Eastern Europe 2015

Picturesque Prague

Sun, 8 Nov 2015 19:58:13 -0800

Prague is the butterfly of Eastern Europe. It has thrown off its pupal Communist mantle with much aplomb and sparkles with jewels on its streets and furs on its women. It has changed the most quickly and radically over the last 25 years, with Cartier and Gucci on the street where the Jews once lived. Which is what you might expect from a country which elected a literary intellectual as its first democratic President. But, thinking of what I have seen over the last week, Prague was not able during the long hard post-WWII period to control the design of some major building and housing projects which unfortunately reflect the Soviet aesthetic. Budapest seemed to somehow keep those developments more under control or had better urban planning and it seems Bucharest never even tried at all.

Most of the people I know from our generation have voted and worked on the side of greater equality and freedom for all people the world over. And we cheered when the Berlin wall fell and the Soviet Union collapsed in on itself and a form of capitalism returned to Mainland China. So we should not be surprised and upset by the consequence of these economic changes: Huge groups of tourists in every tourist spot in the Europe, especially in Prague, where many flights are arriving direct from Seoul, from all parts of Russia and from China. But it is now a little difficult for tourists to enjoy the city due to the huge crowds, everywhere. And, once again, this is typically low season and even our tour guide remarked how unusually crowded it is for this time of year and as crowded as it is now, it is far worse in the summer time.

But there is still much to be seen and enjoyed. The modern Hilton Prague treated us royally and was a good juxtaposition to our visits to the old part of the City. The buildings and large squares stand as exquisite examples of a range of architectures. We had a full day of touring the old city, from the Castle and changing of the guard, to the old churches and square, across the Charles bridge and on a boat ride at sunset along the Vlatava. And a farewell dinner of our group at a folklore restaurant enjoying the music and dance of the region.

The group disbanded this morning and now, alone once more, I have most of a day to myself before I leave. It is a 15 minute walk from the Hilton to the center of town and I enjoy this stroll in beautiful weather as it is not quite through the tourist area and allows me to see the shops and stores frequented by the local people. Their department stores on this street are rather a large collection of stalls of different kinds of items rather than one store with departments. I go inside one and walk around with the other shoppers. There are separate cheese stores and bakeries and liquor stores, luggage shops and shoe venders. Everywhere the streets are clean and I see no homeless, at least in this part of town.

I spend my day at the museums and the old cemetery in the Jewish sector. When Charles and I were here in 1992, there was only 1 small government-run museum and the old cemetery. The synagogues had not been repaired or restored. Although only some of them are presently open for religious services, they are now in magnificent condition, having beautifully curated exhibits of well-preserved artifacts.

During WWII, the Germans, it seems, shipped a lot of confiscated Jewish religious items to Prague which are now on display, planning for a museum of an extinct people. The moorish-decor of the Spanish synagogue, the newest one for the more enlightened Jews of the late 19th-early 20th century stands out as does the small basic still functioning old-new synagogue.

I rented an excellent audio-guide and also did a walking tour of Kafka’s life in Prague (thinking of our friend Larry who is a Kafka scholar), passing by the many houses that his well-to-do family lived in at that time in the Jewish part of the city. But Kafka found Prague suffocatingly conventional - as it was quoted on my audio tape, “Prague takes hold of you, like a mother with claws”.

A final lunch at an all vegetarian restaurant in the non-tourist area, the best meal of my whole trip, a fabulous salad with lentils, beets, tempeh and lettuce, and then departure. Traveling to the airport across the other side of town, I am surprised by the many beautiful neighborhoods with old well-maintained buildings outside the city center - this truly is a beautiful city.

The group trip was like a wonderful week in summer camp with new friends -- and great counsellors. And now I am thinking -- maybe I should organize a trip through Eastern Europe -- but only in the off season.

Until my next trip -- explore and enjoy life.

Czech Villages

Fri, 6 Nov 2015 07:01:41 -0800

We are driving from the town of Tabor to Prague and it is dusk, with bright green fields bordered by fall colored trees which have obviously been left to serve as boundaries between property and to hedge against flooding from streams. Smoke is arising from houses along the way, it appears wood is still used for heating here and it is apparent why wars were fought for these verdant valleys.

