Bulgaria was our most pleasant surprise and we ended up staying 4 nights. MsRev is Ukranian and still fluent in the language and alphabet. Without her, it would be impossible to navigate the roads, as most all of the signs are in Cyrillic. Outside the city center, many streets aren’t marked. Some English is spoken but Lana’s knowledge of Ukrainian, which has many similarities to Bulgarian, was quite helpful, since we were often lost. Sofia has more of the feel of an international city than Bucharest and appears to be making more of a conscious and successful effort to catch up to their Western counterparts. They still have a long way to go.

Not many restaurants serving traditional Bulgarian cuisine are in Sofia. Their food is typical eastern Europe with a heavy emphasis on meat and sausages. Our first dinner was at a place called Uno (no deep dish pizza here). It was outdoor seating with a decidedly Mediterranean atmosphere. Upon spying a display case with a beautiful array of fish, we were quite enthusiastic about our meal. Bulgaria has a long border with Greece and the influence shows in their seafood preparation. We started with grilled Octopus with oregano, olive oil and lemon juice. It was incredibly tender and flavorful. We also had a tomato salad with fresh mozzarella (very similar to the Italian bufalo –they probably use the same animals), avocado, cucumber, and olive oil. The vegetables were amazing. We followed that with a simple grilled whole sea bream with lemon and herbs that was cooked perfectly moist. Why do Europeans innately know how to cook fish and we constantly have to beg in the US to get our seafood medium rare?

Sofia has no pedestrian zone but most of the historical area is easy to navigate. The central subway station is built around the ruins of the original roman settlement. It’s fascinating to see 2000 year old walls and streets incorporated with the modern structure.

We discovered a wonderful Viennese conditorei in the old Bulgarian Hotel. They also served some simple salads and seafood dishes so we made that our meal for the day, along with some noshing we did at the covered market.


Cabernet, Chardonnay, Merlot, what to choose?


Goat head wasn't part of the nosh-must have been the eyes!

We took some wonderful side trips outside Sofia to Rila Monastery, a UNESCO world heritage site, and to the towns of Koprivshtitsa and Plovdiv. Koprivshtitsa is a wonderfully preserved 400 year old village while Plovdiv is one of the oldest settlements in Europe with a beautiful Roman amphitheatre. Donor kebabs are very popular in Bulgaria and we finally experienced our first in Plovdiv. It was delicious.
Koprivshtitsa


Plodvid




Rila Monastary

Dinner was in Sofia at Captain Cook. I realize it sounds pretty touristy for Bulgaria, but the seafood was first rate. Greek salad had the usual all-star tomatoes. Another starter was a mixed grill including little red mullet, bluefish, octopus, calamari, and prawns. We finished with a pristine sea bass baked in salt, served with grilled vegetables.


Our last night in Sofia we decided to go back to Uno and sample some meat. We started with the tomato salad again but also ordered crab with sambucca, which we loved. I’m sure they got their inspiration from GWiv’s famous shrimp with sambucca. Next, crispy duck and roasted veggies and a mixed grill of lamb, including cutlets, knuckle, and sausage. Dessert was apple strudel. This was just about our favorite restaurant of the trip.


On the road again into Serbia!

Rev, what a wonderful trip! Tnx sooo much for keeping us in on the fun. BTW, keep your eyes open for a red Bulgarian varietal called "Melnick" or "Melnishka". It's a powerful, rich native variety that has some real class. It's also grown in Romania, so you could run into it anywhere there in Mitteleuropa.

Geo

To break up the drive to Slovenia, we spent a night in Belgrade, Serbia. I found it very difficult to obtain tourist information. I could get the exchange rate for Sudanese and every other currency, but not Serbian dinars. I read they didn’t accept credit cards. Serbia seemed to be a black hole. Nothing about it in Fodor’s either. How exciting!

The first thing we noticed on entering Serbia was how nice the autobahn was. Belgrade at first glance seemed much more developed with fewer Soviet monoliths. Tito negotiated with the Soviets so Yugoslavia never suffered Russian occupation. All the countries of Yugoslavia are ahead of their Eastern counterparts thanks to Tito. In Belgrade, a few unoccupied buildings, had their roofs caved in-obvious leftovers of the NATO bombings. We later learned these were military targets. Otherwise, although more worn down, this could be any West European city, with a charming pedestrian zone that absolutely rocks at night. Financially, the country and people are still hurting because of sanctions. Serbia has yet to surrender their war criminals and it is costing them dearly. Zagreb, in Croatia is much cleaner and appears much wealthier. Tourism is stronger. I believe they may be close to EU membership. Serbia should be right there but for their vision of A Greater Serbia.

