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April 24, Friday…From Budejovice to a UNESCO Holasovice Village, a colorful community of Baroque style homes in a very remote area, we traveled lots of cow paths!!
A long drive to Plzen and we, of course, stop at the INFO CENTER. The gal gave us the name and postal code for a campground, we had not discovered in our readings. We walked around this town and stopped at Pilsner/Arquell(?) the largest brewery in the Czeh Republic. A tour of the brewery is not what we need again. After a snack and a sample of the beer, we maneuvered and eventually found our way to the “BATES Hotel” campground located at 28 Rijna, Plzen. It seemed to have been abandoned a LONG time ago. We decided to find a level area, eat dinner and sleep for the night, but before long a biker came by to collect 270KC …there was actually a fee for this PLACE. Such is life camping in Eastern Europe! We decided not to stay another day in Plzen, time to move on.
April 25, Saturday. We left the “campground from hell” and drove to Prague, and found Kotlarka Campground, close to public transportation. After
The Brewery restaurant
We have fresh beer just made and not pasteurized GREAT settling the Bothan, we started down the hill to the Tram/Bus and purchased our ticket from the machine (with the help of a young man) and were on our way to the metro. It amazes us, how we find our way on public transportation when we don’t speak a word of the Checz language, somehow it works. Maps are our friend!!
Prague is huge, compared to the last few Czech cities we visited. So we walked, and walked and walked some more!!
Prague’s crime rate is low by western standards, but signs everywhere warn of pick pockets.
While the Czech Republic has joined the EU, the main currency is Czech Crown (KC), today it is about 26 KC = 1 Euro. We are finding things and meals here a great deal cheaper than Germany, Austria, etc. The weather has been very warn in the day and cool in the evening…great for us, but not for the farmers. Most Czech are either atheist (40%) or nominal Catholic, but rarely attend church. Our guide attributes this to the Hussites or the communists and the Catholic/Protestant war. Take your choice.
The Czechs consume the most alcohol per person in
the world. The breweries are good, but this is a problem.
Today we traveled by RV, bus, metro and tram, and bus again. The public transportation system is affordable and easy to understand. The temps were over 80+ degrees. Back to the Campground we relax and make dinner. We have wifi…first campground!! Our neighbors are from Sweden and have spent the last 6/7 months camping in Portugal. Nice folks. If I lived in northern Sweden, I think I might find an escape in winter also.
April 26, Sunday. Since we are now experts on the Prague transport system, we are off on the bus to the tram to Prague castle. It is still a bit of a climb up hill and up steps. This is the biggest castle complex in the world, it feels more like a small town. It is the seat of the Czeh power, both political and symbolic. The audio tour is what we opted for, however, much to our disappointment the Old Royal Palace is closed for repairs. Oh well, there are lots of other places to see and visit. After sauntering along Golden Lane, we caught the changing of the guard
ceremony. This was an interesting military performance complete with band.
St Vitus Cathedral, our next stop, is a gothic structure begun in 1344 but not completed until 1929. It is also the burial place for many important people. Crowds clustered around a massive tomb of St. John Nepomuk, TWO TONS of baroque silver make this quite impressive.
Prague is visited by lots and lots of tourists. Even this early in the season it is very crowded.
On our trip “home” we planned a nice meal at the restaurant in our campground… it is closed on Sundays! Guess we have to cook.
Back to WIFI and catching up on news and Blogs.
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