The ancient city of Ephesus is an active archaeological dig site and a fascinating visit to see an entire ancient city. The main street is called Curates Street and this is the entrance to the Temple of Hadrian.
Travel Tuesday Photo: Temple of Hadrian in Ephesus, Türkiye
Categories: Europe, Historical Site, Picture of the Week, Turkey
Tags: Ephesus, Europe, Historical Site, Picture of the Week, Türkiye, Travel Tuesday Photo, Turkey
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Our Time in Krakow, Poland
Passage to Eastern Europe: Trip Introduction
Flight Review: LOT Polish Airlines 797-9 Business Class, ORD-WAW
Lodging Review: Hampton by Hilton Krakow
Our Time in Krakow, Poland
Flixbus from Krakow to Budapest
Lodging Review: Corinthia Budapest Hotel
Our Time in Budapest, Hungary
Our Time in Kalocsa, Hungary
Our Time in Osijek and Vukovar, Croatia
Our Time in Belgrade, Serbia
Our Time in Golubac, Serbia
Our Time in Vidin, Bulgaria
Our Time in Ruse, Bulgaria
Our Time in Bucharest, Romania
Lodging Review: JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel
Flight Review: SWISS Airlines 777-300 ZRH-ORD
I feel like I let myself down during our time in Krakow. We did hit some bumps that I couldn’t have foreseen but I definitely could have planned our time better. But here’s an overview of the things we saw and did on our visit.
First, the bumps:
– While our original flights had us landing in Krakow at 4:20 PM, due to the air traffic control issues in Chicago we missed our original connection and didn’t land until just after 5 PM. While that’s not much of a delay, in itself, the sheer fatigue we were feeling after not departing from Chicago until nearly 11 PM really knocked us out.
– My traveling companion had a bit of a sinus bug which left her feeling worn out for about the first week of our trip. Thus we didn’t stay out and experience the city as we otherwise might have. That lead to us dining at the hotel more and experiencing local restaurants less.
– I asked ChatGPT for things to do during our stay. I had it exclude Auschwitz since we’d already visited Dachau a few years ago. Since I don’t drink alcohol I also had it exclude wineries and breweries. While it gave us a good plan, I left it at that and didn’t follow up to see if we needed to buy tickets online ahead of time. That caused us to miss one attraction we’d have like to have seen, Oskar Schindler’s Factory.
We didn’t have great weather in Krakow. It rained off and on our whole first day, a Friday, and eased off on the weekend. But it was overcast almost the whole time and quite humid. In early-to-mid-October the temperature was in the upper-50sF which meant a jacket felt nice.
Wieliczka Salt Mine
Getting There and Back
While this had been on our agenda for a later day, since it was raining we thought this would be a good place to stay dry. While it’s possible to reach the salt mine from the hotel using public transit, it would take quite a long time, so we opted for an Uber. It was only about $11.25 going to the Salt Mine at 9:30 AM on a Friday but it was about $22 on the way back around 1:30 PM. I guess because the salt mine is a tourist attraction? It just seemed odd. I was fortunate that the salt mine has a couple of areas with strong WiFi: the cafe and the gift shop. I was having issues with my data-only eSIM card but was able to use the WiFi to pick up an Uber for the return trip. Continue reading
Categories: Award Travel, Europe, Historical Site, Poland, Trip Report
Tags: Europe, Historical Site, Krakow, Poland, Trip Report
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Lodging Review: Hampton by Hilton Krakow
Passage to Eastern Europe: Trip Introduction
Flight Review: LOT Polish Airlines 797-9 Business Class, ORD-WAW
Lodging Review: Hampton by Hilton Krakow
Our Time in Krakow, Poland
Flixbus from Krakow to Budapest
Lodging Review: Corinthia Budapest Hotel
Our Time in Budapest, Hungary
Our Time in Kalocsa, Hungary
Our Time in Osijek and Vukovar, Croatia
Our Time in Belgrade, Serbia
Our Time in Golubac, Serbia
Our Time in Vidin, Bulgaria
Our Time in Ruse, Bulgaria
Our Time in Bucharest, Romania
Lodging Review: JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel
Flight Review: SWISS Airlines 777-300 ZRH-ORD
After a long day of travel, it was already early evening by the time we arrived at the Krakow airport. While planning our trip we had considered public transportation from the airport to the hotel but had decided to just use an Uber (or Bolt) and that turned out to be a good decision. Though it wasn’t raining at the time we were waiting for our ride, it had been raining a good part of the day. Be aware that the ride share pickup area is not covered.
