EASTERN EUROPEAN TRAVEL IDEAS:
These sites have helpful maps:
http://www.trafalgartours.com/USA/DisplayTour?TourID=3317
http://www.grid.unep.ch/product/publication/freshwater_europe/danube.php
http://www.grid.unep.ch/product/map/images/danubeb.gif
Germany: Passau ("Bavaria's Venice") (Munchen, Germany) - PICTURES
Along the Danube south of Passau:
Wesenuger - flowered balconies
Struden and Sarmingstein - crag-top ruins
http://www.ushistoricalarchive.com/photochroms/3345.html
Nibelungengau valley
Wachau valley - orchards and steeply terraced vineyards
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Side trip to Czech Republic: Prague
Cesky Krumlov . PICTURES
Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad) - old spa town, 2 hours NW by car or bus - 12 springs
Konopiste & Karlstein - fairy tale castles
Hluboka - chateau near Ceske Budejovice
Cervene Lhota (red castle) - southern Bohemia, in middle of small lake
Ceske Budjovice - the original Budweiser beer is brewed
http://www.pragueviennagreenways.org/
http://www.topbicycle.com/BicycleToursSlovakia.htm
http://www.bicycle-tours.cz/bike-tours/guided/prague-vienna/
http://www.gtc.cz/greenways.htm
Prague > Tabor > Ceske Budjovice > Cesky Krumlov > Trebon (surrounding
forest) > Jindrichuv Hradec > Telc(architecture) > Slavonice ("beautiful")
> Vranov rad Dyji > Znojmo > Mikulov (Jewish) > Valtice (park) >
Wien
Side trip to Poland (Krakow):
(Tatrzanski National Park, south of Krakow & Tatransky National Park on
the Slovakia side of the border - in the High Tatra, a mountain range of moraines,
waterfalls, cirques, and glacial tarns, rich in vegetation with dense pine forests.)
Bialowieza forest (bison reserve) - 115 miles east of Warsaw - PICTURES
Bialowieza Primaeval Forest, known as Belaveskaya Pushcha or Belovezhskaya Pushcha
in Belarus and Puszcza Bia?owieska in Poland, is an ancient virginal forest
straddling the border between Belarus and Poland, located 36 miles north of
Brest. It is the only remaining part of the once immense forest spreading across
the European Plain. / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bialowieza_Forest
Just south of that: Pieniny National Park (Poland) / Pieninski National Park
(Slovakia)
PICTURES
/ MORE
PICTURES
Poland: Kazimierz Dolny - artist's colony
http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&q=Kazimierz+Dolny&btnG=Search
--- far side trip - to the northeast of Poland:
Lithuania: Vilnius ("Prague on the Baltic")
http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&q=Vilnius&btnG=Search
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(On the Slovakia-Poland border: Karkonoski National Park)
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Slovakia: Bratislava (on the Danube)- art
nouveau buildings
Austria:
Linz (on the Danube)
Vienna (on the Danube) - art nouveau (Jugendstil) center, also Hundertwasser's
buildings.
Coffee house in restored Secession Building.
Korso Restaurant at Hotel Bristol, Mahlerstrasse 2 (one of best in Austria -
Gault-Milau guide + old decor)
Oswald & Kalb, Backerstrasse 14 - tiny, behind St. Stephen's Cathedral,
traditional food
Cafe Hawelka, Dorotheergasse 6 - chilled poire William; Fetter Cacao - thick
hot chocolate w slivovitz (plum brandy).
Artists: Brauer, Hutter, Fuchs.
Hundertwasser House - N-tram - trees stick out thru living spaces designed for
them, grass & trees on the roof; barrel- and spool-shaped pillars support.
Österreichisches Museum für Angewandte Kunst (Austrian Museum of Applied
Arts) (MAK) - 5 Stubenring, near the city air terminal and the Vienna Hilton,
acorss from Imperial Palace, on Opera Ring (Werner Werkstätte +++).
Academy of Fine Arts, on Stubenring, across from the Stadt-park.
Moll & Moser houses on the Hohe Warte - "first in a scheme for an artist's
colony).
Wienerwald greenbelt established 1905.
Gasthaus Zu Den 3 Hacken, Singerstrasse
28, telephone 512-5895, the oldest tavern in Vienna, a few minutes walk from
the Domizil.
