12.04.19.
Kolkata (23 00 hrs) - Delhi (0125 hrs)
13.04.19. Delhi (0945 hrs)-Helsinki(14:45 Hrs)-Hels(17:35
Hrs)-Prague(18:45) -Pra (23:00 hrs)
14.04.19.
Budapest (5:30 hrs)
15.04.19. Budapest
16.04.19.
Budapest
17.04.19. Vienna
18.04.19. Vienna
19.04.19. Vienna/Salzburg
20.04.19. Salzburg
21.04.19. Salzburg/Cesky Krumlov
22.04.19. Cesky Krumlov / Prague
23.04.19. Prague
24.04.19. Prague (11 30 hrs) /Helsinki (20:15 hrs)
25.04.19. Delhi (5:00) /Kolkata (9:00)
12/04/2019
We reached Kolkata airport within 1 hour from Deshapriya Park, because of the Ma flyover, ! Our flight (by GoAir) will leave for Delhi at 11 pm and reach Delhi at 1.15 am.
13/04/2019
Mohua and I reached Delhi in time at T-1B at 1.15
am. But our flight to Prague by Finnair was at 9.30 am (at T-3). The round-trip
airfare is only 32,000. There is no other domestic flight which is closer to
our international flight time, considering the fact that counter starts functioning
at 6.30 am. The gate opens 4 hours before flight time. So we had to wait in the
waiting zone at Terminal 3 and could not
use lounge facility. We had to walk for 4-5 minutes to reach near T-3, near
Gate 1 from T-1B.
Our Plane reached Helsinki 2 hours late, as we were
not allowed to use Pakistani Airspace - because of the risk involved. In the
process Pakistan loses revenue and more fuel is burnt ! We took a different route along Gujarat and
then it took a sharp right turn towards right, to avoid Pakistani airspace.
Similar problems were there in Syrian airspace also.
Normally
it takes 7.30 hours to reach Finland. Finland is +4.30 hours ahead of India. We
reached Finland at 16:30 hours Finland time, in contrast to 14:30 hours - which
was the scheduled time.
We met
a passenger who is going to Iceland - they have to spend the night in Finland’s
capital, Helsinki because of this delay. Our connecting flight is at 17:45
hours – so our waiting time got reduced. The population of Finland is only 5.5
million or 55 Lakh like Singapore and GDP is 232 Billion USD (Per capita income
of 50,000 USD). I think Finland has the highest per capita income among all the
places which were part of Czarist Russia. The area is 330,000 Sq Km i.e. nearly
4 times the size of West Bengal.
We reached Prague just in time. Our plane left little late
(10 minutes) to accommodate 2 people, who were stuck because of this
Pakistani air space problem. However unlike India they kept us informed
about the reason for being late. They even said they will try to
travel fast to make up the delayed departure! We reached Prague or Praha (that
is what is written in the airport) only 5 minutes late at 18:50 hours.
The immigration was done very fast. It is a small airport. We saw a robot
mopping the floor. If you stand in front of it, then it will stop
working.
We changed some currency at the airport. They were giving a ridiculous
rate of 1 USD =15.85 Kroner . We are forced to exchange a bare minimum of 7 USD
x2 for both of us and got (7X15.85)x2=224 Kroner to take the bus/metro. They
were trying to persuade us to buy more Kroner. Mohua almost agreed to do it
!
There is an airport express bus - which leaves from the
airport - the fare is 60 (45 Kroner if you bought it online) and drops you at a
central place at Florenc bus station. Or else you can take either bus no. 100 or 119 -
which will drop you at the nearest metro station. These buses (100 or
119) basically work as a feeder service.
If you take bus no. 100, then you can avail yellow line metro - Zlicin
metro station (line B), which will take you directly to Florenc bus station
without any interchange.
But if you take 119 , then you can avail green line metro - Nádraží
Veleslavín metro station (line A) and
interchange at Mustek
station to finally reach Florenc bus station.
http://www.urbanrail.net/eu/cz/praha/praha.htm
https://www.pragueexperience.com/travel/public-transport.asp
You have to pay 32 Koruna (or Rs 96) for the bus + metro
combo for the 90 minutes duration. Since we had missed bus no. 100, we took bus
no. 119 to go to Nádraží
Veleslavín metro station and finally reached
Florenc metro station. There is no need to take Airport Express, since it is
double the fare of bus+ metro combo and will not be faster.
It was very cold, 3 degree Celsius. Normal temperature varies
between 6-16 degree Celsius. We reached
Florenc bus station in time at 9.30 pm. The bus station is very near to the
Florenc metro station - you have to walk for 2 minutes from the bus station.
There are many ticket counters in the bus stations - important ones are - Flix
bus, Regio Jet, Eurolines etc. We made a small change in the forex counter
(5 USD only) at the bus station at 1 USD= 22.3 Kroner (vs 15.85 in
airport) - , i.e 1 Koruna = Rs 3 !!). Flixbus was our default bus company
not only this time, but also in my France tour after 5 months. The rates are
really good and facilities are world class. Later I learnt that forex rates in
the Florenc bus station are very good.
There
is Burger King, restaurants run by home grown brands and a departmental store at
the bus station. We had one large portion of French Fries at Burger King (49
Kroner = Rs150). The smaller one is 29 Kroner. We bought one big
Vegetarian Cheese Panini (Italian sandwich) from the departmental store for 54
Kroner for two of us and water for 22 Kroner (1.5 Litre). We paid 10 Kroner to
go to the Bathroom (quite clean). We were short of 1 Kroner in the
departmental store - which they waived!
Then we boarded the bus. Everything is spic and span - both
the bus and bus station. There is a bathroom in the bus. The bus is very
nice. There is wifi and a TV screen behind every seat. They served Cappuccino
in the bus. At the bus station there is an automatic coffee vending machine -
where you can drop a coin and have coffee - coffee ATM. The exit in Czech
language is called Bhaichod !
