Trip to Czech Republic

18.08.19

From Bratislava, we drove to Brno, the second-largest city in the Czech Republic that is located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka. The center of Brno is a little bit like Vienna: many of the century houses could just as well be in Vienna’s first district. The streets here complement the Czech flair beautifully, which makes it a very relaxing and enjoyable travel destination. 

By the time we reached the city, it was afternoon so we started off by having lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Our first destination was the Old Town Hall. It has a 63m high tower from where you can get a beautiful view of the city, however, the tower was closed that day so we just got a view from the outside.

Old Town Hall

Next, we went to Labyrinth under Vegetable Market which is a system of underground corridors and cellars, located in the historical center of the city. The underground lies beneath one of the oldest squares in the city, and originally served for food keeping, beer brewing and maturing of wine in barrels, etc. We were given a tour guide who navigated us around the whole tunnel system and enlightened us about its history.

Underground

The best thing about the city was that we did not need taxis to go anywhere, everything was within walking distance. We then came across the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul which is a national cultural monument and one of the most important pieces of architecture in South Moravia.

Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul

While traversing through the not so crowded streets of the city we came across an Astronomical Clock which is very unique. Every day at 11:00 it releases a glass marble, which the spectators can catch from one of the four openings in the monument and take it with them as a souvenir.

The Astronomical Clock

As it was late in the evening now, we returned to our hotel. 

19.08.19

Today morning we woke up early in the morning as we had to drive to Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. It was a 2.5-hour drive and we made it to the largest and most popular city in the country. The first place we visited was the Prague Castle which is a massive composition of palaces and buildings. In fact, it is actually the world's largest castle complex. 

The Prague Castle Complex

At the castle

The towering structure at the Prague Castle is actually St. Vitus Cathedral which is nearly 800 years old.

Unfortunately, the entrance to the cathedral and the gardens was extremely crowded, so we made our way to the Old Town Square. The entire place was filled with street performers doing various things.

Within a few minutes, I found myself (mouth agape) standing in front of Prague's astronomical clock. Built-in the 1400s, it is the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world that is still functioning.

Prague's Astronomical Clock

From the clock, while walking around we came across the Apple museum which is a one of a kind museum that explores the history of products designed by Apple Inc., being a tech geek, and deep into the Apple ecosystem, I had to go to the museum. The exhibition includes the most valuable and complex collection of computers all the way from 1976 till 2012 and several other Apple, Pixar, and Next products. The collection had everything ranging from the first iPhone to the first apple computer. We explored Steve Jobs's legacy as a revolution in the middle of the modern technology world which was fascinating.

Apple Museum

After spending some time exploring throughout the galleries of the exhibition, we walked on the Charles bridge, which is a historic bridge that was constructed in 1357 and is still standing strong.

Charles Bridge

As it was getting late, we drove back to our hotel in Brno and called it a day.

20.08.19

Today was our last day in Europe and we were heading back to Dubai from Vienna. This unique road trip has been one of the most memorable trips of my life and I learned a lot about the unique culture and history of the Central European countries.

Trip to Slovakia

16.8.19
From Budapest, our next journey was to Slovakia, a landlocked country in Central Europe which used to be a part of Czechoslovakia. It was a 2-hour long drive to Bratislava, the capital and largest city of the nation.

Since dusk was falling rapidly by the time we had arrived, we did not have much time to visit any monuments, so we enjoyed the pool facilities at the hotel and grabbed dinner from a nearby restaurant.


17.8.19
Waking up early in the morning, we went to a nearby cafe for breakfast.

Outside the cafe

The first place we visited that morning was the Bratislava Castle. It was built in the 9th century and  has been modified many times, this 4 towered castle sits perched on a hill overlooking the Danube River.

The Bratislava Castle

View from the castle

From the castle, we went to the Old Town Hall which is a complex of buildings from the 14th century in the old town of Bratislava.

Old Town Hall

We walked around the old town which is charming, walkable and full of quirky statues to surprise you around each corner. I really admired the nice mix of wide pedestrian streets as well as narrow, little cobbled lanes.

A narrow lane in the old city

While strolling around we also came across, the Michael's Gate which is the only city gate that has been preserved by the city.

Michael's Gate

From the old town, we went to the Presidential Palace, which as the name suggests is the residence of the Slovak President.

