Wandering Fel

Showing posts with label Eastern Europe. Show all posts

Wawel Castle is actually made of two major components, the castle itself and Wawel Cathedral. While the former contains most of the exhibitions, the Cathedral is the building which has the mind-boggling and impressive interior. Wawel Cathedral has witnessed a number of crowning ceremony of almost every Polish king and queen throughout the country’s history. The current Wawel Cathedral is actually the third to be built on the site. The first two cathedrals are made of wood and were unfortunately burnt down by fire. There are a total of 18 chapels inside Wawel Cathedral. You may want to show particular interest to the 15th century Chapel of the Holy Cross, found to the right as you enter the cathedral which features some wonderful Russian murals and Veit Stoss’ 1492 marble sarcophagus to Kazimierz IV. You can also see the Royal Crypts, the final resting place of kings and statesmen and the wooden series of staircases leading to the Sigismund Bell, which can be heard 50km away when it’s ringing.

Eastern Europe in 10 Days (Day 6): Wawel Cathedral, Krakow

If you want to go inside the Wawel Cathedral, you have to plan your visit carefully because the Cathedral is closed on certain occasions like New Year’s Day (1 Jan), Maudy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday, All Saints’ Day (1 Nov), Christmas Eve (24 Dec) and Christmas Day (25 Dec). In addition, the Cathedral Museum is closed every Sundays and holidays. The entrance tot the Cathedral is so grand with the turquoise big door. You have to wait here for your allocated tour timing. Do note that a visit without a licensed guide for a group consist of more than 10 people is strictly not allowed.

Entrance to Wawel Cathedral in Krakow Poland

I came out from different door upon finishing the tour inside Wawel Cathedral. The door led me to the Renaissance courtyard of Wawel Castle. I suppose this is where people used to meet and talk about anything under the sun back in those days.

Renaissance Courtyard of Wawel Castle in Krakow Poland

Other than the renaissance architecture, there is something special about this courtyard. At the upper left corner of the courtyard, there is a section of the wall which is famously known as the Wawel Chakra. The section of the wall is basically believed to be one of the world’s main centers of spiritual energy. If you want to be in the “force”, you just need to touch the wall to feel the force. I wonder if this is how George Lucas get inspiration for Jedi in Star Wars movies. Joking aside, a lot of people come here to touch the wall so there may be some truths to this urban legend of the Wawel Chakra.

The Courtyard and Wawel Chakra at Wawel Cathedral Krakow

You can spend time to wander around the Castle and Cathedral complex to check out smaller churches building and also the statue of Karol Wojtyla, who in the year 1978 became Pope John Paul II. He offered his first Mass in the Cathedral in the year 1946. He is such a respected figure in Poland and the tour guide informed me that there are always flowers put by the Polish people in front of his statue everyday.

Pope John Paul II Statue at Wawel Castle Krakow

Wawel Cathedral’s and the Cathedral Museum’s visiting information:

Monday to Saturday (Apr - Oct): 9AM to 5PM

Monday to Saturday (Nov - Mar): 9AM to 4PM

For Cathedral only:

Sunday (Apr - Oct): 12.30PM to 5PM

Sunday (Nov - Mar): 12.30PM to 4PM

Cathedral Museum is closed on Sundays

The whole of day 5 is actually wholly spent on commuting by bus from Prague to Krakow. The distance from Prague to Krakow can be covered within 6 hours but there is a mandatory rest period required for the bus and the bus driver and non-compliance can result in a huge amount of penalty for the driver and ultimately, the tour guide, because the driver usually will not have enough cash to pay for the fine in the event of random police check along the way. The EU regulator is pretty strict on this driving hours so better be safe than sorry. With that being said, my travel story effectively only continued on day 6 in the city of Krakow in Poland. I started the day by visiting Wawel Royal Castle complex. The tour bus passed by the longest river in Krakow, Vistula, while making the way toward the castle complex.

Eastern Europe in 10 Days (Day 5 and 6): Krakow, Poland

Similar to setting of the royal castles in other European countries, Wawel Royal Castle is located in the old town district of Krakow. This means that a bit of walking if required because the bus can only bring us to certain proximity. The drop off point was near to a castle somewhere downhill. I don’t mind a bit of walking especially I did not have the chance to walk at all the day before.

