In the Capital of Hungary, Budapest, a particularly historic city, as much emphasis was placed, by the White Beer Travels recce team, on its general tourist attractions and excellent restaurants, cake/coffee shops and wine bars, as on its Speciality Beer outlets. Official websites giving much information on Budapest are www.budapest.com and www.budapest.hu.

A Böröző is a bar selling wine (bor), much of it very cheap. During the October, 1995 visit, as low as 8 Forints, (2 UK Pence, 3 US Cents, €0.03, at April, 2002 exchange rates, using the Discount Currency Exchange website www.discount-currency-exchange.com) was paid in more than one place for a 10cl glass of a varietal (named grape type) wine. There are many such wine bars in Budapest, and in the rest of the country, see below for information on some in the famous wine town of Tokay (Tokaj). The simplest, locals' wine bars typically have no seating, but are worth entering for the atmosphere. A Söröző is a beer bar. Many wine bars also sell beer, thus some have a double title. For example, the Söröző-Böröző-Ethezde, on Alcotás u., opposite the 139 bus stop at Budapest's Southern Railway Station, Déli pályaudvar (pu.). There are more Söröző and Söröző-Böröző in Budapest than guidebooks suggest, i.e. beer is drunk in great volume as well as wine.

A visit was made to a major brewery in the city, one of the Köbányai Breweries (now Dreher Breweries), see below.

The Sörlap website covers the beer scene in Hungary, www.sorlap.hu. Click here for a page from it listing some outlets for local beers.

The following is a small sample of beer outlets and restaurants that were visited in Budapest. The extensive notes from which they were taken may one day become a White Beer Travels guide to the city.

Kaltenberg [Bajor Kiralyi] Söröző is a brew pub at Kinizsi u. 30-36 (tel 215 97 92, www.kaltenberg.hu), which has Kaltenberger beers, including a Világos Sör, translated on the menu as a Lager, and a Barna Sör, translated as an Ale. (In the dictionary Világos means clear or light, Barna means brown.) (On the menu were the names of various sizes of beer glass: Pikolo, Korsó and Pohár.) The "Lager" was unfiltered (Szűretlen, pronounced Sue Ret Lan), decidedly cloudy, and was like a German Wheat Beer. It was sweetish but well balanced, an excellent beer. It cost 150 Forints (38 UK Pence, 54 US Cents, €0.62) for 50cl. Beers from the German Kaltenberg Castle Brewery (Schlossbrauerei) (www.kaltenberg.de) were also available in bottle, i.e. Prinzregent Luitpold and the dark König Ludwig Dunkel. There is also Germanic and Hungarian food; the raspberry dessert was very good. The liveried doorman, who are said in guidebooks to set the tone for a smart beer hall, were not in evidence on our visit. It is indeed a very smart beer hall, on which much money has been spent. It opened in 1985. The head brewer is called Laszlo Weber. Kinizsi u. is left off the road that leads away from the Danube, south of Liberty Bridge (Szabadság híd), the next one to the city's famous Chain Bridge (Széchenyi lánchíd).

The Castle Hill (Várhegy) in Budapest has many world-class attractions, including Matthias Church (Mátyás templom) (www.matyas-templom.hu) and the Fisherman's Bastion (Halászbástya). The latter has a complex of restaurants. One is within one of the round towers of the Bastion, and thus offers excellent views of the city and of the bustling crowds below the Bastion. A superb view is also obtained from a long, cloister-like room, in which a trio of violin, bass and clarinet play, certainly on a Saturday evening. This is part of the Budapest Hilton, their Dominican Restaurant (Hess András tér 1-3, tel: 488 66 00). A part of the Bastion concentrating on beer, although full meals can be enjoyed, was called the Dreher Restaurant Bierstube, at the time of the recce trip, but this name does not figure in current listings, so the place has probably been renamed. At the time, the draught (Csapolt) Dreher Pils (see below), at 200 Forints (51 UK Pence, 72 US Cents, €0.82) for 30cl, was excellent here. 33cl bottles in the supermarket then cost 77 Forints (19 UK Pence, 28 US Cents, €0.32), Bak Sör was 84 Forints, and, purely for comparison, Guinness was 218 Forints (55 UK Pence, 79 US Cents, €0.90). Bak Sör is listed in Dreher's üveges (bottled) section of the menu; it is also advertised by excellent posters. Wines are also available, including Tokaji Aszú 3 Puttonyos at 3,000 Forints (£7.59, $10.89, €12.34) for a bottle, 5 Puttonyos for 5,000 Forints, and 1976 and 1983 Aszú Essencia for 9,500 Forints (£24.02, $34.42, €39.10). With regard to these famous, superlative wines, see below for some information on the visit to Tokay (Tokaj), which followed the stay in Budapest.

Despite its name, Múzeum Kávéház, at Múzeum körút 12 (tel 267 03 45), is an excellent restaurant, i.e. although Kávéház means coffee house, it offers much more - excellent, good-value food, in elegant surroundings. It is close to the Hungarian National Museum (Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum) (www.hnm.hu), hence its name. A meal for two with wine cost 8,000 Forint (£20.21, $28.98, €32.95), at least half the price of Budapest's most famous restaurant, Gundel (Állatkerti út 2, tel 321 35 50, www.gundel.hu), the best restaurant in Eastern Europe, according to Egon Ronay, who is Hungarian. Excellent varietal wines - Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Blanc - were available. Surprisingly, considering the quality of the place and its food and wine, the main draught beer was the Alsatian Kronenbourg. Because of Múzeum's reputation, booking is recommended.

