THE BEAUTIFUL FROG

Enjoy!

This weekend we had a long weekend in Czech Republic. From Good Friday to Easter Monday. The dormitory started to be as scilence as the cemetery again since almost all the students were going somewhere out of town, including me.

This time me and my fellas chose to go to Olomouc and Ostrava. Olomouc is 1,5 hours distance by bus from Zlin and Ostrava is 1 hour train from Olomouc. For your information, Ostrava is the third big city in Czech Republic.

Day 1

The not-well-prepared trip started from Zlin to Olomouc and we will stay there for one night. Once we arrived in Olomouc bus station we took the tram to our hostel.

Since this city is very small, the tram duration was not so long ( around less than 10 mins ). We stayed in Cozy Corner Hostel. The owner is very nice and humble. She even cooked us a pancake during Easter :D . Only that the cleanliness was not so good and it was still under renovation. But I adore how she decorated this hostel so much! Overall, I recommend this hostel for staying in Olomouc!

http://www.cosycornerhostel.com/#!/100

I paid 300Kc for one night in 8 bed dorm mix.

Ok, so after we put our backpack in the hostel we walked to the city square where there was an easter market.

The easter market was pretty similar with the one in Zlin. Nevertheless, this market made the ambiance alive. Some musics, kids laughing, aroma of foods, colors of decorated eggs, and so on. Also, suprisingly there is an astronomical clock in this city center. I thought Astronomical clock was only in Prague. But, in fact, a lot of people come to see this clock as well.

This might be a free tourist destination for you ;)

As I browsed on the internet before, Olomouc has so many fountains. I was very excited to see them because I rarely see a nice fountain ( if it can be a reason ). When we were in the city center, we looked at the map and see where are the fountains. Ah! That’s one! But when we found the fountain, there was no water at all. I feel bad about it because those fountains look like an ordinary statue without water. Even some people threw trashes into the fountain :( .

After walking around the easter market, we go to the viewing tower in St.Moritz church. We followed the map provided by the hostel. But then we got lost some where. Suddenly we found a couple with a really cute dog. We played with the dog as the dog got curious with us. After saying good bye, I asked them if they know where is St. Moritz church. Thank God, suprisingly they offer us to walk with them until St.Moritz church. Bless that couple !

To go to the top of this viewing tower we have to take the stairs. It’s totally not kids friendly, so consider if you bring kids. But it’s free tourist attraction ;P ! So, after climbing trough the stairs in a narrow aisle you will finally reach the top of this viewing tower. From there, you can see Olomouc city thouroughly. The view is pretty cool.

After went to the St.Moritz Church viewing tower, we pretty much had nothing to do. We decided to walk around and we found a cafe which was recommended by the hostel owner.

This cafe served coffee, tea, and other common drinks. They also served some cakes. The price is average and the ambiance is quite nice. It’s located right next to the Vlastivedne museum.

I tasted the glutten free Marlenka cake that they offered there. Marlenka is a traditional Czech cake. It wasn’t that bad but pretty much taste like any other sponge cake.

Finished with the cake, we moved to the Vlastivedne museum right next to it. Ticket entrance is only 30 kc for student. It’s a pretty good option since we didn’t know what else to do on that day.

The museum shows some general history about the way of living in that area back then. They also have an exhibition about typical animals that live in Czech Republic area. It’s a pretty cool exhibition and interactive as well.

When we go out from the museum it was already around 5 pm so we decided to had dinner and go back to the hostel.

Day 2.

As I have told you before, the owner of this hostel is a very nice woman :D. She cooked us pancakes and brought us a typical czech cake for easter. It was amazing!

In the second day we tried to find the botanical garden but ended up getting lost in a nice big park. A lot of people brought their dogs out so I was very happy to see and sometimes interact with some dogs :). In the park, there was a direction board to the botanical garden so we followed it. We walked through some small roads and finally found the old town wall. This old town wall is pretty much a huge old wall facing the botanical garden.

Unfortunately the botanical garden was closed at that day. But we can still enjoy the nice walk along the old town wall.

After a long walk, we sat around the easter market. Enjoying the lively ambiance there. Then we walked back to the hostel but first we stopped at BILLA. BILLA is just a common supermarket in Czech Republic.

We bought some instant noodle for dinner to save money and also some stuffs for breakfast.  Which was going to be helpful later in Ostrava.

Moving to Ostrava...

