I recently travelled around Europe by train for 20 days on an Interrail Discover EU journey.

I was part of this adventure, because Martina (from Nefiks) came up to me at an Erasmus+
Modri December Photographic exhibition at the Koper Library in December 2023, and
asked how old I was going to be in 2024, and would I be interested in travelling around
Europe by train. I wasn’t going to decline the opportunity to travel, especially if it meant
going to visit many aquariums. I am not huge on cultural stuff, aquariums are my interest,
and so it became the „how many aquariums can we visit in 21 days trip“. We had several
meetings, live and online to make the plan, set the itinerary, and get ready to travel.

On the 16th of October 2024, all the planning came to fruition, and the adventure was
about to begin. As the time neared my mother had a tantrum about my not packing a warm
coat, so I ended up having to take one, but I had the last laugh, as I shipped it home along
the way.

Once we arrived in Barcelona, we took the Metro from the airport to the accommodation,
checked in and went for dinner where there was a pizza with an ungodly amount of
cheese, and both I and Ella were defeated by this pizza, unable to finish even half.

Day 2 in Barcelona, I woke up, cried internally about acne, had breakfast (2 eggs, bread
and cheese x 3, croissants, churro, and coffee), took the metro, saw a big monument of
Columbus, a market selling ammonite fossils, crossed a raising bridge, lots of gulls, saw a
cable car tower thing, and then ended up finally at the Barcelona Aquarium.

We entered fake water screens, got a photo with a raggy shark statue thing, passed by
tanks of sole, Nemo, Dory and juvenile emperor angelfish, cleaner wrasse, morays,
spotted cat sharks, baby cat sharks, black tipped reef sharks, and white tipped reef sharks,
big sturgeons, scorpion fish, painted combers, butterflyfish, mandarin fish, pipe fish, trigger
fish, golden trevallies, longhorn cow fish, then we reached the big tank where they had
stingrays, bat rays, various big fish, groupers, morays, and SHARKS!! They had sandbars,
and the main attraction the raggy aka sand tiger or grey nurse sharks. There were a bunch
of smaller males and one big female shark.

If you haven’t caught on by now, I am mildly obsessed with sharks (and ‘fish’ in general).

After the big tank there was a way down to the gift shop but we continued on. We saw
freshwater ‘fish’, the veggie piranha cousin, called Pacu, lungfish, gar, freshwater
stingrays, plecoes. We went inside the mouth of a sperm whale, (a statue/sculpture one)
inside of which there were tanks of jellyfish, as well as a statue/sculpture of a giant squid,
which I thought was funny as it had great attention to detail.

In the gift shop here I acquired a black tipped reef shark magnet plushie, as well as what i
am assuming is a very small raggy shark plushie keychain which I will include later in a
collage of photos.

That is all of interest in Barcelona as who cares about anything outside of aquariums, eh?
Not me. Sagrada Familia may be funky but not as cool as a reef shark. Ha ha.

Travelling by train for the first time was from Barcelona to Valencia. I found the train ok but
nothing of great interest except a Studio Ghibli movie with a strange bird in it.

The center outside the station of Valencia is much more impressive than that of Barcelona.
Took a crowded bus to a rural camping place with lots of cats. We were able to cook our
own meal of spaghetti. …looked like we were by a refugee camp o.o; just kidding, just
kidding, maybe?

Went to bed early as the next day was for the Aquarium! The cabin had no insulation or
heating apparati save for air conditioning and so it was very cold for sleeping.

The next day after photographing all the cats, we went to Cat-ch the bus. Aquarium here I
come! Martina booked tickets in advance so we wouldn’t have to stand in long lines to gain
entry. Oceanografic Valencia was its name.

When we arrived there was a dove nesting in a tree, we entered, meandered around some
science and astronomy stuff for a while, but the aquarium was calling as that is my
interest. At the aquarium we watched a movie on the turtle life cycle, neat but no new
information for me though. I was forced to see the dolphins but thankfully we left those
ugly psychos early. There was a tortoise chilling out on the way to the Arctic section.
Greenland shark statue was cool, there were also penguins and other less interesting
stuff. I didn't really realise how fat Belugas are!