Gambrinus is an excellent restaurant, at V. Vácu, u. 20 (tel 485 31 99), within the Hotel Taverna (www.taverna.hu). Although it is named after the "King of Beer", see the top of the page covering the 1995 White Beer Travels Beer Hunt, based in Prague, and one of its rooms is designated a Sörbar (beer bar), the place has little to do with beer, although some unnamed Palacksör (Bottled Beer), at an expensive for Hungary 270 Forints (68 UK Pence, 98 US Cents, €1.11), is available. It is a very smart, excellent restaurant, one of a small number of Budapest restaurants listed in Michelin. A full meal for two with wine and liquers cost 7,500 Forints (£18.95, $27.17, €30.89).

The Gerbeaud cake/coffee shop at Vörösmarty tér 7 (tel 429 90 00, www.gerbeaud.hu), is an Hungarian national monument that should not be missed. Another splendidly elegant cake/coffee shop is Angelika, at number 7, on a square called Batthyány tér (tel 212 37 84). From this square, one gets the best view of the Hungarian Houses of Parliament (Országház), across the Danube, in Pest, which look remarkably like the British ones, in London.

The city's famed Central Market Hall (Nagyvásárcsarnok), at Vamhaz Körút 13, in Pest, near the Liberty Bridge (Szabadság hid), is an absolute don't miss. As well as interesting vegetables and spices, including, of course, paprika (the most favoured grade for cooking according to Gundel's Hungarian Cookbook, is édes nemes, fine sweet), seek out the tanks holding live carp, for eating, in the basement, and the stalls with shelf bars on the first floor serving wine from 8 Forints (2 UK Pence, 3 US Cents, €0.03), for a 10cl glass of Hungarian Rhine Riesling, to much higher levels, for the better wines from Tokaj, such as, a 6 Puttonyos Aszú, see below, for 250 Forints (63 UK Pence, 91 US Cents, €1.03).

The Danube Bend (Dunakanyar) towns of Szentendre, Visegrád and Esztergom, are all said to be tourist don't-misses in reputable guidebooks. They can be reached from Budapest by car, train, boat or Hydrofoil from Vigadó tér, on which stands the famous Vigadó concert hall, which specialises in high quality light opera. The White Beer Travels recce team had time to visit just one of the Danube Bend towns; we took the train to Esztergom. This proved to be well worth a visit. The journey, from Budapest's Western Station (Nyugati pu.), was incredibly slow, but interesting: a scruffy train with appalling toilets; country stations that were obviously in Eastern Europe, en route; no platform at Esztergom; etc. In Esztergom, the Castle Museum (Vármúzeum), by the don't-miss Cathedral (Bazilika), should be visited, if only for the view, from its roof, of the city, and Slovakia across the river.

1995 Visit to Dreher Breweries (Dreher Sörgyárak), Budapest

A detailed visit was made to this brewery. As with the visit to Budapest itself, extensive notes were taken, which could become a detailed White Beer Travels note on the place. The following photo and text give a flavour of the visit, see also the top of this page.

In this October, 1995 photo by White Beer Travels Beer Hunt and recce regular, Sylvia Clow, John White and Dr Eric Clow, are in front of a railway engine, in a Köbányai Brewery (Köbányai Sörgyar), in Budapest, in Hungary. Guiding them around the brewery is Imre Petró, at the time a "Senior Technical Assistant" there, who is in the middle of the group. This brewery is now in the SABMiller group (www.sabmiller.com), as are other hallowed Eastern European breweries, such as Pilsner Urquell and Velké Popovice (Kozel), in The Czech Republic, see below.

The Budapest Köbányai breweries are now called Dreher Sörgyárak (Dreher Breweries) (www.dreherrt.hu) after the brand name of some of their beers. The Köbányai breweries were established in the 19th Century by the famous Viennese brewer Anton Dreher (1810-1863). Other breweries that he set up, to brew the red "Vienna" style beer, include ones in Trieste, in Italy, and in Michelob (Mecholupy), in The Czech Republic, the latter having ceased brewing in 1927, see below. Anton Dreher is also well-known as someone who trained Josef Groll (1813-1887), the inventor of the Pilsener style of beer, in Pilsen (Plzeň), in The Czech Republic, in 1842. A future White Beer Travels recce trip will be to Vilshofen, a Bavarian town on the Danube, which is the birthplace of Josef. Before going to Pilsen, he worked in the family brewery, Wolferstetter Bräu, which was founded in 1542. After Josef's historical stint in Pilsen, on returning to Vilshofen, although only in his early thirties, he did not work for very long, although he naturally introduced a Pilsener-style beer into Wolferstetter's portfolio. A life of leisure was possible since, although only in Pilsen for a relatively short time, he had negotiated a very good pension from the Burghers' Brewery, the precursor to the Pilsner Urquell brewery (www.pilsnerurquell.com) of today. Josef died, aged seventy-four, whilst drinking at the Stammtisch, the regulars' table, in the Zum Wolferstetter Keller (Bürg 21, tel 08541 1729), the brewery tap. The Wolferstetter brewery (www.wolferstetter-brauerei.de) and its tap are still in existence; its Hefeweizen, a cloudy wheat beer, is highly regarded. The brewery, at Stadtplatz 12, still has a Pilsener-style beer; it is called Josef Groll Pils! His portrait is on the bottle label, and on the glasses in which it is served. From the photographs on the brewery's website, the tap looks to be a very special place: follow the "Gaststätten" (Pubs) links to see them. (This paragraph is from a detailed White Beer Travels Web page on Pilsener Beer, which will be available from the Downloads page later this year.) Remarkably, despite its austere appearance, which, no doubt has subsequently been sorted out by SABMiller, the Köbányai Brewery visited on the White Beer Travels recce trip has a very smart museum. On entry, one is confronted with a superb old dray, pulled by two stuffed horses! There are portraits of Gambrinus and Anton Dreher, and a collection of brewing, malting and cooperage equipment, including Cool Ships, Baudelot coolers, etc. Köbánya means quarry in Hungarian. In 1854 Anton Dreher merged a number of former separate breweries and maltings which were built above underground, cellar-like stone workings, some dating from the 13th Century. The stone for many of the buildings in Buda and Pest was obtained from the "quarries", i.e. they are not quarries in the normal sense, but are very long underground passageways, which are, of course, visited on brewery trips. A cult liqueur available in most bars in Budapest, is the incredibly herby Unicum (www.zwackunicum.hu), which comes in a spherical, Molotov Cocktail-shaped bottle. We did not actually have any during the visit, but Imre Petró recommended that we purchase some to take back to England, which we duly did. At first, it was almost undrinkable, but, I tried it again, in 2005, and I quite liked it!