Wawel Royal Castle complex in Krakow Poland

After walking for 5 to 8 minutes away from the drop off point, I reached the vantage point to view Vistula River. The river runs through various different cities in Poland like Krakow, Warsawa, Plock, Tczew, etc. There is a park and walking path at the riverbank. I believe this makes a one beautiful spot for running or taking an evening stroll in Krakow. The Vistula River is also functioning as a source of irrigation for the country and it is also called the “Queen of Polish Rivers”. It gathers waters from the southern mountains near Krakow and stretches them peacefully over a thousand kilometres to the Baltic Sea in the far north at Gdansk. While the river looks calm and harmless from the picture, it created a havoc of flooding back in the year 2010. I suppose nature can be harmful at times in this fallen earth.

There is one particular interesting statue built at one section of the riverbank. It is the statue of Wawel Dragon, a famous mythical dragon from Polish mythology who live in a cave at the foot of Wawel Hill. The dragon was actually a very bad dragon which likes to destroy houses and eat up the villagers’ young daughters. Yikes, really one heck of a creepy dragon. Thankfully, this Polish mythology ended up in a happy ending as a brave cobbler managed to kill the dragon by feeding it lamb stuffed with sulphur. Once the dragon got thirsty, it filled itself with the water from the river and died from explosion. Turns out you don’t have to use any weapon at all to kill a dragon in this story.

Statue of Wawel Dragon beside Vistula River at Krakow

Despite the interesting story of Vistula river and the Wawel dragon, the main attraction of Krakow is definitely Wawel Castle, which is perched on top of the hill of the same name at the south of the Old Town. The castle is the symbol of national pride, hope, and patriotism. It is even described somewhere in the tourist book as a uniquely Polish version of the British Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey rolled into one (I do think both palace painted in different colors though so I kinda doubt the resemblance, but anyway). The construction of the castle was heavily influenced by the Romanesque, Renaissance and Gothic architecture dating from around the 14th century onwards. A full tour of Wawel Castle can take an entire day so do gauge your timing carefully if you want to include a complete tour of the castle in your itinerary. Being in a tour, obviously I only had the chance to admire the castle from outside. Sadz.

If you’d like to purchase tickets for the exhibitions inside the royal castle, you need to go to the main ticket office at the Visitor Centre. The Visitor Centre fills the entire ground floor building no. 9, a nice building constructed in the second half of the 19th century. The building looks so pretty with the red leaves all over the wall.

Visitor centre of Wawel Royal Castle in Krakow Poland

Tickets for the exhibition in the Castle is very popular with the tourists, and they are only sold at limited number per day for specific entrance times (sounds like Disneysea’s Fastpass?). If you are coming in a group, advance reservation is required. The main ticket office opens at these timings:-

April 1 - 28: Mon 9am - 11.45am, Tue to Fri 9am - 3.45pm, Sat and Sun 9.30am to 3.45pm

April 29 - 30: Mon 9.30am - 6.45pm

May - June: Daily 9am - 5.45pm (Sat and Sun 9.30am - 5.45pm)

July - August: Daily 9am - 6pm (Sat and Sun 9.30am - 6pm)

September - October: Daily 9am - 4.45pm (Sat and Sun 9.30am - 4.45pm)

November - March: Tue to Sun 9am - 2.45pm (Sun 9.30am - 2.45pm), Mon closed

I continued the trip from the Heroes Square to the next spot in the itinerary, St Stephen’s Basilica. I had the 360 degrees view from the bus when the bus was busy finding a drop-off point for us to alight down. St Stephen’s Basilica is the largest church in Budapest and it can house 8,500 people inside the cathedral at the same time. Several musical programs are held in the church throughout the year.

Eastern Europe in 10 Days (Day 3): St Stephen Basilica, Budapest

The bus finally found a spot to drop us at the back of the church. We walked for a while to see the front side of the church. St Stephen’s Basilica is the most beautiful and significant church in Budapest due to is historical heritage. The church was dedicated to the holy king St Stephen who was also the founder of the Hungarian state. In addition, the church is also famous for its architectural and artistic value. The church houses so many valuable items including Hungary’s most sacred treasure, St Stephen’s mummified right hand, the Szent Jobb (re: Holy Right Hand). A bit background on the mummified right hand, the death of king St Stephen was followed by a turbulent period characterised by struggles for the throne. A certain faction of the king feared that the embalmed and mummified corpse of the king might be desecrated, and therefore ordered its removal from the marble sarcophagus standing in the middle of the basilica where king Stephen was buried on August 15, 1038 and hid it in the tomb under the basilica. The right hand of king remained intact and it was detached and taken to the treasury of the basilica since it was believed to have miraculous power.