The Presidential Palace

Our next destination was the Devin Castle which was 10 kilometers away from the main city. The castle sits in ruins, however, we could wander along the medieval walls, climb up to a viewing point and also checked out an exhibition cave. The views from the top of the castle are pretty impressive. The castle sits at the confluence of the Danube and Morava rivers, so we could see Austria across the river and in the distance, Hungary too. We also saw the ruins of the Iron Curtain that divided the Communist countries from the western countries after World War II.

The view from the castle

Remains of the Iron Curtain

Next, we went to the Blue Church, a church the is popular for being blue in color! This church (whose real name is the Church of St. Elizabeth) is designed in the art nouveau style with lots of decorations.

The Blue Church

18.8.19
Early morning today we left for Brno, a city in the Czech Republic.

Trip to Hungary

14.8.19
We had rented a car from the airport in Vienna and were now on our way to Budapest. Budapest is the capital of Hungary and has the River Danube flow through it. After a 3 hour long drive, we finally reached our hotel- 'Millennium Court by Marriott'.

After relaxing at the hotel for a while, we head out to discover the new city. The first monument we saw was the Chain Bridge. There are 8 bridges on the Danube but this one is the oldest (the 1840s) and the most popular.

Chain Bridge

We then went to St. Stephen's Basilica, it is a Roman Catholic basilica built in honor of Stephen, the first King of Hungary.

St. Stephen's Basilica

While walking through the streets, we were attracted by a shop renting Segways. We all rented a Segway along with a guide who took us around the city.

On the segways

After the fun tour, we went back to the Danube River and did a 1.5 hour-long cruise and covered the entire city on water.

The Danube at night

15.8.19
Waking up early morning today, we took the first cruise on which we had our breakfast. The cruise took us the Fisherman's Bastion, which is a monument, part of the Buda Castle, built-in 1895. It is one of the most popular tourist attractions due to the unique panorama of Budapest from the Neo-Romanesque lookout terraces.

The Danube in morning

Fisherman's Bastion

View from the Fisherman's Bastion

From there, we walked to the main Buda Castle, which was built in 1265 and served as the palace for the Hungarian kings. We had our lunch at a restaurant near the castle overlooking the Danube River.

Buda Castle

From the castle, we took a taxi to the Citadella which is a fortification located on the top of Gellért Hill. Since it is present at a great height, one gets a scenic view of the entire city from here.

The Citadella

View from the Citadella

On our way back, we walked down-hill from the Citadella, the walk was strenuous but worth it.

Walking down from the citadella

That evening we explored the streets of the lively city and did some shopping. We also came across various talented street-performers.

16.8.19
Today, we were driving to Bratislava but we woke up early to visit another popular monument, the Hero's Square. It is a major square famous for its iconic statue complex featuring the seven chieftains of the Magyars and other important Hungarian national leaders.

The Heroe's Square

Heroe's Square

From there we left for Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia.

Trip to Austria

The much-awaited, 2 months long summer vacations had started and in August, my family decided to visit a few countries in Central Europe- Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.

11.08.19
We had an early morning flight to Vienna, the capital of Austria and after a 6-hour long flight, we were welcomed at the Vienna Airport by the hotel taxi. We were staying at the 'Atlanta Hotel', which dated back to 1895.

It was afternoon and we were craving snacks, so we walked to a neighboring McDonalds and bought some necessities from a nearby store. As we were tired after the journey we relaxed through the evening and for our last meal of the day, we went to a Chinese restaurant, Küche 18.

Vienna tram

Renting cycles is common and easily available all around the city

12.08.19
We woke up early today as we had several plans for the day. After having a light breakfast in the room itself, we took an Uber to Hofburg, which is in the heart of the city and serves as the official residence of the Austrian President.

Hofburg

A short walk away were several museums, my sister and I went to the National History Museum which was free for people under-19. The museum was vast and we tried to cover as much of it as we could.

Next to this museum was another one, Kunsthistorisches Museum, to which my entire family went as it seemed to be popular. This one was another huge museum that had art throughout the galleries.

There were several statues around the museums

We had exhausted our thirst for more art and walked to the famous Vienna State Opera, it is an Opera House that opened in 1869 and still has shows playing frequently.

From the opera, we took an Uber to the Belvedere Palace, which is a historic building complex consisting of two palaces, the Upper and the Lower Belvedere that originally served as the summer residence for Prince Eugene of Savoy. Thet both are now open to the public as museums. My sister and I went to the art museum in the upper Belvedere. The most crowded area in the museum was around the famous oil on canvas painting by Gustav Klimt- 'The Kiss'

The Belvedere Garden

When we exited the museum, we realized how famous the painting was and there were several souvenirs about the same. The entire Belvedere complex had a huge garden that was decorated with several statues.

