Time for another hostel report, I've stayed at a huge range of places since Krakow, the majority have been pretty good...
Tiger Tim's place - Budapest:
Tim's a really nice welsh guy, he owns a couple of large apartments which he's turned into hostels. I'm sure he actually lives at this place, hence the name. Very similar to Hostel One Home, in Prague, there aren't to many people staying at any one time so everybody pretty much knows everyone else. Most people will crowd around the table for drinking games each night and head off for a pub crawl afterwards. Tim has setup a TV with a HDD with movies and TV episodes on it, usually Southpark episodes are played back to back. It's a bit of a mission to get into the place from the street but its very quiet at night, which is good.
MyMOJO vie - Vienna:
This place is really cozy, literally a 3 bedroom apartment that's been modified into a hostel, it's very small. Only twelve or thirteen people can stay here at any given time, which is the smallest hostel I've seen by far.
The two women that run the place, Julia and Lina are only there in the mornings to clean,do the washing and provide breakfast. People who arrive in the afternoon are greeted with an envelope with their name nailed to the door, containing their keys and instructions. Other backpackers will usually give them the 10 second tour and provide basic information and where to eat and what to do, which is cool. It's a great hostel if you just want to chill out, which is a good idea if you're coming out of Eastern Europe.
Camping Jolly - Venice:
As the name suggests, Camping Jolly is a camp ground, suggested by a couple of girls in Vienna. It's a very large place, with some 450 bungalows and room for tents too. It has a pool, restaurant, bar and convenient store. Situated 15 minutes outside of Venice, they run a bus service to and from the island which is pretty good. If you're looking for a place to party this is probably the best option, as Venice isn't really made for if.
The bungalow I stayed in was very small. It seemed like it was originally a two bedroom place that had a third bed attached to the ceiling. For the first two nights I had this bed, getting in and out of it was an exercise in flexibility and gymnastics, neither of which I'm made for, I actually required assistance the first morning and damaged the bed below while attempted a controlled fall out of the top bunk.
Hostel beautiful 2 - Rome:
This hostel is situated close to Roma Termini train station, Close enough that you can see it at the end of the street. I'm sure this place was originally a hotel that's been changed to a hostel because it made more money. The room I stayed in had a very hotel vibe to it. What was weird was the location of the bunk beds, situated right next to each other they effectively made two double beds, one upon the other. No one wants to sleep that close to a random person, unless she's hot, so the Swiss guy that was in my room and I separated the beds a bit.
It's facilities didn't promote social interaction, with only a small inside common area with a TV that played Italian soap operas all day (Italian TV is bad, really bad, like wow), most people just kept to themselves. There was one weird Italian guy, who I eventually identified as the cleaner, that would hang around this common area watching TV or sleeping. It had no kitchen, no lockers, although I did find a fridge hidden away in my room.
Archi Rossi - Florence:
Archi Rossi was probably one if the best places I stayed at, possibly due to the company kept, but that a story for another time. The entire ground floor of this hostel is lined with art inside and statues outside, giving it a very Italian feel to it. The room I was in was a decent size and quiet as long as the window was closed. The lockers were big and the bathroom was good.
It's social areas were large, including an inside and outside area. The meals served for dinner, while not great we're definately acceptable for the 4 euro I was paying. It's breakfast was a mishmash of different foods, including pasta and cake, I'm on holiday, I'll have dessert for breakfast if I want. While it didn't have a bar it did offer beer and wine, amount a quite large selection of other things from fridges next to the reception.
I'm in Madrid now, at a place called The Way, seem pretty decent...