After the visit to Budapest, The White Beer Travels recce team drove to Tokay (Tokaj), this most famous of wine towns. Note that Internet searching revealed that there was a Beer Festival (Sör Fesztivál), in Tokaj, in 2001 (on the 27th of July). Perhaps there will be one at the same time of year in future years. The following are sample notes from those taken on what was a most interesting visit.

In Tokaj, there are a number of traditional Kádárok (Coopers). For example, at Rákóczi Ferenc u. 30, diagonally opposite the Makk Marci Panzió-Pizzéria (which has nice accommodation), is Kádámester (Master Cooper) Hudák Istvan's establishment. It cannot be missed, since in his yard are high piles of impressively stacked oak barrel staves, as in this November, 1995 photo of Joyce White, by husband John. The staves are weathered for one to four years, the wind and the rain and the other elements removing bitter tannins, whilst, at the same time, enhancing the wood's, and hence the wine's aromatic properties. Ferenc Rákóczi II or Rákóczi II Ferenc - the surname comes before the Christian name in Hungary - attempted to gain independence from the Habsburgs in 1703, a struggle which ended in defeat in 1711. Lajos Kossuth was a leading light in the 1848 revolution, also against the Habsburgs, which was also unsuccessful. Nevertheless Rákóczi and Kossuth are major Hungarian heroes, their names popping up in street names everywhere, as here in Tokaj, usually close to each other. Wine is heavily featured in the Tokaji Múseum, at Bethlen Gábor Utca 7. On Kossuth Lajos tér 15, the Rákóczi Pince (Cellar) has twenty-four chandeliered passageways, some miles long. Tastings, which are inexpensive, are carried out and, naturally, there are off-sales. Wine souvenirs include bottles covered with the black Cladosporium Cellare fungus that carpets the cellar walls and invades the casks.

The Rákóczi Kocsma, at Bethlen Gábor Utca 39, is a typically basic, atmospheric Böröző, or wine bar. The wine that is mainly drunk comes from large plastic containers, from which a 10cl glass of a varietal wine, such as Furmint, cost, in November, 1995, 10 Forints (2.5 UK Pence, 4 US Cents, €0.04, at April, 2002 exchange rates)! Quality was surprisingly good despite the give-away price; the plastic containers are filled at a winery each day. There was a continuous stream of people getting wine to take out; they brought their own containers, which were invariably plastic. Borsodi beer was available on draught, at a similar price to the wine. One sits on garden furniture, indoors. A bar such as this should not be missed on a visit to Tokaj. The more upmarket, Tokaji Borbar, at Rákóczi u. 36, has wines at the very low Böröző prices. However, also available are the usual range of more expensive Tokaj wines, such as a glass of one of the world's greatest sweet wines (right up there with the Sauternes super-Château d'Yquem), 6 Puttonyos Tokaji Aszú, a sensational wine that was a real bargain at 239 Forints (60 UK Pence, 87 US Cents, €0.98) a glass. There was a 1957 0.5 litre bottle (the classic Tokaj size) of the legendary Aszú Essencia for 15,003 Forints (£38, $54.35, €61.80).

From a general tourist point of view, Cracow (Kraków), in Poland, is absolutely top class. Forget any notions that Poland is drab. Cracow is remarkably lively and sophisticated and is surrounded by superb countryside, leading up to the Polish side of the High Tatras mountains. The White Beer Travels recce team had a memorable three night stay in Cracow, as part of a round car trip from Prague, tagged on to the end of the 1995 Group Beer Hunt based in Prague. The journey from Tokaj was via a two night stay in Tatranská Lomnica, a stupendous town in Slovakia, at the foot of the High Tatras (Vysoké Tatry) (www.vysoketatry.com). The Tatra National Park website, www.tanap.sk, gives complete details of the area, including Tatranská Lomnica. Particularly excellent are the walks that can be made after taking one of the many funiculars in the area to various points high up in the mountains. We took the funicular from Starý Smokovec to Hrebienok. On getting off it, we had an excellent, warming coffee in the nearby Bilíková Chata (Chalet), before a lovely, essentially down hill walk, with snow on the ground, to Tatranská Lomnica. This was mainly on the Blue Route number 2907A. As this is not highlighted in the Cicerone Guide, The High Tatras, by Colin Saunders & Renáta Nározná (ISBN 1852841508), those which it praises, such as the one to the Green Tarn (Zelené Pleso), must be really special. This outstanding book is available from  www.amazon.co.uk.

