brighthorizontravel

Farewell new friends!

brighthorizontravel — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:15:01 +0000

Just dropped everyone off at Prague Airport for their flight to Paris, very sad to say goodbye but glad that they all had a great time. I want to thank them all for various contributions towards a most excellent trip and hope they have a safe journey, perhaps our paths will cross again some day but until then, STAY IN TOUCH! x

Fiona Wells – Tour Manager

Prague – 8/10/2011

brighthorizontravel — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:13:52 +0000

Well we knew it couldnt last, we woke up this morning to discover the temperature had dropped about half and was now a chilly 12 degrees celsius. After unusually hot weather for this time of year for 11 days i suppose we couldn’t be too put out when the last 2 days were a little cold and drizzley! And so we soldiered on through the sightseeing making sure to stop for extra coffee and hot wine breaks throughout the day. First of all we set off up the hill to Prague castle to explore the grounds and to hear of the history from our guide Sofie. Within the grounds of the castle (the biggest ancient castle complex in the world) there is the majestic St Vitus Cathedral which stunned pretty much everyone in the group into silence with it’s vast gothic interior and huge stained glass windows. Following a coffee and cake break at the castle we descended the narrow cobbled path leading to the old town to explore the various crystal shops, traditional czech restaurants and to see the famous clock tower and it’s hourly performance.

Then shopping until it was time for dinner.

We had decided to experiment with taking a tram to the restaurant this evening which was all good in theory until a girl in a bar told me the wrong directions and i led everyone around in a big circle…..oh dear. Appetites worked up we arrived on time (amazingly) at the medieval czech restaurant where we were treated to a meal for champions and entertainment worthy of kings! A sword and fire dancer had been booked especially for our final dinner and caused much mirth with the group as a few of the gentlemen became very much involved with the female performer’s routine!

Speeches made, dancers danced, so much laughter laughed and we were all ready to retire to our rooms. A very succesful penultimate day.

Prague Castle

Vitus Cathedral

Bratislava to Prague – 7/10/2011

brighthorizontravel — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:07:50 +0000

Bratislava Castle

Budapest to Bratislava – 06/10/2011

brighthorizontravel — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 06:41:01 +0000

We were all dreading another long drive as everything in Eastern Europe seems quite far apart and there is only so much light entertainment that Coach FM (ie Mr Sunil Pai on the bus mic) can provide and so it was a huge relief that Bratislava was only around 2 hrs away! We met our guide in the classy cake shop Kaffee Mayer which apparently serves the best cakes in Slovakia and it didnt disappoint. Straight from there we embarked on a delightful walking tour of the main town area and even managed to book the majority of the group into a Slovakian Violin Concert in the Opera House later that evening. Bratislava is a cobblestoned delight of Venetian design combined with German style cleanliness. Speaking of delights, our hotel The Falkensteiner was INCREDIBLE, i’ve heard the gym even had an amazing view over the nearby Palace. I want to stay here forever.

Tomorrow…Prague!

Budapest – 05/10/2011

brighthorizontravel — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:36:31 +0000

Today was a later start and slightly more relaxed day. After a generous Best Western buffet breakfast of pastries, eggs, toast, salad, meats and crisps(?!) then non-shoppers among us headed off to the Payvolgyi Cave for a tour of the million year old holes in the ground. Dubious at first about the entertainment factor of stalactites the caves were actually a surprise major hit! A Labrinth of underground tunnels featuring carbon dioxide bubble formations and marine fossils over 40 million years old meant that the tour of the caves was one of my (and the group’s) favourite things this whole trip and well worth a visit should anyone find themselves in budapest with an hour to spare.

Dinner tonight was at the Restaurant Karpatia accompanied by a live gypsy folk band playing all manner of hits from both Hungary and afar. A lively and popular restaurant in the Pest side of Budapest, it was thoroughly entertaining and the food excellent too. Mr Iyer was feeling the ambience particularly strongly as he got up to sing a couple of numbers much to our amusement. With his powerful deep baritone voice it went down an absolute storm and everyone was thoroughly entertained!