14/04/2019
We reached Budapest just in time at 5.30 am. The name of the bus station is Szent Gellert Templon. It is not the main bus station. From there we took green line metro to get down at Keleti Palyaudvar to take red line metro. Near Keleti station is Ferenc Puskas station.
The metro fare is 350 Hungarian Forint (or Rs 90) each. We used our forex card to buy it from a machine with the help of a local person.
https://www.introducingbudapest.com/metro
http://www.orangesmile.com/common/img_tram_maps/budapest-map-tram-big.png
After getting down at the last metro station, we
took a tram to go to my friend Gabor's house. The fare is same i.e. 350 Forint.
When you shift from Metro to tram, it is considered as different transport and
not part of same system. But for interchange between tram / bus, you don’t have
to buy a ticket , provided it is within a stipulated time. There is a ticket
vending machine at the tram stop. Interestingly you can buy ticket inside the
tram, since there is a machine inside the tram also. We
reached Gabor's house by the bus and tram combo by 8.30 am. He stays in a multi
storied building - with 4 flats per floor. He stays on the 4th floor.
There is no system of security guards. Like Russia, you have to tap (a metallic
thing) on the door to open it. He opened it from the 4th floor,
without getting down. Gabor has travelled 155 countries - probably the most
travelled Hungarian. He calls himself Vandorby meaning wanderer - like the
ancients wanderers who acquired knowledge after years of wandering. He appears
on TV and is also featured on Radio. He sometimes works as a travel agent also.
He said, I must go to Iran, Myanmar. He stays alone.
Today we went to Szentendre by local HEV suburban train on the advice of Gabor.
The suburban station is just beside river Danube. There are some other places nearby - Esztergom, Visegrad , where I was planning to go initially. But we stuck to this place only. We did not find a single Indian tourist in Szentendre .
The easiest way to go there is by HEV suburban train.
Here the name of the Govt run Transport Company is BKK, like CSTC in Kolkata. But HEV is not part of BKK system. So you have to buy single/separate ticket for this suburban train. Since we did not know this, we had to buy the ticket from the ticket checker, inside the train by paying 310 Forint. I do not know if there was any violation of law. ‘Budapest pass’ would not work here.
With the
24-hr Budapest pass - all 3 modes are allowed. It may be noted that if you buy
a single ticket (350 Forint) then you can change tram/bus within a stipulated
time (and not metro). Or, you can board metro with a single ticket (350
Forint). But interchange between tram/bus AND metro is not allowed as mentioned
before. But if you buy "transfer” ticket, then interchange between
tram/bus AND metro is allowed. I made a
mistake, when coming to Gabor's house in the morning. I should have bought
"transfer ticket” to avail the metro + tram & bus combo. He told me to
buy “transfer ticket”, but I did not understand what he was saying.
We bought a 24 hour Budapest pass on the advice of Gabor for 1650 Forint each or Rs 400. First we took a tram no 3 from a tram stop in front of his house, to go to a very important tram stop/junction in Budapest - Bosnyak. It is somewhat like Kalighat Metro of Kolkata.
From there we took another tram (no. 1) to go to Batthyany ter (ter means square) to take HEV suburban tram, just beside Buda side of Danube. Most people stay in Pest side. People cross Danube to go to Buda side to see Buda castle and others.
https://bkk.hu/en/timetables/#H5
This charming little town, whose name means "Saint Andrew", is known for its well-preserved houses and churches.
Position of Serbs in Hungary has been,
historically, far from ideal, and after the persecution in the First and Second
World Wars, most of those who survived have migrated back to Serbia (Interestingly Serbia is becoming very popular for Hindi/Bollywood
movies, because of special concession given to Bollywood film industry ).
We had a popular dish here - Langos - a type of Pizza with sour cream, Cheese. The base is very soft.
Then we tried to catch a boat to go back to Budapest. But the boat just left in front of our eyes. It leaves from the main square of Szentendre – Fo ter. Therefore we took the suburban train to reach Batthyany ter.
We saw the famous Parliament building across the river.
Then we stated walking around Danube and saw the famous Chain Bridge. Then we took the Chain bridge to cross the river .
The price
of things are reasonably cheap compared to West Europe, but definitely not an
Indian price – which I was told. Here Petrol is quite expensive 1.3 Euro. The
cheapest car apparently costs 20,00,000 Forint or Rs 5 Lakh. It is cheaper than
West Europe. In Belgium the minimum bus fare is 3 Euro or Rs 240 vis a vis Rs
120 (1.5 Euro) in Italy. Here it is Rs 90. Almost every tram stop has
electronic display of the next tram/bus which will be arriving. It is not
common, even in West Europe. I cannot recall it, even in Amsterdam or Brussels
or Antwerp. Though it was there in Singapore, even in 2011. The roads are
generally good. But not exceptional.
Gabor told
me BKK is making loss, like any other public utilities. Public transport is
owned by Government and is very efficient and well planned.
He told me
per capita income here is 18,500 USD. The size of Hungary is 93,000 Sq Km, only
5,000 sq Km bigger than West Bengal. The population is 98 Lakh or 0.98 million.
We did not see any refugee here (though I did see some homeless). He told me
after 1956 revolution, they had more of socialism, than communism. There are
many things which are of Hungarian origin - safety match, dynamo, carburetor of
a car and almost 75% people in Oppenheimer conspiracy were Hungarian.
Understand Hungary
The first settlement on the territory of Budapest is by Celtic
tribes. During the 1st century AD, the Roman fortification on
the territory of present day Óbuda (now part of Budapest) gradually developed
into the town of Aquincum which became the capital city of the
province of Lower Pannonia in AD 106. In the beginning Aquincum was only a
Roman military settlement and then it gradually turned into a civil settlement.
