TAC History Club In Central Europe!
Grade 10 & 11 ( April 2-7, 2016)
A six day tour of Central Europe spanned Budapest, Estergon, Bratislava, Vienna and Prague for seven students with their History teacher, Hasan Turgut. This journey through history and technology had students exploring major places of interest in these cities. Sites of interest included the Skoda factory, a former Nazi Concentration Camp, Karlovy Vary (where Atatürk stayed for a month for treatment), the Vienna Opera House, and Maria Terese Square. It all made for an enriching experience whereby the students could visualize many of the places they had only read about.
An Unforgettable Travel Through Time and History
During the April break, we traveled to Central Europe as seven TAC students with our beloved History teacher, Hasan Turgut. During the trip, we visited four countries: Hungary, Slovakia, Austria and the Czech Republic. The eight of us went on this expedition to retrace our national history where it crossed paths with European history. We explored the historic Buda fortress in Budapest, the streets of Vienna and the Slavic landscape. Sometimes, we found the shared emotions which make us and our culture in a Balkan tune, at times in a palace courtyard, in a traditional Hungarian dinner table, or in a Czech village. We shared joy and grief, paying our tribute to this unique rainbow of cultures. Our first destination was the Hungarian capital of Budapest. After a quick city tour on our bus, we arrived in Heroes Square, the most famous of all squares in Budapest. The horse sculptures were made to honor Hungarian politicians and leaders. Around the monument are the Museum of Fine Arts and the Palace of Arts. You will see a park really close to the square, a walk to which is definitely recommended.Right after that we went to the Budin Castle which is in the Buda part of the city. This castle gives you a bird’s eye view of the city and is a great point for viewing the Danube River, the famous Budapest bridges, and of course for taking lots of photos.
In the evening, we took a break from the sightseeing schedule at the Hard Rock Cafe in Vaci Utca, arguably the most famous street of Budapest. On the second day, we left early in the morning for Esztergom Castle which is located by the Danube, captured by the Ottomans twice. We took great pleasure in seeing the sections of the church where services and confessions take place and where the castle was turned into a church on the inside and the amazing artwork exhibited on the inside. A marvellous view was waiting for us in the exit door of the castle: the Danube and the Slovakian land beyond its confines. We immediately took out our phones to capture the moment. At the exit, we headed for the city of Visegrad, and we definitely recommend everyone the restaurent we had lunch: Renaissance Restaurant. It really takes you back to Middle Ages. And the people of Visegrad, they love Turks. All waiters spoke Turkish. After lunch, we returned to Budapest and sat at the famous Youth Park, which apparently was a popular spot for youngsters of our age. Then we returned to the hotel. The following day had a full schedule and we traveled to 3 different cities. Early in the morning we arrived in Bratislava and had a quick city tour with our guide. Bratislava is a small but a very cute city with its narrow and colorful streets, huge opera buildings and vast squares.
After buying some souvenirs and had lunch, we departed for the Austrian capital, Vienna. We learned that no other two capitals in the world are closer to one another than Bratislava and Vienna. They are just 50 minutes away from each other. Our first stop in Vienna was the Belvedere Palace. This place is important in that it has monuments and scupltures which symbolize victory against the Ottomans. For Austrians, it was probably their way of telling all Europe that it was them who saved Europe from the Ottoman wrath. It is a highly recommended destination. Then we continued our tour of the city: the parliament building, the massive municipal building and the University of Vienna. Vienna is an impeccable city in terms of arts and aesthetics. We have not seen one single building which looked ragged. The city smells of quality, and you take pleasure in seeing the urban quality and aesthetics of this unique European capital. Following our city tour, we got on our bus to visit the Hofburg Empire palace. This is a palace which has hosted many important royal dynasties of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, the Topkapı Palace of Austria, you could say. It is said that there are more than 4 million historical artefacts inside the palace. The exterior was very impressive too. The life-like sculptures making up the landscape make the palace look like a hand-drawn sketch and all you are left with is to take a picture of it. Later in the day, we rented a bike for 1 Euro each, a system which you can see in many major European cities, to see a closer view of the city’s landmarks. We toured every little Street. The bicycle tour of Vienna took us three hours and along the way we saw the roads, streets, buildings, palaces, univiersities, the parliament and municipal buildings, parks and many other things. Every corner of the city is very well designed that you feel compelled to stop and marvel at every building which you pass. After the bicycle tour, we went to FiglMüller, upon recommendation, to eat schnitzel, the staple dish of Vienna. The restaurant is so popular with the locals that the queue extends to the other side of the sidewalk. We were fortunate since we made our reservation two days ago. The schnitzel, as well as the chocolate cake were very delicious. We visited a church nearby, receiving information about the paying Christians and their rituals.
