Charting our trips after our cruise

We've arrived back from our 2 week Adriatic, Greece & Turkey, Greek Isles cruise on the fantastic Norwegian Gem. The places we visited in the two weeks were stunning examples of nature, architecture, engineering and modern wonders at their best. The weather was sunny the whole time so it made visiting the landmarks even more interesting. We visited Venice (I can see why the city has been voted the most beautiful city in the world), Corfu, Iraklion (Crete), Mykonos, Santorini, Napflion, Athens, Izmir, Ephesus, Dubrovnik & Split.

So many experiences to talk about that it'll take a while before I get to putting this together. I can imagine it'll be a couple of weeks before I get onto writing it. Meanwhile, I thought it might be good to chart on a map places we've visited so far since we started exploring the endless wonders of the world.

Paris & Roland Garros

Our third trip to Paris in two years. We visited to attend the French Open (Roland Garros 2010). This is the third Grand Slam we have been to and we now have to go to Flushing Meadows in New York to cap off the last Tennis Grand Slam that we haven't visited. 

We travelled straight from the airport to our hotel and then straight to Roland Garros the day we arrived in Paris. We were both very very tired having caught our flight at 6am which meant having to wake up before 3am. I think it was about mid-way during the final match for the day that we got so tired we headed back to the Hotel. We saw a couple of matches on Court One and some of the outdoor courts. Our tickets were for Court One and we saw a couple of matches including the match between Juan Carlos Ferrero vs. Robby Ginepri. Robby Ginepri won in straight sets.

Having visited Paris previously we still visited the main attractions but also went to a few parks/gardens including the Jardin de Tuileries where we walked from the entrance facing the Lourve all the way to the exit at Concorde at Champs de Elysee. We also visited the Jardin de Lumberbourg. Other places we ventured to included the Napoleon's Tomb,  Army Musuem and the location of the Statue of Liberty.

                          

On one of the evenings we saw the famous Moulin Rouge and it was an experience. The show was good but the seating arrangements were pretty stupid considering 50% of the seats have the back to the stage due to the configuration for people dining as well. You get some free champagne with certain tickets. 

We visited a number of restaurants around Grand Boulevard for dinner and the busiest one was called Chartier. There was a queue onto the footpath and so we decided to return the next night just after 6pm when there was no crowd to try the restaurant. Its an old established and recommended restaurant in Paris which opened in 1896. Scores and scores of reviews about how good it is. Its a typical old french bistro serving mainly french fries and steak (or chicken). I order a pork chop with spaghetti and Kat had steak and frites. I can tell you the unfortunate review of this place was a thumbs down. The meat had no taste nor did the spaghetti. It was like chewing boiled meat. I honestly didn't see what all the fuss was about...but hey each to their own.

Still we tried a few other restaurants which were good.. can't remember the names but they served nice hearty meals. We went back to St. Michels as well to have greek giros....mmmmm that was nice... real tasty meat with chilli sauce.. YUM!

I think thats all and so until our next trip... its a big one as we take a 2 week cruise from Venice to Greece, Turkey & Croatia!

Kat & Will.

Salzburg

 


We arrived late in the evening in Salzburg after catching the train from Munich that afternoon. The area around our hotel and the train station was fairly quiet as the town centre (Altstadt) was located on the other side. After getting to the hotel we walked into town to find some dinner. There was a huge variety of places to choose from as it seemed like alot of places were already closed. We ended up eating at a random restaurant which served german cuisine. 

Salzburg is the fourth largest city in Austria and in 1997 became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is located in an Alpine setting and buildings are baroque architecture. 18th century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in this town (his old house is on the left located on the shopping street - Getreidegasse). The setting of much of the Sound of Music was also done around Salzburg.

The next morning we travelled out of Salzburg to a couple of lake districts by train. The tickets are fairly cheap if you choose to travel in large groups as one ticket covers up to 4 people. We caught the train from Salzburg station out to Hallstatt which was about 1 1/2 hours with a change required. Once we were at Halstatt we had to get on a boat to cross the river to get into the small town. The scenery here was extremely picturesque. You see all these colourful hours surrounded by a reflective lake around it. The weather was on our side and so this made the place even more picture perfect. 

  

 

The town wasn't very big but we took our time to explore the place and after a while finally found a nice little joint for lunch. Pretty much german cuisine as well...frankfurts and beef goulash was lunch for us. The served a non-alcoholic beer called Schlossgold which tasted ok.