It was the main centre of the Pannonian Region, becoming the most important
commercial point.
The Roman Ruins in Aquincum, have been dated around the 2nd and
3rd century AD. The archaeologists during the excavation works found
lot of objects and monuments. In the past the city had paved streets and lavish
houses with fountains, courtyards and pavements in mosaic. At the north-west of
Aquincum is the amphitheatre, in which are still visible the cells in which the
lions were kept during the gladiators’ fights. The capacity of this structure
was about 16,000 people.
The Romans even founded a fortress known as Contra
Aquincum on the other side of the river which is assumed to have
developed into the later town of Pest. This marked the eastern border of the
empire, and was gradually given up by Rome during the early 4th century,
becoming part of the Hun empire for a few decades.
Once the horse-riding Magyar (Hungarian) tribes arrived in the
Carpathian Basin in 896 AD, Óbuda served as the seat of the Magyar
high-chieftain (or prince) King Álmos realised that converting to Christianity
is the key to survival in Europe. The Christian Kingdom of Hungary was
founded by the crowning of his son, Szt. István (Saint
Stephan) on 1 January 1001. St Stephan became an omnipresent national
symbol. In the following centuries, Buda emerged as the most important royal
seat.
In 1241 the Mongol Empire
conquered the territory along with large parts of Europe - this short but
devastating conquest of the country is still remembered as Tatár-járás .
Medieval Hungary reached its zenith under King Matthias (Matthias Corvinus), whose
patronage of arts and sciences made Hungary, a notable power at the time, the
first European country which adopted the renaissance from Italy. However, after
residing in Buda for decades, he stayed in Vienna in 1485 for the last 5 years of his life, after
defeating the Habsburg, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III (penultimate emperor to be crowned by
the Pope, and the last to be crowned in Rome) and occupied Lower Austria.
In 1541, Buda and Pest fell to the Ottoman Empire. Central Hungary constituted an
integral part of the Ottoman Empire for 145 years till 1686.
The expulsion of the Turks from Hungary began with the victory
of Christian forces, under the command of King of Poland John III Sobieski over Ottoman armies, laying siege to the
city of Vienna in 1683.
The Habsburg Empire, centred in Austria,
conquered Hungary on its way to becoming a major European power in 1686. The
Ottomans formally ceded most of the territory they had conquered in the Kingdom
of Hungary to the Habsburg Monarchy via the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699.
Marks of these two cultures are still part of everyday life in
Budapest. The Turks,
under their occupation, constructed many thermal baths and some of them are
still in function nowadays.
After the Anti-Habsburg revolution in 1848–49, the 1867 Compromise,
with a weakened Vienna, made Buda the capital of a near-autonomous Hungary, comprising
half of the newly created Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary.
The following half century marked by peaceful development counts
among the most successful
times in the history of the country as well as its capital.
With the 1873 unification of Buda, Pest, and Óbuda,
the city of Budapest was officially created. The two parts of the city were
already connected by the first permanent bridge across the Danube since 1849 -
the magnificent Chain Bridge.
It saw a leap in terms of industrialization, urbanization. It
even aimed at rivalling with Vienna - in 1896,
marking a thousand year of Hungary, offered the perfect excuse for
large-scale projects such as the Parliament, Vajdahunyad Castle or the Grand
Boulevard. Budapest transformed to a
world city during these decades, enriched by Austrian, Jewish, Slovakian,
Serbian, Croatian, Roman and other cultural influence. This age is
remembered with the rule of Franz Joseph I who died in 1916
after 68 years on the throne.
Neither the Habsburg empire nor Hungary survived World War I, in their previous form -
leaving Budapest as the capital of a now formally independent Hungary which
lost 2/3rd of its territories
and most of its ethnicities, as well as a few million Hungarian speakers, to
neighbouring countries like Slovakia. In fact we met one such lady in Gabor's
house. Hungarians, who make up about 10 percent of Slovakia’s 5.5 million
people. During the interwar years under the rule of regent Miklós Horthy,
Hungary became an ally of Germany.
Near the end of World War II, Nazi Germany occupied Hungary, after it attempted to negotiate peace with the
Allies. While practically all of 400,000 Jews on the countryside were
murdered by German Nazis and their Hungarian sympathizers, air raids and a
terrible 3-month siege towards the end of World War II, resulted in the death
of over 38,000 civilians and destruction of much of the once lively city.
After the war, Budapest slowly recovered under hard-line Communist
government under the
dictatorial rule of Mátyás Rákosi. The city was, however, also the main site of
the 1956 uprising which was successful in installing
a reform-oriented
communist government of Imre Nagy. The Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev felt Hungary was
slipping from Moscow's rule and the Soviets installed János Kádár as the leader
of the communist state who, after over 30 years of
controversial rule, was elected out of
leadership in 1988 by the central committee.
The peaceful 1989 'system change' was achieved as a compromise
between reformist party forces and the opposition, notably a young leader, the
current PM, Viktor Orbán. Finally the country joined the European Union in
2004.
According to Professor of European Studies at Oxford
University and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford
University, Hungary is no longer a
democracy. Viktor Orbán,
Hungary’s prime minister and de facto supreme leader in reality he has
demolished liberal democracy in his country over the last decade. Adding insult
to injury, he has used European taxpayers’ money to consolidate his illiberal
regime. …the EU must show that it will defend democracy in its own member
states. Otherwise, all the fine words of Article 2 of its basic treaty will be
worth nothing.
To say that Hungary is no longer a
democracy is a stark claim, and I have thought, read and looked hard before
making it. Often people apply the term that Orbán has himself used approvingly:
‘illiberal democracy’. But illiberal democracy is a contradiction in terms.
That label may usefully describe a transitional phase in the erosion of a
liberal democracy, such as we see in Poland, but Hungary is way beyond that.