Location
The hotel is located on the eastern side of the city so it’s about a 40-60 minute drive from the airport during evening rush hour. It’s not particularly close to the Old Town (Rynek Główny) but it’s about a 10-minute walk to the tram that runs along Mogilska street. The sidewalk along this route is inconsistent and sometimes quite bumpy so I would not want to be dragging my suitcase this way. In addition, it’s not well lighted in the evenings so I would be wary of walking this way even though it’s not a particularly busy road but it still might be difficult for cars to see people walking.
Hampton by Hilton, Krakow
The hotel is just around the corner from the Dąbski KS Kraków, a local sporting club, and there are associated athletic fields across the road from the hotel. Even though our room faced these fields, we never experienced much in the way of noise (they seemed to be mostly practice fields) and even the lights did not bother us in the evening.
The Hampton is connected to the DoubleTree just next door and the hotels share some facilities as I’ll explain. In general that’s a good thing for those staying at the Hampton.
On the Sunday of our visit (the second Sunday in October), there was a running race that I believe began at the Decathlon (Sporting Goods) Plaza not far from the rear of our hotel. There were quite a few runners staying at both the Hampton and the DoubleTree. When we walked down to Mogilska on Sunday, we found we were trapped on our side of the street until enough runners passed that the police would allow us to cross the street. I’m going to guess, based on bib numbers, that there were about 16,000 runners. It was a good 30 minutes before we were able to cross and even then the tram was not running in our area so we had to walk a good portion of the way to the Old Town. Continue reading
Categories: Europe, Hampton by Hilton, Hilton, Hotel, Lodging Review, Poland, Trip Report
Tags: Hampton Inn, Hilton, Krakow, Lodging Review, Poland, Trip Report
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Flight Review: LOT Polish Airlines 797-9 Business Class, ORD-WAW
Passage to Eastern Europe: Trip Introduction
Flight Review: LOT Polish Airlines 797-9 Business Class, ORD-WAW
Lodging Review: Hampton by Hilton Krakow
Our Time in Krakow, Poland
Flixbus from Krakow to Budapest
Lodging Review: Corinthia Budapest Hotel
Our Time in Budapest, Hungary
Our Time in Kalocsa, Hungary
Our Time in Osijek and Vukovar, Croatia
Our Time in Belgrade, Serbia
Our Time in Golubac, Serbia
Our Time in Vidin, Bulgaria
Our Time in Ruse, Bulgaria
Our Time in Bucharest, Romania
Lodging Review: JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel
Flight Review: SWISS Airlines 777-300 ZRH-ORD
Our flight to Warsaw didn’t have the most auspicious beginning but it wasn’t the airline’s fault. Due to the government shutdown, many air traffic control folks had called in “sick” so that caused delays which stacked up over the course of the day. Our flight on LOT was due to depart at 9:40 PM but the inbound flight didn’t even arrive until about 8:50 PM. Looking back on it now, the ground and flight crews did what they could to get us on board as quickly as possible, but it still took just over two hours before we could depart.
We checked in at the LOT counter in O’Hare’s Terminal 5 about 7 PM. There was not much in the way of lines, even for my friend who was flying in economy. I found it interesting that the desk agent initially spoke to me in Polish. I suspect many Americans aren’t even aware of LOT but I had no issues on my prior trip with them and was glad to fly them again. link
Of course arriving 2.5 hours ahead of time gave us lots of time in the concourse. I was glad to see that the construction was (mostly) completed since my last visit a couple of years ago. There were certainly a lot more restaurant choices. While I was eligible for the lounge that LOT shares with other airlines, my friend was not and a pass would have been about $60 so that was a hard pass. We’ve both given up our credit cards that offered Priority Pass access so we just found a quiet area to hang out in while we waited. We migrated over to our gate shortly before the aircraft arrived and, all things considered, we were able to board reasonably quickly at about 10:10 PM.
