Czech Oct 08

Prague

We arrived in Prague late at night after a 6 hour bus ride.  Our hostel was right in the centre of town, with views of the Gothic Tyn church from the front door.

Prague is a truly beautiful city.....too bad it is overrun with so many tourists as this really takes away from the experience.  Arriving in the main square in mid morning, we must have witnessed about thirty walking tour groups, just in the main square....and everywhere you went was a fight.  This means that prices are also inflated and escaping to avoid the crowds was near impossible.  One very good thing about Czech is the cheap beer, and if you were far enough away from the main tourist drag, you could enjoy a beer for as little as $1.80 for ½ litre.....my kinda place!

Kutna Hora

Still, we decided that 2 nights was enough and we headed to Kutna Hora, about 80km away, which rivalled Prague as the capital back in the 14th century after silver was discovered there.  We instantly fell in love with this place - not only due to the fact that we had a private room with ensuite with brekkie included, for less than the price of two dorm beds in Prague! - but because the little town was cute, quiet, and best of all had a wide array of tempting menu items.....and even cheaper beer!  We decided to stay an extra night to enjoy this little beauty...

Our first meal was one recommended by some Czech guys we had met the previous night in Prague – beef stew with cream, served with dumplings.  We also couldn´t go past the wild boar goulash with ginger dumplings.....mmmmmm delicious!  As we enjoyed our meal with some of the local beer however, we noticed that other customers were ordering a huge Pork Knuckle, served on a skewer, which we decided to come back for the next night - see pics!

We started the next day by walking the supposed 3km (it only took us about 25mins) to the Sedlec Ossuary, a church containing the  bones of 40,000 humans.  The bones have been artistically arranged as decorations, including a chandelier (containing at least one of every bone in the human body) and a coat of arms!  Pretty cool!

After that we wandered back into town to the great Gothic St Barbara Cathedral, standing high upon a hill and offering great views over the town.

But the best part of the day was touring the 14th century medieval silver mines that still remain today.  Before beginning the tour, we were asked if we had any respiratory or heart problems or experienced claustrophobia.  We were also sized up to make sure we were not too fat, as some of the mine shafts were quite narrow.  While none of our small group had any problem, it was our guide we were all concerned about, old codge being 6 foot 5 in height, close to 70 years of age, severely cross-eyed and appeared to be somewhat blind !!

Donning a hard hat and torch, we descended stairs (the modern way) 200m below ground and explored around 500m of underground tunnels, hearing stories of what life was like for miners.  The funniest story however was of an overweight lady who managed to get herself stuck while on a tour one time....apparently it took 10 minutes of her husband pushing and kids crying before they could get her through...hehe...

For lunch, we couldn´t go past the all-you-can-eat pork ´specialty buffet´.....which we later regretted.  Made up of mystery pork (?) goulash, (smoked liver?) sausage and meatloaf..... we at least made the most of the roast ham, mashed potato and coldslaw.

After all that indulgence, we forced ourselves to get up early the following morning to go for a run.  It was a great track, alongside a river with views of the castle, church and other magnificent buildings.  Hopefully that will help us get rid of our own pork bellies....

Back to Prague for the afternoon, to try another recommendation from some locals - The Golden Tiger – a famous pub that was even visited by Bill Clinton when the Czech president wanted to show some local lifestyle.  We were told to arrive before its opening time of 3pm in order to guarantee us a seat.  By 2.45pm, there was already a queue of people and when the doors opened, we flooded in.  No sooner had we taken a seat on one of the bench tables, alongside some Czech & Aussie girls, was a beer dropped in front of us. We wished the table good health (nastravi – or cheers in Oz!) and settled in for the afternoon. 

The goulash was meant to be the best here so we had skipped lunch in anticipation.  Ordering food, however, was a bit of an ordeal, even for the Czech girl! The beer guy would not take our order, practically abusing us for even trying to order!  It seemed he was responsible for ensuring a beer replaced the one in front of you as soon as the last mouthful had reached your lips. Another guy was responsible for pouring the beers and another guy seemed to take food orders and fix up the bill.  Everyone had their role and no one could step outside of this, it seemed....

After almost 2 beers, I questioned Mark about whether we should get a third, who responded with ¨It´s not up to us¨, meaning the beer guy would make this decision on our behalf.  As Mark was at the toilet when beer guy arrived, I motioned to the guy to wait a moment.....who instantly arrived with beer number three....and hence made our decision afterall!

