Czech Republic – March 2005

The Trip

Day 1

The trip started off with a flight from Gatwick to Prague. On arrival at Prague we met up with an accommodation tout who showed us a wonderful 1-bedroom apartment in The Old Town. In the evening we went for a walk across Charles Bridge and around the shopping sections of Prague.

Day 2

More Prague including the Astronomical Clock (pictured above) which does an amazing show on the hour, Charles bridge by day and a walk around the park opposite Prague Castle. We visited the Strahovsky Kloister (Monastery) and had lunch in Peklo (literally “The Hell”), a restaurant under the monastery which was used by the monks to receive penitence for their sins (and make wine). After lunch I wanted to walk through the cloister; this was actually a huge let down. The most exciting things were the ancient fossilised animals and sea creatures on display and of course the fossilised apples – something of a local celebrity item.

Day 3

Prague in the morning where we visited the Museum of Communism, a recommended activity, and had lunch in Letna underneath the Metronome which was erected in 1991 on the plinth that was once home to an enormous monument to Stalin. Then a bus to Plzen, a quick navigational error and directions from a lady of possible ill-repute on the highway set us back into the town centre. This was our first experience of towns outside the capital and the difference was noticeable. We stayed in a decidedly average/expensive hotel, went out to dinner and noticed that the language here was almost half Czech/German.

Day 4

Plzen and a bus to Cesky Krumlov (via Cesky Budjovice). Plzen (Pilsen) is the birth town of “pilsner” beer and the brewery Pilsner Urquell; the factory tour was fun with us having to listen in Deutsche! I also managed to find the monument to the two famous Czech wooden puppets “daddy” Spejbl and son Hurvinek born in Pilsen.

Day 5

More Cesky Krumlov; today was spent wandering around the castle/chateau and then having a nice beery afternoon chatting to an Austrian couple and some Czech locals. The sun was out, the beer tasty and it was a wonderful way to relax and forget the backpacks for a while.

Day 6

Cesky Krumlov in the morning and then a bus to Cesky Budjovice, a train to Jilhava and a bus to Zdar nad Sazavou. We had to walk up to the Castle again this morning to try and see the bears in the moat, yes they actually keep bears in the dry moat around the castle til this day because I have seen them. I always thought that moat imaginations were limited to water and crocodiles… From Cesky Krumlov we had “transport fun” as it was Easter Monday and both buses and trains were having a lazy time. We managed to get a bus to Cesky Budjovice, then a pizza and a train to Jilhava where we were really hoping for a bus to Olomouc. The only bus we could find heading in the right direction was to Zdar nad Sazavou. Accommodation was ropey in this tiny town; I will not recount the episodes at Hotel Fit but we went through two broken hotel rooms before we found one suitable. Cheap but not recommended.

Day 7

In the morning we caught an early train to Olomouc via Brno and entered the next beautiful city of Czech Republic. Zdar nad Sazavou the night before had disappointed us; it was industrial and bleak but Olomouc was beautiful and seemed to have been wealthy through history from the public fountains and amazing buildings. For our accommodation we managed to find a room in Hotelovy Dum; a very Communist period apartment block just outside of the city centre which was cheaper than chips and our cheapest accommodation for the whole trip.

Day 8

Olomouc in the morning and a train to Kromeriz via Pferov and Hulin. In Kromeriz we stayed in a very tidy Pension just out of the city. This was the night we had fantastic very last-minute goulash; another definite highlight for the trip!

Day 9

We checked our bag into the rail-station’s left luggage service and wandered around Kromeriz in the morning. We struggled finding a café to eat breakfast in and decided up doing the usual bakery thing and eating breakfast in the gardens until we started losing feeling in fingers due to the cold. Later we caught a bus to Brno.

Post-Trip

A few nights later I cooked goulash for the first time and we had it with fresh dumplings we brought back from a bakery in Kromeriz, topped off with some Moravian wine from eastern Czech. All in all a fantastic meal to seal off the holiday.