Day 7 Parlo Eastern Europe Tour - Donovaly, Slovakia

Good morning Krakow. Today seemed to be a rest day for us as most of our time would be used to travel south from Krakow, Poland to Budapest, Hungary covering 398km. It is actually not entirely a bad thing as I can catch up with some sleep and for the first time for our trip, the day itinerary was not the same ie there was no old town, church or palace to visit. 

Our view from Galaxy Hotel Krakow

Surprisingly after breakfast there was a heavy snowfall. I got excited again like a kid and can't resist to put hands outside the window to have a feel of the snowflakes :). Wifey on the other hand did not seem to be bothered much though.....

In fact, I spent so much time admiring our view outside the hotel window that we were almost late to get to the tour bus at stipulated time. 

After two hours travelling on the highway we got down at a rest stop.

Everywhere seems to be covered by snow...yup this is exactly the environment that I was looking for in a trip to Europe during winter. Soon the bus journey took us through Tatra Mountain in Slovakia. Though Slovakia is not really explicitly mentioned in our tour itinerary, it has the most breathtaking scenery. For better or for worse, our bus was caught in a traffic jam due to an accident and was crawling very slowly for about 90 mins...

The slow traffic allowed us to take very nice shots of the beautiful scenery worthy to be a postcard.

We stopped by at a restaurant located nearby a ski resort in Donovaly for lunch. 

It is called Koliba Goral which apparently is one of the best restaurant in town. For better or worse again...we were late for lunch hence there were less patrons in the restaurant. I learned from the comments in TripAdvisor that the restaurant could be pretty packed at times. 

With a fire place and a view outside of the window covered by snow, I felt like it is Christmas but it was actually Chinese New Year...:)

Lunch was on our own hence we are free to order whatever we felt like eating. Though we have to pay for ourselves for this meal, I think it was a good arrangement to have freedom to choose at times. 

Intending lunch to be light, we ordered mushroom soup, chicken snitzel, salad and coffee. The food turned out to be pretty good...in fact I think it was one of the best throughout the trip.

Although this day was meant to be a travelling day, it turned out to be our most memorable one.

After lunch, we had some time to play with snow and grab some nice shots before continuing our journey to Budapest.

The view just outside our restauant which id just mesmerizing....

There is also a ski resort located right opposite of the restaurant...

Four hours later we reached Budapest, Hungary. Since Budapest is really comprised of two cities namely Buda and Pest, we actually arrive at Pest first to be exact. By the time we were there it was already dark and we are just in time for dinner. 

We were brought to a restaurant located at a quiet neighbourhood of Marvany Street. It is quite surprising to me to find such a busy restaurant there which caters for both tour groups and local patrons. There were also performance by a lively gypsy band who will sing and dance...in return for tips of course. I don't really mind because they really lighthen up the mood of the day.

Marvanymenyasszony Etterem serving local Hungarian food.

Wine is provided together with out meal

Beef Goulash is a type of stew with spices and herbs and is common in eastern Europe. It was delicious of course.

Mixed Grill

Dessert

After dinner, we headed to our hotel, Novotel Budapest Centrum located at the Buda side where we will spent 2 nights there.

Our first glimpse of the Hungarian Parliament Building. The night view in Budapest is simply amazing.

Our stay for the night which was clean, comfortable and modern.

More to come...

Day 5 Krakow - Parlo Eastern Europe Tour

As usual we are starting our day with a heavy breakfast at our hotel. Its our 5th day but I am still loving it the breakfast here. Today we going on a long road trip from Prague (Czech Republic) to Krakow (Poland). Our bus journey took us about 5 hours to reach Krakow.

We stopped halfway at a big rest area which consist of several supermarkets and DIY stores. We had Mcd for lunch. Not much difference as compared to our McD in Malaysia except that portion is bigger.

We reached our only tour destination for the day at late afternoon. It is called Wieliczka Salt Muzuem, the oldest salt enterprise on Polish land dating back to the middle Ages.

At first, it did not look like a big place to visit. We soon learned that we were wrong.....

That's because the interesting part is actually underground. We will be making of the super dark and cramp shaft (elevator) to below the surface.

Didn't I say super dark?? Oh yeah, there is probably another 12 person cramp behind me.

Going through tunnels to reach the salt mine....

Some statues to remind us how people use to mine for salt. Btw, the tunnel wall has high content of salt. Our tour guide told us that the air at the salt mine is very fresh and beneficial to health due to some form of oxidisation.

There is also a fully functional church there. Locals like to hold weddings there.