This year, Freedom House downgraded it to the status of ‘partly free’ country,
the only EU member state to earn that dishonour. The most neutral
description I can find is that this is a ‘hybrid regime’, neither democracy nor
dictatorship.
The ruling party, Fidesz, has so
completely penetrated the State administration that this is, again, a one-party
State. On a recent visit to Budapest, I was given numerous examples of how
governmental powers are routinely used for purposes of political control. The
State administration favours Orbán’s cronies and family members with government
contracts, punishes independent media owners and NGOs or Opposition supporters
with arbitrary tax investigations, uses State resources for Fidesz propaganda
in elections, and even refuses local planning permissions to an architect known
for his anti-Fidesz views.
Fidesz has effectively demolished the
independence of the judiciary, as documented in an extensive report by Judith
Sargentini for the European Parliament. It has also changed the electoral law.
Much of the media, already dominated by owners closely tied to the Orbán
regime, have now been consolidated in a so-called Press and Media Foundation,
effectively a pro-government cartel. Hungary has sunk down the World Press
Freedom index to 87th this year. A former student of mine has described to me
what it’s like trying to campaign for an Opposition party when you get almost
no media coverage.
A new law on NGOs, similar to Vladimir
Putin’s, has effectively forced out the international operations of the Open
Society Foundations of George Soros, the Jewish philanthropist, against whom
Orbán’s regime stirs up hatred, with propaganda imagery recalling the worst
periods of European history. The Soros-funded Central European University is
being compelled to move to Vienna .
All this is done while keeping the outward
appearance of a liberal democracy complying with European standards.
The biggest scandal is that he uses EU
funds as a means of enhancing his illiberal control, as well as generously
rewarding friends and relations. Hungary receives more than €3 billion net a
year from the EU, equivalent to just under 3 per cent of GDP. These funds flow
directly through the party-State to those whom Fidesz favours. Reports by
Transparency International and the European Commission have found that in about
50 per cent of public procurement procedures there was only 1 tender and these
procedures are riddled with corruption.
Then the EU must stop this tragic farce of
its own funds being used to undermine European values. It should appoint as
European Public Prosecutor the Romanian, Laura Codruta Kövesi, who knows
exactly what post-communist, east European corruption looks like, and make signing
up to scrutiny by that European Public Prosecutor a condition for receipt of
those funds. It should also move to distribute more EU funding directly to
local government and civil society, rather than letting it be used as a huge
slush fund by a corrupt party-State……What the EU does about Hungary matters not
just for Hungarians but for Europe as a whole. The continent of Europe may have
many different kinds of regime, but the European Union must be a community of
democracies.
After reaching home we went to sleep. One of Gabor’s friends stayed back in his home for the night.
15/04/2019
In the morning we had jam - strawberry, apricot, various kinds of Cheese, some food from Georgia, sweet from Palestine - somewhat like Mihidana.
Orientation of Budapest
Buda-Pest consists of Buda in the West of Danube and Pest in
the East.
West ----- BUDA PEST ------ East. It is in the order in which it is
written. Previously they were separate. Then there is also Obuda in the
North as mentioned before. It was under Roman empire. There is a ruined
amphitheatre there. There are some other Roman ruins in Obuda. Now all 3 have
merged into Budapest. The reference point for the city of
Budapest are Chain bridge or
Széchenyi Lánchíd (pronounced “laance heed”) and Elizabeth bridge or Erzsébet hid.
Apart from these 2 - Deak square
(not very far from Chain or Elizabeth Bridge – in fact Deak Square is in
between Elizabeth and Chan Bridge) and Keleti are very important landmarks. The bridges from North to
South are : Chain bridge, Elizabeth Bridge and then Liberty bridge. If you follow these 3 bridges, you cannot get lost.
It is not very far from each other. This is the main orientation of Budapest. Before
going to Budapest you should familiarize yourself with these 5 places and
Bosnyak.
Turkish bought the culture of Thermal bath or Hamam here.
First we went to Jeszenák János utca tram stop. They pronounce J as Y. Then we went to Buda region from there - which is the hilly region, by catching a bus. Pest is basically plain land. From Buda hills, we took bus number 27 to go to the Citadel. There is no entry fee for going to Citadel. There is a wonderful view of the city from Citadel.
We met a Moroccan lady there. She stays near Tetouan - which is not very far from Chefchaouen. She looks just like European and knows French. She was travelling alone. She seems to be at least 50.
We saw some people gambling openly with '3 cup game'.
www.bbc.com/ - the scam
Again we took bus no 27 to go to the same place and then we started walking towards Buda Castle - Matthias Church and Fisherman's bastion. Very near to Chain bridge is Deak Square or Deak Ferenc Ter - from where you take funicular to go to Buda Castle hill or you can take bus no. 16 from Deak square to go to Buda castle hill / Matthias church. However we took a different route to reach the Castle.
After spending some time, we took bus no. 16 from Buda Castle (not 16A, which we took mistakenly) to go to Deak Square. First metro in continental Europe started in Deak Square. The first one was in London (which was not part of Continent, then). The metro at Deak Square is just below the surface - there is no elevator or escalator – may be just 15-20 ft. They retained the old world charm. Even the train compartments have retained old world charm. It is different from other compartments of the metro. Deak square is a very important junction. It is yellow line - line 1. The yellow line is known locally as "the small underground" ("a kisföldalatti"), while the M2, M3 and M4 are called "metró".
