Sunshine, Cheap Grog and Well Organised Rocks

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If you have to arrive at a major international airport at a little after 5.00am then it might as well be Frankfurt. Efficient, well organised and not even slightly fussed about travellers arriving in their country. We had organised a rental car to be picked up at the airport. More costly I know but it was ready and waiting. After a quick cup of coffee and a bit of breakfast (Euros 34/ $A61 or so for 4 of us - gave us a little taste of what will come in Europe) we hit the road heading for a little place a bit over 30 kms north west of Prague.

Those of us who hadn't experienced European motorways had another little taste of Europe approximately 5 minutes out of the airport when we pulled on to a motorway - run the speed up to a reasonable 120 km/h - enough to cope with on the wrong side of the road after having been up all night - and have vehicles coming past with over 100 km/h on us. We coped though and started our drive through the European, or more precisely German, postcard. Acres of green fields dotted with small villages along with woods or copses - never so disorganised as to be called 'bush'. Drivers needed to pay attention to the road but, those not engaged in this activity, or not, for the time being, providing advice to drivers, were able to pick out particularly cute or picturesqe villages, churches or farms.

We all make assumptions about other countries based on our own experience and knowledge. I had assumed that the pattern of rural living in Germany and Czechsky (less of a mouthful than Czech Republic and seems OK for friends to use) would have villages, but would also have farms where farmers live. Doesn't seem to be the case very often in the areas we have moved through. There are very few farmhouses actually on the land that is being farmed. Very different to Australia where one of the great advantages of farming is not having to live in a village or town.

So far, the motorways seem to be a pretty efficient means of allowing the countries of Europe to move their people about. The many more trucks than I had anticipated keep to their lane or lanes, the slower drivers generally stay in their place, except for the times they move quickly out on to the left lane to join the screaming speedsters, ducking back in when the flashing of lights becomes too annoying. And just a small point for those who do know me and the way I prefer to drive - on this run from Frankfurt to Prague I had 3 passengers who could be forgiven for wondering whether it was really all that safe to sit on 180 km/h on the 'wrong' side of the road, in a car that is all left handed when I hadn't experienced this before. I stayed under 120 km/h for the majority of the trip.

All roads in Czechya lead to Prague so that is where we ended up after nearly 6 hours driving. We had directions from the Michelin guide but not much of a map. I had not succeeded in my intensive campaign to purchase a GPS. We didn't actually get lost. To do that you need to know where you wanted to go. The tram tracks were more numerous than they needed to be - surely one set of tracks is enough? The traffic lights are hung in strange places and are themselves strage with big lights to regulate flow to the left or right and tiny little ones that deal with moving along the road you are on.

Eventually, we were out of Prague on the way to M'netes. This small village is a few kilometers off the motorway heading north west of Prague for Teplice and Dresden. We had booked a house in the village through one of the many booking agencies - 'Homeholidays' I think this one was called. You can generally seem to get a place at least in Eastern European countries for somewhere around 300 to 400 Euros for a weekly rental if you are prepared to stay a little out of the major towns. The place in M'netes gives us plenty of room along with a kitchen where we can self cater and is ideal for us at this stage of the trip.

We were only one hour later than planned in actually arriving. The place is an old house that has been renovated by people who have been enthusiastic and pretty good tradespeople. There are some interesting design features though. I think that we have all come close to falling down the stairs from the kitchen to the living area. Those living in the extreme up stairs were always going to get damp heading to and from their room if there is a little rain. A pretty comfortable place though in a nice village.

The plan was for M'netes to provide a base from which we would spend 7 days having a look around. The list of places we intended to cover included: a day around the area we are staying in and sleeping; Prague, of course, which was to receive 2 days; Southern Bohemia where we wanted to see Cesky Krummlov, Cesky Budejovic and Tabor; the north where we wanted to walk in the mountains in the 'Czech Swiss Alps' near the border with Germany on the Labe/Elbe River; Moravia where we wanted to get to Brno, Kromeriz and Oloumouc; and then off to the west a little to visit Karlstein Castle and Plsn and to use the rest of the day to get a few domestic things done.

We have, pretty much, stuck to the plan.

Day one some of us walked up the 'Hora Rip' which is a relatively small mountain very close to M'netes. Not a particularly difficult walk but steep enough to get the blood moving. The Rip is the place from which the Czech people see themselves as having originated. I am not completely sure how this all worked. Most of the interepretative signage in most places is in Czech - as you would expect - and we rely on guide books and other sundry information. We do know that the first settlers were actually Celts and they were turfed out by Slavic people and I guess these are considered the original Czechs. I considered popping in a quick land claim but didn't pursue the issue.

