Maitai's Central (Don't Call It Eastern) European Excursion
 

Although I had been very excited about our trip that was going to take us to five countries we had never visited (well, had Montenegro had the decency to let us in their damned country, it <i>would</i> have been five), I felt a slight twinge of trepidation before we left. Was the pace going to be too fast? Were we trying to see too many things? Diesel or Super Gas (some events remain in your psyche forever)?

As it turned out, my fears were more than allayed, and the Czech Republic, Poland, Croatia and Slovenia far exceeded our wildest dreams, and when people ask me today what part of the trip was my favorite, I just answer, “All of it.”

As in 2005 and 2001, our friends Kim and Mary (obviously gluttons for punishment) joined Tracy and me on our four-week sojourn. Our travels would take us to Prague, Cesky Krumlov, Olomouc, Krakow, Vienna, Dubrovnik, Trogir, Plitvice National Park, Ljubljana, Bled, Rovinj, Venice and places in between.

Neither the intervention of a stealth Slovenian policeman nor the border guard at the Montenegro border (who bore an uncanny resemblance to Benito Mussolini) could put a damper on this 28-day adventure. Heck, we even lost Kim for three days smack dab in the middle of the trip, but that’s getting too far ahead of myself.

So before I have another Buza Bar flashback, it’s time to go on Maitai’s Central (Don’t Call It Eastern) European Excursion.

<b>DAY ONE - THE HEATHROW NIGHTMARE IS ONLY A DREAM, IS THAT A BOMB UNDER YOUR HOOD AND “THE STAIRS”</b>

A trip that had been one year in the planning was finally underway. My ingrown toenail dilemma that threatened to derail the vacation just a few days before we left seemed to be resolved (at least the toe hadn’t fallen off, and there was no gangrene to speak of). Kim and Mary drove up from San Diego, picked us up at the house, and we were off to LAX.

Kim and Mary had a 4:30 p.m. flight to London on Air New Zealand. We took off a little more than one hour later on American Airlines. Our first goal: attempt to navigate the living Hell we were told was Heathrow Airport and hook up with Kim and Mary for our 3 p.m. flight to Prague on British Airways.

“Be prepared,” we were warned by many, “you will be lucky to make your flight to Prague. Heathrow is a nightmare!” Even with 2 ½ hours in between flights, the words seemed ominous.

I had just read an article that said the number of bags lost each day at Heathrow was staggering. “How many bags do they misplace each day?” Tracy asked.

“I think about a million,” I answered, attempting to lower expectations.

Our flight was my favorite kind…uneventful. Even the two little kids right behind us cooperated by sleeping most of the trip.

The only unsettling event happened a few minutes before landing (well, at least when we were supposed to be landing). “We’ve been told there is a lot of traffic,” the pilot said, “and we will have to circle for about half an hour.” Cue Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis (yes, the good Out-of-Towners movie).

The flight arrived about 12:45, and we scurried off the plane searching for information on which terminal we should go to for the London to Prague leg of our journey. “Terminal 5,” we were told. We cringed.

“Oh no, Terminal 5 is the new terminal having all those problems.” Could we be doomed already?

The answer turned out to be an emphatic, “No.” So much for all the doom and gloom stories of Heathrow that we had heard before we left. They proved to be fiction (at least for us). We walked from the plane to where we would be transported from Terminal 3 to Terminal 5, hopped on the bus and soon we were at Terminal 5.

When we walked into Terminal 5, Tracy said, “What’s all the fuss about? There’s nobody here.” Sure enough, there were only about ten people waiting to go though Customs. One of the information people saw our amazed (and relieved) look and said, “Yes, the nightmare of Terminal 5 is grossly overrated.”

We zipped through Customs and less than an hour from landing, we were inside Terminal 5 looking for Kim, Mary and a drink (not necessarily in that order. Hey, we had four more weeks with them).

