BACKPACKING EASTERN EUROPE VIA RIVER BOAT:

Backpacking Eastern Europe – 1ST STOP BUDAPEST

Our first stop on our backpacking Eastern Europe adventure was Budapest. Arriving in Budapest, I really had no idea what to expect. I figured it’d be full of gorgeous old buildings, castles and little Italian like streets. That turned out to be true, but its also way different than I thought. Eastern Europe has hills like the hill country in Texas and gives the city an even better design with castles and buildings peaking out at all different levels.

In touring Buda and the Pest side of the city I found that each side is separated by the Danube River. The majority of the buildings here were built in the last 200 years, because their originals were destroyed in the Siege of Budapest in late 1944 and early 1945. Over 40% of Budapest’s buildings were destroyed in 50 days. They tried to rebuild many as they could, but some where made more modern and some fit the older periods.

Don’t Confuse Buda and Pest

Apparently Buda & Pest are very different although only about a football fields length apart. The Pest side has 2/3 the population of Budapest while Buda has only a 1/3. Houses here are very old and can not be renovated because of their historic nature. So most of the homes aren’t inhabited. There is the gorgeous castle of Buda on the Buda side flanked by small streets and topped with what I can only describe as a floral patterned roof much like in the movie Frozen!

I thought it was awesome! And of course it wouldn’t be Europe without thousands of tourists around too! It’s always interesting to here all the different languages pass by you when you’re walking around.

I also stopped by a Holocaust Memorial, here in Budapest. During WWII over 5000 Jews were lined up on the side of the Danube river, told to take off their shoes, and then shot and killed. So tragic, sad and awful, these shoes symbolize so much about that time. The people of Budapest keep the area clean and full of candles, flowers and toys in remembrance of the people that lost their lives here that day.

Visiting the Pest side of Budapest

As for the Pest side there you will find the trams, trollies, buses and subway.

The University, Great Market Hall and my favorite the Thermal Bathes. They have a very easy to use public transportation system and plenty of Hungarian students that know english. We managed to get to both destinations via subway and tram with only one wrong turn! Totally worth it though for the laughs!

Hungarian’s are by far some of the nicest people I have ever met. They will answer any questions and offer help if they can. While in the Thermal Bathes I thought for sure I could find an english speaker to help me find my way. There was no one around that understood me so I decided to try Spanish and I met a really nice lady that helped me find the pool I was looking for in Spanish. Who would’ve thought….Spanish in Hungary.

Last when you come you have to take a night cruise and see Budapest all lit up in a warm yellow glow!

Our next stop? Slovakia!

Now I am set off for Slovakia, but so far I can attest that Budapest is a must visit city. Between the Goulash, Paprika rich dishes and friendly people you won’t be disappointed!

Nanny has been a great travel companion. I am so thankful for this experience with her already! She keeps me on my toes and we toast to merlot at the end of each day!

Some History about Budapest: In a park at the base of the chain bridge sits a statue of the number zero with the letter “KM” carved beneath it-it’s the zero Kilometer stone used as the mile-marker from which all roads in Hungary are measured. In 1956, a student demonstration against the soviet occupation quickly devolved into a revolution against soviet control of Hungary when a student was shot by Russian soldiers. The revolution was short, lasting October 23rd to November 10, but it was bloody; more than 3,000 people were killed, 15,000 were wounded, and more than 200,000 fled the country as refugees. For a traditional Hungarian treat, try – Kurtosklacs – a tube-shaped pastry made of strips of sweet dough wrapped around a cone and cooked over an open charcoal flame. This street food dessert is traditionally finished with a dusting of cinnamon or a sprinkling of chopped walnut.