After passing flamingoes and stuff we finally reached the main attraction, SHARKS!

We saw zebra sharks, guitar fish, stingrays, cow nose rays, eagle rays, bow mouth guitar
fish (ultra rare and awesome to see because they are critically endangered in the wild)
sawfish, some type of carchirhiniform, raggy sharks, leopard sharks, swell sharks, nurse
sharks, small spotted cat sharks. One of the cat sharks was a mother, because she had an
egg case. There were a bunch of neat ‘fish’, one in particular serranus baldwini, which is a
type of sea bass who was very camera shy. I did manage to get a photo due to my
persistence as he was very pretty. There were a bunch of other neat fish, cnidarian
crustaceans, but I am already going overboard also will just note however that there were
also garden eels which I absolutely adore.

After the aquarium, we went to the gift shop where I acquired a bow mouth guitar fish
figurine, and both Ella and I acquired a manta ray plushie.

The next day we went to the Science museum which was adjacent to the aquarium, which
was good but not an aquarium.

We took the Metro to Jesus station during our stay which I thought was interesting!

It was time to leave Valencia and travel to Toulouse via Barcelona, Some dude came over
and asked for something in another language at one of the train stops, the conductor came
over and got him to leave. When we arrived into Toulouse, we took the bus to the hotel,
where a nice old french dude explained EVERYTHING to us, who I’m assuming was the
owner. The shower was kinda lame but slept with wifi to listen to an audio book.

Breakfast in Toulouse was bread, butter, honey, Nutella, croissants and coffee.

Then we went to a Japanese themed park with koi fish which was SHOCKINGLY the most
interesting part for me. Could have stayed a lot longer, as was very peaceful. Stopped at a
book store on the way back .. stay tuned for more book store information soon.

Went to the city with Ella, had pizza, which I actually finished this time, as it had a
reasonable amount of cheese less than the one in Barcelona, despite it being a 4 cheese
pizza!

Went exploring the city centre and spent most of the next two day in book stores, where
we found and purchased (the next day) after long contemplation some beautifully leather
and cloth bound classic English language books! Sherlock Holmes, David Copperfield,
Alchemist. Needless to say Ella and I had heavier backpacks after stopping there and
could have bought more but with budgetary and space limitations, these were the ones
selected.

From Calm to Chaos, we travelled from Toulouse to Paris. Firstly on a double decker train
that was neat as it had Wifi. There were some luggage dilemmas but overall a good ride.
But then, Paris. The metro straight from hell! More crowded than a sardine can! The silver
lining was perhaps that the hotel was cool.

The hotel despite being in an apocalyptic looking part of town, was cool as it was obviously
built on a budget, which they didn’t shy away from rather embracing it and making it part of
its ‘personality’ having wacky art all over and hypnotic floors, neon lighting and rooms
literally made of wood. Would recommend Jo and Joe Paris, Gentilly.
And, the key card had SHARKS on it! I called my cubicle the Gremlin Hole.

The next day Chaos, Madness! Too many people, no Monster drink to start my day. There
were some good points, namely Notre Dame was very interesting, as well as the river of
‘shit’ (Seine), the Pont des Arts, and the Louvre. But holy f… crowded much, already tired
and drained it was hard to appreciate the crowded Louvre, seeing the Mona Lisa only from
a distance. Bought a sword wielding dragon figurine for my bookcase, we met up with the
group of 2 who were meeting us in Paris. Went to a big church, and McDonalds. It shocks
me that these folks would pay 60 euros for this, when there was a supermarket next door. I
can say that I have eaten at McDonalds more on this trip than I have ever been inside of
them all of my life prior. And then back to the crowded sardine can we go.