Yesterday we arrived into the Czech Republic and the town of Cesky Krumlov. When Charles and I visited Cesky Krumlov in March of 1992, it was a strikingly beautiful but empty historic town. With the castle looming over the town, closed at that time of year, the central square deserted except for a light layer of snow, it felt like being part of another era, a different time. The only thing we could find to eat at the one local restaurant was the trout caught fresh from the river and the endless cabbage and carrots. And there was only one dessert, the Czech pancakes, palatinky, with whipped cream. It was a known tourist destination, which was why we were there, as a specific stop on our way to Karlovy Vary, the former Karlsbad spa, but visitors were few and we stayed in one of the only hotels, spare and basic, on the main square. No souvenir stalls around. But now it has been “found” by tourists of all nationalities.

Today, in the off season, the town is filled with tourists, not packed as I am told is the situation here in July and August, but there are no locals to be seen except in the tourist shops filling the bottom of every house on every street and in the numerous restaurants on every corner offering pizza and traditional (i.e. meat and potatoes) food. The houses on the historic 14th-19th century central square have all been beautifully painted and renovated into hotels and the smaller old 2-3 story homes up and down the cobblestoned winding streets remain charming and traditional, with their baroque and rococo decorations with some remaining painted frescoes. This town has changed over time but it is still remarkably well-preserved and beautiful, helped by the sun shining on the water that surrounds the town.

Above is the frescoed walls of one of the castle courtyards on the hill above the town. Below, a scene from across the town river.

My room has a balcony that is right above the small river that surrounds the city and which looks onto the magnificent castle. One of the highlights for me was finding on the block of our comfortable Hotel Myln a vegetarian restaurant -- and a lovely dinner with 3 of my new friends. From my balcony, daytime and nighttime:

Tabor is a town with a historical center from the 1300’s which is known because of its connection with John Huss, the first priest who publicly spoke out against Roman Catholic corrupt policies and politics and paid by being burnt at the stake at the the order of the Church. The museum in the center of the square of Tabor goes through in great detail the history of this Hussite movement, which was several centuries before Martin Luther but which was one step in the direction of church reformation -- and consequent large scale inter-Christian wars within this part of Europe. There are no other tourists in this town and we wander around the old buildings, as beautiful as those we have previously seen but not as well maintained and with some ugly new additions stuck between baroque mansions.

Cesky Budejovice is a larger town but also not a tourist destination so its still lovely historic streets and square look like a movie set, a European fairy tale setting of small old houses with scattered churches.

The reason for our stop is is to visit the main industry of the area: Budweiser beer making -- this is the original Budweiser and there are still court cases going on fighting for the naming rights in Europe so the product of this town must be called “Budvar”. It was nationalized a long time ago, went through Communist times in good form as it was one of the main sources of outside hard currency for the country, and remains a government industry, employing a good part of the local citizens. Yes, the tour featured fresh unpasteurized beer which those who tasted it said was pretty bitter. The secret of their beer, they say, are the quality of the water from the deep artesian well and the copper vats.

Our group has a good meal at the beer factory restaurant -- complete with a choice of light, dark, strong or non-alcoholic beer.

Wandering through these old towns and old central European squares has been a history lesson in how quickly life can change as over and over again villages and town were invaded and ravaged, conquered and ruled by new lords, sometimes for power and sometimes over religious differences. And how resilient people can be, returning again and again to start their lives anew. And how well-constructed buildings can survive over time and show their faces to a changing world.

Bratislava & Vienna

Wed, 4 Nov 2015 11:29:40 -0800

On to Bratislava in Slovakia. Highlights: Visit to a vineyard and wine tasting in a small town,, a women in her 30’s who decided to pickup and put together her ancestors profession after the fall of Communism allowed her to invest in her future. Impressive wines which won prizes in Paris which are consumed entirely within Slovakia. And a memorable trip to a ceramics factory where the pottery is still hand thrown, hand-painted and fired.

Bratislava itself at the wonderful Frankensteiner Hotel with a night time trip into the medieval part of the city, with a lit up historical city center, shops, an opera house and philharmonic near the Danube. Very magical -- especially as we had though there was not much to the City which is known for its auto production rather than its beauty.

