Study Visit

Study Visit a good inspiration for youth

Vienna After a long way through Romania with spectacular mountain landscapes and a night in Budapest, we finally arrived to Vienna, where our trip really started.

Christmas Market in the front of Vienna City Hall

First, we were very impressed by city’s architecture: especially by the Hobsburg Palace and Parliament in baroque style, by St. Stephen's Cathedral in gothic style and Schonbrunn Palace in rococo style etc. Another pleasant surprise was the infrastructure: very well organized streets, convenient for pedestrians and for transport units.

The roads have also bicycle lanes with special traffic lights. In the evening we visited the Christmas Market in the front

of Vienna City Hall, it was much lighted and well decorated, creating a magical atmosphere. A tour among Vienna’s streets is like a walk through a textbook on architecture.

Paved Streets in Vienna

Prague

Top View of Prague

Next destination was Prague, the historical city welcomed us with great weather, paved streets and spectacular buildings. First in the morning, we met Ms. Katerina Petrickova, executive director of The Association of Tour Operators and Travel Agents of the Czech Republic (ACCKA). We discussed about the role and activities of service providers' Associations. The main role of ACCKA is to provide the last minute information concerning the tourism industry for her members. Also, ACCKA participates in consultative processes during the preparation of National Legislation relating to the tourism indus-

try. We learned about the specifics of tourism in Czech Republic. In order to promote the country, Czech Tourism focuses on the following topics: journeys of discovery, countryside trails, and pathways to health, congress and incentive tourism. Attractive tourist destinations in the Czech Republic on the domestic and foreign markets are represented in the campaign "Czech Republic: A Country Full of Stories". The meeting was very interesting as we understood the methods they used to promote their country and based on this example might promote Moldova.

We then visited the Prague Castle, one of the largest Castel in the world. We walked around its courtyards, palaces, museums and garden. We admired the overwhelming beauty of a place which has been the seat of Czech kings, emperors and presidents for a thousand years.

The next attraction was Art Gallery from Prague. We visited the Salvador Dali exhibition. There we discovered that Dalí used a wide range of symbols in his surrealist works. We saw one of the most popular art work – “Melting Watch”. We were very impressed!

The Art Exhibition of Salvador Dali

The second day in Prague started with the Charles Bridge - it is a gallery of Baroque’ statues on both sides, passing over the river Vltava. So it is no wonder that this is one of the most beautiful places in Europe. In order to discover the true heart of Prague, we went to the Old Town Square. There we climbed up to the tower of the Gothic Old Town Hall, which has been risen up over the square since as far back as the 14th century. On the top is the astronomical clock which has more than 600 years and opens an amazing view of the Prague city.

The Charles Bridge - a Gallery of Baroque Statues

In the next day we said goodbye to Prague, and we took the direction to Brno. Brno is a historic town, which impressed us with its monuments kept in their purest form. Villa Tugendhat from Brno was included in 2001 on UNESCO World Heritage list.

Bratislav The capital of Slovakia - Bratislava was the next destination of our trip. Located on the River Danube, this city has great monuments like: Bratislava Castel, St. Martin’s Cathedral, Primatial Palace etc.

Budapesta In the evening, we arrived in Budapest and we had a river cruise on the Danube. We admired the most fascinating sights of the historical city of Budapest, which is often called the Pearl of the Danube or the Paris of East.

Seven bridges and two railway bridges join two sides of the river which names are: Buda in the west and Pest in the east, both protected by UNESCO. The city has a very beautiful architecture:

Evening Sightseeing of Budapest

The Old Town Hall of Bratislava

Medieval Royak Palace, 700-year-old Matthias Church, Budapest Opera House, Budapest Academy of Music, Fishermen’s Bastion etc. We were really impressed.

This travel experience in the European countries had a great impact on our culture perception. Now we understand better how necessary is to develop tourism, to offer specific products for target customers and to adjust the infrastructure for accessing sightseeing places.