Short Walk in the Center of Pardubice

Pardubice, on the Elbe river is one of Czech Republic's most important industrial centers, historically focused on chemistry (this is where Semtex explosives come from), more recently electronics and machinery companies together with an oil refinery have brought new business here.

The city is known internationally for one of the most difficult horse races, the Steeple Chase and the indoor motorcycle race it hosts. But these are not the only attractions, inside the Czech Republic, the renown of Pardubice is linked to the gingerbread made here which saw a rise in production in the 20th century and the cultural life is also booming with music festivals and great theater. Well-known is the comedy theater festival held in the city's beautiful Art Nouveau theater house

If you stop by for an afternoon, start your trip at the information office, right next to the Green Gate, at Nam. Republiky 1. Here you can get your complimentary map and brochure where the main points are highlighted on and you can even follow one of the itineraries suggested there. Since the terrain is so flat, biles are very common with very good bike routes in and around town.

The city of about 90 000 inhabitants  has an old center reminiscent of the gingerbread that made it's fame and an interesting looking castle surrounded by gardens. Noteworthy is also the pedestrian area with cafés and restaurants, one being the Potrefena Husa in the Grand Shopping mall.


Passing the Green Gate, Pernštýnském náměstí the city's main square opens up to the visitor. It is a quiet square on a warm August after-noon but the imposing City Hall provides the background for the many fairs and festivals. A Marian Column and baroque houses complete the décor of one of the mot beautiful center squares in the Czech Republic.


Continuing towards the Castle, one will discover that it is surrounded by beautiful green gardens, a real heart of the city as many families meet here to enjoy the modern playground for children. Many sports events are held on the sports field close by.

The Castle itself is quite unique in Central Europe, a white, imposing Palace surrounded by castle walls, it used to belong to the lords of Pernštejn in the 16th century. Inside, it houses early renaissance murals as well as the Museum and the Gallery of East Bohemia, making it interesting enough for a stop over.



Pardubice is easily accessible by train from Prague or Brno, being an important railway hub in Eastern Bohemia or by car, following the D11 highway linking Prague and Hradec Kralove. Other day trips can include Kutna Hora, where there is a huge ossuaire and Kolin, where there is a Toyota plant. Both of these places are on the way to Prague, following quaint roads through villages.
 More information on www.visitpardubice.com/




 

Romanian Road Trip - Day 1 Oradea

I'm back after a wonderful week spent on the road in Romania. It was tiring but well worth it. The three of us (me and two French guys, lucky me), left From Prague on Friday around 2pm and we reached the Romanian border town of Oradea at 1am, local time. We got back last Sunday so in total we spent 9 days and a half on the road. The trip to Romania was quite Ok, except for a bit of a traffic jam in Hungary and the fact that the highways are not well indicated and I have a feeling there was a slightly shorter way to get to Oradea. The two drivers took turns behind the wheel and I did the navigating part, including the sandwiches and so time flew by.

When we arrived in Oradea, the hotel manager was already waiting for us. This was the only booking I made in advance because the trip was only roughly defined: I had in mind the general points of what I wanted to do and see and back ups to my plans so that the guys could also have a say in this schedule. The room was clean but the downside was the noisy street. We were still very much awake from the trip so we had some beers before going to sleep at 3am. In the morning we had brunch in the room: smoked Italian ham and salad and headed out to visit Oradea.

The usual gateway into Romania is Arad, at least for me, because the roads are better and the highway now passes Szeged and goes almost all the way to the boarder. But we had already been to Arad before so we wanted to see something new. And not to mention Oradea is closer to Cluj, you'll see why soon :) . Oradea is a charming town with many baroque and Secession style buildings and even, as the hotel manager told me, a pedestrian street. So keep this in mind for when you will visit Romania.

We started our visit on the pedestrian Republicii street. The weather was not very friendly, raining and unusually cold for this time of the year. The pedestrian street is a very nice touch, resembles a bit what we had already sen in Brasov, bars, restaurants and shops on both sides and bar tables in the middle. It would have been pleasant if it weren't for the rain. Here you have some views of the street, it was not very crowded yet, maybe because of the rain, but we soon found a lot of foreign tourists and some lively places. 

Oradea seemed to me to be emblematic of a trend in Romania: many thinks have been done to improve the quality of life but there are still many things to be done and the vision of the future is lacking. Behind the shabby facades you could see that the boarder town was once glorious. Indeed some buildings have already been restored to their former beauty, some are undergoing reconstruction work while others are still waiting. But Oradea is on the good path, maybe it's the western influence since many people here work in Hungary.

Since it was raining quite a lot, we hoped into the first bar we saw: The "retro lactobar bistro" as advertised by the cow outside. I  will talk about it in another post, the place certainly had personality and it was great fun, together with the pubs and discos around our hotel, I think the night life here must be at least worth a try. This proves that the airplane magazine that lead me to even consider Oradea as a stop over, was right: there is life outside Bucharest.

