After spending seemingly forever in Hungary, Budapest in particular, I was keen not to stagnate and get on the road again. My destination was a mountain range in the north of Slovakia bordering Poland, the High Tatras.
It was a long drive with a groggy post-festival cold (as normal) and not very much sleep (also, as normal) through traditional Hungarian villages and then rolling green Slovakian hills. The Slovak villages were often lined with people and their buckets of either red berries or mushrooms (presumably forraged from nearby), I imagine not making much of a living.
Eventually I arrived at Tatranec Camping in Tatranska-Lomnica. The campsite is just out of town at the base of the range's highest peak Lomnicky Stit and pretty cheap at €7.30 a night with my discount card. It's hardly a bad view either on a clear day!
The first day, I took the train along the bottom of the mountains to Stary Smokovec and began hiking up the wonderful slopes through the mist. There are numerous hiking trails in summer and ski slopes in winter and the trails are lined with regular resting spots made from old tree trunks.
After reaching Hrebienok without being able to see out of the mist, I continued up through the coniferous forests and fast-flowing crystal-clear rivers until the paths became steeper and rocky. Finally, after passing the Obrov Waterfall, the trail spits you out at Skalnate Pleso.
At Skalnate there is a cable car which takes you to the 2634m peak Lomnicky Stit. Having paid just €0.64 for a reasonable train journey, my jaw dropped slightly at the €24 charge to take you up to the peak (where you are not allowed to hike without a proper guide). Still, I had come this far so up I went.
Once you leave the cable car station, there is no indication that you are actually moving in the grey mist as you can't even see the cable and the ride is very smooth. The only thing to tell me we were going in the right direction was my ears popping before eventually the rocky peak lumes out of the clouds.
At the top is a little station and a small series of walkways where, on a clear day, the view must be spectacular. Above the mist clouds, it was actually quite warm until the shrill wind chills your bones. The wind was playing havok with the views too as it blew the clouds around below, giving snippets of the staggering view below before covering it up again like some sort of geographical strip-tease.
Down in the valleys are dark blue lakes and grey rock interspersed with purple and yellow flowers. On the northern side is Poland but that side of the peak was just a grey abyss when I was up there and it feels like you are hanging on the edge of the Earth.
On the way down the mountain again I started to think that on a clear day €24 might not be quite such a rip-off.
The next day I took a long and hilly bike ride out east to the Belianska Cave in the mountain side. It is a great little limestone cave in the same mould as the Punkva Cave in Czech Republic (only not quite as marvellous).
It seems that a standard requirement of any cave is giving the parts of it cool names, with this one beginning at "Devil's Throat" and finishing at "The Dome Of Ruins". In between is the "Musical Chamber", among others, which has such good accoustics that musical concerts used to be held there. There are loads of mineral deposits of numerous shapes and sizes while clear pools of water cover areas of the floor and the occational bat circles the ceiling.
In the afternoon I did some more hiking up from Tatranska-Lomnica to appropriately named mid-station "Start". From here, you can travel back down the hillside in style with either a modified 4-wheel mountainboard, 3-wheel buggy, or 2-wheel scooter. I took the buggy, which absolutely flew down the hillside bends (it seems a much shorter distance on the way down) and almost threw me out at every corner that I thought I could get away without the brakes - so much fun.
Afterwards, I took a ride on the Tatrabob at the bottom of the hill, a cart which runs down the hill on some nervously high and rickety track. Again, a lot of fun though.
Predictably, the best day of weather came as I left but at least the mountains gave me a cracking sight when I woke up. In the morning, I packed up my stuff and started out for the proper unknown again - providing I can get through the notoriously hit-and-miss Ukrainian border. After the slightly disappointing Bratislava, Slovakia has certainly redeemed itself.
Day 0
Okay, what kind of festival has the headline act tagged on for an extra day at the start? Well, this festival does. My first night back in Budapest started with (the artist formally known as: The Artist Formally Known As) Prince playing the main Sziget stage. Now, I have to say that I was not yet into "festival mode" and my first thought on Prince was that I never really got what the guy was all about? And, whatever it is, has he even still got it?
Prince
The answer is yes, he definitely still has his funk. He was energetic and entertaining all night as he burst through a repertoire of classic hits and played numerous encours long into the night with extended versions of "Purple Rain" and "Kiss" proving predictably popular. Prince was clearly enjoying himself didn't want to stop playing and dancing. It was a great night to start the festival and raised my expectations for the week ahead. That's right, a whole festival week!