As evening approached, we departed from the palace and went to St. Stephen's Cathedral which is a Roman Catholic church that serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna. The cathedral has been subjected to weathering (of limestone) and vandalism in the past but has been restored and renovated.

St. Stephen's Cathedral

After the long, exhausting day we finally returned back to our hotel and had local Viennese food from a nearby restaurant.

13.08.19
Today's morning was slightly cold due to the rain from last night, so along with our jackets, we walked down the street to  'Café Milano' for breakfast. After relishing the warm breakfast, we visited the Schönbrunn Palace.

The Schönbrunn Palace is a gigantic palace that used to serve as the main summer residence of the Habsburg rulers. The complex consists of not only the main building but also a zoo, a maze, and an enormous garden. The main building was a museum, not being interested in more art, we decided to view the other aspects of the palace.

The Palace

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Walking through the complex

The first place we walked to was the gloriette (a gloriette is a building in a garden erected on a site that is elevated with respect to its surroundings), it was a tiring walk since we had to walk uphill. From the top, we witnessed a breathtaking view of the entire city of Wien.

The gloriette

After exploring the huge complex for a few hours, we decided to go to the Prater, which is an amusement park. The park had opened in 1776 and is mostly popular for its ancient Ferris wheel.

Prater
(The popular Ferris wheel in the background)

From the amusement park, we went to the tallest structure in Austria at 252 meters, the Danube Tower (Donauturm). The tower was built in the 1960s and from the observation deck on the top, you can witness the panoramic view of the entire city. They also have a rotating café and a restaurant on the top but to dine we needed a reservation.

The Danube Tower

View from the top

14.08.19
We woke up early morning today because we were driving to Budapest, the capital of Hungary. We went to the Airport for breakfast and picked up our rental car from there and we bade adieu to Austria.

Trip to Kenya

The Spring Break was back and like every year, we were visiting a new country. Last year during this time we explored Georgia and this year we decided to pay a visit to a country in Africa- Kenya.

22.3.19
Our flight from Dubai to Nairobi, the capital of the nation was around 5 hours long which I mostly spent relishing the amenities and movie variety provided by Emirates. The travel time was spent in a jiffy and we landed at Jomo Kenyatta Airport at around 8 pm. The airport was rather a modest one, yet well managed by the staff. We were welcomed by our family friends' driver at the airport who steered us to their home. By the time we reached our destination, it was quite late and therefore we dozed-off for the night as the real adventure was yet to commence.

23.3.19
After having breakfast at their house, we departed for one of the several Hindu Temples in Nairobi, Sri Kalyan Venkateswara Temple. This shrine had a South Indian architecture.

At the temple

From the place of worship, we went to Zen Garden. They had multiple restaurants and we picked "Bamboo", which specializes in Pan-Asian cuisine.

After having some sumptuous Chinese food, we went to Westgate Mall from where I bought a book and sat at a café for snacks. That night we went to have supper at an Indian place,  'Curry Flavors'. Not only did they have good food but also live music performed especially for the diners.


24.3.19
We spent time at home in the morning, playing with my friend. For the meal, we went to 'Hob House', an Arabic restaurant. The pièce de résistance was that they had a lot of greenery in their outdoor space and we had food within the green ambiance.

Hob House

My food 

After food, we drove to the Village Market, which is a unique shopping mall as it is partially enclosed and partially open. For about an hour we did bowling. The mall had some unique African sculptures and they also had refreshing live music.

Bowling

At the village market

We slept early as we had to drive to Masaai Mara the next day. In the night, I was dreaming about the upcoming adventures awaiting me at the Mara.

25.3.19
We woke up early as we had a 5-hour long drive to Massai Mara. After breakfast, we hopped on to a special Toyota Landcruiser that would take us to the national park and back and also the safaris.

On our way, we stopped at the Great Rift Valley viewpoint, from where we had an amazing picturesque view. The Valley is 6000 km long and stretches from Lebanon to Mozambique.

Rift Valley

After a long journey, we finally arrived at our hotel which was inside Masaai Mara- 'Keekorok Lodge'.

