r first stop was the Bone Church in Kutna Hora. This was freaky. The whole inside of the church is filled with human bones, some are made into chandileirs, into huge caves and just generally hanging around. Liz absolutely loved it, me, meh bit creepy. But the reason being that the gravyard attached to the church was overfilled so they decided to do something with all the bones and this is what they came up with!After this, we continued on to Olomouc where we checked into our hotel and had a teeny rest before meeting up with the group again to go on a walking tour led by our tour leader. Not too much really went on this town and plus I was way to hungry to pay attention. It is a fairly small town with a square. Oh the founder of Genetics studied here. We then went to dinner but as some of us had to go to the ATM we got left behind but were eventually found and as we were starving we were of course THE last ones to get our dinner. I swear I was going to eat the table cloth! But I had Goulash and all was well in the world again. Visited a plane that landed in the city and they never bothered to move it so now it's a bar. Smelt bad so we didn't stay.
Day 2 had us back on the bus and off to Auswitz . Bit nervous about going here. Was definately an interesting experience. There really just isn't many words to describe how it makes you feel in there.
Back on the bus to Kracow we stayed in a dodgy hostel but it was mostly clean so it was ok. First night we went to dinner and had Perogi which Liz had been raving about as her Dad and Babcia used to make it. It is a kind of dough with meat,vegetable or fruit filling, kind of like ravioli but without sauce on top. It was delicious!!! Had the local beer, not bad, and then went to a club which had us having a shot of Polish Wodka. Oh my god. Never again! I swear it burnt all of my taste buds going down. Next day was a bike tour around Kracow. This city is so beautiful, there is
a huge river running through it and the day was so sunny and gorgeous it made us fall in love wtih it. In the afternoon we met up with Liz's relatives. Her Dad has been speaking with his cousin Krystyna for a while now and her nephew Chris spoke pretty good English so he came to translate between Liz and Krystyna. It was a great experience and they have convinced us to return at the end of the year and visit them again. Krystyna lives a little way out of Kracow so it will be lovely to visit her home and hopefully try some of her cooking as the Polish have some delicious dishes! That night we went to a salsa bar and I had a go. It was so much fun!! Who is up for joining Salsa dancing with me when I get home????? :)
a huge river running through it and the day was so sunny and gorgeous it made us fall in love wtih it. In the afternoon we met up with Liz's relatives. Her Dad has been speaking with his cousin Krystyna for a while now and her nephew Chris spoke pretty good English so he came to translate between Liz and Krystyna. It was a great experience and they have convinced us to return at the end of the year and visit them again. Krystyna lives a little way out of Kracow so it will be lovely to visit her home and hopefully try some of her cooking as the Polish have some delicious dishes! That night we went to a salsa bar and I had a go. It was so much fun!! Who is up for joining Salsa dancing with me when I get home????? :)Day 4 took us to Zakopane which was only 3 hours away. The afternoon was our own to go exploring so after a quick look through the village we decided to climb up one of the
mountains. We are pretty unfit but we were surprised that it didnt' take us that long to climb it, plus we chose the smaller of the two, as one mountain climb on the opposite side of the village took 2 hours to get up and 2 hours to get down...yeah not for us right now. The views at the top were absolutely beautiful and would look even more amazing during winter. The mountain are part of the Tatry Ranges and I think our mountain was 1130m high. Dinner that night was out to a grill place that had shish kebabs the size of me. Liz and I chose to share this meal and we were glad of it as it was huge but so delicious.
mountains. We are pretty unfit but we were surprised that it didnt' take us that long to climb it, plus we chose the smaller of the two, as one mountain climb on the opposite side of the village took 2 hours to get up and 2 hours to get down...yeah not for us right now. The views at the top were absolutely beautiful and would look even more amazing during winter. The mountain are part of the Tatry Ranges and I think our mountain was 1130m high. Dinner that night was out to a grill place that had shish kebabs the size of me. Liz and I chose to share this meal and we were glad of it as it was huge but so delicious.Day 5 took us to Budapest and on the way we had lunch in a church yard in the middle of Slovakia and then headed into Hungary. Our night was organised by our tour leader, first off was dinne
r at a restaurant and then on to a 'booze cruise' which was meant to be all you can drink whilst on the boat....yeah, the beer was hot and the wine ran out before everyone even hopped on...RIPPED OFF!! Was a little cranky at our tour guide for leading us on to this as we all had to pay the equivalent of 16 euros each for the pleasure. Not happy Jan! But the night picked up as we went to a cool bar and started throwing back the drinks which were very cheap and tasty. Then moved onto a night club which was underground and smokey but playing trashy but cool music which seemed to suit our tour. Lots of dancing and drinking and Liz hoovering the streets of Budapest as they were dirty...picture to come later haha
r at a restaurant and then on to a 'booze cruise' which was meant to be all you can drink whilst on the boat....yeah, the beer was hot and the wine ran out before everyone even hopped on...RIPPED OFF!! Was a little cranky at our tour guide for leading us on to this as we all had to pay the equivalent of 16 euros each for the pleasure. Not happy Jan! But the night picked up as we went to a cool bar and started throwing back the drinks which were very cheap and tasty. Then moved onto a night club which was underground and smokey but playing trashy but cool music which seemed to suit our tour. Lots of dancing and drinking and Liz hoovering the streets of Budapest as they were dirty...picture to come later hahaDay 6, bad hangover but we were all up to go on our bike ride of Budapest. We were a little slow but glad that the Pest side was flat. Not so happy about the Buda side where we had to ride up a massive hill to see a castle. Some walked but most of us rode all the way. View was definately worth it. You could see all of the River Danube and the Pest side. Ride back down was much more pleasant and then it was off to Burger King for us!
Day 7 had the bus leaving for Split and us staying behind as this was were we hop
ped off. It was sad to say goodbye to the group who we'd just kind of gotten to know, but some are living in London so we may catch up with them again. Another guy hopped off as well, so we hung out with him until we left Budapest. We went to the Thermal Baths which were fantastic and so relaxing. One of the baths was 38 degrees and just wonderful, we didn't want to hop out but it was recommended to only stay in there for 20 mins.
ped off. It was sad to say goodbye to the group who we'd just kind of gotten to know, but some are living in London so we may catch up with them again. Another guy hopped off as well, so we hung out with him until we left Budapest. We went to the Thermal Baths which were fantastic and so relaxing. One of the baths was 38 degrees and just wonderful, we didn't want to hop out but it was recommended to only stay in there for 20 mins. Budapest was really great and so cheap that it is definately a place worth visiting. We also really loved Poland and so I am sure we will be returning there again soon. The tour was definately an experience and we are now looking forward to enjoying getting back to doing our own thing.
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