Museum of Sound
Spanish Riding School
Eisenstadt (south of Vienna, near Hungary): Jewish museum in palace of Samson
Wertheimer of Worms, helped Hapsburg Leopold I of Vienna during wars against
Turkey. also the Baroque castle where Franz Joseph Haydn conducted concerts
for the Esterhazy princes for some 30 years.
Schloss Matzen castle repaired by Peter Kump, founder of NY prestigious cooking
school. Owner with wife Margaret Fox of Mendocino's Cafe Beaujolais. B&B,
11 rooms. 707-937-0618 - $140-200 (1996).
+ just south of Vienna: Neusiedl Lake (bird sanctuary) - PICTURES
South of Vienna and Bratislava: Szigetkoz marsh (along the Danube) - PICTURES
Hungary: Budapest - art
nouveau buildings (on the Danube)
CHECK PRICES BEFORE YOU EAT!
1990 Beware of pickpockets - leave passports in hotel safe, carry waist bag
Avoid Pesta hotel hub across from the palace.
Beware of Mace in the face walking alone on beach (Lake Balaton).
Budapest Castle - labyrinth (half an hour)
Grundel restaurant (famous 1930s), reopened - overlooks City Park lake.
Hhistoric Gellert Hotel overlooking the Danube and bustling Gellert Square -
Art Nouveau masterpiece, most famous hotel in Budapest. Houses the ornate Art
Nouveau Gellert Baths, the most popular of Budapest's renowned thermal baths.
Daniel Hamar, leader of the Hungarian band, Musikas
Walk up to the Gellert Hill from where you can view both hilly Buda and the
flat Pest side of the Danube River.
Walk through the old cobbled Buda Castle district and enjoy the fabulous view
from Fisherman's Bastion.
Walk along the Danube,
Central Market Hall
Daniel's house in the countryside completely restored in the traditional Hungarian
way. Visit the fort up the hill from the village and stop in at the local potters's
studio.
On Wednesday night Budapest is alive with the gypsy music at many of Budapest's
lively dance hauses.
+ nearby: Szentendre - artist's colony - PICTURES
(day trip from Budapest - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szentendre )
Bulgaria: Sofiya
Romania: Bucharest
Marmara (northwest)
Transylvania: NagyBanya
- art colony
EasyJet flies from Stansted to Ljubljana.
Slovenia: Ljubljana - art nouveau buildings - PICTURES
"Alligator" owns the local record store; famous Slovenian musician
Andrej Sifrer.
Predjama Castle whose rooms are connected by secret passages.
Lake Bled, north of Ljubljana - PICTURE
/ MORE
PICTURES
Slovenia "the Green Treasure of Europe." Half the size of Switzerland,
tucked into a mountainous corner between Austria, Italy, Hungary and the Mediterranean
(Venice is only 50 miles away!). Gorgeous mountains, lush vineyards, beautiful
lakes and friendly people.
Postojna Caves (tram) / Skocjan caves (world's largest)
Lake Bohinj, Slovenia's largest lake.
Unspoiled mountains of Triglav National Park.
BELA KRANJ - the most famous region for the traditional music of Slovenia.
Working eco farm specializes in handmade linens and cloths trad-produced.
Stay at Otocec Castle on island in the middle of the Krka River.
Nearby thermal spa or the Carthusian Monastery.
Local winery for a Slovenian country-style dinner of local foods.
Croatia: Plitvice natural area (Plitvicka Jezera) - Supposed to be spectacular.
Near border with Bosnia and Herzegovina.
PICTURES
/ MORE
PICTURES / EVEN
MORE PICTURES
Sfeti Stefan, Montenegro - wow! PICTURES
Central Slovenia: Belgrade
+ Slovenia: Sarajevo
Croatia: Dubrovnik
(on the Adriatic coast)
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Danube River
Germany: Donaueschingen, Ulm, Regensburg, Passau
Austria: Linz, Melk, Durnstein, Vienna
Slovakia: Bratislava
Hungary: Esztergom, Budapest
Croatia
Serbia: Belgrade
Romania: Turnu Severin (bus to Bucharest), Braila
& Bulgaria (on the other bank)
1775 miles long
Starts at the meeting of the Brigach and Breg rivers in the Black Forest region
of Germany.
Ends where it debouches into the Black Sea.
May to October - can be very hot + if no air-conditioning, windows may not have
screens, so mosquitos.
1991 - water level as low as it had been in 30 years
Many delays
Wachau Valley
spring: water highest
autumn color
++++++++++++++++++++
Plus -up- the Dnieper River
Odessa (on Black Sea)
Kherson
Zaporozhye
Kiev
