Intrepid Tour: Real Central Europe

Here we go 7 countries in 15 days....

At 6pm on the 13th of September I met everyone on my tour. There are 10 of us, 8 from Australia (5 of those from Melbourne), 1 from USA and 1 from Nottingham England. Our tour guide is Polish which was very interesting. We just went over the introduction to the tour and everything we needed to know.

We all had currywurst for dinner (Sausages with curry powder) and then went out for a few drinks which was nice.

14/9-

This morning we were up early to get a bus to Wroclaw in Poland... my first time in Poland and I am very excited. I had a great conversation for 3 hours of the journey before I slept the rest of the 3 hours. We then had a bit of a walk to our hotel.

Poland is definitely a European country! Wroclaw was beautiful with very colourful buildings. A lot of it was destroyed in war but they had rebuilt it. The old town square had buildings that looked 2D because of how the roofs were built and I felt like I was in Balamory with how colourful they are.

It was beautiful though. We as a group climbed to the top of the Bridge of Penitents known for witches. Apparently if you could walk across the bridge in the past you were witch and burnt and if you fell you were not a witch. A lose lose situation for all the women back then. It was however today a fantastic look out point.

We then enjoyed a lovely lunch and looked round a flower market.

In the evening we then went to church Island and enjoyed the views and traditional church's. We tried to see the botanical gardens but we couldn't get in as all the doors seemed to be locked. We then saw the lighting of the lamps by a traditional polish man. It was quite cool to see. There are a lot of "Dwarfs" but more like gnomes around old town Wroclaw that were pretty cool to see and take photos of.

We then enjoyed some Polish dumplings for dinner that were amazing! Before heading to sleep.

15/ 9-

This morning we got more of a lay in until 7am before having free breakfast and heading on the train to Krakow. The journey to Krakow was 4 hours on a train. But it was good to chat with the people I'm on tour with and get to know them a lot more. When we arrived in Krakow we had a walk, were staying right near an old castle and village so it was interesting to see what that used to look like and what it looks like now. I ate the best thing I had all trip which was a Polish pizza. It was amazing!!!!! I then had a polish sauce on top which is like a mix of tomato sauce and mayonnaise. Walking around the time square was very cool and they have a clock tower where every hour on the hour a fireman plays the Trumpet. This had a history story that apparently a man was playing the Trumpet up there and never got to finish his song as he was shot and killed (beautiful really). So the fireman only plays the part of the song that they know before the man was shot. It sounds a lot like the last post.

The rest of the village had many beautiful coloured buildings and a big market square in the middle. We walked upto the castle that had a lot of history and saw great sights of Krakow. There was also a Dragons den that some of the group enjoyed jump scaring me!

After the walk and seeing the castle we went back for a bit of a rest and I also enjoyed a walk on my own to take some photos on my camera. We then got ready for tonight where we had a vodka tasting in a secret bar. We were told there would be 8 different types of vodka and all day as a group we were discussing if it would be like a tiny bit to taste or shots. Well I can tell you now it was 8 shots of vodka. I had never had so much alcohol in one go in my life. And we had them all in less than an hour. Well I was loud and giggly after 2 but remained the same for the rest. They were quite nice and I specifically enjoyed, this could however have been because it was the last one and i eas drunk already. But this one had 50% so quite strong.

We then went out for some Karaoke where I met some people from London before I safely returned to my bed.

16/9-

So today was a very important day to me. Since I was 14 years old and read the story of Anne Frank I wanted to visit the Prison of Auschwitz in Krakow.

I had a slow morning before getting the train to Oświęcim. It was quite an emotional journey to go through and it takes quite a lot of time to process everything. So I'm taking time to still process that but might write more about it in its own post.

I did return to my group for dinner. I was a bit off after the day. 4 of the other women on my tour also did Auschwitz so we were all processing. But i had a good egg soup from Poland. I am unable to recall the name! I also then had an ice cream which was nice before going to bed.

17/9-

Today was a very long travel day!! We were up at 5:30am, left at 6:30am and arrived in Prague at 4pm. I did get to learn how to shuffle cards properly on the train journey. We had a little walk around, got to see the clock hit the hour and a little show happen.

We then went back to get ready for evening. It was one of the guys birthdays so we went out for some steak, then to an Irish pub. Had a nice evening walk before heading to bed.

18/9-

Today in Prague I had a bit of a solo day. I had a nice walk around Prague to see the castle, gardens, high views of the city and the river. I took lots of photos using my camera which I always enjoy. It was really nice to have a day to myself and see all the sights of Prague I wanted too. It was really beautiful to see the coloured buildings, the bridges and the different landscapes.

I then had dinner with my roommate Millie before we met up with the rest of the group to have ice cream, Karaoke and play some foosball.

It was a lot of fun.

19/9-

Today we travelled by bus to Cesky Krumlov. The journey wasn't too long today which was nice. I absolutely love Cesky Krumlov my tour guide describes it as a fairytale like town and that it is. It has a beautiful castle that is just smaller then Prague's. They have live bears there which were super cute (a bit of animal cruelty though). The castle was so nice to walk around and see the river that flows in between. The boys in our group ended up doing a grade 1 rapids but I'm saving that for when we get to Slovenia.

Walking through the town and churches in Chesky Krumlov we found a water Fountain that you put a coin in the devils bum to make it spin. Apparently Czech Republians believe devils to be a comedic figure rather than a religious dark spirit.

I then also went for a walk through the botanical gardens which were beautiful.

We then had a vegetarian dinner at a nice restaurant before I went to a Chinese restaurant with the boys to have some duck. (Can't say we enjoyed the vegetarian dinner options....)