Since we had only 1 night, we decided to eat traditional Serbian. Surprise! That means meat. Zlatna Decetka was our destination. Greek salad was fair. The tomatoes and cucumbers tasted like they were delivered from the supermarket. Mushroom soup was very flavorful. They just don’t use Campbell white mushrooms out here. Our entrees were tasty but disgustingly unhealthy. MsRev had grilled beef wrapped with crispy bacon and stuffed with cheese(the house special). Mine was even better. Grilled pork fillet stuffed with ham and cheese topped with more melted cheese. How are these people not all having heart attacks? We are ready to become vegetarians.

Slovenia was never on my radar but thanks to a Slovenian born friend of mine in Tahoe, it’s turned out to be one of our favorite places. It’s an absolutely beautiful Alpine country with a coast on the Adriatic. This is the first East European nation accepted into the EU and will be using the EURO the first of the year. Ljubjana, the capital, has a charming, medieval pedestrian zone. Villages in the country are Austrian ginger box style. Dinner was at an avant-garde restaurant called AS. No menu-just order the catch of the day. Sea crab salad couldn’t be fresher. Octopus Carpaccio was wondrous. Our entrée was a simple baked whole sea bass. Perfectly cooked of course! Blueberry cake was a fine ending.

Ljubljana from the castle

The next day we headed to Lake Bled, which is the Slovenian version of a smaller Lake Tahoe. It’s a magnificent mountain lake with a mountaintop chateau and an island hosting an ancient church. Lunch was at the Panorama restaurant on the lake. They were featuring a special mushroom menu so I started with mushroom soup, which had quite an earthy broth. MsRev had a caprese salad, which was just ok. We continued with smoked duck breast on corn, rocket, parmesan and mushrooms. I had grilled sea bass with boletus mushrooms, and potatoes with black olives and pesto. I can’t stress how much more tasteful their fungus is. Lunch was late so we skipped dinner.

Lake Bled, from our lunch table

Our last day in Slovenia was spent on the coast. Piron is a former Venetian walled city on the Adriatic. If you didn’t know better, you’d think you were in Portofino. Of course Trieste, Italy is just across the border 10 kilometers away. There are several others of these charming towns. Lunch was in Seca at Ribic, on the water. We had the most tender, flavorful baby mussels in a garlicky broth. We’ve never had mussels like this. They were probably caught that morning, as well as the whole grilled turbot, with a crispy skin that could give the LTH chicken a run for its money. How can they do that without drying out the fish? Dinner was late in old town Ljubjana of extremely thin crust pizza baked in a wood-burning oven and salad. A great end to our stay here. Tomorrow, we drive back to Vienna for a couple days before flying back from Budapest. Hope the riots are calming down!

Piron




A man with mussels

After an incredible trip, this is my final report. Sorry to leave Slovenia we headed north to Vienna for 1 more night. Antonius, I decided to give Greichenbeisel another try for lunch. It may now be a major tourist hangout, but it’s the oldest restaurant in Vienna and has a wonderful, historic atmosphere. I enjoyed some Hungarian goulash and a pilsner.

Dinner was at Drei Huseren, a formal Viennese restaurant with a modernized menu. We chose some items from their appetizer cart including goose liver pate(foie d’oie), marinated salmon pate, marinated sardines, tomato jelly, and a whitefish pate. All were delicious. Both entrees were terrific. I had fillet and roll of veal with basil and mustard sauce with gratineed potatoes. MsRev had Grouper in mussel sauce with olive garlic pesto and saffron rice. Gary, eat your heart out! Dessert was pancaky with nuts and berries with a chocolate and strawberry sauce.
We spent one more afternoon in Vienna engorging ourselves on pastries and chocolates before heading to Budapest for our last dinner.

We didn't have time to sample this, but I noticed a weber smoky mountain grill in back and the Wiviott 5-step method posted above it!

