SCROLL DOWN FOR INFORMATION ON:
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AUSTRIA, CZECH REPUBLIC, HUNGARY, CROATIA, POLAND |
| Practical Information: |
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| Austrian Air, Croatia Air and LOT Airlines all offer good value tickets through Eastern Europe. |
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| You can get trains through raileurope.com to most Eastern locations. |
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| The Man in Seat 61 always has good train information |
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| You can drive a rental car to some Eastern countries but not to others. Make sure you know before you rent the car. |
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| AUSTRIA |
| Austrian History Timeline |
| VIENNA |
| Apartments and Hotels: |
| The DO&CO Hotel is the only place we can recommend. It's right across the street from St Stephens Cathedral and it's one of the best hotel experiences we've ever had. The price are very reasonable. |
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| Museums and Destinations: |
| Kunsthistorisches Museum (the wealth of the Hapsburgs |
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| Catch some Motzart at the Vienna State Opera |
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Jugendstil houses and Wagner Apartments |
| Jugendstil clock in the Hoher Market |
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| Secession Building (near the Naschmarkt) |
Naschmarkt |
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| Restaurants and Food: |
| Zum Weissen Rauchfangkehrer |
| Zum Schwarzen Kameel |
| We've had great meals at both the above, especially the vienna shnitzel. The Schwarzen Kamel (Black Camel) also has a sandwich shop |
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| CZECH REPUBLIC |
| Czech Republic Timeline |
| PRAGUE |
| Apartments and Hotels: |
| The last time we were in Prague was 2000. A lot of new hotels have been built in the past few years. This is list of places we'd like to try |
Savoy Hotel (near the Castle) |
Hotel Josef |
| Four Seasons Prague (of course) |
We've stayed at the Hotel Palace Praha. Nice but there is much better. |
| Discover Czech.com is a very good site for hotels, apartments, tours, car rentals and transfers throughout the Czech Republic |
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| Restaurants and Food and Shopping: |
| Sorry, you're on your own here. Most everything we ate was overcooked or overboiled, but after a few days it started to taste really good. However, times have changed and we're sure there are some good eateries. |
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| You'll notice pretty quick that there are a lot of Bohemian Glass shops. It's all beautiful and all affordable. They'll pack it up for you to take now or most places will ship. We got our glasses and porcelain shipped back and it was no problem. |
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| HUNGARY |
| Hungarian Timeline |
| BUDAPEST |
| Apartments and Hotels: |
| There are three classes of Hotels in Budapest. The grand old style like the Kempenski Hotel Corvinus and the elegant restored Four Seasons Gresham Palace is at the top. The Art'Otel is comfortable with larger rooms but it doesn't have the design or the comfort of the High End. Places like the Hotel Zara have smaller rooms and great service. If you can afford it, go for the Four Seasons, if not, don't worry. How much time do you need to spend in your Hotel room anyway? |
Four Seasons Budapest - this one is amazing |
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| Art-Otel - The service was friendly and the hotel is OK, but it's really not as nice as it looks in the photos |
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| Boutique Hotel Zara, Budapest (small but less expensive than the others) |
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| Museums and Destinations: |
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| Restaurants and Food and Shopping: |
| Excellent strudel (baked fresh all day long) and local favorites at the Central Market. Goulash in Budapest is more a soup than the meat, potato and gravy version, but it's still tasty. Try the paprikash, stuffed cabbage, sausages and the crispy skin duck. And aside from the famous Tokay white wines, these days, there are also a lot of very good reds. |
| Kacsa Vendeglo is a small white tablecloth restaurant on the Buda side that specializes in reall delicious Duck. Just make sure you get a table away from the gypsy violinist. |
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| CROATIA |
| Croatian Timeline |
| DUBROVNIK |
| Apartments and Hotels: |
| Hotel Bellevue Dubrovnik - We loved this place. All rooms have a fabulous sea view. It's a 15 minute walk to the old town. |
| Grand Villa Argentina is a short walk from the old town |
| Dubrovnik Palace is the best in the city (and pretty pricey as well) |
| We saw a lot of new hotels under construction (all with sea views). There'll be a lot more open by 2009 |
| Museums and Destinations: |
Old Town - It was destroyed duing the War on 1990-92 but it has been completely restored and it's amazing. It's a great place for shopping, restaurants and street entertainment but I recommend staying outside the old town walls where it's more tranquil. You can easily see the city on your own (be sure to do the walk around the city walls) or there are organized walking tours. |
| Restaurants and Food and Shopping: |
| Fresh fish... There are also some really good Croatian wines. Years ago the wines from this region were so potent the locals would dilute them with water to make them potable. These days they are right up there with the best in the world. The Dingac reds from the Peljesac Peninsula were our favorites. The Plavac Mali grape that grows here is supposedly the ancester to the American Zinfindel. Mike Grgich of Grgich Hills Winery in Napa went back to Croatia in the 1990's and helped revive the Croatian wine industry. His Vina Grgic is a blend of Plavac Mali that sells for about 20 euro locally. The average price of a good Dingac is about 10 -15 euros |
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| POLAND |
| Polish Timeline |
| KRAKOW |
| Apartments and Hotels: |
| The Hotel Stary just opened when we were there. This is first class hotel (with salt cave). Highly recommended |
| The Hotel Copernicus is owned by the same people as the Hotel Stary |
| The Hotel Pod Roza is the also from the same hotel owners. This one is more traditional |
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| Restaurants and Food and Shopping: |
| Stuffed cabbage (pronounced kempkey), herring in cream sauce, borscht, kielbasa, ham, pierogies and really great beer; Zywiec was our favorite. |
| For good Polish food, direct yourself to the nearest Chlopskie restaurant, there are a couple of them in the old town. |
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| Krakow is a great place for amber jewelry and folk toys. |
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| WARSAW |
| Apartments and Hotels: |
| There are many places to choose from ranging from old Soviet Style to Grand Traditional. We discovered the art deco Hotel Rialto and couldn't have been happier. This is a totally new hotel with a wonderful nod to all things from the Polish art deco period. It's aboout a 10 minute walk from the train station (which is covenient when taking the 3 hr train from Krakow to Warsaw). It's in a really nice residential neighborhood and a bit of a walk to get to the old historic center but the hotel is so comfortable and the staff is so great, it was well worth the walk. |
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| Restaurants and Food and Shopping: |
| Stuffed cabbage (pronounced kempkey), herring in cream sauce, borscht, kielbasa, ham, pierogies and really great beer; Zywiec was our favorite. |
| Yes, there is a Chlopskie restaurant in Warsaw. |
| Cafe Blikle on the Nowy Swiat (try the paczki (polish donuts). It's been there since 1869 and still the best.. |
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