Prague is everything they say it is and more. Very well organised rocks. We parked the car near a metro station and utilised the excellent and very modern service to take us into the city. Cost of 26 Kcs per person per trip or a little less than $A2. Our first day in Prague was a week day so the crowds were quite manageable. Our second was on a Saturday and we were happy it wasn't our only experience. We took tours. One couple went off on a combination bus and boat trip and the other - the one that I am a part of - walked. We have done walking tours of other cities. They tend to be a very good way of picking up information and insights about a place in a few hours. They also give you a chance to interact with a local who is prepared and able to talk to you about anything to do with the city.

Our walk was for a little over 4 hours and took us through the Old Town, the Lesser Town, the Jewish Quarter and the New Town. Sounds like a large area but not really. The architecture is probably of most interest to most people. Even for people like me it is possible to be constantly struck by the beauty of the buildings and the streetscapes. I keep wondering what it must be like to live in a place like this. Perhaps you get used to such interesting surroundings?

There is some advantage in being old and one is that I remember well some of the key features in the recent history of Prague. We visited the memorials to the two students who killed themselves to bring attention to the battle that people were engaged in during the 'Prague Spring'. These brave people were my age. I remember waving a banner outside the Soviet Embassy in Canberra at around about that time. The bravery of Alexander Dubcek, the hundreds of divisions of Soviet military who moved in to quell the movement and then, after many years, the 'Velvet' Revolution. Standing in places where history was created, and history that you actually remember is pretty special.

Our second day in Prague, just to tidy up, was spent a couple of days later and it was spent shopping.

Czechya has plenty of places that have been declared as World Heritage sites by UNESCO. We had checked a number of these out on the net and determined to visit some of the better sounding ones. Castles don't always inspire much interest and churches, well, there are rather a lot of them. The difficulty, of course, is that people in times past have tended to put their best efforts along with a great deal of money into the construction and fitting out of castles and churches. I have talked before about this. If you want to see the best that a country or place has to offer then you are, inevitably, it seems, going to end up in castles or churches some of the time, notwithstanding that you might see an over indulgence in religion or nationalism as twin evils of humanity.

My neice told us not to miss Cesky Krummlov. It is definitely worth a visit. We took the advice of the guide book and visited on a week day. We were not there particularly early. It was a few hours drive from our camp but, luckily, we beat the mob. We were able to walk easily around the castle and the town without getting too mixed up with large tour groups. There was a particularly interesting art exhibition in a couple of rooms, including the cells, I think, of the castle. The artist was a local and in a piece that he wrote he described the way Cesky Krummlov was when he was younger. It has clearly changed since then and, I suspect, is still changing rapidly. While the place is still interesting it now is developing a 'world heritage theme park' feel. Most of the shops sell souvenirs of some kind or have become bars and restaurants. The place is still beautiful but it is being killed by its popularity at the moment.

Up the road there is Cesky Budejovic. This is a bigger town and, now that we have see a few, we can say that it is similar to a lot of other Czech towns. Clean, well organised and with a feeling for history that might just be developing from a desire to obtain tourist dollars and euros. The pick of Southern Bohemia for us though was Tabor. This town had gone on to the list as a place we would visit if we had the time. Cesky Budejovic didn't grab our attention too much so we still had some time for Tabor. It was a very nice place to walk around. Interesting architecture and, even though the museum and underground passages were closed on the day we were there, there was plenty to keep us entertained and interested for the few hours that we spent.

The run up to the Czech 'Swiss Alps' was planned as a day without castles, churches or organised rocks and we were looking forward to the change. It was just up the road so we thought it would be an easy run. It was, at least for a start. But as we moved up into the mountains the weather changed. Rain kicked in and gradually developed so that the chances of us setting out on a 16 km walk were washed away. Instead, we battled with a map that was not accurate and ended up across the border in Germany and then poking around in the mountains in heavy traffic for a few hours. We did have a nice lunch, a very large lunch in fact, in a German restaurant in a place called Bad something. All in all, a nice day in the country driving around the back roads and having a good look around.

Moravia is off to the south west of Czecheya. We traveled down the motorway to Brno which is basically a modern, industrial city and the second largest in the country. Didn't stay there long but we did look for a Maccas - because they always have toilets and these were necessary. Did I say that the expressway to Brno is very rough and bouncy? Must have been something to do with the foundations. The only places you could get smooth-ish running was on the road verge (with all of the glass and other rubbish) or out on the left where the real speedsters get mobile. We spent a lot of time with the quick people but it wasn't much smoother. Did mean that there was a level of urgency about that Maccas though.

