Budapest.

Week 3: Trips to Znojmo, Mikulov, Budapest & Academic Life in Olomouc!

Dobre den! The time has been flying by here! I have been so grateful to see so many beautiful sights and learn more history! Last Monday was an Easter holiday so there was no school! So we decided to take a day trip to southern Moravia in the Czech Republic. Our first stop was to Znojmo! The sights were absolutely beautiful!! We were able to see a wonderful cathedral and castle while taking in the gorgeous view around us! We then made our way to Mikulov, where we saw another Jewish cemetery and hiked all the way up to Holly Hill. I was in shock looking out at the marvelous view! The beautiful town and countryside stretched on forever! It was so peaceful and astonishing to be able to see such a beautiful sight!

The group enjoying the beautiful view at Znojmo!

The Jewish cemetery at Mikulov.

I fell in love with the astonishing view from the top of Holy Hill in Mikulov.

The group that made the it the top of the hill! 

So thankful to have Tereza and Ann show us around these cities!

We made it back to Olomouc and had classes the entire week. Then Friday afternoon we raced to the train station after class and we were on our way to Budapest! When we finally made it to Budapest, we checked into our hostel and then went on a pub-crawl to the ruin bars with everyone that was staying at our hostel. The ruin bars are abandoned buildings in the Jewish quarters that were destroyed and are now transformed into a bar. They are half inside and half outside with dirt floors and decorated with some awesome vintage furniture. Saturday morning we were able to take a tour of the city of Budapest. I loved learning about the history behind every building and statue, but what I found the most interesting was the way the city formed. Budapest used to be split into two separate cities; one was named Buda and the other Pest. In 1873, the two cities were emerged together to create Budapest. These two cities became one by being linked together with the construction of The Chain Bridge over the Danube River. We also hiked up Gellert Hill and saw an amazing view of the entire city. That night we decided to take a boat cruise on the Danube River. The views were even better at night when everything was lit up across the city. 

St. Stephen's Basilica in Budapest.

Matthias Church was stunning to see!

The view of Budapest from the top of Gellert Hill.

The Chain Bridge

Enjoying the night lights on our boat cruise! 

The Hungarian Parliament building all lit up!

We were blessed to have such a beautiful day on Sunday and decided to take full advantage of it by going to the Szechenyi thermal baths/spas in Budapest. These baths are supplied by natural springs and are so hot they have to cool down the water so that people can use them. We were able to just soak in these mineral baths for hours. It was so refreshing to be able to take the entire day to just relax in the water and lay out in the sun. That evening we spoiled ourselves and went to a fancy restaurant that was absolutely delicious. We spent the last part of the night just walking around the city enjoying our last moments in Budapest. 

The Szechenyi thermal baths!

Although am loving all of the fun destinations that we get to visit, I love always coming back home to Olomouc! During the week we get to learn about the Czech Republic and all of Europe from a some of the greatest professors. Our three main professors are Martin Elbel, Jan Stejskal, and Katka Prokopova. They each are so intelligent and passionate about the topics they have to teach us. Martin's class mainly focuses on the Holocaust, which is a topic that I absolutely love learning about. So far we have learned more of a background before we dive right into the Holocaust. Martin has been preparing lectures about Judaism and Christianity and our most recent lecture was about witches, which was very fascinating! Jan's class is more focused on the culture of Europe. So far he has covered topics over Greek and Roman Legacy, and Christianity. We also have many guess speakers come and share special topics with our class! We have had a wide range of topics covered like government and politics, democracy, press, economics, refugees, and international boarders. Katka's class is learning the Czech language- which is not an easy language!! Although I try my best to learn this difficult language, I get very frustrated. Most of the time I don't even speak proper English, so you can only imagine me trying to learn Czech. However, I am very thankful that we are able to take this language class because it truly helps me in my daily life by communicating with people in Olomouc. Hopefully by the end of this trip I will be able to have full conversations with others! I am incredibly thankful to be able to have these wonderful professors be so passionate and knowledgable about the topics that they share with us! 

I have seen so many stunning places in Europe already and my trip isn't even half over yet- I can't wait for all of the wonderful destinations I have yet to explore!