Our final meal, sigh, was at a small, charming place called Café Kor. We shared a mixed appetizer plate of goose liver pate(after this trip, the only goose I ever want to see is Garfield), mixed salad, smoked salmon, camembert, and carpaccio. We continued with duck breast with tangerine sauce and rice and mixed spit roast kabobs of beef and chicken with vegetables and pressed potatoes. We loved them both but the tangerine sauce was to die for, with no hint of sweetness. Dessert was our last pancaky, with plum jam, powdered sugar, whipped cream, and poppy seeds. It was 10pm and off towards the airport for a short night’s sleep before our 7:10 flight back home. One problem-the few hotels near the airport were booked. It wasn’t worth driving back to the city for 5 hours of sleep, so we decided to just park in the airport lot and sleep in the car. At $5 for the night, by far our cheapest room. The accommodations were so comfortable, we slept thru the alarm and bolted awake at 6. After scrambling to leave the lot, return the rental car, and race thru the terminal ( I beat OJ’s record by 3 seconds), we just made the gate as it was closing. It was a fabulous vacation and I highly recommend most of the places we visited. Don’t hesitate to ask for recommendations.

I missed this topic first time around, but for the archives, there's a group of expats (including the former editor-in-chief of the Budapest Business Journal) that set up a dining website/blog for Budapest:

http://www.chew.hu

Their Top 33 is to be trusted--these guys know what they're on about. Plus their editorial style is fun and hilarious. Worth a read even if you don't plan on visiting Eastern/Central Europe anytime soon. Great photos, as well. They would fit in quite well here at the LTHForum.

My personal recommendation for those travelling to Budapest is Café Kör.

RA,

Thanks for all the detailed posts and photos; it looks and sounds as though you had quite a trip. Thanks to the other major contributers to this thread as well. Very interesting stuff.

Antonius

Antonius wrote:RA,

A place that is worth visiting for a beer and a schnitzel in Vienna is the Griechenbeisl in the old centre of town. Its a very old inn and worth seeing in and of itself. Amata and I were in Vienna about 10 years and had a meal there, enjoyed it very much; this info is, therefore, ten years old, but the whole point of places like this is that they don't change too much.

http://www.griechenbeisl.at/page.asp/index.htm

Antonius

Yep, had a very good meal there a couple weeks ago;
a venison stew, with prunes and apples, I believe,
served with herbed potato dumplings; outstanding.

Jonathan and I are headed to Prague/Krakow/Vienna in June. This amazing thread has really gotten me excited, although the pesco-vegetarian me is a tad concerned that I'll be living on dessert/wine/beer/coffee for the bulk of the trip. Not necessarily a bad thing...

Any more recent recommendations would be appreciated.

Not food-related, but would love to hear about anyone's train experiences for Prague-Krakow, Krakow-Vienna. We're flying into Prague and out of Vienna and will probably do the night train to and from Krakow. If you've done this, please PM me with how it worked out for you. I love the idea of losing the expense of two nights in a hotel, but will I really be able to sleep on these trains?

Honestly, I've found LTH Forum to be an invaluable travel resource. In planning our trip to Merida, Mexico back in 2007 (viewtopic.php?f=15&t=15281&hilit=merida) I found this thread to be extremely helpful - viewtopic.php?f=15&t=7695&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=merida. I've no doubt that I'll receive some fantastic insights for these three cities as well.

I only hope that we can document our trip as well as RevrandAndy did for those who come after us ...

Thanks, Lynn

I'll do a little digging for Krakow to see what I can find, but I really envy you that city. I went with no expectations and, frankly, it blew me away. I had but four or five days there, managed to find a place in the old town, and just loved my time there. When I went--about ten years ago or a bit more by now--there wasn't a lot going on at night but I am convinced that that has changed. Most of what I recall is from sightseeing, not eating. I don't recall, offhand, a single restaurant as something that knocked me out, but I do remember lots of good, solid Polish fare (and excellent Polish beer). Lemme dig a little, though I fear even my recs are likely to be significantly out of date now. Have a wonderful time--those three cities are a knock-'em-dead trio.

LynnB wrote:Not food-related, but would love to hear about anyone's train experiences for Prague-Krakow, Krakow-Vienna. We're flying into Prague and out of Vienna and will probably do the night train to and from Krakow. If you've done this, please PM me with how it worked out for you. I love the idea of losing the expense of two nights in a hotel, but will I really be able to sleep on these trains?

I took the overnight train from Prague to Krakow a few years ago, and it was quite the experience. Let me preface by saying that I am a veteran of European trains of all kinds. This experience, however, jumped the shark. Our second-class overnight car looked like it had been rolled out of the junkyard and smelled like cat pee, which wouldn't be unusual if it did indeed come from the junk yard and feral strays took up residence there. That everything on the train was wooden and all the writing/instructions, etc. were in Cyrillic led me to believe that it was a Communist era relic. Oddly, the upper bunk was something like 7 feet off the ground (well-above my head) and, as there was no ladder, climbing onto it required a gymnastic feat. The train was hot as hell and my attempt to open a window was jettisoned by the surly conductor, who shut the window in a huff, and then proceeded to shake his fist at me for attempting to get some air. Anyway, we made it to Krakow on time and I obviously lived to talk about the experience. I slept on the train, but I don't think anyone else in my group did. I have a great hotel recommendation in Krakow, PM me if you're interested. (FWIW, my neighbor in Chicago is from Krakow and he thought it was crazy that I wouldn't fly from Prague to Krakow; after all, according to him, I should be able to get a great rate on some budget plane/former crop duster. After the train experience, I may take him up on that in the future.)

