Tag Archives: sightseeing

Prague

September 15, 2016Czech Republicairbnb, apartment, campground, camping, czech, history, prague, sightseeing, summer, travelJudy

So, the tent is now drying in stages on the airer in the spare room, we’re slowly emptying the car of everything we’ve accumulated over the past 5+ weeks and I’m watching far too many bread baking videos on Youtube, which is probably the surest sign that I’m ready to go home.

We visited Cesky Krumlow on Monday. Described by our Lonely Planet Guide as Czech’s only other world class sight and ‘must-see’ outside Prague, 180kms south and close to the Austrian border. I’m not sure about that, I’m really enjoying travelling here, but Cesky Krumlow was well worth visiting. Beautiful old town with a huge Renaissance Castle overlooking it. As we looked over the old town from the castle, it felt as though the view had probably not changed in centuries, there were no modern buildings and only a few advertising signs on old buildings to suggest that we were actually in the 21st Century. Located on the Vltava River, which also runs through Prague and flows out into the North Sea. We camped beside the river on Monday night at Camp Paradijs, our last night of camping on this trip. The river’s gentle sounds just a few metres from our campsite were a nice ending to the 14 nights we’ve spent in our much-loved tent on this trip.

On our way into Prague, we stopped at the Sedlac Ossuary to look at the ‘Bone Church’. I’m not even sure how to describe it – strange, weird, creative, ghoulish. The small church in Sedlac monastery has been decorated almost exclusively with bones – 4 huge piles of them, plus garlands, crosses and other shapes, all made out of human bones. Interesting but weird.

We’re spending 4 nights in an Airbnb apartment right on the edge of the old town, above Prague Castle. Parking is only a minor problem here – we can’t park right outside the apartment because it’s for residents only, or we have to SMS something to somewhere, or some other thing that is a bit out of our range of expertise; however it’s possible to park about 5 – 10 minutes walk from here, on the other side of the freeway. Just a short walk over a pedestrian bridge and on a few quiet streets. Greg has done this walk numerous times, I’ve done it once!

Yesterday we walked down to, and across, the Charles Bridge. I’m sure there were more tourists there and around the Old Square than we’ve seen anywhere this trip! Even Dubrovnik wasn’t as crowded. Gorgeous place, though – the bridges, the buildings, the squares. We just happened to be at the Astronomical Clock as it was about to strike on the hour – well, the huge crowd of people gathered expectantly nearby gave us a clue that something was about to happen, so we waited to see. And we’ve extended our Trdelnik Chimney Cake experience by adding an Apple strudel ice cream cone one and a pizza one to the range we’ve eaten!

We caught up with our Czech friend Peter last night. We met him when he was cycling in Tassie a couple of years ago, then he came and stayed in ADL with us for a few days and we’ve kept in touch ever since. He encouraged us to come to Prague on this trip and I’m really glad that we did. So anyway after tossing around a few ideas of when and where to meet, we decided to have dinner here at the apartment, which was an excellent plan until I realised about 45 minutes after putting the chicken and potatoes in the oven that the oven wasn’t working due to operator error! There is a beautiful terracotta Schlemmer Topf roasting dish here and I was keen to use it, but messed up the oven settings, so dinner was a bit later than we had intended. It tasted good, though and I’m going to keep an eye out for a terracotta dish at the op shops I haunt in my never-ending search for Women’s Weekly cookbooks. Then we had Medovnik Honey Cake for dessert. I’m definitely going to have a go at making one of those when we get home – layers of honey cake with buttercream icing in between, and caramel & walnuts on top. It was good, but very filling.

Peter has given us great tips on where to go and what to see, and we’re getting together again tonight to eat Czech food in a restaurant. Good times!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Cesky Krumlow Castle

Back in Czech

September 12, 2016Austria, Czech Republicairbnb, czech republic, road trip, schonnbrunn palace, sightseeing, travel, viennaJudy

Quiet day on Saturday. When we were at the Gasometer Buildings, Greg bought a piece of apfelkuchen apple cake from a supermarket and has been searching for it since. He tried a couple of places on Saturday morning without success. In the afternoon we walked to, and around, Schonnbrunn Palace. It’s across the road from the apartment we stayed at … sort of. There’s actually a street, tramline, river, metro line and a couple of fences between the apartment and the palace grounds, but we could see it from the apartment, and the huge grounds were a lovely buffer in a city of over 1.5million people. The Viennese equivalent of Central Park.