Kim and Mary also had an easy time switching terminals at Heathrow, and we all finally got a little sleep on the two-hour flight to Prague.

This was going to be a different type of trip for the four of us when it came to lodging. In order to save a few dollars so we could purchase extra wine, we had reserved some apartments instead of hotels along the way, and Prague was to be our first one. We had booked the Vlasska Apartments, which are owned by the Arcadia Residence.

The apartments had received good reviews on Trip Advisor, and I had liked the location in the Mala Strana area of Prague. Of course, since I had never been to Prague, that observation was a sheer guess.

I had been in contact with Pasquale, who runs the Arcadia Residence, and he said there would be a driver at the airport to pick us up, and he would meet us at the apartments. After getting our luggage (yep, not one lost bag, either), there was a gentleman with a sign with our names on it and a van that would transport us to our appointed destination.

Soon we were on a street adjacent to the Vltava River, and we turned up a street where the driver said our apartments were located. Suddenly, he pulled over to the curb, and two policemen told our driver to open his hood, and they started using mirrors to see if anything was lodged in the undercarriage. “What the heck is this?” we thought.

“They must have known you were coming,” Kim said.

Actually, it turned out our apartment was just up the street from the American, German and Irish embassies, and I was not a Czech government list of undesirables…yet. When we arrived at the apartments, Pasquale was there to greet us and, after showing us our apartments, he offered to take us on a little orientation walking tour.

The Vlasska Apartments are only about a five-minute walk to the Charles Bridge, so the location was perfect. “It is also much more quiet over here at night than in Old Town,” Pasquale said. As it turned out, he was right.

Since we all had a second wind (well, maybe a third or fourth wind by now), we decided to go out and have some traditional Czech cuisine. Pasquale had given us the name of a place that would fit that bill, and when we asked him how to pronounce it, he said, “Just look for the name of a restaurant that you will not be able to pronounce.”

When we saw the name “Baracnicka rychta”, we knew we had found it. The place was full of locals (well it was full of people speaking another language, so we made that leap with confidence).

We downed our first Czech pivo (beer), and our waiter suggested I try some “seasoning additives for your pivo.” Hmm, paprika and beer don’t seem to go together, but when in Prague.

Well, seasoning additives for beer actually consisted of Olomouc cheese, pickled in chopped hot peppers with oil and onions, seasoned with cumin and pepper. Not bad. Not especially good, either.

I believe I won the best meal award for my marinated pork ribs with four spices (cumin, mustard, onions and horse radish). Kim also had pork, Mary had turkey breast, while Tracy tried something called Moravian Sparrow, which I think was a mini roast pork and not something that flies around in our backyard.

It was not quite dark outside when we exited the restaurant, so we decided to hike up to the Prague Castle Complex to scout out the format to acquire tickets the next day. This would be our first encounter of climbing the more than 200 steps to the castle, a route that would be known in a few days as merely (and not kindly might I add) “The Stairs.”

As we started up “The Stairs”, the sound of fireworks started erupting. “What a nice welcome for us,” I said to three people who pretended not to hear any more inane comments from me on this night. At the top, we looked out over Prague. The sky was a glorious, velvet blue. What a night and what a view!

We scoped out St. Vitus Cathedral and the Prague Castle tour propaganda, got the needed info about opening times, took some pictures and headed back down “The Stairs.” Kim and Mary decided that was enough for one day and headed back to the apartment, while Tracy and I walked on the Charles Bridge and took the steps down to Kampa Island.

Although Kampa Island was relatively quiet, the Charles Bridge had it going on at 11:00 on a Saturday night, but the only thing going on for us was an onset of SVFS (Sudden Vacation Fatigue Syndrome), so we headed back for a good night’s sleep.

Tomorrow would be our first full day to explore Prague, but sadly it would be the quickest ever into a trip that Tracy would give me “the look” and call me an “idiot.” Of course, her wrath would be well deserved.