En route to Cracow, just before Tatranská Lomnica, we passed through Poprad, home to the Tatran Brewery (Pivovar Tatran). This brewery supplies many bars in the High Tatras. They brew, using water from the Tatras, the 12^o and 16^o Tatran, the 11^o Kamzik, and other beers, all in conformance with the Bavarian beer purity law, the Reinheitsgebot, i.e. adjuncts are not used in the mash.

Cracow has much to offer the Specialty Beer Hunter, as will be seen in the Eating and Drinking section, below, which follows a brief outline of the city's world-class tourist attractions.

Cracow (Kraków) Tourist Attractions

Cracow (Kraków) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site; click here for the full list. It is the Schindler's List city. A grim, but essential day trip from the city is to another UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Auschwitz (Oswiecim) Concentration Camp, and the associated Birkenau (Brzezinka) one (www.auschwitz-muzeum.oswiecim.pl). We took an English-language guided tour, run by Cracow Tours (www.hotelsinpoland.com/z_krak.htm). The father of our female guide was murdered in Auschwitz, in 1942; he was a member of the Polish resistance, i.e. not Jewish, as were the bulk of those murdered, in Auschwitz, by the Nazis.

In Cracow, the Market Square (Rynek Glówny), Europe's largest medieval square, is wonderful. The square is dominated by the Cloth Hall (Sukiennice), within which is a functioning market, which is worth visiting. The 14th century St Mary's Church (Kosciol Mariacki) fills the North East corner of the square. This is famous for the trumpet call sounded on the hour, which recalls a 13th century trumpeter killed by a Tartar arrow. Its alter piece is said to be the finest work of art produced in Poland. Its panels are opened each day at noon, apart from Sundays and Saints' days. A visit is an absolute must. Very much an active church throughout the day, with Poles bobbing up and down around you crossing themselves or taking confession. The interior is far more impressive than that of the Cathedral's and that is superb!

From the most Westerly corner of the square, Ulica Sw. Anny (St Anne's Street) leads to Collegium Maius, the oldest surviving part of the Jagiellonian University, dating from the 15th Century. It has a Gothic courtyard, which can be entered.

A major tourist target is Wawel Hill (www.wawel.krakow.pl) , on which stand the city's most famous don't-miss attractions - Wawel Castle, Palace and Cathedral.

The Jewish quarter, Kazimierz, and interesting places on its periphery, can be toured in about three hours, following a walk detailed in a book such as Euro Tours' Cracow - City of Kings (ISBN 8386146710), which is readily available in the city, or from www.polonia.com. With limited time, one should concentrate on Ulica Szeroka (Broad Street). On this street is the Old Synagogue (Stara Synagoga) at number 24, which is now an excellent museum, with very good exhibits explaining the Jewish way of life, with English captions, and an upstairs room covering the Nazi occupation of the city. This does not mention Schindler, but he is in evidence in the excellent "Jordan" bookshop cum information office/travel agents, at number 2, tel 421 71 66. This, for example, does a two hour "Retracing Schindler's List" guided tour of Cracow. Jordan's tours of Auschwitz/Birkenau give a more Jewish perspective than the ones run by Cracow Tours. Also on Ulica Szeroka is the Old Jewish Cemetery (Kirkut Remuh), and a don't-miss restaurant, Ariel, at number 18, which is covered in the Eating and Drinking section below.

The main tourist information office in Cracow is at Ulica Pawia 8, tel 422 60 91. The official Tourist Information website is www.krakow.pl. Another site that is jam-packed with information on the city is www.krakow-info.com.

Restauracja Zywiec, Ulice Floriańska 19, tel 422 76 21. Floriańska is one of the most striking street leading off the market square (to the NE). This has, as do many other places in Cracow, beers from the Browar Zywiec (Zywiec Brewery) (www.zywiec.com.pl), which is in Zywiec (www.zywiec.pl), which is eighty-six kilometres (fifty-four miles) from Cracow, in the Beskidy Mountains. The brewery is owned by Heineken. Zywiec is the last entry in the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Beers available, both on draught and in bottle, are the very drinkable Zywiec (5.7%, i.e. stronger than usual for a Pilsener-style beer) and the excellent Zywiec Porter (9.2%). Note that the Zywiec logo, on the left, is only visible on the bottled version of the main beer, Zywiec, when the beer is at the correct temperature for drinking! The beer is at its best on draught.

The Restauracja Zywiec has a most pleasant, vaulted bar with good-looking modern island bar-style tables, which leads to a most elegant restaurant (restauracja). Food is excellent and very reasonably priced. This place is a Cracow don't-miss for the Beer Hunter, whether he/she is looking for a meal or not.

We visited the town of Zywiec (which is pronounced "Zhih Vyets") on the return to Prague, the journey also being via the historic cities of Pardubice (www.pardubice.cz) and Kutná Hora (www.kutnahora.cz), in The Czech Republic, which also have breweries of repute. All three places could figure in future White Beer Travels Beer Hunts. A good base for a Zywiec Brewery visit, would be Zakopane, Poland's premier mountain resort, at the foot of the High Tatras, see the town's website, www.zakopane.pl. Pardubice, home to the Czech Grand National (Velká pardubická), is renowned for its "Porter" (8% ABV), brewed in the town's Pivovar Pernštejn (www.pernstejn.cz). The Pivovar Kutná Hora is at U Lorce 11, tel 0327 51 38 01.