Right in the middle there is a salt lake. The water is saturated with salt so no life can live in it. It's kind of like the Dead Sea where things float easily on the surface due to the high salt content.  

There is even a banquet hall there.

By the time we are back up it was already dark. We set out to Galaxy Hotel in Krakow where we will spent 2 nights. It took us about an hour drive there.

Once there, we immediately checked into our room which was pretty decent and comfy. The hotel is not big but it does come with adequate facilities including a small pool and gym. There is also a shopping complex nearby which would be fun for those who wants to adventure out at night.

A polish buffet spread was specially prepared by the hotel for our dinner. Food was quite satisfactory.

More to come...
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Prague - Parlo Eastern Europe Tour Day 4

Day 4, Prague (Czech Republic). Waking up to a fantastic buffet breakfast at Prague Clarion Congress Hotel.

Although the outlook of the hotel may seem a bit dated and less classy, the buffet spread was definitely awesome. They even have spaghetti and fried rice in the morning something which is not a norm in Europe. There are also different varieties of cheese and butter.  

Briefly, our itinerary for the day would include the visit to the Prague Castle Area, St Charles Bridge and the Old Town. The day started off as usual by picking up the local guide and off we went to our first location. On our way to the Prague Castle, the tour guide gave us a heads up that we would be exploring Prague on foot for at least 5 hours. Yay.... time to burn off some calories so it was fine by me but it was not be so welcoming for the elderly. 

The weather was actually pretty fine with a lot of sunshine hence it wasn't that cold (ie about 2 to 4 degrees celcious) although we were in the middle of winter.  When I planned for the trip, I thought it would all be covered by snow..... It turned out that I was pretty wrong. 

Our first glimpse of Prague Old City..Enroute to Prague castle area.

Our group entered the castle area via the north west entrance. St. Vitus Cathedral can be seen up high on the hill though at that point in time, I did not know much about it.

Took the opportunity for photo session with the palace guards.

Entrance flocked with tourists.

Finally we reached the main gate and the place was just swarmed with tourists. It was kind of different as compared to where we were just a moment ago where we took picture with the palace guards which was pretty quiet.

Just past the gates, we reached a place where we can enjoy a beautiful view of Prague city.  The orange colour tiles on most of the roof of the buildings really brightens up my day. 

I finally realised why many tourists congregated here. Most were waiting for the march by palace guards. Our tour group had our itinerary planned out so all we need to do is to go with the flow and enjoy... Honestly the march was a bit dull and I think one won't miss much if he / she decides to skip it.

After the march, we proceeded to St Vitus Cathedral. So what is so special about this cathedral other than it is more than 670 years old? This cathedral probably is the only one you can find tombs of kings and emperors in the past. It is a very historic site and much to learn from the relics there.

The interior looks so magnificent.

After the visit to the Cathedral, we walked towards the Golden Lane, a display of how people of in the medieval times lived. Again....lots of people.

After the Golden Lane, its the end of our tour Prague castle. We continued our walk down the hill towards the old town via the Charles Bridge.

I really admire the scenic view of the city...

After about 20 minutes walk, we reached one of the most romantic pedestrian bridge in the country called Charles Bridge.

A view good enough for a post card.

We were given some time to take some pictures and then continue our walk towards the old town. 

In fact, we were already at the old town once we crossed the bridge but it was another 500m away to the old town square.  What we do once we arrived? 

LUNCH TIME!  We had lunch at a restaurant Kamenny Stul which located right at the centre of old town. We were so hungry from our long walk this morning and were looking for a nice and hearty meal.   

We had roast duck served with potatoes and cooked beetroot. As usual, lunch is accompanied with soup, a glass of wine and dessert. The dish looks pretty simple but it was actually quite delicious. The beetroot tasted a bit sweet and sour and goes well with the duck when eaten together.

We had a window seat overlooking the old town square.

After lunch, we were given free and easy time to explore the old town until dinner time. We did not have any particularly itinerary hence we just stroll along the streets at a leisurely manner. Look out for specialty shops selling local beauty products like handmade soaps which make good souvenirs. Two shops that we visited were Manufaktura and Botanicus. Wifey was able to spent about 30 minutes in one while I continue to stroll the streets.

Prague Astronomical Clock

Soon enough it was dark and it was dinner time. We were going to have Chinese food for the first time :). It was obvious that most of us were already craving for our staple food.

The dinner was pretty simple much like home cook food and probable will not even make it to the B rating restaurants in Malaysia. Yet, we enjoyed quite much simply because we miss our home food.

To be continued....

Overview

Day 3

Day 5