All Posts By

Helena Dvořáková

Austria

Gastronomic Adventures in Vienna

To find at short notice in the centre of Vienna a restaurant which would offer at least one nice vegetarian meal, is not as easy as it would look. It’s Friday afternoon and we are circling through the Vienna streets in a vain effort to discover such a miraculous place. In the end our effort succeeded. The menu hanging by the door of restaurant Bastel Beisl promises that even non-meat eaters can eat here. So we ducked into the cellar area. At that moment we didn’t know what our dinner experience will be. The waiter brought us our menu. He is not very friendly. He would be more suited to the role of a sergeant on a parade ground than that of a waiter. He looked down at us grumpily as if he was silently asking: What are you aliens doing in MY restaurant? We study the meal offer, half expecting that the sergeant, excuse me, the waiter orders us to: “About face! Forward march!” Surprise, surprise – the only vegetarian meal they advertised so proudly outside on the board is not available. Doesn’t matter, croquets with poppy seed from the desert menu are also good. Having ordered tea we […]

by Helena Dvořáková

Austria

Colorful dream of a mad architect

We went to Vienna to visit a friend, and also to have a look at monuments and local tourist attractions. Mainly I wanted to see ‘the colorful house which plays music when it is raining’. I have seen many pictures on the internet and I was looking forward to it very much. How surprised was I when we got to our longed-for goal and I found out that this is, in fact, NOT the colorful house which plays music when it is raining. It was a completely different colorful house. The house I wanted to see is in Dresden. We were standing in Vienna looking at a psychedelic creation of an eccentric architect Friedrich Hundertwasser. It doesn’t play music but it flaunts a colorful façade in slightly flaking shades of yellow, blue, red, and white. It didn’t matter. I am used to my chaotic ways and this house was as interesting as the personality of its creator. A house where the floors roll The Viennese colorful house, Hundertwasserhaus, is said to be originally social housing for the poor. Today it’s a lucrative address – if you don’t mind the crowds of tourists constantly pouring under your windows. And that parts […]

by Helena Dvořáková

Czech Republic

Český Krumlov – a Ghost Town

Good travel stories usually start with a mishap, from which point of view I fail you. This time wedidn’t forget anything, we didn’t miss any transport, all five days were sunny with the exception ofone short thunderstorm, the accommodation was absolutely fabulous and the streets of ČeskýKrumlov were nearly our own. What else can one wish for? Maybe for a little more time. Český Krumlov is a beautiful town. While visiting though, I felt on occasions that I was in a ghosttown. The ground floor of every house was a shop with clothes or souvenirs, or alternatively arestaurant. The part above of nearly every building is a guest house. This isn’t a town organized forordinary life. The crowds of tourists streaming through its arteries are its blood. Without themKrumlov seems abandoned. I asked Ben, how many people he thought lived here, truly lived here.He answered: “Fifty to a hundred.” Český Krumlov is not a place for living but, it seems to me, a beautiful theatre stage prepared for aperformance about to start. I liked it this way rather than having to push through crowds. The historical centre of Český Krumlov spreads within two loops of the river Vltava. In Latrán, […]

by Helena Dvořáková

me standing at an almost empty Charles Bridge

Czech Republic

Being a Tourist in Empty Prague

Last summer, when the spring lockdown temporarily lifted, we engaged in a bit of an ‘empty Prague tourism.’ It’s surprising how little I get to see the city’s historical parts — I mostly avoid them because they are full of tourists. Prague is wonderful (so I understand that people want to see it), and the distinctive landmarks like Charles Bridge or Old Town Square are usually packed. And so that’s where we decided to go. We started our stroll at the beautiful Kampa island. With its maze of tiny streets and an old watermill, it’s one of my favorite places in Prague. We didn’t go as far as the famous Lennon wall, but we enjoyed the poetry booth on the edge of the park instead. This invention is one of the indigenous ideas of Ondrej Kobza, who is also behind the Prague street piano initiative and is always looking for ways to make the city more interesting. Needless to say, I am a fan. From Kampa, we headed to the Charles Bridge. I was curious about how many people would be there — after all, we were not the only ones on the empty city sightseeing bandwagon. As it turned […]

by Helena Dvořáková

Thoughts

Journey to a country you don’t want to know

I don’t want to talk about mental health, because this is a blog about travel… After all who would enjoy reading someone else’s moaning? I would like this to be a positive space. Space for small experiences. Space for little adventures. I want to talk about mental health because it is a fundamental part of my life. It is a reason why I cannot travel at the moment even if I would love to. It is a reason why I cannot do many other things. I’d like to take some of the stigma off this topic because I constantly meet people who simply don’t understand. And you can do it only by talking about it and talking and talking and talking… Or in my case writing. Psychological problems have accompanied me all my life. Since birth, I have suffered from anxiety even if I didn’t know at that time what anxiety was. Twice I was hospitalized long-term with psychiatric problems before I reached the majority. At the moment my doctor has recommended me for a disability pension. All the while you cannot see this. From the outside, I look normal, if I am not just collapsing. The inside is a […]