Piwiarnia Pod Beczkami, Ulica Josefa Dietla 46. This is South of Wawel in the Stradom district, just North of the Jewish quarter, Kazimierz. The road, which follows the course of the river Wisla until it was diverted and filled in during the last half of the 19th Century, leads from the Most Grunwaldzki, a bridge over the Wisla (Vistula), a river which, via Warsaw, joins the Baltic near Gdansk. Once on the right street, the "Beczkami Beer Hall", which opened in 1991, cannot be missed: there are beer barrels hanging outside. It is Cracow's first "Beer Hall", indeed the only place of its type that we found in the city. (It is really a pub with a good beer range; it is not of Beer Hall size.) There is an off-sales area on entry, from which people obtain bottles for drinking on the pavement outside, because it is cheaper, although beer prices in the bar are the cheapest we came across in the city. For example, draught Okocim (from the Carlsberg-owned Okocim Brewery, www.okocim.com.pl) was 1.5 PLN (Zlotych) (26 UK Pence, 37 US Cents, €0.42, at April, 2002 exchange rates) for 50cl, Zywiec 2 PLN (34 UK Pence, 49 US Cents, €0.56). Pod Berzkami's bar has comfortable bar stools, and the bar shelves for resting your beer, and the island bar-style tables are all in marble. This is a Cracow don't-miss beer venue, a good place to end or start a tour of the Jewish quarter. It shuts at 10pm.

There is a large selection of draught and bottled beers from Poland and beyond. Unfortunately, on the recce visit in 1995, there was no Grodziskie, a beer said to date from 1301, which was searched for in vain whilst in Poland. It was brewed in the Browar Wielkopolski Brewery, in Grodzisk, near Poznan, a major brewing town. Poznan is the regional capital of Wielkopolska (Great Poland), in the North West. (Cracow is in Malopolska - Little Poland.) Grodziskie was a Michael Jackson world classic, the only one for Poland. Oak-smoked malt and wheat were included in the mash, and wild yeasts were thought to play a part during fermentation. Apparently, it had a tart, refreshing sourness, and tasted very much of a Smoke Beer. It was bottle-conditioned. The brewery is now closed down; it is certainly not amongst the list of Polish breweries on the main website covering Polish beer, www.browar.pl. The Polish equivalent of the UK's beer consumers' organisation, CAMRA (www.camra.org.uk), and thus a member of EBCU, the European Beer Consumers' Union (www.ebcu.org), is Bractwo Piwne, www.bractwopiwne.pl. An interesting brewery in Kielce-Dyminy, near Cracow, is Browar Belgia (Belgian Brewery), www.browarbelgia.pl, which is owned by Palm (www.palm.be) in Belgium. Beers include Frater, an Abbey Beer, brewed for the Szczyrzyc Cistercian Monastery. Full details are given on the brewery's website, which has English pages.

Apart from a lost, very special beer, unfortunately, Piwiarnia Pod Beczkami may also have gone since the 1995 recce, as it is not listed in Ron Pattinson's "European Beer Guide" website, www.europeanbeerguide.net, and there are no recent mentions of it on the Internet.

Jazz Club U Muniaka, Ulice Floriańska 3, tel 423 12 05. This brick vaulted cellar bar cum jazz club, just off the main square, was set up in 1992 by the famous Polish saxophonist Janusz Muniak, who was in evidence during our visit in 1995. Although there is only live Jazz on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, from 9.30pm, when reservations are advised, the piped music proved to be excellent; there are high quality small speakers above most tables. The place consists of a number of relatively small inter connecting rooms, all very tastefully decorated. Food is good, and there are three excellent draught beers: Zywiec (4 PLN, 68 UK Pence, 98 US Cents, €1.12) for 50cl), EB (3 PLN, 51 UK Pence, 73 US Cents, €0.83 for 50cl), and EB Red (4 PLN for 50cl), a dark red beer in the Vienna style, from the Elbrewery Company (Browar Elblag), in Elblag, which is owned by Heineken. There are wines from Tokay, France and Bulgaria, and Wodkas, including an excellent coloured viscous one, Gorzka for 3 PLN. The club opens from 3pm until when the last customer leaves.

CK Browar, Ulice Podwale 6-7, tel 429 25 05. This is a Brew Pub, which was not open at the time of the recce; it was discovered by Internet searching.

Piwnica Pod Ogrodkiem, Ulice Jagiellonska 6, tel 421 60 29. This place pops up frequently when searching for pubs on the Internet, and it is listed in Ron Pattinson's "European Beer Guide" website, see above. From his write-up, it is clear that he is not ecstatic about the place. Ron states that it has sixteen different bottled beers and six on draught, including Zywiec Porter and EB's Hevelius, along with beers that mention of is avoided in White Beer Travels guides, unless it is essential, for example, "Such and such a local brewery is owned by such and such a major Western European fizz producer"!

Fischer Pub, Ulice Grodska 42, tel 423 22 38. This is another place that pops up frequently on the Internet. It is the highest rated pub in Ron Pattinson's on-line guide, see above. Draught beers include EB Red and Zywiec Porter.