Brno is not that bad. Nice buildings. A good sense of humour. Easy to get around. And a Sunday morning concert. The Czech Republic is closed on Sundays, except for cafes serving beer at 10.00 in the morning.

Up the road out of Brno the Lonely Planet says that Kromeriz is a good place to have a look at. So does UNESCO and the Czech Tourism mob. So who were we to disagree? We went. It is not far off the main drag up to Oloumouc or even to Poland and turned out to be well worth the visit. We had a nice time walking around the town and its old town square. We were spared the bishop's castle because a conference was on there but were able to walk through both of the gardens that contributed to the World Heritage listing. Nice. And cheap. For some reason they wouldn't take my money. Just kept waving me through so I went. Not too sure why. Others paid but I like to think that I just looked special, in some small way.

On to Oloumouc. Luckily, I can't actually show how to pronounce these words. Oloumouc sounded pretty good in the guide book and, to be reasonable, it was OK. But not good enough to get us out of the vehicle. We just motored on through and had a nice look around the town. We always have a good look around towns because we generally get lost or have some difficulty finding the places of interest.

Rolled on back to Praha and then on to M'netes. Getting skilled at this now and there is no real worries flowing through the city on the pretty well marked routes.

Next day to be a quiet one. Barnes needed to work and for this he needed an internet connection. Difficult to get in M'netes even though he spent some time walking and driving around looking for an unsecured wifi network. Found one in a cafe in Melnik - thank goodnesss I don't have to pronounce it.

The rest of us made a run through Prague to Karlstejn Castle and to Plzn.

Karlstejn Castle, for those who haven't been to Batchelor in the NT in Australia, is the one that is sitting there in replica on the corner of the Batchelor Road and Tarkirri Street - or have I been away too long? Finding the castle was not all that easy. First, it took us over 2 hours to get through Prague. Then we had to wind through 40 kms of mountains and valleys to find the castle. It is well hidden and much more spectacular that Bernie Havlik's model would suggest. Luckily, we visited on a Monday. Would you believe that it is closed to visitors on Mondays? All we could do was take photos from the outside and then have lunch. Bugger! Missed out on a couple of hours looking at a priceless collection of miniatures - or some such.

On to Plzn, the place where pilsener beer was invented. Big place this and a little difficult to get around. The drive received advice that he didn't take. Not sure why, but he didn't. Some consternation was expressed, and expressed and is still being expressed. We made it to the place we were aiming for. Bought some T-shirts, had a look around and moved on.

Plzn deserves more than we gave it. We could have stayed there for a couple of days and had a nice time I am sure.

I should say that it was a joy to hit a place that has no hang ups about drinking beer or alcohol. Not that we are a little band of drunks - although late at night after playing cards you may draw such a conclusion - but it is nice to be able to buy beer anywhere and cheaply. It is cheaper than soft drink and availabel everywhere. Wine also. We have had perfectly acceptable reds for less than $A10 per litre bottle. Beer, less than a dollar for half a litre. And everyone drinks it. Well why wouldn't they.

We have had wonderful weather, apart from one day. A nice place to spend a few days but I would stay out of town and really enjoy the place.

A departure from M'netes at 3.00 am was required to get us to Frankfurt in time to drop off the rental vehicle and pick up the Renault Grand Scenic leased through the very good scheme that the French Government and Renault/Peugeot operate. A quick 6 or 7 hour run. What fun.

Now to Slovenia and from there to Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Hercigovina, Hungary and Romania. More in due course. We are covering countries quickly now. Will slow down again soon.

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Photos

From the Rip
We walked up this mountain - large hill really - where the Czech nation started in legend. Looking down on the many villages that house farmers and commuters

Where?
Costant debates and occasional conclusions

Good legend
Was the bloke who refused to break the confessional and was killed dramatically for his trouble

The Vlatava River
through the centre of Pragie

Martyrs
So would you pour petrol over your head to make a point?

Symbolism
This artists doesn't see much too be hopeful about with Wenceslas flogging a dead horse.

Fatter?
Is one spire fatter than the other. We think so.

Prague
If you have seen her then you have been to Prague.

Clearing the River
Supposedly cleaning up but looks suspiciously like they are creating a set of rapids for those who get tired of the buildings

Comments

[Andrew]

speed
And you thought I was exaggerating about autobahn speeds....

[Sarah]

Who doesn't like organised rocks?