When we finished our coffee it was raining less and we managed to find enough courage to go outside. and wandered around the  beautiful Ferdinand square. We passed the State Theater, one of the best theaters in Romania, according to my artistically inclined friends.  Periodically there are theater festivals and the tickets are cheap compared to the quality of the artistic performance. 

Some more buildings in the area are nicely restored or under restoration. In a few year, when they'll finish the restoration work, the city will be splendid, as I'm sure it was during the Hapsburg. 

Actually, Oradea was meant to resemble Vienna, so many buildings here are in the same style as the ones in the capital of the Empire and were been built by Austrian architects.

The map I had had for free from the hotel pointed me towards the other side of the Crisul Repede river, where the center of the town lies as well as the citadel of Varadinum. 

Over the bridge, the Town Hall is looking along the river. Along the Crisul Repede river there are many green spaces, parks and other recreational spaces

As I said before, the proximity to the West is beneficial to the town which has good links to the rest of Europe: the highway in Hungary goes to Debrecen, not very far from Oradea, there is an airport here and the airports of Cluj and Budapest are not very far either. It took us 10 hours to come here from Prague, by car.

The main square with a Statue of Michale the Brave, the first to unite the Romanian provinces. I found it interesting to see a statue of him here, he is more of a symbol for the Southern part of Romania. 

With better weather, it's a nice place to sit down and watch the passers by but this was an atypical summer as you can see from the menacing clouds in the background. This is where we saw our first wedding of the day: with all the rain, there will be at least 5 lucky and rich couples.

 

  

The Black Eagle Palace, shopping gallery in the Art Nouveau style, named after a stained glass ceiling depicting a Black Eagle. Close by is the Church with  the Moon, where one can find an interesting astronomical clock which follows the phases of the moon. Interesting fact: the first Meridian was considered to pass by Oradea, long before it was established in Greenwich.

According to Wikipedia, there are over 100 sites of  religious service and many of them are in and around the square: Roman Catholic, Franciscan, Orthodox, Evangelical, Jewish, Baptists, all are represented and sometimes in close vicinity as you can see below.

The citizens of Oradea are 70% Romanian and roughly 28% Hungarian (some Roma and others make up the rest) for a population of over 200 000 people, a large town by Romanian standards. Don't be surprised to hear Hungarian spoken a lot here, as in other cities in Transylvania.

Oradea is not without it's importance in the history of Europe, having suffered hoards of invaders from the Mongols to the Ottomans. The ruins of the citadel testify to it's troubled past. 

The bastion fortress is being restored, much in the same way as the one in Alba Iulia has already been restored. When we were there the site was under heavy reconstruction but still some wedding parties were taking pictures in the park.

This is were we ended our walk around Oradea, we got back to the hotel to have a tea before heading towards our next destination, Cluj. There are more things to see and do in Oradea such as the Muzeum of  the region or "Tara Crisului", a baroque Palace with 365 windows. Just 5km South of Oradea is the spa town of Baile Felix with a beautiful waterlily reservation (again, the hotel manager proved to be a great source of information). If you want to make a detour, there is also the glacier cave of Scarisoara in nearby Alba County. But we had to be in Cluj by nightfall and you'll understand why soon.

On a culinary trip

So my hoards of fans have been complaining that I didn't write one word about my last trip to France. That is mainly because I didn't take pictures so I don't have anything to brag about. But I'll improvise.(No, my love life will not make it as a post, it's going very well, thank you for asking)

When I said trip in the title, I might as well have meant the kind of trip a high junkie goes into, because my taste buds where really spoiled last weekend.

It all started Thursday night when I got on the bus for Prague, all dressed up in my best black skirt with a nice halter top and fancy shoes. All ready for a dinner party in a very elegant restaurant in Prague. I'm really sorry I didn't take any pictures, but I promise to get back there some day, because it was worth it. The view from Letna hill is just about one of the most beautiful views in the world. Now, they say Prague is the most romantic city and all, meeting your beloved on St Charles bridge, but I think eating a romantic dinner on top of Letna, by night, is by far better.

So I got there, it's a beautiful pavilion in the middle of a park, with a terrace overlooking the whole city. I sat at a table outside, drank a good Moravian white wine and had a nice conversation with a stranger I'd met at the train stop, who was going to the same place. I felt like in one of the old commercials for Kent cigarettes. Very class.

When the others came, we joined them inside in the nice, Art Nouveau inspired, Bistro. The atmosphere was merry, I had my darling one next to my heart, good company, and we got some beers, some more wine, eventually we ordered. And this is where the gastronomical feast of the weekend begins. I had filet mignon in cognac sauce and for desert, a delicious chocolate mousse with strawberries. I'm very picky when it comes to desert. But this was heaven, an orgasm in every spoonful of chocolate. And the evening ended a little later with an orgasm of a different nature.