After one stop, to the West is the last stop at Vosomorty Ter stop and the last stop to the East is Mexikoi. From Deak Square after few stops towards East is Hosok ter or Hero squre. Hero square is a very important landmark of Budapest. The square is huge - noted for its iconic statue complex - featuring the 7 chieftains of the Magyars and other important Hungarian national leaders, as well as the Memorial Stone of Heroes. There is a big Corinthian pillar. There is a museum on one side and church on another side. Today the museum is closed. In the year 1896 this square was constructed to mark the 1000th anniversary of the victory of Magyar (they say Major) at Carpathian basin (Carpathian mountain is to the East of Hungary in Romania). Construction was mostly completed in 1900. When the monument was originally constructed, Hungary was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and thus the last 5 spaces for statues on the left of the colonnade were reserved for members of the ruling Habsburg dynasty.
Just behind the Square is a beautiful City Park. Inside the park there is a wonderful Vajda-hunyad Castle. There is a moat around it. There is a small Jaki Chapel inside. The architecture of the citadel is unique. The structure has 3 distinct wings, one Gothic, one Romanesque and one Baroque.
After spending some time in the park, we took line 1 – yellow line, to reach Deak Square. Then we started walking along the Pedestrian Street. On the way we saw Elizabeth Bridge.
Mohua
bought some souvenirs at Vaci Utca. The road is called Vaci Utca (Utca means
road) . It starts near Vorosmarty ter and runs parallel to river Danube. We had
Goulash or Goylash – the national dish of Hungary. Goulash is of 2 types -
Goulash with bread (soup with bread) or Goulash with main dish (with mashed
potato). I had half soup with bread for 1190 Forint. It looked somewhat like
Borscht soup of Russia though the
taste is different but good. The restaurant is very nice. Someone was playing
music. Mohua had inch 12 pizza for 2250 Forint. I had some pizza too. There is
13% service charge. We paid around 3600 in total Forint or Rs 900.
We
came back to Deak Square. From there we took bus no. 7 to go to Bosnyak and
then by tram to reach home at 10.45 pm. Today another friend of Gabor has come.
She is from that part of Slovakia. She
is Hungarian and speaks Hungarian, but lives in Slovakia ! She also knows
Slovak language. The territory that is now Slovakia had been part of the Hungarian
kingdom for centuries and the region’s ruling class and landowners were
overwhelmingly Hungarian, while the peasantry was Slovak. A part of Hungary was
annexed to Slovakia after the 1920 treaty of Trianon, which set the boundaries
of modern Hungary (by the victorious allies, after World War I). The new
borders left large Hungarian minorities in many surrounding states, including
in the newly created Czechoslovakia. After the Second World War, thousands of
Hungarians were deported from Czechoslovakia for cooperating with the Germans.
Today, after the breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1993 and the creation of
Slovakia, many of the towns and villages of southern Slovakia are still
overwhelmingly Hungarian.
https://www.pri.org/stories/2009-08-16/slovakia-and-hungary-just-wont-get-along
We chatted till 1 am. She is very lively. Her daughter studies in Romania. She will go to Romania tomorrow to meet her daughter. She will spend the night here.
16/04/2019
Today I left alone. Mohua was having pain in her feet. She chatted with Gabor. I took tram no. 3 to go to Bosnyak square. At Bosnyak square, I got the 24 hour pass from the electronic ticket machine at the bus stop (first change the option to English from Hungarian. I did not know it initially. I did not know that English option was there) with my international credit card (not forex card). I was not too sure, if my international credit card would work in this machine. I took a bus to go to Astoria to see the famous Great Synagogue. It is one of the biggest synagogues after New York, outside Israel. It was constructed in the year 1859. Gabor said it is not great from inside. So I did not go inside, basically because of the large queue.
From there I went to "Ruined pub” on Gabor's suggestion. It has become very famous here. It had reconstructed a ruined or derelict house into a pub. The theme of this pub is “ruined pub”. Here you will find old TV, old radio set, Gramophone etc. Later this idea was copied in Berlin.
Then I went to see the opera house, walking. There are daily shows in the opera house - 3 pm and 5 pm. I went inside the opera house. It is really grand in nature.
From there I went to Basilica of St Stephen, walking. It was started in 1851 and was finally finished on 1905 (the main dome was heavily damaged in 1868). All these are within walking distance.
https://www.places-of-power.org/wiki/index.php?title=Hungary#Gallery
After spending some time here in this complex, it is time to move.
The view of the Parliament building from Pest, is not like the view from Buda,
since it is not a hilly region.
Gabor told me to go to an old market near Danube. I went there taking tram number 2. If you take tram number 2, then you will run parallel to Danube and have a grand view of Danube - it is probably better idea to take this tram ride, than pricey hop on hop off bus. Remember most of the important sites are near Danube. The old market is just beside the Liberty bridge tram stop.
The prices are much cheaper here, than the pedestrian street. You get almost everything here - souvenir, vegetables, fruits, cheese, salami, sausage, meat etc. Paprika is the most important commodity of Hungary. It is almost like a national symbol. You will get Paprika souvenirs all around. In fact I bought a Paprika paste. After buying some other stuff, I took the metro to go to the Keleti metro station and another metro to Ors ve Ter. Then finally I took tram no. 3 to go to Gabor’s house.
He was
waiting for me to take me to a Thermal bath (or kind of Hamam). There are 9
Thermal baths in Budapest. The one in the centre of Budapest is most beautiful
and also expensive. It is the influence of Turkish rule in Hungary. He gave me a
pair of shorts to me. He is over 6 ft
and travels mostly by cycle. I went to Paskal (Thermal bath centre) by a
trolley bus and he went by cycle. We reached there at 6.15 pm. It is not very
far from his house. We kept our luggage in a locker. A plastic wrist band with
magnetic tape was wrapped around my wrist. It was swiped to enter the place. He
paid Rs 500 for me, since I am not a member. He did not allow me to pay!!
First we went to the hot swimming pool (only 4 ft height I guess).
