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Published: August 4th 2016
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We should have learned by now that travelling days don’t turn out as we planned. But we still set off from Brno in a spirit of optimism. We’d changed our original plan to go via Kutna Hora in favour of visiting Karlstejn Castle, which was more of a detour but was billed as the most popular place to visit outside Prague. As we speed along the motorway, we take the road closed signs to Kutna Hora as a good omen. We are wrong. We turn off and navigate a series of ever narrower winding roads. The satnav has stopped speaking to us – probably fed up at the number of times we’d ignored her – so we are guided by Randy, the voice of Waze, speaking from James’ phone. Eventually we reach the town of Karlstejn, but mysteriously there is no sign of the castle. A quick check in a nearby cafe reveals the regrettable truth that the only way to get to the castle is to park in the village and walk uphill for 25 minutes. Or to take a rip off horse drawn carriage ride. There is no way David’s ankle and slowly repairing torn hamstring are going to
survive a 25 minute walk there and the same back, and the addition of 50 minutes just to get to the place means we’d probably not be in time to return the rental car. So we turn round and head for Prague.
We navigate into Prague and as we turn up the small road leading to the hotel, we realise there is a police checkpoint ahead, which seems strange. We wait for our turn, only to discover that the American Embassy is right next to our hotel. Armed police check our boot and under the bonnet, and under the car, for explosives before letting us through. So we’re either staying in the safest place in the whole of Prague or – if the security is not as good as it looks – the least safe. Hopefully the former.
Parts of our hotel dates back to the 16
th century, when it was five separate houses. It is full of antique furniture and rich brocade fabrics, with labyrinthine corridors. Once settled in, we go out for a short walk, only to be horrified by the throng of tourists, six deep on the pavements. It’s not helped by the fact that
we are only five minutes from the Charles Bridge, probably the number one attraction in all of Prague. Having thought we’d saved the best of the holiday till last, we’re now not so sure.
However, we find a pleasant looking restaurant for dinner that is at least somewhat off the tourist trail. Our spirits are revived by the discovery that the hotel offers free wine and cheese every evening from 5.00 – 6.00, and then somewhat dampened when we go downstairs at 5.10 to find the main room full of a huge and noisy party of several odious families. We had hoped for a better class of guests. But we find a private side room, and the wine and cheese are good. Too good really – by the time we go to dinner we are unable to eat all of the massive portions of traditional Czech fare that we order. We go for a stroll round to try and digest. The light is nice at this time of the evening and the crowds have thinned.
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