After finishing exploring the town of Halstatt we went back on the ferry and caught the train to a town called Bad Ischl which is known as a spa town of Austria. We arrived pretty late in the afternoon so by the time we managed to walk into town most places were already closed. There were a couple of places we visited including the Kongresshaus (which is now a health resort). Of course we only managed to see the outside of it. We then quickly had dinner before running to catch the last train back to our connecting station for Salzburg. We made it on the train out of Bas Ischl but when we got to the connecting station we didn't end up getting on the next train. As it was a weekend and we had got specific type tickets we had to wait 2 hours for the next train....so what did we end up doing? We went to a coffee shop which closed 30 mins after we arrived and the rest of the town was deserted so there was nothing to do. We ended up running around in the rain back to the train station and sat in the waiting room for about 1.5 hours... boring!... we did eventually get back to Salzburg sometime before Midnight...

Of course when in Salzburg you do the Sound of Music Tour. Our tour guide was a lady called Trudy who sang and talked like Julie Andrews... actually should be more like talked like her... her singing wasn't bad but wasn't excellent. The sound of music tour took us to basically all the places which have some link to the Sound of Music movie. We visited the house and lake where they filmed the supposedly famous boat scene, the trees which the lil kids climbed up, the church where they got married, the dome where they had their 'love' scene and you get the drift.... it was a good tour if you are interested in the movie or know what the tour was talking about... the tour ended after about 3.5 hours back at the Mirabell Gardens and Palace (which was built by the then Prince for his mistress apparently).

 

After the Sound of Music Tour, we walked around the Mirabell Gardens and had a look around town before catching our train back to Munich for dinner at HB (see Munich post). 


Salzburg was a fascinating place to visit except when it poured down raining. You need at least 2 nights minimum to enjoy the town. We didn't get a chance to visit the fortress which sat above the old town but it was probably worth going to Halstatt instead for its lake views and relaxing feel.


Until our next trip, we will write again (think its Paris for Roland Garros 2010!).


Kat & Will.

Munich

Munich was our next travel destination. It is the capital of Bavaria, Germany and located on the River Isar. It is considered the third largest city behind Hamburg and Berlin. We arrived at Muchen International Airport and the easiest way into town is definitely by train. We took the train from the airport to Central Station where we caught a connecting train to Marienplatz to join our walking tour. There was a concert happening in Marienplatz so it was very crowded. Marienplatz offers many examples of the effort that has been taken to reconstruct the city. More than 80% of the inner city of Munich was destroyed during WW2.

The tour covered all the main city sights of Munich and it was a good way for us to see the sights and learn some history as we were heading to Salzburg on an afternoon train later. The tour started from Marienplatz and then headed to the Frauenkirche (the Church of Our Lady) - the twin towers which dominate the Munich skyline, Altes Rathaus and St. Jacobsplatz, with a brief stop at Viktualienmarkt (outdoor markets)

After walking down Munich’s answer to Rodeo Drive , Maximillianstr., we followed the path Adolf Hitler took in 1923 when he tried to shoot his way into power during the Munich Beer Hall Putsch. Some interesting stories of how he came to power were told especially from his beginnings as a messenger boy and the many times he managed to avoid being killed.

We then visited the royal residence, a few town halls, the National Theatre and the world's most famous beer hall - Hofbräuhaus. The beer hall was once a men's only pub where back then all the men went outside to go to the toilet until someone decided it would be a good idea to put urinals underneath the tables. Of course that idea didn't last very long...due to 'splash-back' and smell of course and once women were allowed into the hall, that idea was left behind.

We discovered that the National Theatre was in fact reconstructed after a fire and the tour guide spoke about the origins of Oktoberfest.

Later that afternoon we travelled by DB Bahn up to Salzburg for two nights before coming back to Munich to catch our flight back home.

On our returning from visiting Salzburg over the weekend, we visited the Hofbräuhaus for dinner before heading to the airport. The place was huge and can probably fit about 1,000+ ppl. Just look at the size of the beers that serve! Good place for nice grub and beer and very reasonably priced.

