parts of Europe and commissioned stunning new jewellery designs.
Prague
Exhausted but very happy we were on the train once again.
Next stop was Prague – an elegant city serviced by trams, with stunning Art-Nouveau architecture and world-class museums. Surprisingly, it wasn’t jaded by the high-season influx of drunken stag parties but we’re still glad that we travel off-season – it’s all much more relaxed.
We visited the fantastic Museum of Decorative Arts with its spectacular collection of glass masterpieces ranging from the Middle Ages to the present day as well as smaller specialist galleries and studios. Bohemian glass has a rich history, once produced exclusively for the Imperial courts of the continent, it continues to be crafted today by some of the world’s greatest exponents in and around Prague.
There are glories in glass to be had at enormous prices but, economically, it wouldn’t be worthwhile for us to bring back
It’s not always straightforward.
Sadly, in this case, we had to admit defeat.
So, on to the next challenge…
We jump trains eastwards stopping for some time in Bratislava, Budapest, Cluj Napoca, eventually arriving in one of our favourite places – Istanbul.
Istanbul
One of the greatest cities on Earth, Istanbul is full of contrasts, a place where traditional and modern live side by side. We had first really got to know this glorious city well when stranded there in 2016 while John recuperated from emergency spinal surgery – another stury. Each visit after that feels like coming home. We love everything about it. Magnificent architecture, superb museums, fantastic food, welcoming residents and exotic visitors from all over the world. We have met many lovely people that have become good friends as well as excellent sources for our business. This year we are collecting beautiful gold and diamond jewellery hand-made by one of these friends; a superb, experienced goldsmith of Armenian heritage
Loaded with treasures, it is time to return back to the island, until next time…..