We walked to the gate closest to the apartment, which had a Lindt chocolate shop conveniently located at the entrance. Bought a couple of blocks from the huge selection – whole product lines that we had never seen before. Then walked through the park to the palace. All 1400+ rooms of it. Part of it is open as a childrens’ museum, a gallery and it is possible to do tours of palace and concerts are held there. Outside, it’s a fantastic public space, free to wander around the huge grounds, which also has a zoo, a swimming pool, a maze and other things that you can pay to see. The cafe in the palace does a Strudel making class which I was going to do until I realised it would all be in German.

We walked up the hill to the Gloriette which offers a superb view over the city, and we think we found the street we stayed in, just past the trees in the palace grounds. Then we walked back to the apartment via the main entrance, with its enormous open space in front of the palace. Hot day, we didn’t take enough water and were very thirsty by the time we got ‘home’.

Yesterday, Sunday, we drove out of Vienna to Czech. We didn’t buy a vignette in Austria so had to use secondary roads, which was fine, through little villages and along a tiny sealed road on the side of the motorway. Probably just for the local farmers, and we did meet a tractor coming in the opposite direction, but a few local cars and a motorbike also used it. Nothing is open in Austria on a Sunday, but as soon as we crossed over into Czech … BAM! Outlet shopping centre just across the border, casinos, 24-hour nightclubs. If anyone can explain how they work, we’d love to know – I thought the point of a nightclub was that it was, well, night-time. Our new favourite supermarket, Albert, was open in Znojmo so we went and bought a couple of things we’d run out of and some bread rolls for lunch. Gosh, the Czechs are good bakers!

Our second-last night of camping last night, and tonight is our last. Then we’re staying in an apartment in Prague for 4 nights and heading back to Munich on Saturday, flying home on Sunday. We’ve been on the road for 5 weeks, but it seems like a much longer period of time, because we’ve been to so many places and seen and done so much.

img_20160907_093542-medium — Self Serve Bakery at Albert row 1

img_20160907_093545-medium — Self Serve Bakery at Albert row 2

Out & about in Vienna

September 9, 2016Austriaaustria, cemeteries, sightseeing, tourists, viennaJudy

We had a few vague ideas about what we’d like to see and do in Vienna, but no firm plans, so when our lovely Dutch friend Mickey asked if we were planning on visiting Zentralfriedhof, the Central Cemetery, we thought that was a great suggestion! We like cemeteries – we visited the Pere Lachaise cemetery when we were in Paris a few years ago and paid our respects to Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, Gertrude Stein & Alice B Toklas and Jim Morrison and others I’ve forgotten now, and Arlington in Washington DC, then when we were in St Petersburg we visited the incredible Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery.

Some of Mickey’s family members have a grave at Zentralfriedhof, and quite a few famous composers are also buried there, conveniently all located in the same section quite close to one of the main entrances. The cemetery is on the outskirts of the city and it’s huge! It occupies over 600 acres of land and its dead population is nearly double Vienna’s current living population. We drove there as it’s a bit of a long haul on public transport; parked outside and we must really have acquired the mindset that we have to pay for parking everywhere, because we were very careful to check with the local Wurst stand seller that we could park there for free.

The composers’ graves are all in a very well-tended section, with nicely mown lawns, flowers and a plan to show who is where. We visited Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, the senior and junior Strausses, and a cenotaph honouring Mozart, who is buried in another cemetery. We followed Mickey’s excellent directions and found her family’s grave. We took a yellow flowering succulent in a pot and placed it on the headstone, took a few photos and walked back to the entrance along a different path so we could see a bit more of the cemetery. It’s feeling like early autumn here, although the weather is still warm, lots of leaves starting to change colour and starting to fall.

