to+cave+resto.JPG” border=”0″ />ast week, I promised to send a “Best and Worst List” from our “Experiment in Travel in Eastern Europe”. Over the next few months – in between blogs about The Diva’s Daily Life – I’ll cover in-depth each of the destinations we visited, advising you on where you should go, what to do and most importantly what to buy while there! For now, you can use our list (written on the fly as we were speeding down the autobahn driving home to Holland) as a check list in planning your very own trip east!
Best and Worst List:
Favorite City: Budapest
Least Favorite City: Tokay
(interestingly, both places are in Hungary)
Favorite Country: Slovakia (in spite of the fact that the people were not a particularly friendly bunch)
Least Favorite Country: Hungary
Favorite Place: Carpathian Mountains/High Tatras in Eastern Slovakia
Least Favorite Place: The drive to the Tokay wine region from Budapest
Favorite Hotel: – – Bratislava/ Hotel Arkada – Levoca
Least Favorite Hotel: Pension Rosa – Cesky Krumlov/ – Tokay
Least Favorite Spa: The “massage service” at the Hotel Humboldt – Karlovy Vary, Czech, which left WG bruised and limping for a week following, fearful of ever again getting a massage. Second choice would be the numerous dental offices/spas dotting Karlovy Vary. I dont want to get my wisdom tooth pulled and body exfoliated at the same place and never could figure out the connection in offering these same services in one locale!
Least Favorite Breakfast: Hotel Tokay. They ignored us for 1 hour while we waited patiently for our breakfast to be served, drinking our coffee, etc. Then we were told that, in spite of the fact we’d been waiting since 9am for our breakfast, the kitchen was now closed as it was 10am. Eventually, after arguing extensively in French with their receptionist who didn’t speak English, only French & Hungarian, we received breakfast 30 minutes after the breakfast hall had closed.
Favorite Lunch: U Fleku – PragueLeast Favorite Lunch: The rest of them – as we opted to skip lunch the rest of the days of our trip in lieu of large (read as “muffins-stuffed-in-the-pocket-for-later-free) hotel breakfasts and nice dinners out. The hearty Eastern Europe cuisine didn’t allow room in our tummies for both lunch and dinner! Thus, my poor husband starved at lunch time, occasionally giving into his hunger pains by grabbing hot dogs and sandwiches on the run. Once I ordered a salad for lunch at a cafe in Prague only to discover Czech salads have no lettuce.
Worst Dinner: When our Middle-Eastern styled restaurant in Karlovy Vary turned into a Discothèque Party Night for water-bong smoking Czech teenagers before we’d finished our dinner.
Worst Drink Discovery: the naturally warm spa water bubbling from the earth in Karlovy Vary
Least Favorite Food Discovery – Dumplings again each day of our 2nd week in Eastern Europe
Best Beer: A dark, rich and creamy ale with a 2 inch head sold only at U Fleku – PragueWorst Beer: Accidentally ordering a non-alcoholic blond in Bratislava
Best Wine: Tokay Aszu
Worst Wine: The Czech Wines which had a slightly sulfurous aftertaste
Worst Dessert: Homemade Noodles dripping with butter then piled with a mountain of ground poppy seeds. I believe the quote uttered from my lips upon the first bite was “It tastes like dirt.” 
Best Antique Shopping: Cesky Krumlov (close sec
ond is Budapest). Budapest would have won this slot except for I found significantly lower prices in CK.
Worst Antique Shopping: Prague
Best Tourist Shopping: Budapest Central Market Hall – paprika, peasant blouses, and foie gras.Worst Cultural Attraction: The commercialization in Prague at the Jewish Cemetery and surrounding synagogues.
Worst Petrol Stations: Lukoil
Favorite Aspect of the Trip – Spending time with my husband, WG, before his busy period at work.
Least Favorite Aspect of the Trip – It’s over!!! That sad fact, plus the cheating, lying and thieving of all of the Prague taxi drivers. WG and I decided that, in order to be a taxi driver in Prague, you must go to school to learn to be unscrupulous! 
I hope this list wets your appetite for more Eastern European Travel Tales!
Be back soon!
The Antiques Diva