The main purpose of this journey was the participation of a conference I attended due to my voluntary engagement, but we just decided to make a 3 country-train-trip during spring time out of it. All the other destinations were quite close and two capitals in one trip seemed to be a good idea.
I travelled together with my partner, therefore I will write in plural 🙂
We decided to break out of our usual travel routine by planning the trip by train and other public transportation onsite and because “break out of your routine” was the former and inspiring title of the AIESEC Alumni Theme program, I was and I’m still involved.
Blansko and Brno
The first station was Blansko in Czech Republic where our AIESEC Alumni Conference took place.
The plan was to take the first train in Cologne and then the overnight train to Vienna at Mainz. And that was also a travel premier to us, because usually we don’t book the sleep wagon.
The first part of the trip started with some delays, because there were many construction sites around Cologne and Bonn and we missed our booked Austrian overnight train. After a weird and too long trip we arrived at Blansko via Vienna nearly 22 hours after our departure, but if you can enjoy a fantastic view over the South Moravian landscape you just forget your stress within seconds! The hotel offered great local food and the conference was an amazing opportunity to meet old and new friends and also to talk about sustainability related topics. Personally, it was also very special to me, because I got the chance to hold an AlumniTalk about sustainable traveling.
The conference included a trip to the Macocha Gorge which means “Stepmother Gorge”. This gorge is named after the legend of a jealous stepmother who pushed her stepson into it. The young man was rescued by nearby villagers and after they realized what the stepmother has done, she was thrown into the gorge.
After a walk through the woods and some fresh air we had a guided tour through the gorge with its amazing stalagmites and stalactites including a small boat trip, because the gorge possesses an underground lake you can only discover with a boat.
After the conference, we took the train to Brno. It it’s the second largest city in Czech Republic and has a lovely old city to discover. If you’re interested in old churches and architecture, have a look at “Petra a Pavla” (St. Peter-and-Paul cathedral) which you won’t miss. We strolled through the city and when we entered the cathedral, a gospel choir was rehearsing. The sound was truly amazing and the mood was somehow spiritual. Maybe you’re lucky enough to hear some musicians as well?
In the old city with its great historical building and galleries you will find a lot of spots where you can enjoy some typical Czech food like knedlíky (“Dumpling”) with pivo (“Beer”) or if you don’t drink alcohol try “Kofola” (Czech cola) or Vinea (Czech lemonade). After this trip a got a Kofola addict!
Bratislava
We stayed only one night in Brno and continued our journey to Bratislava!
I really fell in love with the Slovakian capital! The medieval old city is a wonderful spot and especially in springtime it’s even lovelier, when you sit outside, have some good Slovakian food or something to drink and observe the vivid spaces around you. I really loved to take a walk near the Danube River, take a moment and observe the waves and the people from the river boats. Across the city we saw a lot of statues like the famous Cumil. We had some fun as we started to have a little scavenger hunt looking for the many statues which are hidden across the city. After we discovered the Hans Christian Anderson statue at the Hviezdoslavovo námestie square, we also saw an ice cream bar. What a nice opportunity to enjoy some during this lovely spring day! Ok, we passed by as we saw the long queue of probably tourists. But believe me, there are many opportunities to buy some delicious sweets like the local Deva chocolate (thank you Kati for this recommendationJ). We stayed for two nights and bought a city card to get access to some of the interesting museums and a walking city tour. Throughout the city you will find a lot of cafés, local restaurants and nice shops with local produced commodities.
During daytime the city is quite crowded with other tourists, but in the evening most of the daytime visitors already left the city and the charming atmosphere will really impress you. I really felt like a time traveller: historical buildings, small hallways the dim light and the smell of the local dishes from the restaurants. Don’t get me wrong, across the city there are many modern cafés like the Urban House with “Blue Latte” and restaurants with traditional dishes. I really liked the Bryndzové halušky (small potatoe dumplings with local cheese). If you have the city card and I can strongly recommend it to you there a plenty of opportunities to learn more about the cities rich history and the connection to Hungary, because Bratislava was once the capital of the Hungarian Empire. Even Maria-Theresia had her coronation in the St. Martins-Cathedral. If you want to visit the many interesting churches, you really should check the opening hours in advance, because they can vary and we missed some of them. Bratislava is great in terms of planning a sustainable trip, because you walk the city quite easily. You can reach Bratislava by train via Vienna or during summer time you can also take the water taxi (which we will probably try next time :)).
vienna
After our stay in Bratislava we continued our journey to Vienna. While researching about sustainable accommodations we had quite good hotels, but most of them didn’t offer or communicated about sustainable arrangements. As we really try to travel as sustainable as possible we were happy that we found a really good sustainable and locally run boutique hotel “Stadthalle Vienna”. We had a fantastic and organic breakfast which I enjoyed very much. The hotel also had a lovely and green inner courtyard and is a zero-energy-hotel which means that they produce the amount of energy they really need. They also provide a lavender garden to provide food for bees. You can also buy the lavender honey onsite, if you’re interested. The plants help to improve the energy efficiency of the hotel as well, because they are naturally cooling down the building. Feeling great and contributing to sustainability!
And also in Vienna we bought a city card to get easily access to the local public transport and to visit the Leopold museum which offers a lot of oeuvre from Egon Schiele and other well-known Austrian expressionists. Springtime in Vienna is really a must! You can discover the beautiful city and the romantic atmosphere in the gardens of Castle Schönbrunn and Belvedere! A place of lush green and relaxation at the “Palmenhaus” near Schönbrunn Castle. The Viennese kitchen also offers so many tasty food from the world famous “Sacher Torte” you really should try to other dishes.
All famous journeys end and the last step it was the overnight train from Vienna back to Germany.
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