<b>COMING UP: AN ASTOUNDING CATHEDRAL, BREW WITH A VIEW, NO ZLOTY ZONE AND TOM’S PRAGUE DEATH MARCH!</b>

YAY! The saga begins . . .

Enjoying a lot.

Thanks for sharing, M.

Looking forward to more.

((I))

Hilarious - and it is bringing back memories.

Being flatlanders, we referred to &quot;The Stairs&quot; as &quot;The Mountain&quot;.

Good start---I cannot wait for more. You have to love Prague !

Great start Tom...looking forward to the next installment.

By the way, I could not get my hands on any magic cream in France and unfortunately my foot was an issue. The hilltowns of the Luberon were almost the death of me! Waiting to see a specialist now.

Oh Yay!! :)

I am so looking forward to the rest of this report. As you may remember I did pretty much the same itinerary 2 years ago and I am loving all the memories your report is bringing back to me already.

Love the &quot;SVFS (Sudden Vacation Fatigue Syndrome)&quot; reference and plan to use it in the future!

Looking forward to more! :)

Yay, now I won't get any work done until the end of the trip report. Hope it's a long one.

Tom,

Thanks for giving me some fun reading for what I hope is the rest of the summer. We also approached our Terminal 5 experience last month with great trepidation, and it turned out to be just fine - glad that they seem to have gotten the kinks out, it went very smoothly for us, and since we got our luggage on both ends, all is well in the land.

Marcia

Finally! Please hurry up with the next installment.

ttt

Keep it coming Tom, I have been looking forward to this.

tom, your trip report is one of the reasons I don't spend much at Barnes &amp; Noble anymore- this lit is much more entertaining!

Looking forward to the remainder of your report!

thanks bunches!

Paula

Omg - lovin' every minute of this! Can't wait to find out why Montenegro was so indecent as to not let you in!

Please, please, please - more report sooner than later!

tom and Tracey:


Back again....? I know what that means..I have to lengthen my breaks from my deadline pushes so I can follow your every step into territory I love, and with which I am quite familiar...but your point of view in past Trip Reports adds a new and fascinating dimension...heep on typing, Tom!

Let Tracey in once in a while too. Pics? I'm sure you'll be tossing them our way....you're sure correct about differentiating between Central and Eastern Europa!

stu t.

Oh, happy day! I haven't been on this board for ages (been spending all my time on the South America and US boards) but clicked here to read the &quot;Would you move to Europe&quot; thread and came across this. Maitai Tom trip reports are the best! The Italy one and the Christmas in Paris one are among my favorite posts ever.

I did this trip about a decade ago and have great memories. Can't wait to read how it went with you.

Write more soon!

taitai

Great beginning, Tom! Looking forward to more.

&quot;You have to love Prague !&quot;
Bob, I could not agree more. We absolutely thought Prague was terrific.

&quot;Hope it's a long one.&quot;
bfrac, be careful what you wish for. Tracy is pleading with me for a condensed version, knowing that if I continue down this path, it will be too long.

&quot;...giving me some fun reading for what I hope is the rest of the summer.&quot;
Marcia, that is exactly what Tracy is afraid of (for good reason).

I do really like to relive my trips, and these reports (which I have done even in the pre-Fodor's days) help keep the memories vivid and alive for me.

I hope I can give you some tidbits of our trip that might help in your planning if you ever want to visit any of these places and in a manner that doesn't bore you too much with the details.

((H))

Tom,

Don't worry, if the rest is just as good, it won't be toolong.

Tom

PS Pictures please

Loving the report already. The same security check happened to us on our way to our hotel in the Mala Strana, we were a little worried to say the least. Everytime we walked in and out of the &quot;area&quot; the guards gave us &quot;that&quot; look. It soon became a joke to try and get passed without them seeing us, ie sneaking behind those huge garbage bins etc. Well we were enjoying ourselves even if they thought we were nuts!!!

Schnauzer

waiting....&lt;tap, tap&gt;

Good start.