Places to Visit in Budapest:

THERMAL BATHES – (SECOND TO LAST STOP GOING AWAY FROM MEXICO ON THE MAP) AND RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER IN THE YELLOW BUILDING WHEN YOU COME UP FROM THE SUBWAY.
GREAT MARKET HALL – THE UNDERGROUND TRAM STOP (DON’T MISS IT LIKE I DID THE FIRST TIME).
BUDA CASTLE – BUDA SIDE – ACROSS THE BRIDGE IF YOU ARE COMING FROM PEST. HARD TO MISS THIS ONE.
HERO SQUARE
FREEDOM SQUARE

BACKPACKING EASTERN EUROPE VIA RIVER BOAT: 2nd Stop -Bratislava Slovakia

Our next stop on our backpacking Eastern Europe adventure was Bratislava Slovakia.

First on the list in Bratislava was a school visit in a Roma inhabited area of Slovakia. We got to see a third grade classroom and really see first hand the struggles teachers face in these parts of the eastern world. As well as learn about the Gypsy Roma population. It was completely new to me to learn about their villages, lifestyles, and why their children often have Autism and disabilities more often then others.

Roma’s are very musical and just like what comes to mind when you think Gypsy it is true in a sense. The Gypsy’s don’t wander to often though or travel; they are very musical and live within their villages never leaving and never co-habitating with Non-Romas. If a kid at school makes a Non-Roma friend it is kind of like Romeo and Juliet scenario. They aren’t supposed to be friends publicly and they can only be friends within the school walls. The gypsy’s villages full of music. When a child is born, they immediately put a fiddle in their hand. If the child grabs the fiddle, it is said they will be a great musician; otherwise they are told that they may need a different profession.

Most gypsy parents aren’t educated, so the fact that their children are in school is a huge leap in itself. Such an interesting and enlightening trip to their school!

Exploring Bratislava

After exploring downtown Bratislava, we stumbled upon 3 funny sculptures placed in vicarious places around the town. The first, a working man looking happily down the street, suspected to be peering up Slovakian women’s skirts. The second, a man with a camera peering around the corner, not pictured because it disappeared some years ago. And third, this man, rumored to be Napoleon himself, showing the french embassy the best part of his body. My favorite fountain was this hilarious Baroque style fountain downtown where they wanted to sculpt penises on the babies to look as if they were peeing into the fountain and that the heads where vomiting but instead they put a fish on each baby and thought that was better! Haha what!

After some tea and a stroll around the castle we headed back.

Next Stop: Austria

Now we are off to Austria! I can’t wait to see what Austria looks like.

Places to visit in Bratislava

When you make it to Bratislava, I recommend

A city tour
A relaxing tea in a cafe
A trip up to the observation deck of their bridge (The New Bridge) 45 years old is brand new to Europeans!
Look around town for the 3 funny sculptures
Check out the Baroque style fountain downtown

BACKPACKING EASTERN EUROPE VIA RIVER BOAT: VIENNA AUSTRIA

Our third stop on our backpacking Eastern Europe Adventure is Vienna Austria!

Vienna Austria is absolutely amazing guys! So many good stories from this place and it’s history. First of all the city is clean, the cleanest I’ve ever seen in Europe. Turns out that is one of their main goals. Even when they have a parade in town street cleaners follow behind the last person in the parade picking up trash immediately so the city is always clean.

Another outstanding feature is how much graffiti there isn’t. Most beautiful European cities unfortunately have graffiti all over their beautiful old palaces and buildings. Not Vienna. The Mayor of Vienna called a meeting with the top graffiti artists in town and they made a deal. They can spray paint the inside wall of the Danube that is 3 miles long as much as they want as long as they don’t spray paint the rest of the city. An agreement was made and ever since Vienna is spotless, and breathtakingly gorgeous.

Ringstrasse

St. Stephens Cathedral

It was a cold and drizzly day but that didn’t stop us from visiting St. Stephen Cathedral, the first and oldest Pastry shop in Vienna where you can watch the chefs works, or have some wenerschnitzel or one of my favorite things to do, visit the market. I love to see where the locals go for groceries, produce and gifts. I love how they buy certain things from certain stands and really get to know their vendors. Reminds me of my friend Carlos that always sells my family meat at our Tom Thumb in Dallas.