I like this picture because of the Laguiole knife on the table, I would have taken the same one.

The next day we left for France, where once again the menu was fabulous: a recipe from Normandy: Coquilles St Jacques with pasta and sauce.

And magnum ice cream for a perfect desert. I'm not going into the details of the weekend: just teasing you with some pictures of food. I don't have pictures of my own, but I searched for some resembling what we had, just to tickle your senses.

Saturday, we had faux filet with endive salad and for desert, a specialty from The Czech republic, after a traditional Armenian family recipe, a honey caked called Marlenka. Delicious, I can't get enough of it. (actually thinking of exporting this to the world, too good to be kept a secret).

To keep in line with the international cuisine theme, the evening was spent in an Alsatian traditional restaurant where we had, what I can only describe as the local pizza, only much better than any pizza. I could live only with this and Marlenka and H&M.

The wine we accompanied our meal with, was of course a local Pinot Gris. And for desert, another of my favorites: pistachio ice cream with real, grilled pistachios.

Ok, by this time, I was quite full; we had tarte flambé with cheese and lard and with Munster cheese and lard, and not just one serving each. So I had only one scoop of pistachio. But it was really divine.

And for the end, Sunday, just before coming back home: Barbecue. This really was a meat eater's feast. chicken, duck, sausages, skewers with meat. Lots of grilled meat.

So now you also know why I've been eating salads and light dishes all week. I have to make up for a weekend where my liver must have suffered (though I made no excesses) but my taste buds had multiple orgasms. And oh Doamne! It was sooo good.

At the crossroad: Strasbourg

Like every weekend, I took a trip (I know I don't write about each and one of them, but trust me, I don't sit around, I'm just a procrastinator so I never get to write about all I want do). The last trip was to Strasbourg to meet up with friends: Russians Ukrainian, Uzbek, a Romanian and our gracious French hosts. A tour of Babel with one common language: French (changes a bit from English being the mother of all tongues). Much fun was had, good food, good wine (Alsatian wines are now my favorites) all in all, good times.


It wasn't suny, still we went out for a visit of the city. There are quite a few things to see and even thought I have visited on different occasions, Strasbourg still manages to surprise me. You can instantly see that it has always been quite a rich part of the world: park, beautiful houses, monuments, a Cathedral that once stood as the highest building in the world.

Strasbourg is a unique place also because of it's history, that of a piece of land that two nations fought over for centuries. An expert eye can tell you only by the architecture that you're not in France, but not in Germany either: Strasbourg has it's own style. And it suits it just fine.

You have the large, central, German-style square and the large, long, almost Haussmann like avenues. And than you see buildings that you won't find in either of these styles.

The young lady climbing a pole will meet a guy right over the boarder between France and Germany.

The Little France reminded me a bit of Amsterdam's canals and riverside cafes, a nice place to stroll around or take a tour in a bateau mouche.

The name of the neighbourhood, one of the oldest and best preserved (a UNESCO Heritage site), is quite a funny story. No, they didn't bring all the French toghether in this strip of land surrounded by water. In fact this was the poor neighbourhood, a sort of Red Quarter with pimps and prostitutes. Of course there were frequent outbreaks of all sort of STD's and because back in the day a sexually transmitted desease was also known as a French desease, the neighbourhood got the name of little France.

Of course, now it's quite expensive and full of tourists, restaurants, cafes, nothing like what it used to be. I think the houses look like ginger bread houses (btw, ginger bread is one of the local specialties, they love it here and it's quite good).

And the Cathedral, Notre Dame de Strasbourg, just one picture of it, but I'll put up more in another post.

There are many strories and legends surrounding this Cathedral. One of them says that the Devil is caught inside and all tourists try to look for it's statue, somewhere on the facade. I dare you to go there and recognize him. The wind is hauling outside the Cathedral, waiting for it's trapped master. The stained glass rosary is also very beautiful and unlike others it doesn't have religious motives but it has to do with the town's wealth and prestige.

And I would have endded this post here, but I have to say a word about the European Union and the buildings related to it. I tried to vote this Sunday, as you know it was election day for the European Parliament (the building is pictured below, see how tiny we are in comparison?).

I didn't manage to vote but I strolled around the neighbourhood where the European buildings are: some old and a bit communist like in style, some new and shinny.

In the posh neighbourhood where all the Consulates are I saw this Art-Nouveau house that reminded me of Barcelona and how much I want to go there and see Gaudi's buildings(apparently the architect on this one also worked with Gaudi).

I really felt like I was in the heart of Europe with all this places and buildings reminding me of placed I visited or want to visit on the old continent. It's a great city, always something to discover. In fact I have more to say on the subject...