Pub Mignat, Ulice Florianska 27. This is a pleasant multi-roomed cellar bar, one of which has a pool table. There is good 1970s piped music. Draught EB and Zywiec were both 2.5 PLN (43 UK Pence, 61 US Cents, €0.69) for 50cl.

Kawiarnia Still Bar, Ulice Golebia 6ish. This place, close to the university, has a welcoming Zywiec sign, and prices to keep students happy: 2.20 PLN (37 UK Pence, 54 US Cents, €0.61) for Zywiec, 2.60 PLN (37 UK Pence, 54 US Cents, €0.61) for Zywiec Porter (9.2%), a real bargain considering its strength. This proved to be a very friendly place, with students and the owner most anxious to engage in conversation.

Bar Mleczny Barcelona, Al. Marsz. Jósefa Pilsudskiego 1 (corner of Ulice Straszewskiego). The "Barcelona Milk Bar" is very close to the University, just to the West of the old town. Don't be put off by its austere exterior, for this and equivalent places are an ideal alternative to having breakfast in an hotel: very cheap and more chance to choose just what one wants. They generally have much more than their name suggests: this one, which was spotlessly clean, had seven types of soup. We noted that most of its customers chose the spicy Butter Bean one. There were five types of Cabbage Pancake (Pierogi), these being excellent, honest. It is very much a locals' place; like them we took our empty plates to a hatch before leaving. It is a good place to watch the trams go by. It is open from 8am to 6pm, on Monday to Friday, and from 8am until 4pm, on Saturdays.

Note that milk bars such as the Barcelona are disappearing in Cracow; this one was definitely open in 2000, as it was featured in the Guardian newspaper in the UK.

Pani Stasia, Ulice Mikolajska 18. This street leads from the Eastern corner of Rynek Glówny. Service is fast, and therefore a good bet for lunch, its only opening time, if in the area. The home-cooked Cabbage Pancake (Pierogi) is excellent.

Cechowa, Ulice Jagiellonska 11. This is ninety degrees to Ulice Sw. Anny, which leads from the Western corner of Rynek Glówny. Like the previous entry, it has good pancakes, delivered very quickly, and thus worth considering if in the university area at lunchtime.

Kawiarnia Jama Michalika, Ulica Florianska 45, tel 422 15 61. This famous, absolutely don't-miss café, has a marvellous Art Nouveau interior. Its walls are decorated with drawings and paintings by 19th Century customers who paid in kind. The main room is no smoking. It is the main cabaret venue in Cracow. As well as the expected coffee and cakes, Jama Michalika has a very good wine list, and draught and bottled beers from Zywiec and Okocim. Not much further down from the café are remains of the city wall and an impressive gate, the Brama Florianska, which houses a museum containing paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, etc.

Café Sukiennice, Rynek Glówny 1-3, tel 422 24 68. This is on the East side of the Cloth Hall (Sukiennice), in the outstanding Market Square. This, the most traditional of the city's cafés, has an outstanding Art Nouveau interior and a no smoking room. The latter has an elaborately painted ceiling, somewhat Celtic in style, as per the Book of Kells. This is another absolute don't-miss, and not just for the waitresses, who wear the most exciting of short skirts.

Wierzynek, Rynek Glówny 15, tel 422 98 96. This is reckoned to be Poland's finest restaurant, and is thus expensive by Polish standards. At the time of the 1995 recce, it was 150 PLN, (£25.58, $36.75, €41.73) for two, for three courses and the usual drinks, including Bulgarian varietal wines, but not aperitifs. In 1364 the King of Poland wined and dined the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, along with five other kings and countless princes. Visitors in the 20th Century included: de Gaulle, Nixon, Mitterand and Bush I. The restaurant is in an upper room on the Market Square. Reservations are said to be essential. It takes credit cards. We were a little disappointed with this restaurant. Decor was not special upstairs, given the place's history, and we had better food in much cheaper establishments in the city. Aperitifs are taken in an elegant bar downstairs, certainly a very pleasant area: the highpoint of the visit to the restaurant. It is quite in order just to drink at this bar on a visit to Wierzynek, and to slip upstairs to just view the famous restaurant.

Ariel Café Gallery Restauracja, Ulica Szeroka 18 (tel 421 79 20). On the principal street in the Jewish quarter, Kazimierz, this is not to be missed. A lovely, elegant restaurant, gallery and coffee bar, as the name suggests. The staff are most pleasant. Excellent books and souvenirs are on sale. The food is really good and there is pleasant piped Jewish music during the day, with live concerts in the evening. There are a number of related places with the name Ariel adjoining this, including a really nice hotel (number 17) and another beautifully appointed restaurant, the Ariel Kawiarnia Artystyczna (tel 421 38 70), the venue for daily live music, by the "Mirror Theatre", commencing at 8pm, for which there is a charge of 10 PLN (£1.71, $2.45, €2.78). Our tight schedule prevented us from coming back for one of the concerts in either of these venues. It was probably a mistake to miss one or both; we will just have to return! Note, that there is conflicting information in guidebooks and on the Internet as to whether all these places named Ariel, were once part of the same organisation, but have split following a disagreement, or whatever.

