Into the land of the Skoda

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Sunday 16th August
Into the land of the Skoda
We have been wracking our brains as to the year we owned a Skoda car.It was our first car after we were married and when it was time to trade up we sold it foir the same amount that we brought itr for!!We did have to replace an axle,a front windscreen and put in a reconditioned motor though in the couple of years we owned it.Leigh might remember trips in the grey Skoda with the engine in the rear but Erin would have been just a baby so it must have been the early eighties.The Skoda was ranked just above the Lada but it was definitely more comfortable to travel in than the Lada!!(just)
Today we are heading for the country that New Zealand used to trade wool for Skoda cars because Czechoslovakia,as it was then known as,did not have a lot of foreign currency to trade with.
It has been a very pleasant stay in the Hotel Leonardo in Freital and it was quite nice to again not have to get our own breakfast.Although the hotel, which had upward of 100 rooms,seemed quiet of people but that was all dispelled when we entered the restaurant for breakfast.We have breakfast in our tariff for our next destination and we need to get used to the European style on offer with rolls,cheese and ham and that was what was on offer this morning although there were also sausages and scrambled egg as well.
We are unsure what lies ahead with what currency we may be able to use in the Czech Republic and we do not have any Koronas on us and Sunday will be probably find all currency dealers closed.So we called into the gas station to fill up with diesel before leaving Feital.While I was trying to understand the woman on the till,Gretchen was dealing with a couple of local drunks(yes at 11am in the morning!!)who had spied that the number plate on RR was French.The drunks couldn’t speak or understand English and Gretchen can’t speak or understand German and especially that which is slurred.
However through some sign language and waving of arms she got her point across that the car was from France but we weren’t and did all this while she also listened but couldn’t understand the woman from the till who had to come out and put the diesel hose back on the bowser because I hadn’t done it right and I too had not been unable to understand why she had been unable to complete the transcation with our travel card.Just another of the little experiences that come along every so often to make this adventure more fun!!
The road to the Czech border about 20km away wound its way up a valley with houses both sides of the road practically all the way amid fir and pine tress.We came across another of those unusual road signs as we travelled along.This one showed a car tipped partly on its side with the road beneath showing it broken up.This sign was for the uneven surface RR was now having to deal with as we drove on towards the border.
Alongside the road was a disused narrow guage railway line that crisscrossed the road.Since leaving Berlin we have come across a number of disused railway tracks that had not been take up.Perhaps the Government or whoever is responsible has just not got around to tidying up the overgrown tracks.
Initially as we entered the valley climbing towards the border we didn’t notice any ski runs on the hillside then as we got higher we started to notice the odd clearing of the trees and occasionally a small ski lift.The climb up the road was not really that noticeable until a couple of warning signs indicated sharp turns ahead with 20kph speed limits.Generally corners have been indicated by the letter S on its side with no speed warning but these corners did require second gear motoring!!
We passed through Altenburg at the top of the hill the last town in Germany before the Czech border and we readied ourselves for at least an inspection of our passport.A sign confirmed the border was 800 mtrs ahead and then we entered a short tunnel.On emerging the road fanned out indicating that there had been buildings for the border crossing there at one time but now they were gone and we were driving in the Czech Republic.
Obviously our Lonely Planet book is a bit out of date even though it was published only 2 years ago as it warned of a border check to enter the Czech Republic.
It certainly makes travelling through Europe so easy but we guess at some stage we will come across a country not yet an EU member and things will be different.
We have no Czech currency with us and we can’t be sure that we can readily spend Euros in shops and restaurants so we will need to find somewhere to change our Euros into Korunas.On the hill down in the Czech Republic there were any number of kiosks advertising themselves as money changers.The problem was that today is Sunday and everything is closed!!So we shall have to see what else we come across before we reach our destination of Beroun southwest of Prague.
The standard of the road surface deteriorated quickly as we continued into the Czech Republic and it was evident that this country doesn’t have the money that its neighbour Germany has to rebuild its infrastructure after the fall of communism.Perhaps it may also be because as yet the Czech Republic has not joined the Euro currency zone.
The way to Teplice,the first of the larger towns we came across,was very straightforward and we were beginning to think that after all this trip of just over 140km may be a breeze.
Our idea after Teplice was to take a road that would take us in a more southerly course to avoid passing through the outer suburbs of Prague to get to Beroun.
Initially after we turned off the E55 things seemed to go OK and we took the turns we needed to keeping the southerlu course.
Then we struck a road diversion as there were substantial roadworks ahead and the alternative road seemed to be taking us west on a road that we could not find a number for to match up on our atlas map.Still we felt that if it was merely a diversion we should eventually end up where we wanted to be when we rejoined the road we had been on after we past the roadworks area.
Well,what we expected to happen didn’t and we felt lost although the road was busy enough with cars in both directions.
We knew we had to head east at the very least and with the sun behind us we tried to link up with highway #7 which by some unknown miracle we did!!This road would take us down to Prague and although we would still have to pass through the outskirts we thought it was the better of the options considering the lack of signs with the road numbers on them enabling us to at least confirm to ourselves that we were on the right road.
The only thing we had to achieve now was to find the #605 after we passed Prague Airport on the main highway towards the city which would ensure we avoided what we understood was the main road and a toll one at that, towards Beroun.And we couldn’t do a toll road because we didn’t have any local currency!!!
So here we are sailing along and everything now seemed to be falling into place.But as we got to the area where we thought the #605 to Beroun should be on the highway direction signs ,there was nothing with the road number on it.
By the time we had driven on for another quarter of an hour we decided we had missed the turn and so turned around and went back to try and find the road leading off the highway we wanted.We were fortunate it hadn’t taken very long for us to reach the Czech Republic from our overnight accommodation in Freital as we had spent nearly an hour finding a road to take us down to Beroun.
We got back to where we thought the road should be and so took the bull by the horns and turned off and what do you know within a couple of hundred metres ,there was a road sign directing us towards Beroun the destination we were looking for.
Our introduction to the Czech Republic and its roads had not been quite what we had hoped for but at least now we were on the right road to Beroun.
We drove into the town keeping an eye out for hotel signs on street corners in groups that are prevalent in this part of the world and saw what we were looking for,the Best Western Grand.And hey presto we turned a corner and there was the hotel right in front of us.
Our room here is very well appointed and we have decided to leave the microwave in the car for our 4 night stay as at €19 per night which includes breakfast means that we can dine out each night and still be well within our budget!!In fact we went back to the email confirmation of our booking to make sure the price per night was correct as it works out less than NZ$50 per night and with breakfast included it is an amazing deal for the BBA.!!
The only problem we have is that we don’t have any local currency until the Bank opens tomorrow so we tried to find a cafe that accepted either credit card or Euros.Beroun is a small town but there are several cafes open in the main shopping square and although the first one,where we liked the menu,didn’t take cards or Euros the second one we called into did.So we joined the locals under huge sun umbrellas and downed a couple of Czech beers(Staropramen) and dined on trout(Gretchen reckons it should have been thrown back!!)and salmon all for under €20.It’s going to be cheap to visit the Czech Republic!!

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