I'm patient, I waited, I'm in for a treat. Thanks Tom and Tracy.

...have we ever complained about long, detailed Trip Reports? I don't think so!

Tom, now I have to find a map of Central (not Eastern) Europe to follow your trip.

Are you going to do a TR with pictures, like the Tuscan trip?

This is just the encouragement I need to continue my mid-summer work-stoppage at my day job. :-) Keep it coming! I have looked forward to this, Tom!

<b>DAY TWO - AN ASTOUNDING CATHEDRAL, A BREW WITH A VIEW, NO ZLOTY ZONE, AND TOM’S PRAGUE DEATH MARCH!</b>

At home, you have to drag me out of bed on Sunday morning. On vacation, however, I am The Energizer Bunny.

On this particular, beautiful Prague Sunday, I was standing on The Charles Bridge at 7 a.m. shooting pictures while the others got another hour of sleep. A person I met on the bridge said this was the first day in weeks where they expected really nice weather. “Rain,” he said. “We’ve had lots of rain.”

Timing is everything, baby!

The reports are correct. If you want to be on The Charles Bridge without hordes of people trampling you, early in the morning is the only time to accomplish that trick. By about 10 a.m., it’s every man, woman and child for themselves.

As I traversed the bridge, looking up at the Prague Castle and out onto the Vltava, I noticed there was one statue that seemed to garner much more attention than any other on the bridge. I recognized it as the statue of St. John of Nepomuk, who, like most saints, received his sainthood status the hard way. Nearly everyone who passed the statue rubbed on the gold engraving, which is supposed to grant each person one wish.

Believers, I don’t want to spoil a good story, but it doesn’t work, and my wish was not very complicated. Oh well, maybe it just doesn’t work for Presbyterians.

I met up with the rest of the gang about 8:15, and after some incredibly overpriced espressos and cappuccinos, we walked up “The Stairs” to the Prague Castle Complex.

Mary asked, “Isn’t there another way to get up there?”

Well, yes there was, but it wasn’t until we returned home that I was reminded of that easier method to transport people to the castle. But, what the heck, we had to get in shape for the rest of the trip.

We were able to go inside St. Vitus just before Mass, and the sun streaming through the stained glass windows was a spectacular sight to behold. We had to scurry out, but knew we would see the entire interior of the church at the end of our audio tour.

The Castle audioguide tour cost 250 Kč per person, and it included entrance to the Old Royal Palace, St. Georges Basilica, the Golden Lane, Daliborka Tower, and (best of all) with the audioguide, we would also be allowed in the exit of St. Vitus Cathedral when it reopened, bypassing the long line waiting to get inside. It was like having a Paris Museum card in Prague (only a lot larger and heavier).

After getting through the first four parts of the tour, and since St. Vitus wasn’t going to open for another 90 minutes, we put our audioguides in our pockets and headed up to Strahovsk&yacute; kl&aacute;ster (Strahov Monastery &amp; Library), the second oldest monastery in Prague.

I don’t know if they frown upon tourists taking audio guides off the premises, but on this day we did without any ramifications. Plus, they had my driver’s license, so they knew where we lived.

We viewed the incredible ceiling in the Theological Hall of the library. The old collection of books and the now extinct Dodo bird on display was kind of cool, too.

All of this culture can make a group thirsty (a dodo bird is culture, right?), so after touring the library, and since we still had time before St. Vitus opened, it was time for a libation. Close by to the monastery, we spied a restaurant that had a magnificent view of Prague from its outdoor patio. It was after 11 a.m., so it must be time for beer. In just a few minutes, we were to reach pivo nirvana.

We sat down at a table at the Bellavista restaurant on this warm day and ordered an Urquell dark, draft pivo (at least I think it was Urquell). I am not a big beer drinker, but this beer was stupendous. For a dark beer, it was light, flavorful and even a little sweet.