20/9-

Today we got picked up in a private van to get to Vienna. It was actually quite nice to be in a nice smelling vehicle for a change and it just be the 11 of us. I got to stand in two countries today Czech and Austria which was pretty cool. I also got to see some of the remains of the iron curtain. We then had lunch at gas station before arriving in Vienna. We went for a walk through the busy streets and saw the winter castle. I was immediately quite put off Vienna just with how different it was to to where we had been the last few days. Especially Cesky Krumlov as it has such a small population and beautiful buildings Vienna felt very big and crowded again.

I did however find joy in the Apple strudel! And I did enjoy seeing some of the buildings and history.

We sat in a beautiful garden near the winter castle which was really quite nice.

We also explored many of the free churches and more rose gardens. We stumbled upon a beer festival where I had a big pretzel and some cream pastries which were good.

I then did my much needed laundry which took forever to understand the system! But did the adult chore I needed to. I did do it with one of the girls from the tour Annie who I got much closer too after our stressful laundry date.

After that we had a very late dinner and then went to a nightclub that was not very interesting at all.

21/9-

I had a later morning this morning and enjoyed some extra sleep.

I then made it to the summer palace with Millie and enjoyed walking around the gardens and getting upto a very high point to see a lot of Vienna which was beautiful. I also enjoyed an ice cream at the top that was really good.

We then also went to Belvadere Musuem that had the famous kiss painting. This was quite interesting to see different buildings and paintings.

I then caught up on some jobs and planning my future trips as i continue to travel Europe after the tour!

We then went to a theme park this evening where i got to ride some pretty cool rides. I am starting to find them not as entertaining now that I've done some really big ones at Universal Studios, Six flags and Euro-park. I also jumped several times in a horror themed ride.

I did also ride the Oldest Ferris wheel In the world. Which was quite cool and beautiful to see Vienna lite up at night.

22/9-

Today was quite a long bit of travel by train to Budapest. I did enjoy playing card games with some of my friends on the tour. I tried Langos which were these Crispy pastries with sour cream and cheese on top. They were okay. We then went for a walk and saw the Parliament house and a Jewish memorial along the river that had shoes. It was quite emotional and many people were there with cards of Jewish prayers.

After our evening walk we went to a Ruin Bar which was quite cool.

23/9-

Today I spent the day in Budapest with Millie. We went for a walk in this fairy tale like castle which was really cool. We then went on a hot air balloon- it was attached by string in the middle so I wasn't too afriad of the heights and it was cool to see the famous Budapest bath house.

We then went for a bike ride in the gardens, along the streets back to the Parliament house before we walked again. We went across the river to see budas temple and other towns. Then we took a train back, enjoyed a rest before we went on a sunset river cruise.

Then had a very nice Italian dinner. I enjoyed olives which I haven't had in AGES!

Before walking back to the hotel.

24/9-

Today we were up at 5am and travelled for more than 10 hours to get from Budapest to Bled Slovenia. We got on two buses and then a private transfer to a guest house. Slovenia reminded me a lot of Switzerland with its very slopped roofs and the way the houses look like cabins.

Bled is absolutely beautiful. I loved being so close to fresh clear water and we even had a picnic and swim in the evening.

It was so nice to swim in despite being very cold.

There is an island with a church on it in the Lake so many boats were passing so we became quite a tourist attraction as the crazy people swimming in the lake. Typical Austrlians apparently...

25/9-

Today in Bled we went on the white water rapids it was a grade 2 so not too adrenaline pumping. I was the only one who had never been before. Our tour guide was actually from New Zealand so he quite enjoyed having some Aussies in his boat. We all had a lot of fun and it was hilarious when we got to have a free swim in the middle where we all happily jumped in before realising it was FREEZING!

I got to steer the boat at the end as well but terribly messed up when having to bring it back to shore... whoops.

After that we had lunch where we were suggested to have these dumplings with cottage cheese. I do not recommend! Or maybe I just went to a not so great place.

I then went with a few people to walk half the lake and upto a look out point which was beautiful of the lake. We then walked the other half where we found tobogganing so of course we had to do that. It was very fun and great views it was hard to concentrate on the toboggan and the views of Bled though.

We then went out for dinner where I enjoyed a delicious risotto but we did get very wet as it started raining. We've been pretty lucky with the weather of the trip so far.

26/9-

This morning I cooked my own breakfast for the first time in a while. I had eggs on toast with a cup of milk. Its always the small things I miss.

We then took a train that had a bus replacement and then another bus to Venice!! Our final destination on the tour.

We got to see St Marks Square which was actually really quiet as the rain has scared people off.

We got to see the Basilica and the famous bridge of Sighs.

We then went out for our final dinner which I had a Ravioli with cheese and ricotta. An amazing Aperol Spritz and Caramel milk cake desert. I love the food in Italy!!!

We then went out for more drinks before saying goodbye!!

27/9-

This morning I woke up in my shared room with all the girls on the tour. We went our for breakfast together and then all split up and said goodbye.

I enjoyed seeing more of Venice with one of the guys Ethan from America. We then said goodbye and I enjoyed some pasta and cannelloni. I found a very beautiful book store, saw lots of beautiful buildings. I enjoyed a beautiful gondola ride (it lasted a total of 5 seconds and costed $4). Great to say I have now been on one.

I then got my stuff and now on a train to Florence. My next part of my trip.

I am 135 days into my World Trip and can say that I have no idea where I will be in 135 days. I barely know where I will be next week!!

My goal for this trip is to be spontaneous as that is quite difficult for me and pushes me out of my comfort zone. So this is definitely doing that. But I'm excited or where it is going to take me! I just can't believe that in 135 days this is the first time I will actually be completely solo and not have anyone travelling with me.