Krakow, Poland

We travelled to Krakow in Poland for the Easter Long Weekend. Having had the bad experience in Madrid we hoped this trip would make up for it. Arriving around midday at Balice John Paul II's international airport we travelled by shuttle bus into the central krakow. The shuttle bus stops near the Krakow Glowny Railway station (Main Central station) opposite the Galeria Krakowska (a large shopping centre). We negotiated a cheap transfer to our hotel which made is easier than finding the taxi rank.

After checking into the Sheraton, we caught the tram nearby back to the central railway station which was about 10-15 minutes from the hotel. We decided our first place to visit would be the UNESCO listed Wieliczka Salt Mines about 30 minutes train ride away. We popped into the Galeria Krakowska before boarding the train and got ourselves a shish kebab which was only 10 zlotys (about £2). The salt mine is a short walk from Wieliczka Rynek station. The Wieliczka Mine was created by nature 15 million years ago. It contains numerous chambers with salt sculpture and carvings by previous miners who used it during its active years. The mine features 9 floors ranging down to 327 meters in depth. We purchased tickets and waited for the english tour which ran every hour. You had to go with a tour guide as individual visitors are not allowed inside without one. As it was Good Friday, the mine was fairly busy and so the tours moved very quickly through the mine. To get underground, we had to climb down about 380 steps. The tour took us through a series of chambers full of carvings, statues, two underground chapels, all completely made of salt, and the salt lake. The most magnificent chamber was one which contained 3 large chandeliers made of salt. It also contained a salt carving of the famous 'Last Supper'.

After visiting the mine, we caught the local bus back into town as we had no idea when the train would be coming. The bus stops back near the Galeria. We then walked to the Market Square (Rynek Glowny) which is one of the largest medieval squares in Europe and features historical sites including St Mary's Basilica. The Krakow Easter Markets were on in the square so we had a chance to walk around there. Most of the stores were already closed but we ended up finding our dinner for that evening at more of the stores selling potato cakes and different kinds of pierogi. These are basically dumplings filled with all kinds of fillings. We tried the cheese & cabbage; spinach; and cheese & mushroom.

On Easter Saturday, we visited the main square again to try and catch the Easter markets and pick up something to eat. Most of the stores were selling sweet cakes or cheese filled pastries. We walked around the markets as most of the stores were starting to open.

We then headed to the main train station like the day before but this time to catch the bus to the Auschwitz (Oświęcim) concentration camp. This was about 1.5 hours outside of Krakow. The bus was packed and we were glad to have pre-purchased tickets from the ticket counter prior to boarding as many in front of the queue did not have tickets and didn't end up getting on. They only run one bus every hour or so and so there was limited space on the bus.

The concentration camp is free to visit and the Musuem was closed on Sunday so hence we travelled there on Saturday.

Words can not describe the horror of Auschwitz (Oświęcim), a city where Jewish life and culture flourished for 500 years and which became a grave for more then 1.1 million people. The Memorial and Museum present the silent blocks, torture cells, belongings and photographs of many nationalities murdered here. There are two camps to visit of which Birkenau is much bigger. This is where the railway tracks led straight to the infamous gas chambers were many, many innocent people were murdered. This visit was eye opening and although it is a must-see when visiting Krakow, it really does give you a sense of realisation of how things have changed since then. The whole visit will take at least 3 hours.

As most of the shops were closed for Easter Saturday and Sunday we were glad the Easter markets were around as that kept us busy during the nights. After visiting the Easter Markets again, we went back to the hotel and had some nice desserts which included a nice polish apple pie.

On Easter Sunday, we joined the Free Walking Tour which meets outside the Main Square. It took us around to all the top sites around Krakow city. This included walking along the Royal Route starting at Florianska Gate, past the Sukiennice (Cloth Hall) and St Mary's Cathedral in the Main Square down ul. Grodzka passing the Church of St. Peter and Paul. The walk concludes at Wawel Castle. Wawel Hill where the castle sits on dates back 50,000 years ago and during centuries it was the seat of Polish Kings. The castle consists of numerous cathedrals (built by different kings during their reign), medieval tombs and the Wawel Dragon.

At the end of the walking tour, we went for lunch and then headed to the Jewish Quarter (or at least tried to). Never actually think we found it.

The whole trip was good and definitely think Krakow was worth visiting. The people were generally friendly and most spoke English (which helped alot). Not forgetting all the nice food we had (and cheap), I forgot to mention that the Polish bagels and pretzels are really good and there are little karts all over town which sells them. Same price for all of them.

Looking forward to our next trip.

Kat & Will