We visited the Albertina Museum that houses a great number of Klimt’s, Picasso’s and Monet pieces and last, my favorite, the Classical Orchestra Concert that had an Opera singer and 2 Ballet dancers.

Vienna Austria may be my favorite so far with its rich architecture, culture, beer and music. I would totally live in this city! It even has the tallest Bungee jumping platform in Eastern Europe, a Ferris wheel (the second ferris wheel ever built) and countless parks for enjoying nature in the hustle and bustle of the city. Yeah, I could get used to this!

P.S a funny thing about Vienna: They sell Marijuana plants; you can buy up to two plants and keep them in your apartment as decor. You just have to promise not to smoke it and promise to water it! Hilarious!

When you visit Vienna:

Go See a Show!
East Weinerschnitzel
Visit the Schonbrunn Palace if you like Furniture….I don’t. But it is still interesting!
The Albertina Museum houses Picasso, Klimt, and Monet, but there are over 300 museums to choose from. The Museum of Natural History is a popular one and the Kusthistorisches Museum is a top 10 museum in the world. Don’t want to miss that.
Visit the second built ferris wheel and take a ride on it. (But let it be known it is slow…half hour for one full go around!)
Visit Demel, the oldest pastry shop where you can watch the chefs work, and be sure to go upstairs for some tea!
Visit the Naschmarket, see where the locals buy groceries and try some new foods!

In Vienna there is so much to do and see, you will never be bored!

BACKPACKING EASTERN EUROPE VIA RIVER BOAT: 4TH STOP KREMS AUSTRIA

This town at first glance didn’t seem like much. But I was so wrong. This needs to be a stop on your future journey through Austria!

First we stopped at the Disney World of Winery’s how crazy in this tiny town of a city a seriously awesome winery. They walked us down into a cellar, that had a sliding hidden door that opened into another room that houses big glass floor to ceiling walls to see the huge Vats of wine that stretched basement to ceiling in the room below us. Then we walked through another hidden door that led to a 4D theatre that played the most HD 4K video I’ve seen yet. It showed the town and its rich history of wine with animals, nature, and the start of grape vines all the way through the seasons to pouring a glass.

The coolest part about this winery is that they don’t only make wines with their properties grapes. They buy grapes from the surrounding homes vineyards and use their grapes for different types of wines. Our tour guide just bought 1/2 an acre of vineyards and because of her specific soil in that part of the region she will be able to grow her grapes and sell them to Winzer Krems Winery for a profit and it will be made into a Reisling. Many many families make their money through selling their handpicked grapes to the Winzer Krems Winery! So it’s truly town made wine and there is a lot of pride in this town for their wine and their history. Most famous of course there white wines specifically the Reisling.

The city of Krems

Once we had our fill of wine, after our 9AM wine tour, we then moved on to the town of Krems. One of the most expensive Austrian towns, it houses 4 private Universities and very expensive flats for students. Gorgeous cathedrals and lots of small cobblestone walkways and stair paths that make your imagination run wild.

This town really surprised me. I loved how slow and laid back it felt, Krems really is a magically place. After I walked down enough cobblestone streets and lanes, it was time to head to Lintz! Be sure to add Krems to your list of places to visit. You won’t be disappointed.

When you come:

Take a city tour with a local guide
Climb the stairs for a nice view of the city and the main church
Then check out the Winzer Krems Winery!

BACKPACKING EASTERN EUROPE VIA RIVER BOAT: 5TH STOP LINZ AUSTRIA

After the concentration camp, we headed over to the city center of Linz and I learned that like most cities in Eastern Europe, is full of history. We arrived in Linz on May Day, May 1st, the Europeans Memorial Day! There were beautiful flowers around the city and at the base of all the statues and fountains.

Skinny paths open into shopping areas and homes to many of the people living in Linz.