Then to Vienna. The great imperial buildings of the Hapsburgs, musical history on every corner, elegance on every street. A glorious world built for the benefit of an elite but which provided opportunities for many. I went with another group member to the Jewish Museum which had a striking historical review of the role and history of Jews in Vienna, the in-bred anti-semitism which would break out periodically and then recede and allow a period of liberal intellectual and commercial growth, allowing major cultural figures like Freud, Wittgenstein, Mahler, Kreisler, Schoenberg to grow and flourish.

Throughout the city, Beethoven and Mozart’s and Strauss’ ghosts appear here and there and the art school which, if it had accepted Adolf Hitler into its program, might have changed the course of an ugly history. The large Stadt Park is across the street from our beautiful hotel and the theater for avant-grade productions, including those of Berthold Brecht, is next-door. The pieces of history lie at your feet everywhere in Vienna but it is a puzzle built on the lives of one rather complicated Hapsburg family who ruled the destiny of many.

No, I did not eat any Sacher Torte (it isn’t exactly vegan) but many in our group bought pieces to bring home.

The difference between Slovakia and Vienna is striking. Slovakia, hard working and industrialized, with auto manufacture its main industry, still reflecting its years under Communism, grey with some bright colors. I get a sense, without much objective basis, that the country is still ambivalent about giving up the security of its socialism, providing jobs, homes, a relaxed inward lifestyle, and fully entering the capitalist forum, requiring more from the individual and offering unknown gain. Vienna is probably the grandest of the old world cities but it strikes me as having a cold heart, allowing individual expansion but within a rigid structure. This is epitomized by the graffiti which populates many unexpected places, as one outward expression of personal freedom.

I haven’t written much about our diet on this tour -- 3 large meals a day. A buffet breakfast, ranging from a full extravagant spread to a more modest bread, meat (always), cheese and eggs; then a 3 course sit-down lunch, which for everyone in the group except me consists usually of a soup then a large meat and potato dish and rich desert. I have managed but not with a healthy diet: usually a small salad and then a main dish of some kind of pasta or potato or what is called “dumplings” here which is a mixture of potato and floor formed into small pieces, with sometimes boiled vegetables and often sauerkraut. One of the better combinations was a pasta with a sweet caramelized sauerkraut sauce -- who would have thought! I have undoubtedly gained weight as this kind of meal is basically repeated in the evening. The others have had variations of meat goulash or fried pork cutlets at many meals, with the ubiquitous potatoes. And the bread is absolutely the best thing - everywhere. Rolls with pumpkin seeds, rye bread with caraway seeds, dark break with sunflower seeds. Our bakeries needs to up their game to come close to the fresh options here. But MacDonalds and Burger King and KFC are everywhere and very popular -- so tastes may unfortunately change.

Beautiful Budapest

Mon, 2 Nov 2015 21:52:34 -0800

I walk from the Keleti train station to my hotel in the old Jewish sector of town. The area on the way was once prosperous but is now run down with vacant shops and graffiti although this is a main thoroughfare through town, North to South. My hotel, however, is a wonderful Art Deco survivor in the Jewish quarter of the Pest side of town, with vibrant streets filled with Kosher and Israeli restaurants, as well as Turkish kebab places. And contrasting architectural styles, from Baroque to Art Deco, connecting with each other in a harmonious way.

I walk for several hours, down Dohenyi Street to Deak Square where a large ferris wheel revolves and the beauty of the city begins to appear in its buildings and people. I have lunch at the “Hummus Bar”, inexpensive delicious middle-east food, and enjoy discovering around corners the magnificent late 19th century structures built to turn this city into a fashion and culture center of Europe. Then a free walking tour with a diverse group from Israelis to Mexicans around the Jewish quarter, learning some of the history of this once-large and flourishing community, rounded up and ghettoized during WWII. Night falls and I go with the tour leader to the “Israeli Street-Food Cafe’” for a couscous dinner and find myself walking back by myself in the dark, feeling comfortable with my surroundings. The streets are clean and the city seems to take a pride in itself, at least in this central area. A photo of the great synagogue, outside and in, built with Moorish styling: Theodor Herzl, the father of Zionism, lived next door a long time ago and the wealthy family of “Tony Curtis” was across the street (we are told that Tony donated generously to help restore the temple.)