After strolling around in our resort, we went for our first safari. Evidently, the first thing we witnessed was a field on fire. Our aim was to at least spot The Big Five animals. The big five are said to be the animals that are the most difficult to spot. They include the African Elephant, Black Rhinoceros, African Lion, Cape Buffalo, and African Leopard.

forest on fire

We were very fortunate to spot a leopard really close to our vehicle within the first 15 minutes of the journey. It was spine-tingling to witness a leopard very close to me, having seen it only in a zoo in the past.

Leopard

The next major animal we saw was the lion. It was a group of lions sitting in a dried-up river that also acted as the border between Kenya and Tanzania. We could also look at tourist safari vehicles on the other side of the river, these people were in Tanzania.

Lions

Next, we looked up to the towering giraffes that were sauntering around.

Giraffe 

We also ticked off buffalos from our big-five list.

Wild buffalo

2 hours of safari passed in a tizzy and we got back to our hotel. Our resort was next to a hippopotamus pond and they also had a bridge that could take us closer to it.

Hippos

The Bridge

After dinner we went back to our rooms which were like cottages, ending the day after having seen 3/5 big-five animals. The hotel staff had adviced us to not exit our rooms at night as hippos come around frequently.


26.3.19
We woke up before sunrise today and without having breakfast we went for our early morning safari. I was still dozy but nevertheless managed to stay awake and witnessed the first light in the morning.

Sunrise

The first unique animal, we saw today was the ostrich.

Ostrich

Hyenas

in the safari vehicle

We saw another big-five animal, the African elephants, which were walking in a group.

What we witnessed next was a very rare occurrence. 5 cheetahs were standing together. The craziest part was when they started chasing a wild pig, they were not successful in hunting it but it was a distinctive experience to witness a cheetah chase.

The Cheetahs

Another 2 hours of our trip concluded and we went back to the resort for breakfast. After resting for a while, we planned to visit a Masaai Village, where tribal people lived. On our way to the village, we finally saw zebras as well.

To my surprise, the entrance to the village was not complimentary. The villagers welcomed us with a traditional dance where one person came out at a time and jumped and the others were singing.

With the local people

One of the tribal people was guiding us through and he spoke fluent English. He also took us inside his house which was really compact. Staying inside made me feel claustrophobic.

The guy who was guiding us

In the house

They also demonstrated us the way they light a fire by rubbing a stick against the wood and we also bought this kit.

lighting fire

They also had a bazaar in their village where they were selling handcrafted goods that were traditional to Kenya.

The Market

After spending some time in the village, we returned back to our rooms and then went for another safari in the evening. The first animals we saw were a herd of elephants.

Elephants

The next cool animals we saw were a pride of lions sitting in a group but this time they were really close to us.

lions

We saw a lot of creatures in the 2 hours but were unsuccessful in spotting a rhinoceros and had to conclude our last safari with one big-five not seen.

clicking a pic

27.3.19
We had our breakfast at the hotel and left-back for Nairobi. When we were about to leave the Masai Mara gates, a Russian who happens to be a zoologist requested for a ride to Nairobi as her car broke down. Her name was Elena Chelysheva and at Masaai Mara she was working at a Cheetah Conservation program and is the founder of Mara-Meru cheetah project. During the ride, she described the various interesting things she had done and worked at in the past.

Elena Chelysheva

We reached back to our friends' house in Nairobi and rested for the day.


28.3.19
Today we were going to the equator and the same car and driver were going to take us. It was a 3-hour drive and when we landed, the first thing we saw was a huge sign-board saying 'EQUATOR".

Equator

At the equator, a man displayed an experiment. He took a bowl with a hole at its bottom and kept another mug underneath to collect the water. He let water drip from the hole in 3 different locations- Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere and at the Equator. We noticed that the spiral formed by the water while dripping was opposite in each hemisphere and at the equator, no spiral was formed.

Northern Hemisphere

Southern Hemisphere 

At the equator

He also handed over a certificate at the end to certify the fact that we had been to the equator. We had our lunch at a nearby restaurant- 'Spice Garden' which was almost at the largest latitude.

After having food we drove back to Nairobi. It was our last night in Africa and we had fun with our friends.

29.3.19
Today we had our flight back to Dubai in the afternoon and we just stayed at their home in the morning, having breakfast and some relaxed time before travel. Finally, my week-long African trip was over but I had done amazing things I hadn't done before- witnessed a cheetah chase, visited the equator, spotted 4/5 big five and added another continent/country to my list.