After spending 5 minutes, we went to steam sauna. This is my first experience in Sauna. Initially I had some breathing problems. After sometime I got acclimatized. Then, after some time, I went to a small tank (hot). He went to the colder tank. From there we went to a dry Sauna. It is really hot ! It was almost unbearable. After some time, we went to a hot swimming pool. There are some places in the pool, from where hot water stream is falling on the pool, through a hose pipe.
He took us at that particular place. At another place, hot water stream is coming from below. It was really very refreshing and great fun.
It closes at 8 pm. There is no separate place for men and women here.
He took all the pictures with his water resistant camera !In the morning, before the breakfast, I bought some items from a
super market near his house for him – since we almost finished everything, Gabor
had in his house. But he refused to take it and said “you take it to Vienna -
it is very expensive, not like Budapest !!”
In the supermarket, I found, things are much cheaper compared to
restaurant. But in restaurants, expect to pay a minimum of 7 Euro for a
lunch/dinner. There are many Tescos here. I did not see Carrefour (French Co.).
I bought Banana, bread, fruits, biscuit, sausage, egg from Tesco. There is a
local departmental store also - from where Gabor buys. Hungarian Sausage
(called Kolbash) is similar to what I had in Kalman Cold store in Kolkata. Kalman
Cold storage after all was started by a Hungarian. Kalman is a common name in
Hungary. It is really good. The price of sausage/salami is around Rs
800/900/1200. The chicken costs around Rs 200. Orange juice costs around 220
Forint or Rs 55 - which is much cheaper than India. He told us to have a
particular salami - which I did not get.
While coming from Thermal bath, he bought it for us (on hearing
that I did not get it) and put it in our bag and did not allow us to
pay!! Here we did not go to any exchange for changing currency. We got it
exchanged from him. When we were coming back, he exchanged the remaining Forint
against Dollar from him!!!
One of my sister’s friends went to Holloko – which is around 1
hour from Budapest towards North near Slovakian border. It is also a very nice
place – which you may go, if you have time.
As we had to catch a bus from Nepliget bus station at 10 pm, we
had a quick dinner. But we were late
(9.15 pm) and Gabor CARRIED OUR LUGGAGE to the tram stop, otherwise we would
have missed the bus to Vienna !!!
We got down from the tram at Ecseri tram stop and we were
supposed to take a metro to Nepliget station – which is nearby. But we heard,
the metro is not plying. Somehow we got the right bus with the help of a good
Samaritan. Even after reaching Nepliget it was difficult to find the bus
station. Somehow we reached the bus station or autobusz palyaudvar at 9.56
minute! We could not thank Gabor, for what he had done - because you thank a
human being, but not a super human!
17/04/2019
We reached Hauptbahnhof (tram stop and Bus station) or Südtiroler Platz (Red line Subway station. Metro is called U-Bahn) ,Vienna (they call it Wien) at 12.50 am at night. There were only 6 people in the bus ! It was quite late, so there were hardly any people in the streets. It was difficult to find the hostel initially. I forgot to download the Vienna map in maps.me. But it is very near to the bus station – 2 minutes walk. Ultimately, after lot of effort we finally reached our destination.
You need a password to enter the place.
Apparently the password should have come to me in my email. I had missed it or may be it did not come. Thankfully at the reception cum kitchen area , 2 people were there - one of them is an Indian ! They opened the glass door, from inside. They also helped us in getting the password, by calling the office of the hostel - otherwise we will be stuck at every level of the hostel. You need the password to access the staircase or room.
It is around 1.5 km from our hostel. The entry fee is 15 Euro.
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Know Austria
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Pact
Orientation
The most important Cathedral/church of Vienna - St Stephen’s Cathedral is at Stephansplatz. This is the place where one should come first, after visiting Belvedere museum. All other important tourist places of Vienna are nearby – walking distance mostly.
Mohua took some rest at the square/ Plaza / Platz.
Platz means Place or Square. I took pictures from all sides. It looks different from different sides. We spent some time there. The St Stephen’s Cathedral is huge in size.
Then we went to St Peter’s Church or Peterskirche - where they have musical concerts regularly. In fact they convert the church into an auditorium, before the concert. The cheapest ticket is 29 Euro. I took one brochure. It is just 150 metres from St Stephen’s Church.
Then I went back to the Stephansplatz. There are many people selling Mozart concert tickets in various places, by various concert companies. The lowest price was 44 Euro. I showed him the brochure of 29 Euro. He, after some hesitation, it was scaled down to 27 Euro ! They said we would also listen to Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi. Some companies were selling ballet also. We would see the programme tomorrow. Normally a typical Mozart concert costs around 50 Euros.
After that we crossed the road and reached the Museum Square. All the famous museums are located here - Leopold museum, MUMOK museum (Museum of Modern Art).
Mohua took some rest in the Museum square. In the meantime I looked around the places nearby. Then we finally came back to Stephansplatz.
boarded the same tram to come back – thanks to our 1 day pass (metro+tram) and got down near “Danube Canal” - the nearest point from our concert hall at 2.30 pm. We saw just beside the Danube Canal a party was going on by the youngsters. We had to take stair case to go near the Canal. The main River Danube is further away. We spent some time there. There is a place called Tel Aviv beach here.
However the room was dry. Our host is from Brazil. He is a musician and normally rents it to the musicians. There is a piano in our room. There is a gas oven also in our room.
Then we went to the famous Mirabell Garden or Schloss Mirabell, walking. It is not a hilly terrain. The shooting of Sound of Music took place here. This is now used as a marriage ceremonial hall .
Then we went to the house of Mozart - . Here you cannot take pictures. So we did not go there, since Mozart's birth place (Mozart Wohnhaus) is just across the river. It is also more interesting, according to Lonely Planet. Mozart was born (1 year before Battle of Plassey in India i.e. in the year 1756) in Mozart Wohnhaus.