If we hadn’t stolen four audioguides and needed to get back to St. Vitus, I could have stayed here all day. The menu items looked interesting, and we decided to come back here for dinner one night.

In a magnanimous gesture, I offered to pay for the pivos and handed the waiter some money. He looked at the money and started laughing. “Sorry, we don’t take Polish money here.” I had mixed up my zloty with my koruna.

“Just like the old days before the euro,” I thought.

As we walked toward the entrance of the castle complex, there were a bunch of guys in uniform, and I was afraid they had sent out troops searching for a group of Americans with stolen audioguides. Fortunately, it was just the changing of the guard ceremony. By now, the castle was packed with visitors.

The line for St. Vitus was long, but when it reopened, we went in the exit and wound our way through the cathedral. The four of us have visited many (sometimes we feel too many) churches and cathedrals, but St. Vitus vaulted into all of our “Top Five” lists.

Although we had done a lot of walking, there was an “opportunity” for us to walk up the 287 stairs to the top of St. Vitus. Since I never met a set of stairs that could not be vanquished, up we went.

The views out over Prague were astounding. The people on the crowded Charles Bridge looked like ants.

It was now two in the afternoon, and I made the huge mistake of saying, “Let’s eat lunch over in the Staromestsk&eacute; N&aacute;mest&iacute; (Old Town Square). By the time we found a place to sit down and eat, it was about 3 p.m., the weather had become quite warm, we were sweating, and I could see that our walking warriors were getting a little testy with their fearless leader.

Did that deter my first-day walking tour of Prague to continue after lunch? Well, not really. As I sat in the square, looking out at the statue of Jan Hus (who was burned at the stake in the 1400s, but who did get a statue of himself built here 500 years later), I had this idea to walk over to a famous beer garden after lunch.

As it turned out, by the time we got there, Tracy, Kim and Mary had notions of burning me at the stake.

But before we started walking, we looked at our watches, and it was 15 minutes before the hour. A huge crowd was hurriedly gathering in front of The Old Town Hall orloj (Astronomical Clock). Yes, the dance of the glockenspiel was only moments away, and people started jostling for a good position to watch. For a Southern Californian, it was similar to being at the scene of a Britney Spears’ arrest.

At the top of the hour some goofy little characters did a dance (well, they shook anyway), and then, poof, the spectacle was over. When it ended, almost as soon as it had started, there was a vocal, collective sigh that filtered through the crowd, as if to say, “I wasted 20 minutes of my life for this.”

Speaking of collective, although our collective feet were tired and getting more and more sore by the step, we walked toward our next stop, U Flecku, one of the oldest beer gardens in Prague.

On the map, it didn’t look that far. In reality, it was turning into a big Tom mistake, and as we finally sat down at the table in the beer garden, my beautiful and trusting wife gazed at me and said lovingly, “What the Hell were you thinking, you idiot?” Sometimes I don’t relish my role as tour director. At least the beer was good.

Kim, always there to help, equated the last part of our walk to a death march, while Mary just looked happy that she was married to the “other guy” at the table

By the time we walked across the river, through Kampa Island, up the stairs to the Charles Bridge and back to the apartment it was after 6 p.m.

Tracy wasn’t talking to me for the moment, so I had a chance to reflect on the day. Since it was the “first nice day” in quite some time, people took advantage of that fact. The river had been full of canoes, kayaks, paddleboats and other floating vessels, which just added to the charm of Prague. The views both from and of the Prague Castle were stunning.

Old Town Square was really cool with the spires of the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn rising above it. It would have been nicer had there not been a structure built right in front of the church, which I think was the doing of Hapsburg era folks.

We had not had a large lunch, and by the eight o’clock hour both my wife and friends were once again speaking to me, as was my nearly empty stomach. There are an abundant number of nice, little restaurants on Nerudova Street in Mala Strana, and we wandered nearly all the way to the top of the street checking them out (just can’t get enough walking).