We managed to get out of a 4th beer and dragged ourself away to catch a bus to Ceske Budejovice.  Arriving more than 30 minutes early, we joined the small queue of people, which quickly grew to very large as the departure time approached! As we had just consumed 1.5L of beer each, a paid trip to the toilet was required and it was at this point that Mark freaked out saying everyone else had tickets.  He departed to find a ticket office and arrived back with 2 reserved seat tickets.....which we soon discovered granted us priority access to the bus, while the 50 or so others had to queue to buy a ticket from the driver, many having to stand for their journey.

Cesky Budejovice

Arriving at the bus station quite late and not having any accommodation booked, we phoned the only affordable place listed in the Lonely Planet....only to be told they were full!!  We asked if they knew of any alternatives and gave us the number of another place.  Upon phoning them, they advised they would collect us from the bus station and delivered us to our very own apartment, complete with 2 bedroooms, a bathroom and a loungeroom, within a modern three-storey home, only 5 minutes from the town centre. While it was a little more than we hoped to pay, we were pretty happy with our little place, and the breakfast was excellent!  They even agreed to do our washing....which was gratis!!

There were two reasons for visiting Cesky Budejovice – one was to visit the brewery of the original Budweiser beer - not to be confused with the American Budweiser that uses the Czech name.  The second was to attend a game of Ice Hockey at the homeground of Mountfield! 

We explored the town centre, including climbing the watch tower overlooking the large main square, offering great views over town.  As the sky clouded over, we made our way to the brewery, in time for the English tour.  It was here that we met a couple of Aussies – Karen and Brad - who were travelling around Europe in a campervan.  Sharing a beer in the tavern following the tour, we found ourselves enjoying their company and were stoked when they offered us a lift in their van to Ceske Krumlov the following day.  Exchanging numbers and giving them our address, we agreed to meet at our pension the following morning.

We then had to rush to make the ice hockey game, where we enjoyed a few more beers.....not quite the same out of a plastic cups....and the standard sausage, bread and mustard snack of Czech Republlic.  Unfortunately our team lost, but thankfully we were drunk enough not to care and we headed out in search of of absinthe.  Ideally, we wanted it served in the traditional way, with absinthe-soaked sugar sitting on a holey spoon, that is lit over the shot glass and then doused in some water before throwing it back.  Absinthe was no problem to find, but it appears the traditions have died out.... We eventually gave up on looking, fortunately for us as we eventually stumbled home.....but not without a mild hangover the following morning.

Karen and Brad arrived right on time and we got to see their little mobile home.  It was fully decked out with plush seats that fold into a bed, a shower, toilet and kitchen, including gas stove, a fridge and a working oven!  We chatted the short trip to CK, guided by their Navman (or Nag man).  Agreeing to meet for dinner and drinks later, they dropped us in the centre of town and we parted ways.

Cesky Krumlov

Cesky Krumlov is an adorable little town where you could relax for days. Set upon the Vltava River, which snakes around the little town that is a maze of little cobblestone streets, narrow lanes, cafes, restaurants, art galleries and donut shops!

Standing high over the town is a gorgeous castle, with a decorative tower that you can climb for panoramic views. We checked into a funky hostel that sat upon the river, in a cute old bridge tower, run by a hippy. Our first night was spent on ground floor but the second night we moved into the loft of the building, requiring us to climb two lots of steep, narrow stairs, ducking our heads on structural beams along the way!

We spent the first day wandering around, taking endless photos, before meeting up with Karen and Brad. After attempting a number of potential bars and restaurants that needed hospitality training....we eventually decided on a beer on the river, managing to fit in one beer before we began to freeze to death. We ended up returning to the local Brewery that Karen and Brad had spent the afternoon at, and proceeded to get ourselves tanked on beer and shots of Berovska and accompanied by a giant pork knuckle and mixed meat plate....and after being kicked out of the restaurant, at least someone had the sense to call it a night and we departed our separate ways.

The next day was stunning, with clear blue skies and no a cloud in sight....but still freezing cold. Despite a mild hangover, we were keen to get out to the countryside for some hiking. We were recommended a walk by the hostel staff, so after tracking down the only open supermarket in town, we caught a train 4 stops east to begin our walk back to town, via some old castle ruins and a number of villages, including an ancient monastery. It was on our way back to town that we received a message that Karen and Brad had delayed their trip for a day and offered us a lift through Austria, towards our destination – Slovenia. We readily accepted and agreed to meet the following morning.

 Next stop Austria >