As many of you know, I am a bit neurotic about clean clothes when I travel so the next morning I take my dirty clothes to a laundromat on the next block from my hotel where I put in my wash and pick it up out of the dryer 2 hours later at a cost of about $7.

But that was well after I got up early in the morning, ate my peanut butter and rice crackers, and took the subway North to the Szechenyi Public Baths, the largest thermal baths in Europe known for its geothermal healing waters. This was an interesting experience indeed. It is a Sunday and a National Holiday as well so it makes sense that many people would be there for their weekly or a special holiday outing. No one spoke much English but there were somewhat adequate signs around. I rented a “cabana” to change into my bathing suit and leave my belongings and then wandered into the outside area, with huge clouds of steam arising from the 3 outdoor pools as it was quite cold outside and the water quite warm. I then explored the indoor areas -- pool after pool, some large, some small, each with a different temperature indicated ranging from 32-38 degree centigrade (convert this yourself), some in a plain unadorned room and some with baroque columns or large arched windows. Unfortunately, I did not have waterproof sandals so had to carry my sandals around and walk barefoot, including through the disinfecting water bath between the inside and outside. My 30 minute aromatherapy massage in a small cubicle in a separate section was one of the best massages I have every had -- this woman knew what she was doing. I then tested out various indoor pools and enjoyed the hottest ones at 38 degree which were not nearly as hot as those at Esalen or Tassajara. My favorite was the large outdoor pool with water pouring out of the mouths of stone spigots and the water warm and relaxing. My cost for all this was $30 plus the cost of towel and bathrobe rental. The people, mainly middle age and older, look --- very slavic. There is hardly anyone over 35 who is not overweight. A photo of the central part of the building containing the baths:

And then I splurge and take a luxurious hotel car to my new hotel to meet my wonderful tour group for the first time, 14 women, including the tour leader and two representatives of Travel Bound which was sponsoring this tour for travel agents. All women ranging in age from about 35-70, mostly from California. My new hotel, Mercure Korona, is on the square with a large national museum, elegant but shuttered on this National Holiday. In fact, almost everything is closed and I have difficulty finding a place to get a quick bite to eat, finally entering a cafe and getting hot chocolate with soy milk and a delicious seeded roll with vegetables. My group:

Our afternoon bus tour took us to a small quaint town (whose name I can not remember) and then back and around and about, into the Buda side of the City, until the sun sets and it is night time. We visit Heroes Square and we walk around the lit up impressive Parliament building and then eat high on a hill with a view of the city below. I am very glad, very very glad, I brought my long down coat with me.

Group tours are a hard to remember whirlwind of impressions and special moments, with something haunting or memorable every now and then. On our next day, the guide comments that many Hungarians think back fondly of the Communist time, when everyone had a job and a salary and were more or less equally poor but with time to relax and enjoy life, albeit with little freedom to travel or express themselves. Another moment is the visit to the Jewish synagogue, large and impressive and sad as the community is now so small and so many died during the Holocaust. The Mathias Church, with the most elaborate wall paintings and decoration, and the walk along the Fisherman’s Bastion with the view across to Pest on a brilliant day. Lunch in a wine cellar with a show by a Rubic cube professional, able to solve Rubic cube configurations with one hand -- the Rubic cube having been invented by Mr. Rubic of Pest, still living in a mansion in Buda and enjoying the fruits of its creation.

A few of us walk to the local Market Hall and see the local products on display, always one of my favorite things to do, and I walk to the nearby Danube.

Our weather has been phenomenal, bright sunshine and cool weather. Perfect fall travel environment. My group, women from across the US, are all compatible and we are enjoying getting to know each other.

On to Biertan & Sibui

Sun, 1 Nov 2015 01:45:52 -0800

We leave Sighisoara in the heartland of Transylvania and drive through open fields, some with dried corn stalks still smiling in the sunlight and some already plowed under and waiting for the next planting. We pass small villages, always with a church spire somewhere in the distance, and drive to Biertan, another World Heritage Site known for its Saxon church and fortress walls.