by Helena Dvořáková

a view of a meandering river from a rock high above

Thoughts

My Country or the World

I have written this post the last spring when traveling abroad was near impossible on my Czech blog. Since then, we didn’t travel through the Czech Republic as much as I would have wanted. We did the almost obligatory “empty Prague sightseeing”, but aside from that, we mostly made trips to nature. That was what our mental health needed. But I’m curious about you – how do you feel about traveling your own country versus going abroad? ~~~ I have to confess that so far I have not had a warm relationship with traveling within Czechia and it has bothered me. I was fully aware of how absurd it is to gush about some monument or place abroad while I find a similar monument at home boring. I wish trips in Czechia created at least a fraction of the enthusiasm traveling abroad did. But you cannot command feelings. While the prospect of traveling abroad fills me with joyful expectations, the sentence ‘we are going on a trip in Czechia’ gets at most an ‘Ok’ reaction. I usually like it but it does not contain that something… Something magical. Maybe it is because I traveled around Czechia during my childhood with […]

by Helena Dvořáková

Netherlands

Amsterdam Syndrome

On the last day in Amsterdam, our paths have split again. Partly because Ben, with his mum, was preparing for an early start while I was still recovering from a cold and needed some sleep. Also, partly because, as a chronically independent wanderer, I desired to learn this new city at first on my own. In addition to being a chronically independent wanderer, I am also chronically chaotic and so my becoming closer to Amsterdam was rich in experiences from the very beginning – in fact, from the moment I entered a tram. I looked excitedly from the window at the famous Amsterdam canals. The lady sitting by me noticed my enthusiasm and spoke to me. We managed to go over the beauties of Amsterdam, assets of cities we were from (the lady was from Copenhagen although she lived in Amsterdam), the communist era, rights of sexual minorities, and that I should have a better plan on what I want to see. (Yes, I know. While I am an obsessive collector of information in advance, on the spot, I usually throw half of my plans to the wind, burst somewhere into the streets and lanes, and let whatever catches my […]

by Helena Dvořáková

Netherlands

Keukenhof – a Tulip Dream

I had a dream. A dream of spring. A dream of tulip fields in bloom below trees green with newleaves. A dream of a flower haven where you can walk on paths in the midst of beauty which takesyour breath away. A dream of waking spring in the midst of an explosion of color. A dream of myself, alone with magnificent nature. I wanted to visit Keukenhof. And now we are here. In a massive carpark where buses spit out crowds of visitors. An endless queuestretches to the gates and behind them, there is some awful circus music being played. It’s socrowded that you cannot move. Is this what I dreamed about? We quickly slip inside because we cleverly bought tickets in advance on the internet. Due to thecrowds, I feel slightly dazed. This is not my spring dream! This is overcrowded chaos! I feel cheated. Keukenhof. The biggest spring garden in the whole of Europe. In the 15th century, there used to bethe kitchen garden of the Teylingen Castle. The foundation of the park was laid down in 1857 bygarden architects Jan David Zocher and his son Luis Paul Zocher when they designed the currentEnglish style garden. The current […]

by Helena Dvořáková

Netherlands

A Doll’s House and Hordes of Black-Eyed Rabbits

Amsterdam, five am, just before daybreak. I have no idea what made me run out here after waking up suddenly. I am standing outside with stockinged feet, listening to the bird song. The whole quarter is still asleep, and the air smells of adventure. We are staying in a doll’s house. It is pieced together from modules that look like several transport containers stuck together. There is a small garden with a wildly blossoming magnolia. In the draw of my bedside table, I was welcomed by a real Amsterdam joint, a little something from the landlords? ‘Our quarter’ seems to be inhabited mainly by Indians. On our walk, we found that nearly every garden has a statue of Buddha. In a local supermarket full of Indian specialties, we bought some flat cakes stuffed with cheese. I don’t know what they are called, but they were truly delicious. The doll’s house is a small hotel. It has three rooms. We rented two of them – one for Ben and me and one for his mum. Have I mentioned yet that we went to the Netherlands with Ben’s mum? It was by a complete coincidence. I desperately wanted to see Keukenhof in […]

by Helena Dvořáková

a paper boat next to a big ship in the sunset

Thoughts

You Kill Your Dreams When They Come True

I was standing in the middle of Champs Elysées, thinking, “What am I doing here?” It was a tropical day and the crowds of passer-byes were becoming oppressive. I was thirsty. My chronic pain flared up. And, the worst of it all: I was discovering that Paris was a city, not a dream. There were buildings, and shops, and people, and a road full of car traffic, just like everywhere else… even if at the end of the road stood the Arc de Triomphe. I somehow never imagined cars on Champs Elysées. When I was dreaming of Paris, I never imagined any of this. I had a hazy image in my mind — an impression of the Eiffel Tower, majestic in the springtime; of charming little cafés lining the streets, of flowers and sweet croissants and breathtaking views… of something profoundly enchanted and romantic. More a feeling than a place. Something fleeting. Something beautiful. Somehow, I never imagined it being a real place, something from the ordinary life and not from a fairy tale. And yet, it was. Real, solid, filled with people and noise, and sometimes rubbish and smell, like any other city under the sun. In your dreams, […]

by Helena Dvořáková

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