In the 16th century, when Earth was believed to be the center of the Universe, the fountain was created. There on the 2nd floor or as Europeans say the 1st floor is where Kepler taught High School physics and wrote Kepler’s Laws. He discovered there that Earth was not the center, that instead all the planets rotated around the sun. The fountain pictures has the Earth on the top and all around the base are the names of each planet. It’s kind of ironic that all is his years teaching, he looked out his window to the wrong example of the universe. Kepler was the next enthusiast to take Copernicus’s idea of the sun being the center of our universe and refined it 100 times more accurate.

Something interesting about Kepler, when he decided he wanted a second wife, he made a list of all the things he wanted and then found 8 women. He rated them based on his list and found that he couldn’t decide between women number 5 and number 3, so he settled for the one in the middle and chose number 4. This of course is after he divorced his first wife because she didn’t understand his work and he labeled her as fat, stupid and simple minded. (Brilliant guy but what an asshole)

Exploring more museums

Below in the bottom picture you can see their beautiful art museum showcasing their modern artistic style. Since Vienna and Salsberg are known for their classic styling, barroqu art Linz wanted to stand out in a different unique way and created a city that displayed modern and futuristic art. That art museum lights up multicolor after sunset and is absolutely gorgeous. When you stand on the other side that window cut out is a beautiful frame for the Danube River. The same river we floated down for our backpacking Eastern Europe adventure.

The next building below is there futuristic art museum. Here you can walk up to the museums entrance and play any song on any device you have and it will be transmitted through the speakers into a computer and displayed electronically to the beat of your music with lights on the buildings facade.

Below is the balcony in the Linz city center square. Here is where Hitler proclaimed the Greater German Reich after the Anschluss with Austria on May 12, 1938.

Such a cool city, lots of bicycles, not as crowded as other cities we visited and a really nice stop on our journey. I sat and had a cold beer in the city center while I people watched during the May Day festivities. Gelato everywhere, melted and scattered on cobblestone streets. It was nice to be in a place that held discoveries in science, I loved seeing where Kepler taught, I stood on ground he walked on. Don’t pass up Linz on your Austrian journey, this place could easily steal your heart!

BACKPACKING EASTERN EUROPE VIA RIVER BOAT: 6TH CZECH REPUBLIC

Prague is jaw dropping just like you’ve heard. The bridges, the architecture, the old buildings. Prague is considered the old city because during WWII, while most of the eastern European cities were demolished, Progue was left mostly untouched. So therefore most of its buildings are some of the oldest in Europe today. The one down side I felt while there was the mass of tourists. I was one of them so I can’t really talk, but there are A LOT of people and with every 3-4 people there is also a selfie stick. Getting pictures and enjoying the old city is really tough when there are people everywhere. SO take a moment, get out of that vibe and try to see the city through a less crowded lens. While you’re there make sure to check out some of these places!

Must see would be.

The Astronomical Clock – watch it go off at the top of every hour for small show where death tolls the clock and disciples come out one by one.
Cross the Charles Bridge
Buy a Delicious Cinnamon Cone
Walk past the clock and check out the roof top bars for an awesome view of the city
Visit the Old Prague Castle
If you are into Souvenirs Buy a piece of crystal.
Take your time in Prague, there is a lot to see and a lot to experience.
Go sit down by the river
Walk to the old Vyshrad neighborhood and walk through the cemetery definitely one of the most beautiful I have ever seen.
Take a walk in the park behind the Church.
Explore the grounds of Vyshrad
Go to the blue duck for dinner, such a cool old house that was made into a restaurant. Absolutely delicious. Take a taxi there and experience the way they maneuver through the tiny cobblestone streets at night when less tourists are around and you can see the gorgeous city lit up at night.

The subway is easy to maneuver just be careful on the escalators they are very steep and very fast…

Our 6 stop, backpacking Eastern Europe adventure ends here, but having been to all these places and gained all these new experiences I’m grateful to have had the opportunity. Be sure to check back for more adventures.