LOT Polish 787-9
LO 4 ORD-WAW
Boeing 787-9
Departs: 2140 (actual 2246)
Arrives: 1350+1 (actual 1430)
Seat: 3C (Business Class) Continue reading
Categories: Award Travel, Flight Review, LOT Polish, Star Alliance, Trip Report
Tags: Award Travel, Flight Review, LOT Polish, Star Alliance, Trip Report
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Travel Tuesday Photo: Church of the Nativity in Arbanasi, Bulgaria
The incredible Church of the Nativity in Arbanasi, Bulgaria has frescoes of over 3500 saints and Biblical scenes. It’s quite a small place and off the beaten track but well worth the effort to visit.
Passage to Eastern Europe: Trip Introduction
Passage to Eastern Europe: Trip Introduction
Flight Review: LOT Polish Airlines 797-9 Business Class, ORD-WAW
Lodging Review: Hampton by Hilton Krakow
Our Time in Krakow, Poland
Flixbus from Krakow to Budapest
Lodging Review: Corinthia Budapest Hotel
Our Time in Budapest, Hungary
Our Time in Kalocsa, Hungary
Our Time in Osijek and Vukovar, Croatia
Our Time in Belgrade, Serbia
Our Time in Golubac, Serbia
Our Time in Vidin, Bulgaria
Our Time in Ruse, Bulgaria
Our Time in Bucharest, Romania
Lodging Review: JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel
Flight Review: SWISS Airlines 777-300 ZRH-ORD
I’m kicking off year 12 of this blog with my next trip report and this one includes some eastern European countries I’d never visited.
This year’s trip centered around a river cruise on the eastern part of the Danube. We’d previously cruised the western part of the river back in 2016. That trip left from Erlangen, Germany (just outside of Nuremburg) and ended in Budapest, Hungary. This trip departed from Budapest and ended in Bucharest, Romania.
As the cruise/tour was only 10 days, we decided to go to Krakow, Poland for a few days ahead of the cruise to visit yet another country we’d not been to.
Transportation
I flew from Memphis to Chicago to meet up with my friend who lives in the area. I used cash for a round-trip positioning flight on American Airlines. From there we flew LOT Polish Airlines to Warsaw and connected to Krakow. The government shutdown in October meant our flight out of Chicago was delayed causing us to miss our connection. Fortunately we were accommodated on the next flight to Krakow and even ended up in exit row seats. I used 70K Air Canada Aeroplan miles + $78.03 for my business class seat which would have sold for about $3064, giving me a fantastic value of about 4.38 cents per point. My friend used 40K Aeroplan miles + $78.03 for her seat in economy. While her ticket “only” worked out to about 1.4 cents per point, it still saved her over $500 out of pocket. Continue reading
Categories: Award Travel, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cruises, Europe, Hampton by Hilton, Hilton, Hungary, JW Marriott, LOT Polish, Marriott, Other Hotels, Poland, River Cruise, Romania, Serbia, Star Alliance, SWISS, Trip Report, Viking
Tags: Award Travel, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hampton Inn, Hilton, Hungary, JW Marriott, LOT Polish, Marriott, Poland, River Cruise, Romania, Serbia, SWISS, Trip Report, Viking, Viking Ullur
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Travel Tuesday Photo: Boots for Sale in Lhasa
Traditional boots for sale at a shop in the Barkhor Market in Lhasa
Categories: Asia, China, Picture of the Week, Tibet
Tags: Asia, Barkhor, China, Lhasa, Picture of the Week, Tibet, Travel Tuesday Photo
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Travel Tuesday Photo: The Royal Court of Justice, London
The Royal Court of Justice in London, England
Categories: England, Europe, Picture of the Week
Tags: England, Europe, London, Picture of the Week, Travel Tuesday Photo
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Travel Tuesday Photo: The Story Bridge in Brisbane
The Story Bridge in Brisbane, Australia
Categories: Australia, Oceania, Picture of the Week
Tags: Australia, Brisbane, Picture of the Week, Travel Tuesday Photo
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Travel Tuesday Photo: The Belgradochik Rocks
Some of the iconic rocks that have been incorporated into the Belogradchik Fortress in Bulgaria.
Categories: Bulgaria, Europe, Picture of the Week, Uncategorized
Tags: Belgradochik, Bulgaria, Europe, Picture of the Week, Travel Tuesday Photo
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