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Published: March 6th 2008
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Dobry den
Well we’re writing this on our last night in the Czech Republic, in fact our last night in Eastern Europe (I think our first “real time” blog so far - woohoo!). We decided to return to our favourite places from summer - Krakow, Poland and Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic. We are so glad that we decided to return as we’ve had an absolute ball revisiting these fantastic and beautiful parts of the world. It has also been a wonderful experience being able to visit them in two very different seasons and also to see how this area of Europe is changing before our very eyes.
We’re a little bit removed from it all in Australia being so far away from Europe but the European Union is (obviously) big around here. Most Eastern European countries joined a good few years ago but have yet to satisfy all requirements to introduce the euro and are also not a part of the completely border free zone. Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary all joined this border free zone in December 2007 so already in the 6 months we’ve been away from this place things have changed dramatically. We’ve also noticed a
sharp increase in the number of Tesco’s (big business UK supermarket chain), loads more people speak English and the prices have definitely gone up (along with the value of the Czech Koruna (crown)).
From Budapest we travelled through Slovakia and over to Krakow in southern Poland. We had hoped to see decent snow in Eastern Europe at this time of year and were preparing for very chilly weather but unfortunately it has been sunny and beautiful (although still cold by WA standards - around 10 - 12 degrees). We did see some remnants of snow through Slovakia from the train though none in Krakow. It snowed yesterday in Krumlov as well but only a light dusting that melted as soon as the sun came out. Still it got down to about minus 2 during the day!! We had big plans to explore more of the Czech Republic but in the end the charms of Cesky Krumlov proved too strong so we decided to stay put and spent a glorious week, sleeping in, navigating our way through the (pleasantly untouristed) cobblestoned streets, eating feasts of heavy and hearty Czech food and drinking the local (and cheap) beer.
We made
Beginning of the Wieliczka Salt Mine
Just outside of Krakow. This place was still mining salt up until the late 1990's when they shut it down however it has been a tourist attraction for hundreds of years! The mine consists of nine levels going down to a depth of 327m. There are 2,040 chambers connected by 200km of passages. it to Krumlov in time to celebrate Daniel’s birthday and wish we’d never left last August! The hostel was being managed by a lovely Aussie couple who we got on really well with which made our stay even better. They first visited Krumlov last November, came back to celebrate New Year’s and hadn’t left so all four of us were kindred spirits when it came to this crazy little Czech town built around two bends of the river! We felt so at home at the hostel we kept forgetting to lock our room door and spent long lazy hours playing board games or talking to other guests. It is the only place we’ve been where no matter how little you know someone you still end up going out to dinner or drinks with them. It is such a fantastic place to meet other travellers. The town itself was just as beautiful in late winter as it was in the middle of summer and we were lucky enough to have most of it to ourselves, particularly at night as most tourists seem to be day trippers or early nighters.
We celebrated Daniel’s birthday with some home grown goodies sent over
The Legend of Princess Kinga
The mine tunnels are scattered with statues carved from salt and amazingly they were all made from mine workers, not professional artists! The detail on some of them is just amazing. These statues depict the legend of Princess Kinga which goes like this: The Hungarian princess Kinga was to marry the sovereign of Krakow. She wanted to bring a wealthy gift for her fiancé. As the people in Poland had everything except salt, she asked her father for a salt mine as adowry, which he provided. She threw one of her rings into a salt mine of her father and travelled to Poland. Near Krakow, in Wieliczka she told the people to dig a deep pit. The miners found salt, and enclosed in the first piece of salt they mined was the ring of Kinga. Our guide told us the story and finished it with...believe what you like. :) from Mum and Dad (which were very well received by both of us and our new found friends, Tam and Anthony, we even introduced a couple of American and Canadian guests to the wonderful world of Arnott’s. They enjoyed Arnott’s better than Vegemite!) and a birthday dinner at the famous Krumlov restaurant, Two Mary’s which serves up hearty Bohemian feasts. There are loads of Czech restaurants in Krumlov but only one Bohemian restaurant and when they say feast, they really do mean a feast!
While at Krumlov House, we discovered a new board game, Settlers, and had a great board game night munching on BBQ shapes and speaking Australian . Tam and Anthony were lovely and made a big fuss of Daniel on his birthday, even running down to the store early in the morning to buy him a birthday cake.
We decided early on in our “Eastern Europe Leg” of this trip that given how cheap this part of Europe is (and how expensive the rest is going to be) we’d just enjoy ourselves (read: stuff ourselves stupid with as many home-grown specialities as we can) so we’ve been loading up on the carbs and the calories and
Chapel of St Kinga
This cathedral is entirely made out of salt! It was created by 3 mine workers. It is amazing, not only the detail in the decorations but also the fact that to make a space this large they had to move all the salt blocks that used to fill it!! chugging down pints of Budvar (good ol’ Czech beer) and other Czech delicacies (see our pics). Although we do try steer clear of the pork knuckles and pork knees.
As for Eastern Europe, looking at how quickly it has changed since we were here last, we suspect it will be an entirely different place 18 months from now let alone in 5 years when the euro comes in. If any of you are thinking of travelling to this part of the world (hell any part of Europe), go as soon as you can so you can to experience a much more authentic and regional Eastern Europe. And if any of you dare to go to Czech Republic without visiting Cesky Krumlov.....well your loss really!
Well, enough from us, we’re off to bed as we have an early start in the morning - our flight to Roma. They’re going to have to roll us to the airport after all we’ve eaten this past week and a half!
Stay tuned!
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