Budweiser Budvar (Budějovický Budvar), in the city of České Budějovice (Karolíny Světlé 4, www.budvar.cz) and Pilsner Urquell (Plzeňský Prazdroj, in Czech), in Pilsen (Plzeň) (www.pilsnerurquell.com), are the two most famous breweries in The Czech Republic (Česká republika). Information on a 1995 White Beer Travels Beer Hunt, based in Prague, that featured a visit to Pilsen, is given in the Past Beer Hunts page. The recce visit to the Budweiser Budvar Brewery, in 1993, proved to be outstanding; all such recces are covered in the Recce Trips page of the site. We were taken round Budweiser Budvar by its Master Brewer, Miloš Heide, who had many fascinating anecdotes about brewing and otherwise; sons and relatives of his are also Master Brewers. With regret, I can report that Miloš passed away in 2001. The present Brew Master is Josef Tolar.

The September, 1993 photo, to the left, was taken by White Beer Travels Beer Hunt and recce regular, Sylvia Clow. In it, Budweiser Budvar's then Master Brewer, Miloš Heide, is offering Žatec (Saaz) hops to John White, in front of the brewery's copper, in České Budějovice, in The Czech Republic. After the trip, Dr Eric Clow printed the photo onto a much-loved T-shirt for John's 1993 Xmas present. Click here to see a photo of John wearing it, during a White Beer Travels Group Beer Hunt, based in New Orleans, whilst on a visit to the Abita Brewery, in Abita Springs, Louisiana, USA. John can also be seen wearing it in the Highwood Brewery, in Lincolnshire, England, in a White Beer Travels Web page covering the Cantillon Brewery, in Brussels, Belgium. Visits to the Budweiser Budvar Brewery were not really formalised, in 1993, but, today, they can be booked from the Budvar website, as can visits to to its multimedia presentation, "The Story of Budweiser Beer"; there is also now a Budvar Museum on the site.

Homage to the world's most prestigious hop variety, Saaz, which is German for the famous Czech Republic hop town of Žatec.

České Budějovice, Budweiser Budvar, and the City's other brewery, Budějovický Měšťanský pivovar (Samson Brewery) (www.budweiser1795.com, www.budweiser-burgerbrau.cz, www.samson.cz) are covered in a White Beer Travel Web page covering the City, which can be reached by clicking here.

On the 150 kilometre (ninety-five mile) journey from Prague to České Budějovice, an interesting stop en route is the famous Château/Stately Home (Zámek), in Hluboká nad Vltavou (www.hluboka.cz), which is ten kilometres (six miles) North of České Budějovice. The interior and exterior of the mansion are exceptional; some rebuilt parts are modelled on Windsor Castle, in England. To complement the permanent art treasures in the place, there are ever-changing exhibitions, that are detailed on the website. The mid-19th Century riding school is now the Aleš Gallery, being full of the works of Mikoláš Aleš (1852-1913) (www.mikolasales.org). Presumably, they are all Real Ales (Cask Ales)?

After the stay in České Budějovice, we visited Pilsen (Plzeň), and the famous spa town of Karlovy Vary, which featured in the 1995 White Beer Travels Beer Hunt, based in Prague. For details, of these two places, click on the hyperlink in the previous sentence.

The journey from Pilsen to Karlovy Vary was via the famous hop town of Žatec (www.zatec.cz), which in German is Saaz. This is the name of the most prestigious hop variety in the world, specifically the Žatecký poloraný červeňák (Saaz Semi-Early Red; a hop is a Chmel). There is a brewery in the town, the Saaz Brewery (Žatecký Pivovar), (Žižkovo náměstí 81, tel 0415 710 781, www.zateckypivovar.cz). It is built on the site of a castle, its cellars being used for beer storage and conditioning. In 2001, the brewery was purchased by Rolf Munding, a British businessman, who is doing great things with the brewery. He recruited Tomáš Lejsek, who was the brewer at the SABMiller-owned Velkopopovický Kozel Brewery, in Velké Popovice (www.kozel.cz), see above. With production restored in 2002, Rolf plans to import the Žatec Brewery's beers into the UK using his Aristolend company (www.aristolend.co.uk). This already imports Velkopopovický kozel into the UK, along with Prague Absinth. The Žatec Brewery is pencilled in for a future White Beer Travels Beer Hunt.

The return drive home to England, from Karlovy Vary, was broken by a two night stay in the famous Baroque wine town of Würzburg, in Franconia (Franken), Northern Bavaria, Germany.

Würzburg is not as well known as it ought to be, since, from a general tourist point of view, it truly is world-class. It is famed in wine circles, the renowned Würzburger Stein vineyard being very visible from the city centre. Note that there is also plenty of excellent beer in the city, to complement its great wines; there is a brewery producing seriously good beers, see below. The city's official website, www.wuerzburg.de, is a very comprehensive guide to the city and its surrounding area, for the tourist, and it has many useful hyperlinks. Another good site covering the area is www.wuerzburg.com.

Festung Marienberg, (St Mary's Hill Fortress) dominates the skyline above the city. It has a number of separate attractions, including the Mainfränkisches Museum (Main-Franconia Museum) (www.wuerzburg.de/mainfraenkisches-museum), which is famous for its old Wine Presses and sculptures by Tilman Riemenschneider (c1460-1531), whose grave is within the Fortress. In the museum, there is a model showing the effect of the bombing of the city in the 2nd World War; it was as badly damaged as the more publicised Dresden. Along with St Mary's Church (Marienkirche), the museum is an absolute must part of a visit to the Fortress; it is particularly well laid out. Also not to be missed, is a separate Museum, in the Prince-Bishops' Hall (Fürstenbau) part of the Fortress. A very useful website giving outline details of this and other such places throughout Bavaria, including other places in Würzburg, such as the Residenz, see next paragraph, is www.schloesser.bayern.de.