Then we drove to see the Danube River just outside the city limits and to visit another, smaller cemetery, Friedhof der Namenlosen, Cemetery of the Nameless, for people who drowned in the river. And then to the Gasometers, 4 huge cylindrical gas storage tanks which have now been ‘repurposed’ into shops, residential & commercial use and entertainment venues. The buildings themselves are interesting enough, but to then see what they have become is really something!

Today we caught the metro into the city centre, walked along the mall, visited St Stephen’s Cathedral, ate strudel & cake at Gerstner Cafe (established 1847) and strolled around the fascinating Naschmarkt. Bought a couple of things – corn on the cob for dinner, an interesting-looking Turkish cheese, zopfkase, which looks like a bundle of string tied into a ball. I’ve just tried it and it’s very salty – I’ll soak it in water for a while.

Paid bike storage at the local U-bahn station - like you would never get in Adelaide — Paid bike storage at the local U-bahn station – like you would never get in Adelaide

Sunday in Krakow, Poland

September 5, 2016Polandkrakow, pizza, poland, sightseeing, street food, summer, tourists, travelJudy

Yesterday was a day of minor irritations and more great food. From the old guy who rode his bike into the back of my foot, to the grumpy woman who charged me for 2 baguette pizza thingys but only supplied one, but it was a gorgeous sunny day and we have ticked a few more items off our Polish must-eat food list.

We decided to go to Old Town, to look at Rynek Glowny, the largest medieval town square in Europe, and maybe visit St Mary’s Basilica & Wawel Castle. As we crossed the first main road between Kazimierz and Old Town, it felt like something had changed … we were hitting tourist-ville. Lots more signs in English, lots more currency exchanges, and lots more people! Part of Old Town was blocked off because there was a corporate fun run happening, & we couldn’t get to the castle entrance, so we headed to the main square. A new Polish friend who lives in Sydney recommened that I try a papieska kremowka Papal cream cake – a vanilla slice-type pastry that Pope John Paul II liked to eat. He grew up in Wadowice, west of Krakow. We found a lovely cake shop that sold kremowka and bought one for me, and a sort of chocolate-filled iced berliner for Greg. Delicious!

The main square was full of cafes with large umbrellas for shade, and loads of people. We went to have a look at the Basilica, but there was a mass in progress, so we might go back another day. Then walking up one of the main streets in Old Town, an old guy rammed his pushbike into the back of my foot and let forth with a string of abuse in Polish. It must be hard for locals to have their space invaded by tourists, but really, riding down a busy street on a Sunday seems like a dumb idea to me. We got out of the touristy part fairly quickly and walked around the Planty, a green belt around the outside of the city walls. Much nicer.

We tried to get a table at Cafe Zazie, the Michelin-starred cafe just a couple of blocks down the street we’re staying on, but they were full so we made a booking for dinner there tonight. Then went to a traditional Polish restaurant a few blocks from here – we found it when we first got here and I’d liked the look of their menu, then our host recommended it. We got a table, then got menus, but after 30 minutes of being ignored by the busy waitstaff, we decided to try somewhere else. Found a little place that sells pierogi dumplings that were delicious – much better than any we’d eaten in Russia.

And then dinner – it just had to be zapiekanka ‘Polish pizza’ – half a baguette topped with melted cheese and other fillings – from one of the dozen or so sellers at Plac Nowy, with a side order of Belgian fries. Greg went to order the fries and I ordered and paid for 2 zapiekanka but only got one . The very grumpy woman serving refused to admit she’d made an error, so we had quite the bi-lingual argument, Greg came and we refused to budge from their ordering area ( so no more orders could be placed), Mrs Grumpy got someone to come and translate for us and then finally agreed to make us another one. Being mindful of what cooks can do to food when they are annoyed with customers, we decided to leave before we got the 2nd ‘pizza’, and in fact one pizza between the 2 of us was plenty. I wonder if Mrs Grumpy thinks nostalgically of the good old days when concepts like ‘customer service’ and ‘consumer rights’ only happened in other places.

IMG_20160904_172240 (Medium) — our car parking on Sunday morning. In most roads you park half on the footpath.

