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Published: February 10th 2008
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New Friends... and the bus
Pictured with me are some of my new friends... Starting on the left is Lies (from Belgium), Magda (Poland). I apologize to the others... I am still trying to learn names. They are from Poland and the US, respectively. Today (Saturday) I woke up early to go to the Macocha Caves and Černá Hora (pronounced Cher-na Hor-ra) Brewery. I boarded a bus with numerous other international kids around 8:45 and we drove about 40 minutes to the caves. We started our journey by walking up a long, winding road to to a small building at the base of a large, rocky hill, from which we began our caving adventure in earnest. My friends and I laughed the whole way that nothing in Czech is free because we had to pay even to take pictures! They gave us a little yellow sticker to inform the tour guides that we had paid. Inside the building, we went through a series of doors that led us to a tunnel within the cave. We stopped periodically to listen to recorded stories about the different natural structures that we viewed. The tunnel wound up and down, then suddenly opened to a breath-taking vista of huge, craggy walls encircling a small river and mossy rocks. We all laughed because music was played from speakers in the rocks, which was intended to enhance the experience. Think of an instrumental version of Hallelujah Chorus or something similarly cheesy.
New Friends... and the bus
Same people, only now I am in the picture... From the opening, we went once more into the caves until we reached an underground lake. We were able to ride small boats on the lake and see the caves from the water, which was quite an experience. The water was not very deep; it had a greenish color and I imagine that it was quite chilly! The boats afforded us one stop to get off again and take pictures in a large nook of the cave, then took us out to a landing beside the building in which we had entered. The whole tour did not last long; it was perhaps only an hour or less. It was quite beautiful, however, and I would like to experience some of the other natural wonders here.
After the caves, the group traversed further up the road to a path that led up, up, up to the peak of a very large hill. I definitely got a good workout! The climb was very strenuous and I was glad to make it to the top. It was absolutely stunning; there was a small lookout point poised over a large ravine that went down at least 1000 feet. Once we had all caught
Arrival Scenes
This is a building that I thought looked interesting. I am not sure what it is for... It just happened to be at the spot at which the bus dropped us off. our breath (a few guys had a cigarette right after, I wasn't sure how because my heart was thumping!) we gathered as a group for a few photos and then got back on the bus, which took us to the Černá Hora Brewery.
I apologize; some of the pictures are a bit blurry. My battery-eating camera also decided to go on strike after the caves, so there are no pictures of the brewery. (Don't worry, I am disappointed too.) I hope you enjoy this entry anyway!
The brewery was a great experience. We went into several small buildings, each of which housed a different stage of Černá Hora beer creation. The first contained large metal structures that boiled the ingredients together. The second building had large vats of beer at different stages of maturation; one can tell a beer's progress by the foam that it has; there are about 3 or 4 stages in which the foam has a different density or appearance. Next was the cooling centre; the beer must be kept at very cool temperatures in very large metal "barrels". From there, the beer is finally bottled on site and shipped or served at the brewery's restaurant.
Arrival Scenes
I thought the surroundings were very beautiful. Minus the cars, of course. Černá Hora produces 5 or 6 types of beer. One is light, another dark, one with honey, and then a few with varying degrees of alcohol. Most of the beer stays within the Czech Republic (and is very popular, from what I can tell) but some is shipped to neighboring countries or further. The brewery is considered "middle-sized" by Czech standards. We actually had lunch at the restaurant (also known as a restaurace). It was quite good; we had a traditional meal of beef, sausage, and dumplings in a beef sauce. The dumplings look like slices of thick, white bread; they are, to me at least, reminiscent of matzo balls, but bigger. Of course, everyone was mostly excited that we got 3 free samples of beer! The beer does not have a high alcohol content, but is pretty filling, so I was not able to finish all of mine. They were quite tasty though!
I did not know that the Czech Republic was a leader in the beer world, but a friend told me that the Czech Republic actually created the Pilsner. Perhaps you have heard of Pilsner Urquell? I have learned something new every day!
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