The district where the basilica is located is a bustling city centre filled with row of cafes and souvenir stores. I suppose this place is always filled with tourists so it’s not really weird to find a lot of coffee shops and stores here.

If you are looking for some souvenirs to bring back home, you may want to look for “Memories of Hungary”. When I first saw the words “Memories of Hungary”, I thought this building houses a museum. Turns out it is a big Hungarian souvenir shop. It is quite famous in Budapest and it has branches across the country.

Memories of Hungary has a vast collection of products which tell visitors a story about Hungarian culture. The products sold here are related to traditional culture and folk customes of the Hungarian. The store has some interesting items other than the usual kitchen stuff and magnets. For instance, there are those party masks which you usually see people wearing at some banquet gala and wooden dolls in many sizes which pretty much similar to the Russian dolls.

I do not know that Hungary is famous for its pepper ground/ paprika. It’s probably equivalent to chili flakes in Singapore. Paprika is powder made from grinding the pods of various kind of peppers. It is considered the national spice of Hungary. There are eight grades of Hungarian paprika which are differentiated by the level of smell and spiciness. The spice will make a good souvenir to bring back to your family (especially if there is a chef in the family).

After Mom has finished looking around, we came out from the store with one or two fridge magnets (Mom is an avid collector of magnets). Wondering what to do while waiting for the rest of tour participants, I went to a gelato shop called Gelarto Rosa to check out what kind of gelato they serve in Budapest. Turns out it’s the kind of gelato shop where they will scoop and shape your gelato in the shape of flower. Oh my.

Rose gelato from Gelarto Rosa Budapest Hungary

You can choose two flavours and the staff will shape the gelato nicely to make a flower shape. My cousin asked me if I want to share the ice cream with her but this is one of the things in the world that I apply perfect selfishness so we ended up having our own ice cream. She chose strawberry and vanilla gelato.

Strawberry rose gelato from Gelarto Rosa Budapest

While I chose pistachio and vanilla gelato. On second thought, maybe I should have chosen other flavour instead because green flower does not really exist. But then again, who cares about such details, right? Hehe.

Pistachio gelato from Gelarto Rosa Budapest

St Stephen’s Basilica is located at:

Szt. Istvan Ter, District V, M3 (blue line) metro Arany Janos utca Station

Opening times for tourists:

Mon - Fri: 9AM - 5PM

Sat: 9AM - 1PM

Sun: 1PM - 5PM

Admission:

Free but it’s customary to pay 200 HUF - 1 EUR donation

Guided tours in English:

- Phone: (+36 1) 338 2151 and (+36 30) 703 6599

- Timing: 10AM - 3PM

- Includes: Chapel and the floodlit Holy Right of St Stephen, Treasury, Panorama view from the cupola (only between 1 Apr - 31 Oct)

- Tickets: 1,600 HUF (adults), 1,100 HUF (adults without going to cupola), 1,200 HUF (pensioners/ students), 900 HUF (pensioners/ students without going to cupola)

When you are visiting Budapest, it is very recommended that you join the local tour at Buda Castle District. The walking tour is available on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. It lasts for two and a half hour for the price of EUR 27 for adult and EUR 13.50 for children. Alternatively, you can also take your own sweet time walking around at Buda Castle District just like what we do. The district is quite big though so if you want to explore every alley in the district, you may need one whole day or at least half day to do so.

10 Days Itinerary (Day 2): Buda Castle Hill, Hungary

Buda Castle is a historical castle and palace complex of the Hungarian kings in Budapest. In the past, the castle was referred to as Royal Palace and Royal Castle. You will be able to see the tree which has changed its leaves color to yellow if you visit the castle in November. The castle is now home to the two museums in Budapest, the National Gallery and the Budapest History Museum. Hungary National Galery displays the collection of Hungarian beautiful paintings depicting every-day life and rural landscapes of Hungary. The most popular collections are probably the paintings from the 18th and 19th centuries because they visualise the turbulent history of the Hungarian nation dramatically presenting the years of the Turkish occupation immediately followed by the Austrian occupation. On the other hand, the exhibitions in the Budapest History Museum focus on the turbulent history of the 2000 years of Budapest. For instance, you will be able to learn what the once separate the towns of Buda, Pest and Obuda were like.