Krakow, Poland

September 4, 2016Polandairbnb, apartment svilokos, krakow, poland, road trip, sightseeing, summer, tourists, travelJudy

In the early 1980s, I studied Polish History at uni for 3 years. I don’t remember much now, that space in my brain has been replaced with html, seo and other online selling stuff, but as we walk around this beautiful old history-filled city, bits and pieces come back to me. Somehow, pronunciation of Polish words has stayed with me, so while I probably don’t know what it means, I do know how to pronouce it!

We’re staying in an Airbnb apartment in Kazimierz, the Old Jewish Quarter, for 4 nights – here. Gorgeous old building, huge 2nd floor apartment with parquetry floors and high ceilings. There are 2 bars on the ground floor. The bars each have a ‘beer garden’ in the courtyard below our apartment, but they close at 10pm, so it’s not noisy. A couple of streets away it’s much more lively with the bars and eating places staying open until 3am.

The food choices here are amazing – from street food and a couple of empty corner blocks with 6 or 8 food trucks permanently parked there (and a handy Bankomat ATM at each site too!) to traditional Polish restaurants to a Michelin-starred French cafe just a couple of blocks down the street from where we’re staying. Between us so far we’ve eaten Belgian fries, kielbasa (Polish sausage) with sauerkraut & rye bread, French crepes, pulled pork rolls, Krakow pretzel with salami, tomato & cheese and rhubarb & apple crumble. I was initially a bit disappointed that there is no oven in the apartment, although there is a washing machine, and after the mess I made of the pulled pork roll, I think our Airbnb host has the right priorities!

We spent yesterday afternoon at Podgorsz, across the Vistula River from Kazimierz, visiting the Schindler Factory, the Pharmacy Under the Eagle and a short remaining stretch of the Ghetto Wall.

A bit more about Budapest, Hungary

August 31, 2016Hungaryairbnb, apartment svilokos, buda, budapest, history, hungary, sightseeing, summer, travelJudy

There is as much interesting stuff to see on the Buda side of the city as there is on Pest. Yesterday we caught the metro across to Deli Pu, the last stop on the red line. The Deli train station is also there, and it’s a short but steep wall up to Castle Hill. Getting on the metro was a bit tricky – most of the smaller stations don’t have ticket sellers any more, just a machine. The first 2 we tried would not accept coins, only card payments, and of the 4 machines at the 3rd station we tried, only 2 accepted coins. We made sure we bought enough tickets to do us for the rest of the day.

Castle Hill is (of course!) on a hill overlooking The Danube and Pest. Impressive city walls, lots of museums, a few churches and HEAPS of touristy stuff and tourists. It was good, but after seeing the old towns in Zadar, Trogir and Dubrovnik, where real people actually live their lives, Castle Hill seemed a bit … um …. 2-dimensional, like a theatre stage with nothing behind it. The really ‘off’ moment for me was finding the Jamie’s Italian restaurant. Um, what’s a chain restaurant that doesn’t even serve regional food doing THERE? (apologies to any Jamie fans among our readers). I know, I know, it’s for the tourists.

The Royal Palace complex is also within the city walls, with more museums, the National Gallery which is currently featuring a Modigliani exhibition, statues and more great views of the river and Pest. We walked down to the river and towards the Liberty Bridge to get the metro back across the river, stopping at a cafe for lunch – the daily special for me (mushroom soup and crumbed chicken livers with rice & peas), crepes with strawberry jam and a milkshake for Greg.

Then 2 line changes on the metro to get to City Park, which is east of the city and our apartment. Originally royal hunting grounds, the park is a huge green space which was the main location for the city’s millennial celebrations in 1896. The Budapest Zoo, Municipal Great Circus, museums, the city’s largest thermal baths, an amusement park, monuments, cafes, restaurants and the list goes on. Just at the entrance to the park is Heroes’ Square with an empty coffin representing the unknown insurgents of the 1956 Uprising, with the Archangel Gabriel on top of a 36-metre high pillar, holding the Hungarian crown and a cross, and the very impressive Military Monument with 14 statues of rulers and statesmen.

We walked back to the apartment along Andrassy Utica, with its beautiful mansions and townhouses, past theatres and the Terror House which pays tribute to the victims of the Nazi and Soviet regimes. We didn’t go in, I’m still scarred by our visit to the Apartheid Museum in Jo’burg last year.

Here’s a song, suggested by Margaret