His family moved to this bigger house - Mozarthaus, when he was 17 in 1773. From 1773 to 1787, the Mozart family lived at the so-called "Dance Master's House", standing on today's 8 Makartplatz.
The house on the 9 Getreidegasse where Mozart was born, was simply too small for the family or to host social gatherings appropriately. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart lived at the Mozarthaus on 8 Makartplatz until he moved to Vienna in 1781. The entry fee is 11 Euro. But the combo fare for the both the places are 18 Euro. I took some pictures from outside.
So went across the river to reach his
birth place - almost beside the river.
The 5 eras in classical music, along
with the main composers, are:
a) Baroque
period (1600-1770)—Bach, Vivaldi, Handel. The early music of Haydn
came under this era. This era was preceded by
European church music and the Renaissance period.
b) Classical
period (1770-1815)—Later
Haydn, Mozart, early Beethoven. While
Haydn is considered a bridge between the baroque and classical
eras, Beethoven is seen as a bridge between the Classical and Romantic eras
c) Romantic
period (1815-1910)—Later-day
Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Frederic Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Wagner, Johannes Brahms
d) Modern
period (1910-1975) Igor Stravinsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, Edward Elgar, Benjamin Britten, Arnold Schoenberg,Charles
Ives. Some people feel that though he lived before this era, Wagner’s style of
composition had a major influence on modern composers.
e) Contemporary
period (1975 onwards)—Philip Glass, Terry Riley, John Adams, Karl
Jenkins, John Tavener.
(To know more read
- https://narenmusicnotes
Then we went to Residenzplatz, also in old town walking. There is Salzburg Cathedral or Salzburger Dom - the 17th century Baroque cathedral in Residenzplatz.
Of its numerous churches, this cathedral is Salzburg's most important sacred building - with its mighty dome and two towers. Then we went to see Festungsberg - the signature landmark of Salzburg. Festungsberg is a mountain. Its summit at about 1,778 ft, is the site of Hohensalzburg Fortress. You can go there by the funicular . The Return fare of the funicular is 10 Euro (one side is 8 Euro). We took the funicular. The view from the top is majestic.
We saw the snow capped hill from there. We met a Bengali couple over there - they stay in UK and the guy had studied in my school in Kolkata !! The lady was in Punjab, New Zealand, Switzerland and finally settled in Edinburg. Her husband stays in Leeds. They have a house in Leeds instead of Edinburg is Edinburg is very expensive. They have come here during Easter holiday. They said they are a weekend couple! They are both Professors of Chemistry. She has passed from Kalyani University. We spent some time together.
Tomorrow we had planned to go to Sound
of Music Tour - it takes place 2 times a day - one at 9 am and another at 2 pm.
There is a separate tour to Hallstatt. When we were done with our day tour, it
was already late. All the travel agents shop were closed. Just beside the river
there is a company called Bob's Special
tour - https://www.bobstours.com/som.php. They do both the tours in one day. There is another tour
company called Panorama tour. They also do the tours together. Their office is
at Mozartplatz – which will be difficult to go in the morning. So we zeroed in
on Bob’s Special tour. So I took their number from the signboard of their
office and contacted them over whatsapp. I told them I am planning to do
Hallstatt + Sound of music tour tomorrow. They told us to “come tomorrow
morning - online booking is not possible”.
Here sausage is very popular, like our Roll - you will find it everywhere. The sausages come in all shapes and sizes and are made using a variety of meats, with pork and veal being the most popular. The local food here lacks variety. If you want to buy it - they will ask "Sauce or Ketchup ?". Sauce is basically English mustard.
The sausage is placed inside a burger or bread. We had sausage from one of the numerous Wurstelstand kiosks on the street. I had Käsekrainer Frankfurter (While we name it after Frankfurt, most of Germany calls it Wiener (Vienna) sausage, and in Ukraine, they call the same sausage the Salzburg sausage. Producers in Germany are only allowed to call their product Frankfurter, if it’s produced in Frankfurt. Therefore most of Germany calls it Vienna sausage ) and Bosna/Bosner. In fact Bosna and Bernerwürstel were invented in Salzburg. I had Bratwursteln yesterday. It is nothing great. It tasted like Chicken sausage- which I hate! Hungarian sausage (Kolbas) is much better.
https://www.thecutlerychronicles.com/austria-culinary-tour-of-two-cities-19-html/
20/04/2019
Hallstatt is known for its production of salt, dating back to prehistoric times. The whole place is like a picture post card. We were given around 2 hours to see the village. There is no public transport here. There is a departmental store. We returned to our car at 2.30 pm. On the way back we went to a church (Church of Mondsee ) where the wedding of Von Trapp took place.
We learnt that the main wedding hall was 3 times bigger, than the real size - though the facade was same, but the rest of the wedding hall was a set in Hollywood. We returned Salzburg at 4.45 pm.
Travellers would also use it to clean their horses before entering the city.
https://www.behance.net/gallery/40414915/Illustrated-map-of-Czech-Republic
The city is very touristy and over crowded with tourists. But this side of the city, near synagogue is a study in contrast.
Then we returned to our hostel to keep
the luggage inside our room. The hostel has got many awards. It was manned by a
Vietnamese boy - who is working during his summer holiday. His Vietnamese parents
came here to study long back from Vietnam and stayed back. There is also a
Vietnamese departmental store nearby. It is open till 10 pm. There are many
Vietnamese here. We tried to change some Euro/Dollar to Koruna. Czech Republic
is famous for scam related to foreign exchange. The first place we went (and we thought that is the only place in
the small village), were charging quite ridiculous rates. I did not exchange
it - just in case there is another office. Mohua as usual bought it at that
ridiculous rate (22.5 Koruna = 1 Euro) without exploring. I saw another office
after 100 metres and the difference is almost 10% lower than the first one
(24.5 Koruna=1 Euro) ! The spread between buy and sell is 4 ! You have to see
if the commission written in the board is 0. Otherwise you have to pay this
commission over and above the exchange rate. The European Union (EU) is a political and economic
union of 27 member states. Currently, the euro (€)
is the official currency of 19 out of 27 EU member countries
Orientation
Its historic city centre is centred around the Český Krumlov Castle - on the top of a hill. There is a church too. The castle has Gothic, Renaissance and baroque elements, an 11 hectare garden and an original 17th century baroque theater (I have not seen it). There are panoramic views of the old town and the canal/river from the top of its bell tower. The town's appearance is little changed since the 18th century.