Another silver lining perhaps is that we saw the Eiffel Tower at night, in the dark, with its
golden lights. But then we had to go back on the Metro again, and once back at the hostel,
I curled up in my Gremlin Hole and went to sleep.

The Great Escape Paris Edition!

Sometime around 7am Martina opened my Gremlin Hole window, to say it was time to
leave. I packed up with great speed, (easy as I had barely unpacked) went down the stairs
with Ella as others had already gone, and met them at a bakery where I could get a
Monster! Thank you Ella for reminding Martina. We then took the Metro, but this time, due
to the early hour, it wasn’t as packed as it was prior. We got to the train station and I was
actually sentient, thanks to the Monster, my beloved battery acid, but the train station was
a pain. Finding our port was difficult, after going in different directions, and metro tickets
scanners being bitchy, beep boop, eventually we finally got to the train. We had previously
joked that leaving Paris might be impossible due to train reservation mayhem, but finally
we could take a deep breath and wave goodbye to this Hell Hole of a city.

We arrived at a massive and impressive train station in Belgium, that was very nice
architecturally. The train from this station on the next leg was overbooked and we had to
spend some of the time sitting on the floor. I had begun to get cranky which in hindsight
was an indicator of the sickness to come. Plus I hadn’t been in an aquarium for a while.

We checked into the Bee Hostel, in Amsterdam, the reception took way too long, having to
scan ids, getting phone numbers, email addresses, signatures and other check-in things,
went to a Japanese place for dinner. If it was anywhere else, except this hostel, I would
have thought it a scam but at least the reception dude was cute at this place, which has
lots of nice designs. However the room was very crowded with beds stacked 3 stories
high… 3 x 3 so nine beds like beehives. if they were not strangers it might be ok…but they
were. I didn't feel to use the showers in such a crowded space but ended up doing so. I felt
a sore throat on its way, with nothing fun to look forward to except meeting up with an old
friend Myron in a few days. ha ha ha. The beeping lockers were also getting on my nerves.

Cough cough. .. I don’t remember much of the last days… I have been in bed sick. I
remember a many levelled train station that was impressive and a new hostel now in
Hamburg, that was more private than the bee hostel. I didn't get to meet Josh or any of the
guys from this city from the youth exchange. Ella bought a couple of books, including one
for me, a leather-bound copy of 20000 leagues under the sea.

Day 16 – Halloween, we are now in Munich, and I am a little better. Planned to meet up
with my old friend Myron, but he didn’t show up and I didn’t go to meet him as I was still
not so well. Munich was a very nice looking place. We went to a Lego shop and got a Lego
Shark-man keychain! I should mention that Munich is much nicer than Hamburg, beautiful
architecture, and general vibe and cleanliness. There was a church with the eye of
providence on the door.

Day 17 – Today both I and Ella woke up at 6am, and I started thinking about
elasmobranchs as I often do, and about how there are two types of mantas. Oceanic
mantas and reef mantas. Oceanic mantas are notably bigger. Then we went down to
breakfast. I refused a medicine tablet as it had vitamin D which I believe is sourced
primarily from fish. Had bread, butter, coffee. Some Aussie asked if the breakfast here was
free and Ella informed him politely that he needed a token from reception.

Left to the English Garden but not before I graffitied our tissue box. We took the metro and
after getting off we pondered where to stick Edgar stickers. Ella jumped and stuck it on a
sign. There was some nice architecture, and the massive park (English Garden) contained
river where people surfed and crows bathing in the river downstream as well as some
Spanish people who weren’t supposed to do this but did. We went to Nives relatives house
which was very nice and we had brownies and they had a dog with an Instagram account.

There was a giant tower and we met up with another relative, went to an aquarium, which
was pretty nice. Saw some horn sharks and cool rays, bamboo sharks, grey reef sharks
etc. SeaLife Munchen. I got to hold the egg cases of a port jackson, and that of some sort
of cat shark, there was also a tank with cleaner wrasse, there were lion fish, zebra sharks,
some angel fish, archer fish. I flipped off a photo of dolphins. For souvenirs I got a
scalloped hammerhead figurine, and a sea life token.