Pálvölgyi cave

Budapest Parliament Building (on the Pest side)

Budapest – 04/10/2011

brighthorizontravel — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:31:29 +0000

Hero's Square

Fisherman's Bastion

FIsherman's Bastion

St Matthias Church

Krakow to Budapest – 03/10/2011

brighthorizontravel — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:23:05 +0000

Slovakia is beaauuutiful! Rolling green hills, peppered with multi coloured traditional houses and cabin style restaurants serving all manner of meaty goods. Unfortunately we were just passing through on our way to Budapest and so could not devote the countryside the full amount of time or attention that it deserved but we did get to experience lunch at a remote Slovakian restaurant and they had our group’s favourite, rice, so we were all fed and happy before continuing on our way.

We got to Budapest just in time to go to a local indian restaurant as many of the group were missing something a bit spicy instead of all the eastern european food we’d been having lately. It also happened to be Mr Venkatesh’s birthday for which the restaurant had provided two massive cakes. The Restaurant Maharaja in Budapest certainly looked after us and many of the staff also spoke Hindi as well as Magyar and English so everyone could communicate in whichever language they preferred. The evening was proclaimed a great success and the food deemed the best meal of the holiday for the group so far!

Krakow – 02/10/2011

brighthorizontravel — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:20:30 +0000

Salt Mines……wooooooo! Excited? Nope i wasn’t either BUT i take it back, i was wrong, the Wieliczka Salt Mines were incredible. A half hour journey out of Krakow and 327m beneath the surface is a treasure trove of hidden churches, banquet halls and lakes with everything from the statue of John Paul II to the chandeliers all made out of rock salt. (Photo attached of the last supper carved out of salt) Our guide Magda was extremely enthusiastic and knowledgable and brought the legends of the tunnels to life. A huge highlight of the trip and a welcome change of atmosphere before heading to Auschwitz that afternoon.

Auschwitz was understandably touching and harrowing but absolutely worth the visit.

Dinner in Krakow was at the most excellent Restaurant Chimera. Apparently the name of the virus in Mission Impossible, Chimera is also an excellent restaurant serving what we deemed to be the best selection of vegetarian food in Poland. The staff were friendly and helpful and portions were generous, perhaps too generous as i’m now getting too big for the coach seats.

Wieliczka Salt Mines

Auschwitz

Emotional afternoon at Auschwitz

Warsaw – 30/09/2011

brighthorizontravel — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:05:32 +0000

A very busy day in Warsaw as we were zipped around to be shown the highlights. Starting with Łazienki Park, a former hunting ground to Kings of yore, it featured a number of incredible buildings including the beautiful Palace on the Lake and Chopin’s monument.

Next was the former Jewish Ghetto area including the monument to the Uprising and all explained by the lovely Kasia Rybska our tour guide. This was where we started to get an idea of the history behind the Holocaust which would lead us to Auschwitz in a few days time.

From there, on to the Old Town where despite most of Warsaw being completely flattened in the second world war it had been carefully reconstructed in the old style and so despite looking hundreds of years old all the buildings are only about 60 years old.

Warsaw Old Town

Lazienki Park

Jewish Ghetto Uprising Monument

Berlin to Warsaw – 29/09/2011

brighthorizontravel — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 06:33:16 +0000

A long day which began early at 6.30am. Quickly packing and having the last excellent breakfast at the Leonardo Hotel in Berlin we set off for Poland with our lovely and friendly driver Pawel. We would soon put his patience to the test! Not long after entering Poland a much needed toilet stop was taken at a roadside restaurant. Some of the group decided we should get into the Polish spirit and so taking this literally the Wódka ordered, despite it being just 11am. Even considering the early hour and our lack of Polish currency the Wódka went down very well and so a little (a lot) later than the agreed 10 minutes later we carried on with our journey. Lunch was a similar affair, a park stop in one of Poland’s oldest cities Poznan that instead of lasting 50minutes took over an hour. A pattern was emerging and so we could hardly claim to be surprised that stopping for the ‘toaleta’ a few hours out of Warsaw meant that we were held up for a further half hour. I learnt a lesson that day, 21 people in a coffee shop are harder to round up than stealthy badgers.

A few hours and a new driver later (we tired out the other 2!) we reached a gridlocked Warsaw. Not a great first impression but an excellent dinner in the Hotel Metropol Restaurant more than made up for it and we all went off to bed down the various 70s style carpeted corridors (decorated in the interesting combination of the colours of Warsaw – red and yellow) looking forward to a busy day of sightseeing tomorrow with our guide Kasia.