The hostel owner in Ostrava told us to go off at the Ostrava Svirnov station. But since we were all very tired, we slept and we missed that station. So we go off at the Ostrava main station. We supposed to take the tram number 2. But at that moment for some unkown reason the tram number 2 took us to Vítkovice and it’s the last stop.

Since it’s not the stop that we wanted to go, we looked at the tram route. Ok, tram number 12 will bring us there, but we didn’t know whether we should read the route descending or ascending ( we finally found that it’s supposed to be read descending ). We asked a stranger there and she said we were at the right direction. So we took the tram number 12 but ended up at somewhere over the rainbow.....

We called the hostel owner again and she asked us to give the phone to a stranger who speak Czech. Fortunately we met a very nice woman. She helped us to buy another tram ticket and she spoke with another stranger in the tram to give us direction after. With limited English this woman tried to explain us which tram and bus that we supposed to take. Bless that woman!

Around 9 Pm ( we arrived at the main station around 7 pm ) we finally found the hostel. The location is pretty far from the city center. I considered the location is not a very good location.

The grandma in the hostel welcomed us and brought us to our room. Our first impression was “ WOW” . This hostel is totally a very good hostel with a very clean room, kitchen, and bathroom. It makes us feel comfortable after getting lost and became very tired.

We cooked the instant noodle that we bought in Olomouc for dinner ( told ya it’s gonna be helpful ;) ).  The kitchen is equipped with new utilities. We were very happy about that !!

After cleaning, we all slept like a baby until the next morning.

Day 3

Today we going to explore Ostrava. To avoid getting lost again, I spent couple minutes to search where are the tourist attraction and how to get there.

After eating breakfast and checked out, we put our backpacks in the Ostrava main station. We paid 50 Kc for that, which was pretty normal.

First destination was the Ostrava Dolni. We took the tram to Vítkovice Vys.Pece. As we arrived we can see the giantic old factory. Too bad, we can’t go up to the restaurant on the top of this factory because it was full. We also couldn’t take the tour because it was all in Czech language. But walking around outside the factory is free.

In my opinion, this factory is a good location for a fashion photoshoot or so. It has some artistic pieces in every corner of this old abandoned factory.

We also had a look to the U6 building which shows the history of technology  and the Science Center there. But since the entrance tickets are expensive we didn’t go inside.  It costs 70 Kc and 130 Kc to go in.

Done with Ostrava Dolni, we moved to Miniuni. Miniuni is a miniature park for some landmarks around Europe and some other countries.

To go to Miniuni take the tram to Karolina and walk straight or asked the tourist information in the shopping center near Karolina stop ( that’s what we did ). Miniuni is located near the tram rail way and high way. That makes this tiny park looks more like cemetery from the front. We didn’t really recognize it until we saw the ‘Miniuni’ sign board there.

It’s a pretty good deal. We basically enjoyed our time there. Getting to know some buildings around Europe and others. The only thing is that this place is pretty old and the artificial river there was very dirty.

They also have a mini toy museum inside. We can see some disney toys also. But don’t expect too much. Overall, I recommend this place epsecially if you are travelling with kids.

After that we walked to the city square. All the stores were closed because it was easter Monday. The city square was also not so crowded. I think it’s pretty odd for the third biggest city in Czech Republic.

Anyway, we walked trough the city square and go back to the main station. We took our backpack and sat around there to wait for our train. Suddenly my friend realized that we were at the wrong station. We were supposed to be in the Ostrava Svirnov station. So we took the tram number 8 to go there. Fortunately we still had time to catch the train.

So, that’s pretty much my story about our trip to Olomouc and Ostrava.

Overall, I recommend to go to those cities only for one day trip if you are living nearby.

Hopefully this post going to be helpful for you :)

Cao!

Mulai Sibuk

Berbeda dengan minggu-minggu sebelumnya, sekarang gue makin sibuk. Tugas kuliah mulai dikejar deadline dan harus diseimbangkan dengan bepergian ke kota-kota dan negara lain.

Sebetulnya sistem kuliah gue disini lebih santai. Mau bolos? Boleh! Asalkan tugas beres dan ada progres yang dikasih lihat ke dosen. Misalnya via email. Tapi percayalah, gue jarang bolos kok. Wong kuliah cuma dua minggu sekali.

Nah di minggu-minggu pertama gue disini, semuanya masih nyantai banget. Gue bahkan terkadang bingung mau ngapain sampai-sampai gue cuma jalan mondar-mandir dari kamar ke dapur. Alasan lain kenapa gue agak mati kutu di asrama karena cuaca yang dingin membuat gue males untuk keluar.