We then went to visit more relatives, on the Metro, and we observed some random
strangers. Arrived at ‘Granny’s’ and ate only rice, and joked that turkey must be a
vegetable as ‘granny’ asked if I ate turkey, and thus as a vegetarian, for me to eat it, it’d
have to be. Spoke about cladistics again and moved to the living room. Ella is sick now, so
I hope Granny will be ok. The house was cool with nice decorations, crystals, and such
like.

One of the relatives, drove us back to the Wombat hostel where we were staying.
Tomorrow we go to Vienna, and the train is in the morning, so I need to sleep early.

Day 18 – Woke up at 6 and then 7, and I had to hurriedly pack and had to go leave, the
others (save for Ella) had already left. I waited for Ella outside and the train station was
close to the hostel, and we made it safely onto the needed train. We are off to Vienna.

Right out of the Vienna train station there was a Vapiano, the hotel is nice, but the
architecture is a little not that great. A random guy asked for coins that I did not provide
him. I had spinach dumplings in tomato sauce at some fancy ass restaurant, was ok as I
was very hungry. We went to IKEA and had to walk around the rest of the day with a new
shark plushie in my hand.

Day 19 – Woke up had breakfast (eggs, bread cheese butter eggs x2 honey and coffee x
4). Said goodbye to Rok and Nives.

Then we went to the Vienna Aquarium. Saw a good collection of species including a
favourite ray finned fish of mine, called the Copper-banned Butterflyfish. As well as garden
eels, a giant fucking cod, black tip reef sharks, tarpons, bonnet heads, and sturgeons.
Barcelona and Valencia are having competition for best aquarium, particularly because of
one species the epaulette shark. Regarding epaulette sharks, they are a favourite species
of mine, being in the genus ‘Hemiscyllium’ I call these guys land walkers due to their
unique ability, to be able to briefly walk on land to escape tide pools as that is where they
hunt. This place also had zebra sharks, remoras, blue streaked cleaner wrasse, guitar fish,
horn sharks, more pleco, snakes, and various other reptiles. Blue spotted ribbon tail (a
type of ray), a sole, and a tank holding a gobi and pistol shrimp displaying their symbiotic
relationship where the shrimp builds the den and the gobi stands watch. We also got to pat
koi. Got matching hammerhead plushies with Ella 😀

This aquarium was inside a very tall historical landmark building, which is of little interest to
me, but might be of interest, to you.

After the aquarium we went to a Vapiano, and had a whole pizza with extra garlic and
chilli. Joked about the others being vampires as they didn’t want to touch the pizza with all
its garlic!

Day 20 – I woke up early once more, quickly got ready and we were off in record time,
making sure to have time to stop in Spar for food and snacks. We got the train back, which
was bittersweet for me, going home. Me and Ella watched the Wild Robot movie. And this
marks the end of the Great Adventure and yet he is still talking. (An inside joke that no-one
will get except the people there.

I got a lift home with Martina’s dad who was also the one who drove us to the airport all
those days ago, and now I am home and my room is barely recognisable as in my
absence it has been cleaned, and tomorrow I will go grocery

 

In hindsight, I would pack different clothes not because I was too cold but for space
reasons. Sharing the accommodations was not a big deal as I knew the people already
and with the Erasmus+ exchanges had shared with strangers before.

I would rate the city experiences from best to worst as below:

Valencia/Vienna (10/10)
Barcelona (8.5/10)
Toulouse (7.5/10)
Munich (7/10)
Amsterdam/Hamburg (2/10-as was sick)
Paris (-1000/10 – bad except for the monuments and the hostel, very cringe.)

I would certainly undertake another Interrail adventure if it ever comes my way again.

My advice for anyone wanting to make a DiscoverEU adventure, is that unless you like
crowded places and trains, avoid capital cities and such, like Paris!