I ask Andrei why the road to this village is in so much better shape, although both blacktop, than the rough one we encountered on the way to Viscri. He replied that different districts have different priorities -- and obviously the road that Prince Charles uses to Viscri is not high on its district’s list. In Biertan, we found a small village square, with a cart and driver waiting for some passengers, and then, a little ways up the hill, an enclosed church, once again of Saxon origin, surrounded by walls for protection. It is a larger church than Viscri and there appear to be more present parishioners here and the church seems more integrated with the surrounding village. It is all very rural and isolated and it is easy to imagine this place a 100 or 200 years ago with little difference except for a few advertisements on some doors. Note the elaborate locking mechanism in the door to the church storeroom below -- which was considered such an engineering marvel it was taken to some exhibitions.

In this Saxon community, if you wanted to get divorced, the couple had to agree to be imprisoned in a room in the citadel for 1 month, sharing one small bed, one bowl, one spoon. If the couple still wished to be separated after that period, they were allowed to do so. We were told only 1 couple was divorced in about 100 years. Here is the room below:

And here is the main square of Biertan with its transportation system.

On to the larger city of Sibiu, from where my train leaves for Budapest. It was a little bit of a surprise to move from several days of small rural Romania to the outskirts of industrialized Sibiu. Once inside the city, similarly composed as in Bucharest of older usually poorly maintained homes and apartment complexes, we drive to the train station so I can leave my suitcase and then we drive up near the main historic square where Andrei, Monica and I have a last meal together before they drive back to Bucharest. There is an opera on that night, Clara Haskil, and a lovely opera house as well.

The square is beautiful. Very large with imposing buildings around its irregular shape, with a number of outdoor cafes. It is a brilliant cool fall day and there are few tourists. On my own, I stroll down the city’s main shopping street and I am surprised to recognize that although a good size town is outside these ancient walls, it is this pedestrian-only paved street off the historic old square which displays upscale stores selling clothes, shoes and electronics. Wandering around, I find on a side street a small restaurant, names Jules, offering farm-to-table fresh produce and I see some baskets of vegetables looking like they are waiting for pickup from local buyers.

I have many hours until I must walk to the train station so I go into the local historical museum and wander through interesting exhibits of life from prehistoric times through the medieval period to today but I by-pass the weapons displays which just remind me of Transylvania’s violent past. English is not commonly spoken here and I have some communications problems with the museum staff of where I can or can not go. The architecture varies from very plain to elaborate stone carved neo-classicism. The church steeples have fabulous designs made, I am told, from colored tiles.

Some time relaxing in the Cafe Wien with tea and then dinner back at Jules (despite its farm-to-table philosophy I had trouble ordering a vegan dinner and end up, once again, with pasta). It is now 9 pm and I walk by myself in the dark through the streets down to the train station. I pass the main church beautifully lit at night and a group of children celebrating Transylvanian Halloween with lit pumpkins. Does that come from a tradition here or translated from the U.S.?

It feels very safe and I wait in the simple train station waiting room with a diverse collection of people: groups of middle-class young people heading back to their towns outside of Sibiu, a group of old men with canes who stay in the station most likely for warmth and who start a fight with each other, and coming shortly before the train, a few tall European backpacking types. The train started about 3 hours earlier from Budapest and stops for a few minutes for the dozen of us on the platform to climb on board. I splurged for a first class 2-berth cabin and get on the last car, helped by the conductor, who shows me that my berth is the upper birth and if I want a lower one I must pay him something, despite the fact that almost all the couchettes are empty in this car. I give him $10 and am glad I have the compartment to myself but I can not sleep -- despite the fact that it is now after 11 pm -- as the train is extremely loud and bumpy. This is more like an Indian train than a European compartment -- very basic and not that clean with the 2 toilets down at the end of the car. I had read that these cars are sometimes Romanian and sometimes Hungarian and I don’t know which this is but it is not my concept of a first class train experience but I am glad to be by myself. At about 5 am we are awakened by a pounding on the doors as the Romanian police come to check our passports and mine is duly stamped by a lovely young woman. A half-hour wait, the train moves for about 10 minutes, and then more knocking on all compartment doors as the Hungarian border patrol are now here to examine my passport. This is the result of the ongoing immigration issue as train stops are no longer common in the European Union.

I am now in Hungry and will be arriving into Budapest a little tired but enjoying the daily changes around me.