Day 1
So with no festival parking I camped at Haller Camping (the site I stayed at before) with 40 minute cycle rides back and forth each day from the arena. It was a promising line-up on the main stage so I got in early (about midday) and picked my spot at the front of the barrier. After some delay, the first band of the day were The Maccabies, fronted by a Christiano Ronaldo look-a-like. They had a whole host of sound issues during their set and as a result were clearly a bit unhappy about it and never really got in to their rhythm.
The Maccabies
Next up were a band I have followed for nearly a decade and saw them as one of my first gigs as I started to really get into my music as a teenager. As a result, Flogging Molly will always have a place in my heart. I have to say it was one of the best performances I have seen them give (now that they have an extensive back-catalogue to choose from) and the accordian player even gave me his free beer during their set. It's clear that they are getting an increasingly big following now and it was also a reminder that I must get the new album.
Flogging Molly
Flogging Molly
Flogging Molly were followed by their punk-rock friends Rise Against whose aggressive guitar riffs brought the crowds jumping to the likes of "Prayer Of The Refugee". There was also a comic moment where a security guard tried to kick a stray beachball back into the crowd only for it to immediately catch the wind and fly across the stage hitting the bemused guitarist in the face. Then followed Interpol who played a really tight set with great sound as the evening approached and the sun went down. These are certainly two bands which I don't own enough music by, yet.
Rise Against
Interpol
Interpol
Lastly, headlining the first proper festival day on the main stage were Pulp. It was certainly the Jarvis Cocker show though as the rest of the band were resigned to the position of supporting musicians in the background but this is no bad thing as Jarvis has to be one of the great frontmen of a generation with his constant crowd participation and jumping all over equipment.
After the band had finished, I realised that I had been standing for 12 hours solid but it was worth every second.
Pulp
Other stages still have acts playing until the early hours so I went to see what all the fuss is about Hurts on the A38 Stage. They drew a huge crowd to the large hanger-type arena but I still dont get what all the hype is for, just repetitive and samey to me with cliched lyrics thrown in over the top for good measure. After a while I headed home after a long night.
Even that was extended to a trip to the hospital as the cyclist in front of me went headlong into a cunningly disguised metal fence and needed some assistance, (and later, 5 stitches in his forehead). Finally, with the sun rising and the campsite waking up, I got back and slept like a baby ready to do it all again later that day.
Hurts
Day 2
Now, at every festival you are bound to uncover a hidden gem and mine came in the form of French soul-singer Ben L'Oncle Soul and his excellent band. It was an energetic and tight set mixed with a great sound and loads of fun. Covers of "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes and "Crazy" by Knarls Barkley went down well as they deservedly got a huge turnout at the main stage. One to watch for sure.
Ben L'Oncle Soul
Next up were La Roux who were actually better than I expected... right up until their biggest chart success "In For The Kill" where the little ginger lass forgot the words for about half of the song and then they immediately lost sound from the electric drumkit too. Later on the main stage were Kasabian, but I am not really a fan and don't really get what all the hype is for.
La Roux
Kasabian
Finally to round off the night were The Chemical Brothers. By this point I had used my festival experience to worm my way to the front barricade from where you can see their huge deck of gizmos in the middle of the stage surrounded by lights, strobes, screens, smoke machines and lasers as well as a huge UFO-like ring of lights coming down from the ceiling.
Even if you didn't like the music, you could at least enjoy a spectacular visual show and an epileptic fit. For me, a huge DJ set is quite rare but I have to say I really enjoyed it and the crowd was really jumping right from the start until finishing with fan-favourite "Block Rockin' Beats".
Chemical Brothers
Day 3
In the afternoon I was able to meet up with my friends from Amsterdam - Bart, Laurens and Mike - who I had met on Queen's Day, along with two more of their friends. It was good to catch up for a while before we went to see excellent young Dutch band DeWolff.
DeWolff
Back at the main stage, we saw Skunk Anansie led by formidable frontwoman Skin (who I had seen before as a solo artist). She is a really exciting performer and really got the crowd rocking but as a band they are very raw and her voice is very sharp. Still, she was definitely entertaining as she constantly jumped through the crowd.
Skunk Anansie
I left the others for a while to get to the front for Dizzee Rascal, not normally my kind of thing but he put on a good show and showcased a couple of new songs, coming to a radio near you soon.