As for restaurants in Krakow, I'll have to go through my notes. I recall having a really excellent Polish meal at a restaurant recommended by our day-trip guide: Restauracja Pod Aniołami ("Under The Angels"). It is located in the Stare Miasto, and you eat in vaulted Gothic cellars. We had zurek, bigos, a variety of pork, pierogi (the mushroom were standouts).

Hmmm... quite the train story, Wendy. I'm a little scared now. The "Under the Angels" menu looks awesome though!

Actually, we're second guessing ourselves on squeezing in Krakow and trying to figure out if we can add a day or two to our trip. We've found a pretty good package deal flying into Prague and out of Vienna. Krakow is highly recommended by my husband's boss who is from the area and returns every other year. We'd really like to do it as we're not sure we'll ever get to this part of the world again.... I think Monika (husband's boss,) will have a recommendation for where to stay, however, she really doesn't do much dining out as she has tons of family still in the area. So if we do go, please dust off any additional recommendations.

I'll re-post when we've finalized our plans. Thanks much - Lynn

LynnB wrote:Krakow is highly recommended by my husband's boss who is from the area and returns every other year. We'd really like to do it as we're not sure we'll ever get to this part of the world again.... I think Monika (husband's boss,) will have a recommendation for where to stay, however, she really doesn't do much dining out as she has tons of family still in the area.

Lynn,

If you can make it to Krakow, please do. It is a really beautiful, emotional city. I am admittedly a history buff, and as much as I enjoyed the castles and churches, the visit I made to Kazimierz was more sobering than even Auschwitz, as terrifying as that was. On the up- and food-side, Krakow is filled with really good pastry shops, some worthy street vendors, and even pizza - yes, pizza - can be good in Krakow as certain Poles learned the art as tradesmen in Italy.

About the train - you might want to roll the dice. In search of water on my kiosk-less car, I sneaked into the adjacent sleeping car (and probably risked my life in the process) and it was as if I was whisked through a time machine. It was bright, modern and cheery. I probably wouldn't have had quite the same experience if I was assigned to that car.

I'd echo the "squeeze it in if you possibly can" recommendation. It's a beautiful city--small enough to walk around the Old Town quite easily and much to see (assuming you have any interest in history at all, or in architecture. The culture just oozes and it's a fascinating place. Ditto the food.

I arrived via overnight train from Budapest and other than a truly scary interrogation by border guards in Slovakia, had a perfectly unexceptional time on the train. Nothing either particularly positive or negative. I slept.

Please do consider going if you can. And I'll work on finding some more up-to-date restaurant recs. Good luck!

Trip is booked, sans Krakow.

Ultimately, we decided that based on the amount of time we have, 3 cities would just be too manic. So we have 4 nights in Prague, one night on a train to Vienna, and 3 nights in Vienna.

Jonathan's boss plans to move back to Poland in 5-6 years and has issued an open invitation, so perhaps we'll do an all-Poland trip in the future.

Meanwhile, we're excited for Prague/Vienna. I found a hopefully useful dining site for Prague - http://www.czechdineout.com/lang/search.php?t=vinarna

I did two overnight trains in Scandinavia, and slept a little on one (Oslo -> Stockholm) but not the other (Stockholm -> Copenhagen). As far as I know they were the same price/category, but on the first it was just me and my female traveling companion, and on the second it was me and 5 guys (I am a woman). The first had sheets and a sink in the cabin, the second was just bunks with mattresses. Def. was HOT in there, and we didn't want to open a window due to the noise.

We did have home-made margaritas before sleeping on the first, so that might have made a difference (Limes were hard to find, we found none in Copenhagen)

A very nice restaurant just off Old Town Square is Stoleti. It's a small, intimate space with very good modern Czech fare. The manager/concierge at Rezidence Retezova recommended it. Here's a link:

http://www.stoleti.cz/

25 days, 1 hr. until departure (not that I'm counting....)