The next day, we departed early to travel to a new country: Czech Republic. In Europe, you don’t have to wait at the border gates or airport customs in a long line as in Turkey. Because of the agreement between European countries, there is free passage between one EU country to another. So changing a country is no big deal. Our first stop in the Czech Republic was a town preserved from the Middle Ages, a UNESCO World Heritage site: Cesky Krumlov, which the Czechs call “the little brother of Prague”. The beautiful Cesky Krumlov in the South part of Bohemia (Czech Republic) is worth giving more details about. It is not a big town, and there are not many activities to do. However with its gardens which have amazing views, the well preserved castle, and the city center which is under preservation by UNESCO were all worth the trip. We felt as if we were walking in a movie set. The small cute houses, the cobblestone streets transported us to a different world. Walking along the Vltava River surrounding Cesky Krumlov, we were taken by the breathtaking views of the town.
Our next destination was Prague and we started exploring the capital passing through the Charles Bridge over the Danube. We arrived in the old town square. Here we saw the majestic looking municipality building. Right next to it was the Clock Towe, which looked a bit like Galata Tower of Istanbul. Finding out that we can get to the top of the tower, we did not waste the opportunity. The top floor renders an amazing view of the city, and you can see everywhere including those places where you will not be able to walk to. We strongly recommend travellers to Prague to do this. We completed the day after eating at the city square. The fifth day of our trip was quite busy. We left early morning for Terezin, which used to be a Nazi concentration camp, although it was not a typical concentration camp but a temporary camp before distribution to other camps. The slaves would be brought to Terezin, to be sent to larger camps, mainly to Auschwitz in Poland. The conditions were so bad that some slaves lost their lives here before transferred somewhere else. Those who were exposed to hunger, epidemics and torture would lose their lives shortly after arriving in their destinations. At Terezin, the epidemics were so widespreads that even the guards had to leave the camp. It was not until May 1945 that the Russian soldiers found the camp and did the first heath interventions to the slaves with their medical teams. A national cemetary was built at the entrance of the Terezin Nazi concentration camp, which now has graves of 10.000 people. Having learned the background information, we were already feeling overcast as we were taking our first steps into the camp.
Then we went to the Skoda Automobile Factory, located in the city of Mlada Boleslav, about 10 minutes to Terezin. Here, we saw the steps of manufacture of a car and looked at the old cars. The factory is so big that it takes up almost half of the city. While 70% of the residents work at the factory, 90% use Skoda make cars. After a tour of the factory, we returned to the capital to get ready to explore the nightlife of Prague. We had a lot of fun at a cafe, with friends and our dear teacher Mr. Hasan Turgut. The next morning we had to get ready for departure, but we had one more place to visit: Karlovy Vary. Karlovy Vary, which is 1,5 hours away from Prague, is one of the smallest towns of the Czech Republic. With 55 thousand population, it is the most important spa town of the world. It is for this reason that many international leaders and artists throughout history have visited this town, the Czech name of which means “the King’s Bath”, including the German philosopher Karl Marx, psychiatrist Sigmund Freud, Beethoven, Tolstoy and for us the most important of all, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. During your time in Karlovy Vary, you can drink the healthy spring water, which you can see in every corner, for free and we recommend buying the typical pitcher and glasses to drink the water while walking. The city center was constructed in such an intricate architectural detail that all shops and buildings are colorful. To take of these in more effectively, we got on a horse drawn carriage to tour this town. A final tip: don’t forget to taste the cinnemon wafer before you leave Karlovy Vary, since this is what the city is famous for.
As we close our travelogue of this one-week Central Europe trip, we truly felt that we were able to get a feel of the multilingual, the multicultural geography, community, traditions, excitement and pain in those countries where we also sought traces of the ancient cultures of our ancestors. We also dreamt about a Turkey which is as vast and inclusive as the ocean, open to every voice and color. Keeping alive the hope of being able to say one day “we are together in everything we do everywhere”…
Sami Ulular