Other Würzburg tourist essentials include: the Residenz (Residence), the Baroque Palace of the Prince-Bishops. This is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, one of thirty places in Germany on the list, as of February, 2006, see whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31. Indeed it was the third place in Germany to be added to the list, in 1981, after Aachen and Speyer Cathedrals. The Palace has a painted ceiling, said to be the biggest in the world, by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1697-1770), and paintings by Cranach the Elder (1472-1553); and St Kilian's Cathedral (St. Kilian Dom).

All the tourist places mentioned above and the wine cellars and beer outlets listed below, are within easy walking distance of the city centre, although one can get a taxi or a bus to the Festung Marienberg, which is up a steep hill. Buses leave every half hour, from 9.45am, from the Old Bridge across the river Main (Alte Mainbrücke). On the slope on the south side of the fortress is another famous vineyard: Würzburger Innere Leiste.

There are many places to eat and drink the local wines in Würzburg, but there are three musts: the Bavarian State Cellars (Staatlicher Hofkeller Würzburg) (www.hofkeller.de) below the Residenz, at Rosenbachpaleis, Residenzplatz 3 (tel 0931 3 05 09-23); the tavern owned by the Bürgerspital (www.buergerspital.de), a charitable institution, for the old people of Würzburg, dating from 1319, at Theaterstrasse 19 (tel 0931 3 52 880); and the one owned by a local Hospice, founded in 1576 by the Prince-Bishop Julius Echter, the Juliusspital (www.juliusspital.de), at Juliuspromenade 19 (tel 0931 5 40 80). Cellar tours are possible from all three. All have stakes in great vineyards of the city, such as those previously mentioned, and in good sites in nearby villages, such as Iphofen and Escherndorf.

The Juliussspital's wine restaurant is closed on Wednesdays. We did not have time to visit the Residenz cellars on the recce, or its restaurant. The two other famous wine cellars and their restaurants were outstanding; the buildings inside and out are splendid, and their wine and food is excellent - best ever Wiener Schnitzel in the Juliusspital. All three have elegant wine shops. Top class bottles of wine and associated items such as glasses and attractive terracotta wine coolers, specially made for the unusually shaped bottles of the region (see the next paragraph), are on sale. The wine can be sampled in the shops, which we did in two of them, before purchase. Guidebooks bought in the city make it clear that a visit to the cellars of the Residenz is essential on another occasion. Note that unlike the other two wine cellars visited, its restaurant does not open in the evenings, i.e. it is open from 9am until 5.30pm on Monday to Friday, and from 9am until Noon on Saturdays.

At the head of Juliuspromenade there is an old crane (Alter Kranen), built around 1770 to load boats on the river Main. Alongside this is the Haus des Frankenweins (House of Franconian Wines), at Am Kranenkai 1 (www.haus-des-frankenweins.de). This has wines from a number of Franken producers. There is an associated Michelin-listed wine restaurant, Am Alten Kranen (tel 0931 5 01 30), where its wines, can, of course, be sampled on the premises. The premier day trip place from Würzburg for the wine lover is to the picturesque walled-town of Iphofen, www.iphofen.de. The town's website has full details of its major wine attractions: wine festivals, and links to places such as Vinotek (www.vinothek.iphofen.de), where one can learn about wine, including the town's superb Einzellagen (Iphöfer Julius-Echter-Berg, Iphöfer Kronsberg, Iphöfer Kalb und Iphöfer Domberg), as well as drink them.

Another first-rate beer from the brewery is their Würzburger Schwarzbier. Although, only 4.6% ABV, this "Black Beer" is rich and warming. It has a lovely, dark purple colour in the glass.

The Würzburger Hofbräu's Pale Hefe Weissbier Wheat Beer is common throughout the city on draught, look out for the Brewery's star/crown logo, as shown on the right. Example outlets include: Wintergarten, Bronnbachergasse 1, tel 0931 1 56 73; and in the Beer Garden, Bar, Restaurant of the Residenz, the Residenzgaststätten, Residenzplatz 1, (tel 0931 5 46 70).

The Brauhaus (www.brauhausbar.de), at Burkarder Strasse 2-4 (tel 0931 4 31 59), just across the old bridge from the city centre, is a Brew-Pub which claims to be Würzburg's first; it opened in 1989. There is a seasonal Bock, along with three regular beers: a light (Hell) and a dark (Dunkel) on draught, and a bottled Weizen. We tried both the draught beers; they were excellent. A schnapps distillery was a planned addition on the recce visit, so should have materialised by now. There is an associated Indian Restaurant, which looked good, but was not visited. Brauhaus is open on Monday to Saturday from 8pm to 1am, although in August it only opens on Monday and Saturday, from 8pm to 2am.

The Paulaner-Bräustüberl, at Bronnbachergasse 6 (tel 0931 1 38 72) is obviously an outlet for the Munich Brewery Paulaner (www.paulaner.de). It has a number of its beers on draught and in bottle.

Likewise, Zum Erdinger Weissbräu, at Pleicherkirchplatz 7 (tel 0931 1 88 83, www.erdinger.de, has draught and bottled Wheat Beers from the Erdinger Weissbräu Brewery, in Erding, in Bavaria. The food is a mix of traditional German and Italian.

The Rheinische Bierstube (Rhine Beer Bar), at Zellerstrasse 12 (tel 0931 4 48 32), sounds promising from its name, but was not checked out.

John White (1945-), .

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