Tapi sekarang gue merasa waktu gue di Ceko ini tinggal sedikit lagi. Kemarin gue baru aja merencanakan “trip besar” ke negara-negara lain di Eropa.  Hal itu mengartikan bahwa selama bulan Mei gue akan menghabiskan lebih dari setengah bulan di luar Ceko.

Bukan hanya itu, bulan April nanti gue udah ada 3 trip kecil. Perjalanan-perjalanan tersebut tentunya memakan biaya walau sudah sangat ditekan. Terutama untuk negara yang menggunakan Euro dan padat wisatawan. Kita tentunya harus pintar-pintar mengatur budget.

Jadilah, penghematan dimulai!

Ok, selain mulai sibuk, kota Zlin yang tadinya bak kota mati ini sudah mulai ramai. Alasanya karena cuaca sudah sedikit membaik.... sedikit.... dan masih suka berubah-ubah ( Harusnya sudah musim semi tapi masih kelewat dingin ). Alasan lain adalah karena akan ada perayaan paskah maka diadakan Bazaar. Bazaar ini kalau di Indonesia-kan maka akan menjadi pasar malam. Tapi perbedaannya bazaar ini sudah tutup pk.18:00.

Walau begitu gue cukup senang karena bisa mencicipi sedikit kearifan lokal. Tapi ingat, hemat!

Ok, sekian pembaharuan dari gue. Semoga menginspirasi!

Oh ya, weekend ini gue akan pergi ke Olomouc dan Ostrava, dua kota yang masih berada di Republik Ceko.

Nantikan cerita lainya minggu depan !

Cao!

Hari ketiga ini kita akan kembali ke Zlin. Bus akan berangkat pk.10:40. Pagi-pagi kita udah siap dan pamitan sama penghuni kamar lainnya. Setelah sarapan, kita langsung berangkat ke The Prater. Kita emang berencana nggak mau masuk ke dalam The Prater ini. Alasanya? Mahal! Selain mahal sepertinya kurang cocok untuk anak muda karena bianglala tua ini bakalan ngebosenin. Sama halnya seperti bianglala yang di Singapura itu loh...

Dari Schottenring kita naik line warna ungu ke Praterstern. Turun dari Praterstern tinggal jalan lurus sedikit dan akan meliaht si The Prater itu. Ternyata The Prater ini juga tutup karena masih pagi. Kita cuma foto-foto aja sih habis itu langsung lanjut ke Toko Sederhana. Toko Sederhana adalah salah satu toko bahan makanan Indonesia yang ada di Vienna ini.

Tujuan utama adalah nge-stok beberapa indomie, dan bahan masak yang selama ini nggak ada di Zlin seperti tepung sagu, royko, sambal balado, dan lain-lain.

Toko ini letaknya tidak jauh dari The Prater tapi kalau mau langsung ke toko ini mendingan turun di Messe-Prater. Lokasinya ada di sebelah supermarket BILLA. Tapi hati-hati karena di dekat-dekat sana juga ada BILLA lain.

Sesampainya di Toko Sederhana, begitu buka pintu langsung terdengar suara wanita yang sedang telfon dalam bahasa Jawa. Hal itu nggak mungkin terjadi di Zlin... hahaha

Kitapun langsung borong belanja dan ketika di kasir kita sedikit ngobrol-ngobrol sama sipemilik toko. Ternyata dia orang asli Malang dan pindah ke Bali bersama suaminya yang merupakan orang Austria.  Berhenti bisnis di Bali, mereka pun pindah ke Austria dan memulai hidup disana. Pemilik toko ini sudah 5 tahun tinggal di Austria. Bukan main ya...

Sedikit info aja, harga makanan di toko ini emang nggak semurah di Indonesia tapi nggak mahal-mahal banget kok. Perbedaannya mungkin 5-15 ribu. Oh ya, ada juga semacam petai, ikan asin, sereh, pandan, dan lainnya dalam kemasan beku. Nah, khusus makanan-makanan beku ini, harganya lumayan mahal. Misalnya petai satu tempat makan sedang harganya 100ribu.

Bijaklah memilih mana yang benar-benar butuh dan yang masi bisa ditoleransi supaya tidak berakhir kere di Eropa hahaha!

Seusai puas berbelanja, kita langsung naik u-bahn dari Messe-Prater ke Stadion untuk naik bus kembali ke Zlin.

Ya, segitu aja deh untuk postingan mengenai Vienna. Semoga terbantu ketika mau pergi kesana ya!