Buda Castle District at Budapest Hungary

The best spot to enjoy the bird-eye view of the city of Budapest and Danube River is the Fisherman’s Bastion, the lovely lookout towers/ decorative fortification which is built in the 19th century. Fisherman’s Bastion opens all year round, day and night and there is no admission fee required (although there is fee applicable if you want to go inside the turrets). The seven turrets represent seven Hungarian tribes who founded the present day country in 895. There is a cafe on the terrace of the Fisherman’s Bastion. In addition, there is also chapel inside it so maybe this is a popular wedding venue in Budapest. The word “Fisherman” is used for the naming of the lookout tower because it’s protected by the guild of the fishermen during the Middle Ages.

Fishermen’s Bastion at Buda Castle Hungary

Although I used the word “fortification” when I describe the Fisherman’s Bastion. The terrace does not actually look strong and sturdy enough to defend a castle, let alone a city. This is because the Fisherman’s Bastion was not intended to be used for military purposes. Instead, the intenton was to present the locals with a communal panorama terrace, as the Buda Castle was no longer considered to be a military place. Its purpose is for Budapest citizen to be able to recall the old times in a romantic way with the view of the river and the surrounding settlement.

The view from the Fisherman’s Bastion Buda Castle

If you are not in a hurry, it is recommended to wander around Buda Castle complex until the sun has set. Other than the Fisherman’s Bastion, you can check out some other buildings in the area such as Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest History Museum and National Szechenyi Library. The National Gallery takes up most of the Buda Castle as it has a massive collection of Hungarian work of arts from the beginning of Hungarian state until the early 20th century. On the other hand, if you prefer to find out how the Hungarian people used to live, dance, eat, sleep and cruise in the earlier centuries in the town of Budapest, you may want to visit Budapest History Museum. Right next to the museum is where National Szechenyi Library is located. The library has temporary exhibitions which are mostly paper based e.g. illustrations, maps from century old books. However, there are other exhibitions which may involve porcelains and paintings. The permanent exhibition of the library offers visitor an experience to read books in Hungary between 1802 and 1985.

Evening view of Buda Castle complex Hungary

The reason of why you may want to linger around Fisherman’s Bastion until night is because the city of Budapest will be lit at night. Danube River is a popular spot for sightseeing river cruise. The river cruise package starts from as low as EUR 10 to as high as EUR 75, depends on each person’s taste.

Buda Castle is one of the attractions which are lit at night. St Matthias Church looks even more grandious and mysterious at night, adding to its majestic vibe.

St Matthias Church at night Budapest Hungary

The Fisherman’s Bastion’s admission:

Free

The Fisherman’s Bastion’s opening hours:

All day

Hungarian National Gallery’s admission:

1,800 HUF (adults)/ 900 HUF (children/ senior citizen)/ 800 HUF (audio guide)

Hungarian National Gallery’s opening hours:

Tues to Sun 10AM - 6PM (Closed on Monday), last admission at 5PM

Free admission on national holidays - 15 Mar, 20 Aug, 23 Oct

Budapest History Museum’s admission:

1,800 - 2,000 HUF (adults)/ 900 - 1,000 HUF (visitors aged 6 - 26 and 62-70)/ 1,200 HUF (audio guide)

Budapest History Museum’s opening hours:

Tues to Sun 10AM - 6PM (1 Mar - 31 Oct)

Tues to Sun 10AM - 4PM (1 Nov - 29 Feb)

Closed on Monday

Free admission on national holidays - 15 Mar, 20 Aug, 23 Oct

I love autumn season and it is kinda sad that there is no autumn in South East Asian region. But then again, autumn comes with winter and I don't really like winter so yeah, I suppose if this is how the weather is meant to be for SEA region, then so be it. Hahaha. But one best thing about autumn is that the weather is no longer as hot as summer and yet, not as freezing as winter. Plus the leaves of the trees turn into beautiful yellow/ red before falling to the ground. This imagination of beautiful scenery made me signing up for the tour with Avia to Eastern Europe. The tour covered several countries such as Austria, Slovakia, Budapest, Czech Republic, Poland and Germany in 10 days for the price of IDR 20mil (USD 1,475).

I took the Qatar Airways to reach our first destination, Vienna. The flight from Jakarta to Doha was around 8+ hours and the flight from Doha to Vienna was around 5+ hours. Hamad International Airport in Doha is pretty nice airport to spend time to stretch and relieve butt from soreness after 8+ hours flight. It has a lot of duty free stores ranging from drugstore, chocolate and sweets stores, branded stuff and also, Harrods. Food court and restaurants are available too in the airport if you'd like to have a meal.