Dizzee Rascal
Afterwards, it was time for headliners The Prodigy. They put on a seemless and hugely energetic show and the crowd was as mental as it has been all festival with the security guys at the front of the stage getting over-run by people coming over the barriers. Keith Flint was as mad as ever and they were definitely one of the highlights of Sziget. They also win the award for most frequent use of the F-word during a set.
The Prodigy
The Prodigy
I met back up with the other guys afterwards and we had a few drinks until the sun started to come up and the next afternoon I drove them back to the airport as unfortunately they had to miss the last two days of the festival.
Day 4
After dropping off the Amsterdam lads, I headed in to the festival main stage where Kate Nash was playing. While her old material went down well, she seems to have found a radical new sound for forthcoming songs - some sort of screamy girl-punk which is just awful. Expect it to be coming to a bargain basement in the near future, but hey, I never really liked the old stuff either and that did pretty well.
Kate Nash
Kate Nash
For a change of scene, I walked across to the world music stage to see the excellent French folk band Debout Sur Le Zinc. There was a big crowd, mainly French too, and their set went down really well.
Debout Sur Le Zinc
Back on the main stage, the Kaiser Chiefs were playing and doing their best Oasis impression along with their own trademark nonsense lyrics. I had forgotten how irritating frontman Ricky what's-his-name is (about the same a nasty papercut?) and quickly left to watch Lostprophets on the Rock-Metal Stage.
Kaiser Chiefs
Lostprophets are a band I have seen several times over the years (as they seem to play so many festivals) but their albums are getting less original over time and as a result their shows seem to be getting very samey as they slowly drop down the bill.
Lostprophets
I went back to the Main Stage to watch headliners 30 Seconds To Mars, who were covering for the departed Amy Winehouse who was originally booked to play. They actually put on a great show, full of lights and confetti, and their epic songs fit well into a big festival arena. It was a good way to round off the night.
30 Seconds To Mars
30 Seconds To Mars
30 Seconds To Mars
Day 5
The final day was another one spent entirely on the front barrier of the main stage and began with little known Los Angeles flamenco folk band Mariachi El Bronx. They played a really fun set in their matching black outfits and got the few early-rising campers dancing away.
Mariachi El Bronx
Next up were Gypsy folk-punk band Gogol Bordello and they put on arguably the best show of the whole festival. It was entertaining and mental in equal measure but they still managed to pull out a really tight set which sounded fantastic. They played on for long after their alloted time and left the quickly expanding crowd loudly chanting for more. They even managed to fit in a little bit of Pink Floyd for good measure.
Gogol Bordello
Gogol Bordello
Following next were The National. The classy lead singer came on with a waistcoat and a goblet of red wine but that quickly became a plastic cup and then just drinking from the bottle as time wore on. By the end, I think he was a bit wasted but it definitely made for a more invigorated set and even when drunk he has a superb voice.
The National
The National
As the evening got darker, on came middle-aged Welsh rocking stalwarts The Manic Street Preachers who preceded to blast through a back catalogue of hits without too much drama but enough to put on a good show never-the-less.
Manic Street Preachers
Manic Street Preachers
So, who would they book to headline the main stage on the final night after an established crowd pleaser like The Manic Street Preachers. Well, erm, it's little known Brittish electro-indie band White Lies. To be fair they put on a really good show in front of a huge LED screen but it seems to me a bizzare choice to end what has been a great festival.
White Lies
White Lies
Having grown to know and love Budapest, giving the locals directions and growing accustomed to it's kooky charm along the way, I felt a little regret as I biked back once again through the spectacularly lit up city centre which I have now grown accustomed to. Sitting breifly on the riverbank with beer in my hair and dirt on my feet, it was a last parting present from the city before I head on to pastures new once again.
Soundtrack to my festival:
Prince - Purple Rain
Flogging Molly - Speed Of Darkness
Pulp - Common People
Ben L'Oncle Soul - Seven Nation Army
Chemical Brothers - Block Rockin' Beats
DeWolff - Gold And Seaweed
Prodigy - Run With The Wolves
Debout Sur Le Zinc - La Declaration
30 Seconds To Mars - Kings And Queens
Mariachi El Bronx - The Antichrist
Gogol Bordello - Another Brick In The Wall/Start Wearing Purple
The National - Slow Show
White Lies - Death