We decided upon a place called Ferdinand, which we had passed early in the walk up the street. It was very cute and had a garden in the back, but since it was reserved, we ate under the nice vaulted ceiling in front. The dinner was good, and they had a varied selection of steak, chicken and fish dishes. Mary sampled a goulash with very bizarre bread dumplings.

What we noticed most about the restaurant was its intricate plating. Over the course of the next few weeks, it became apparent that in many restaurants in Central Europe (or at least the ones we frequented), plating was an important part of the presentation. It also became apparent that the food was going to be better than what we had expected.

We walked back near the embassies and happened upon a very neat wine cellar that would become our home away from home in Prague and then we had a quick drink at an Irish pub.

It was here I made the error of saying, “Geez, my feet are killing me.” It was the first “unanimous look” I had ever received.

The following day our friends Doug and Jackie (who had just flown in on this night from Southern California) would hook up with us for a day of sightseeing, and I decided we would go at a more leisurely pace. What I did not know was that we were going to dine at two fantastic restaurants.

<b>COMING UP: DAY THREE – A JEWISH HISTORY LESSON, THAI-ING ONE ON, SEEING RED, CELLAR DWELLERS AND MAYBE ONE DOES COME TO PRAGUE FOR THE FOOD </b>

Urquell before noon---I love it and have been there.

Wonderful as always. What was the Prague apartment like? Did you each have your own apt or share a 2 bedroom? Was it charming??

&quot;What was the Prague apartment like? &quot;

The biggest positives were location (very close to Charles Bridge, Kampa Island, Prague Castle and lots of restaurants in quiet Mala Strana location) and price.

Pasquale was a terrific host; arranging transportation from airport, meeting us at apartment and giving us a little orientation of Prague. We also stopped by his office in old Town a couple of times, and he was very accommodating and gave us recommendations. He was a genuinely nice guy.

We had two apartments on the second floor above a courtyard that had a restaurant (that closed early, so there was no noise at night except for an occasional speeding car). The apartments were secure and we had keys to outside door and inside apartments.

Kim and Mary's apartment had a little kitchenette that you walked into and there were wood beams in the bedroom. It was cuter than ours.

Our room was definitely more Spartan. It could have used a nice coat of paint and a little more TLC, but for the price (79 Euros a night), it more than made up for its shortcomings. As you can see from my previous post, it's not like we are in the room very much, anyway.

I would say if one was a finicky traveler, needs clean sheets each day and wants to be a little pampered, this would not be the place for them to stay. But if you value a clean, safe place with a gracious host, and at a price that frankly can't be beat for its location, I would most definitely recommend it. There is also a little grocery store directly across the street.

The owners of the Vlasska Apartments also have The Arcadia Residence that is similar to a B&amp;B and gets rave reviews on Trip Advisor, located in Vyšehrad, which is about a 20 minute walk to the Charles Bridge and they also own apartments near Old Town called Kozna, I believe.

((H))

Great start, MT! I always look forward to your tip reports so much :-)

Am I the only person who was underwhelmed by the Charles Bridge? Okay, it is old and stony and bumpy, but what is the big deal?

Great report as usual!

Did you see St. Vitus dance?

Your trip reports are so well written. They're the best. I can't wait to read more. I loved the food, beer, wine in Prague. We were there in the winter and it was fabulous; both the city and the food.

Yipper

<i>Oh well, maybe it just doesn’t work for Presbyterians.</i>

:-)) :-)) :-))

I'm really enjoying your report. I may be travelling to Slovenia soon, so I eagerly await...

Just catching up with your (again) terrific report. I love to be able to look forward to these installments.

I think this is the first time I've actually read one of your reports, maitaitom - I've heard of them, of course. But then, one hears of the loch ness monster, too!

Very much enjoying it. Central Europe is on the list, though there are other places closer to the top. The apartments sound exactly like I like :)

ttt

Can't wait to read more - your trip reports are the best!