Eastern Europe in 10 Days Itinerary (Day 1): Vienna, Austria

5+ hours later, we finally arrived at Vienna International Airport. While waiting for our local tour guide, my cousins and I were looking around our surrounding to check out the arrival terminal of the airport. There are liquor store, patisseries store and drugstore. Machines selling train tickets to city are also available at the airport but since we were gonna travel around Europe by bus, we did not check the train at all.

Vienna International Airport Austria Europe

Once the tour guide has arrived, we quickly boarded the bus which immediately brought us to the first destination in our itinerary. We arrived in Vienna in the morning around 9 to 10AM so the tour started immediately the moment we landed in this country. While I don't mind starting the tour immediately, it's kinda difficult to look fresh in the picture when you don't have enough sleep (I can't sleep well in the plane). But, anyway, that's part of adventure situation and it's kinda fun to go through that situation sometimes.

Our first destination is the former imperial summer residence in Austria, Schonbrunn Palace. The palace has been a very popular tourist attraction since 1960s. I believe this fact immediately because there were so many tourists around when we reached the palace ground around 10AM. The palace is so huge and it consists of not only the palace building itself but also the Gloriette, the Sisi Museum, Maze, Privy Garden, Orangery Garden, and Children's Museum. Admission and ticket depends on how extensive you want your visit to Schonbrunn Palace be.

The history of Schonbrunn Palace originated way back to the Middle Ages, from 14th century to be exact. The estate has been handed down from one lessee to another until finally, it was chosen as hunting headquarter by Emperor Ferdinand II and his wife, Eleonora von Gonzaga, who is apparently also keen of hunting just like her husband. The wife was the one who eventually changed the name of the estate to Schonbrunn after the death of her husband.

The palace was not spared from the Turkish invasion and after the war is over, restoration and construction works began to be performed on the palace. Once the palace's audience rooms and residential suites are renovated, Schonbrunn Palace was ready for occupation for the Roman-German Emperor, Franz Stephan and his wife, Maria Theresa.

Schonbrunn Main Palace at Vienna Austria

The current state of the palace and the decoration/ architecture inside the rooms in the palace is actually the work instructed by Maria Theresa. After the sudden death of her husband, Maria Theresa instructed a new phase of refurbishment and reconstruction in the building. This includes the conversion of her husband's study in the East Wing to a memorial room which is fitted with precious Chinese lacquer panels, costly wooden panelling into which paintings by renowned artists were set and magnificent furnitures. The last projects initiated by Maria Theresa were actually happening outside the palace in the gardens which includes the construction of the Gloriette, the Neptune Fountain, the Roman Ruin and the Obelisk Fountain.

The East Wing of the Schonbrunn Palace at Vienna Austria

The history actually does not stop at Maria Theresa's lifetime and there were many construction works going on until the reign of Franz Joseph. But it was too long for a blog post to cover. Photography is not allowed inside the palace and hence, I suppose the palace is really worth the visit (no other way to see what's inside the palace after all).

Schonbrunn Palace's admission fee:

A single ticket for admission to 3 attractions* - EUR 29.90 (1 hour)

A single ticket for admission to 5 attractions** - EUR 24 (3 - 4 hours)

*3 attractions: Schonbrunn Palace, Imperial Furniture Collection, Vienna Hofburg

**5 attractions: Schonbrunn Palace, Privy Garden, Orangery Garden, Maze and Gloriette

For other type of tickets (e.g. Combined Tickets/ Family Tickets), you can check for further details at their website. You can also pre-book online tickets.

Schonbrunn Palace's opening hours:

1st April - 30th June: 8AM - 5.30PM

1st July - 31st August: 8AM - 6.30PM

1st September - 5th November: 8AM - 5.30PM

1st November - 30th March: 8AM - 5PM

Ticket sale starts at 8AM

Entrance to exhibit area at 8AM

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Wandering Fel

Eastern Europe in 10 Days (Day 6): Wawel Cathedral, Krakow

Eastern Europe in 10 Days (Day 5 and 6): Krakow, Poland

Eastern Europe in 10 Days (Day 3): St Stephen Basilica, Budapest

Eastern Europe in 10 Days Itinerary (Day 2): Buda Castle Hill, Hungary

Eastern Europe in 10 Days Itinerary (Day 1): Vienna, Austria