There is a nice garden at the top. A famous artist Egon Schiele used to stay here in 1911. We could not find his house. He was basically from Vienna, but used to stay here. He was controversial for his activities like nude modelling. There is a monastery here. It was closed too, since we were late. You have to cross the canal by a wooden bridge.
We will leave for Prague tomorrow in the morning.
22/04/2019
Our bus is at 8 am and will reach Prague around 11 am. In Prague we are staying in an Airbnb owned by a saint from Iskcon. Their house is in Lipanska. There was an auto check-in facility in their Airbnb. A lock box is hanging on a lamp post in front of his house. You have to use your phone data to get the password . With the right password the lockbox opens and you take the key from the box and then you open the main (wooden) door of the building. I was bit confused how to open it. After some time, a person in that house (who is also a member of Iskcon - his name is Madhusudan) helped us to open the door. In our room there is a numbering lock - not like this. We had a quick prasad /lunch beside the pooja/worship room.
Jola's daughter went with us in a pram. The trams stops were made in such a way that you can get into the tram with a pram easily. I paid 110 Koruna or Rs 330 for the 24 hour tram/metro / bus ride. A single ride costs 30 Koruna or Rs 90 (1 Koruna = 3 INR). There is Prague card also. But it will not make sense, unless you stay longer. The tram is less advanced than Budapest. There is no electronic board mentioning the arrival time of next tram here. Only a printed paper with the route is mentioned on the board. The bus number is also mentioned. On the way to the old town, we had famous Czech roll – Trdelnik (Tradel-nik) - which originated here. Trdelnik can be found in Budapest also.
Understand Prague
Prague is regarded by many as one of Europe's most charming, colorful and beautiful cities. Prague was founded in the later 9th century and soon became the seat of Bohemian kings, some of whom ruled as emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. The city thrived under the rule of Charles IV, who ordered the building of the New Town in the 14th century - many of the city's most important attractions date back to that age. The Charles bridge was constructed during his period.
The city also went under Habsburg rule and became the capital of a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1918, after World War I, the city became the capital of Czechoslovakia.Orientation
Prague can be divided into 4 parts. The main river is Vltava river. On the Western side is Castle district (or Hrad-cany) & Mala Strana (Lesser Town) - which is not very far from Castle
district. Mala Strana is basically beside the Charles bridge.
On the Eastern side is Nove Mesto (New town) and Stare Mesto (Old town)
23/04/2019
It was also the seat of Political power. In the meantime my camera just ran out of memory. After spending almost 15 minutes, I was able to delete the pictures taken in the last tour of Egypt !
Since Hradcany is on the top of a hill , like Salzburg, the view is superb.
Inside the Prague castle you can enter without a ticket. But they won’t let you inside most of the places. There is an absolutely stunning Gothic Katedrála sv. Víta or St Vitus Cathedral or loosely Prague Castle (which is a Roman Catholic metropolitan cathedral - constructed over a period of 600 years - one of the most richly endowed cathedrals of Europe - it was pivotal to the cultural life of Prague), old Prison, wonderful building, workers quarter, museum, gallery, manuscript inside the Castle. The construction started in 1344 AD. You can go to the old Royal Palace - inside the castle. It was the seat of Czech kings.
The tiny houses were occupied until
World War II. Prague is the city of Franz
Kafka. A sister of his rented house no, 22 in the summer of 1916; Kafka used this
house to write for approximately one year.
Jaroslav Seifert, who won the Nobel
Prize in Literature in 1984 lived there in 1929. Golden Lane is connected with
Dalibor Tower, which used to be a prison.
There is a wonderful pvt museum inside
the castle at Lobkowicz Palace – The palace was built in the second half
of the 16th century by the Czech nobleman Jaroslav of Pernštejn (1528–1569). In 1939, the
occupying Nazi forces confiscated the
Palace, along with all other Lobkowicz family properties. The Palace was
returned in 1945, only to be seized again, after the Communist takeover in
1948. The palace was returned to the ownership of the Lobkowicz family in
2002. You have to pay 690 Koruna to go inside. I skipped it.
It will take half a day to see the whole castle.
With Tax and service charge, I paid 230 Koruna or Rs 700. I had Trdelnik also.
I suddenly got access to wifi beside a Candy shop (I did not buy local SIM) and informed Jola over whatsapp, that I am done with my tour. They said they were near Old town (Stare Mestro). I told them to wait in front of Astronomical tower. I met them (including Mohua) there and took a tram to go back to their home. We had tea together and walked back to our Airbnb! After reaching our Airbnb, we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant, just opposite our house. The Chinese food is good, but different from what we have in Kolkata. We finally called it a day.
25/04/2019
We reached Delhi at 5.20 am and our connecting flight to Kolkata was at 9 am.
We had to change airports, which is quite far. Because of Pakistan airspace
problem, the plane left little late - otherwise we would have missed the
flight.
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/secrets-of-the-hungarian-parliament-building/index.html
https://wikitravel.org/en/Prague
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_occupation_of_Czechoslovakia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_Republic
https://www.salzburg.info/en/sights/top10/hohensalzburg-fortress
https://www.mozarthausvienna.at/en/MOZARTHAUS-VIENNA