Hoping volcanic ash does not not interfere with the plans. Having nagging thoughts about our other considered trip which was Buenos Aires. No volcanic ash issues down there!

A work connection has hooked me up with a friend of hers living in Prague, so I'm hoping to get some current "local" recommendations from her.

Several years ago, Jonathan and I visited a friend of ours living in Paris while on Fulbright scholarship. We did all the typical touristy stuff... which was great, but our last night we all went up to a wine bar in Montmartre and I thought, "damn, I wish we'd hung out here from day one - THIS is the Paris I wanted imerse myself in." And I think that's what I hope out-of-towners coming to Chicago discover access to here at LTH forum. Move beyond Navy Pier and River North and get out into the neighborhoods. That's what we are hoping to do in Prague and Vienna. We'll see...

Photos and stories to follow in about 35 days! -Lynn

Bumping this thread because the Mrs and I are most likely going to Budapest, Vienna, and Prague this summer. Flying into Budapest and out of Prague, at least that is the plan. Nothing booked yet. We will be taking trains between all the cities. Looking for places to eat (ReverendAndy's are great but from '06 so things may have changed) and things to do, including good day trips via train/bus!

Can't take the time at the moment, but there's a thread on Vienna here (probably multiple). We were just there a couple years ago and I've got a bunch of recommendations based on that visit. Use the Search function. My Prague recs aren't here but would be out of date so not worth making.

Found Vienna!

For anyone else looking that stumbles upon this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=11058&start=30

Hi all, I’m going to a bunch of cities next month and wonder if anyone has been recently. I have reservations in Budapest and Prague and Krakow, but have open evenings in Salzburg, Vienna, Berlin, London. Trying to get to Stratford upon Avon, there’s a food festival so don’t think I’ll need a res there.

Appreciate suggestions for good locals-like-it stuff, nothing fancy, price not really an issue. Thanks.

It's been 3-4 years since I visited friends in Vienna who, while not locals, had been living there for several years. I've forgotten most of the restaurant names but here are a few general food suggestions:

Visit the Naschmarkt, a large outdoor market with ready to eat food, produce, meats, cheese, and (I think only on some days) a flea market. Lots of options for getting a quick bite or bringing something back to where your staying.

Visit a heuriger on the outskirts of the city. They're like beautiful, family-friendly wine halls with lots of outdoor seating and large, high quality buffets. I can't recall which ones we went to. I was told that some can be touristy so it might be good to do some research if you plan to go.

Buy sausage at one of the dozens of wurstelstands throughout the city. My favorite sausage was the kasekreiner at the Bitzinger wurstelstand near the Albertina but I didn't have a bad one the entire time we were there.

Salm Braeu is a good tavern and restaurant near the Belvedere Palace museum, great pork knuckle.

A couple other observations... Sachertorte is overrated, dry chocolate cake. I'd stick with other Viennese pastries. Tafelspitz is a traditional beef/veal preparation that is exactly like English boiled beef in the worst possible way. It was the only thing I ate in Vienna that I actively disliked.

Thank you to whoever found this home for my post. I didn’t look far enough back.

My lasting memory is not of the torte but of the Sacher Hotel, which is really beautiful and well worth seeing, and of the gift shop. I bought a lovely enameled metal tin of chocolates and am still using the tin for coffee thirty years later. Every morning it makes me think of Vienna.

sujormik wrote:Thank you to whoever found this home for my post. I didn’t look far enough back.

It was Cathy, of course!

A recommendation for Prague - not a where, but a what. Get some klebicke (kleh-beech-kee). They're small, ornately-constructed, open-face sandwiches that are absolutely delicious. They're pretty ubiquitous and sold in many bakeries, especially in the Mala Strana. By far, these were my favorite thing I ate in the Czech Republic. Just point at the ones you want in the case and turn your thumb up. That does the trick. They used to be very inexpensive but it's been a few years, so I'm not sure. Current exchange rate is about 23 koruna for a U$D.

=R=

a giant crispy pork knuckle in the beer garden at schweizerhaus in vienna

You said you're set for Krakow, but consider Wierzynek, very old-school and lovely interior (right on the main square in the old town). We were celebrating a birthday when we were there and tried a number of dishes - all excellent:

http://wierzynek.pl/en/

spinynorman99 wrote:You said you're set for Krakow, but consider Wierzynek, very old-school and lovely interior (right on the main square in the old town). We were celebrating a birthday when we were there and tried a number of dishes - all excellent:

http://wierzynek.pl/en/

It does look yummy! Will let my daughter decide. Thanks.