Eastern Europe: Hluboka to Cesky Krumlov, CZ

The Hluboka Castle was closed when we arrived yesterday (Monday) but we got an informative guided tour today.  This is probably the best furnished and best maintained Castle in the Czech Republic. The original castle on this site dates to the 13th century.  Castles were rebuilt on the site in the 16th, 18th and 19th centuries.  Much of the furniture, art and fittings are from the 15th to 18th centuries. The most recent “rebuild” was by Princess Eleanor (1821-1879).  This rebuild included a version of central heat and water closets.  Photos are not allowed inside but John and BJ purchased a catalog; maybe I can copy some of the photos for the blog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s ride was ideal : ride 20 km, eat a big lunch and ride 20+ more. Lunch was in the village of Holasovice, listed in the UNESCO’s Register of World Monuments under the convention of world culture and natural monuments.  The first written reference to Holasovice dates to 1292. The current appearance of the buildings (folk baroque style) is from 1840-1880.

 

We had a great lunch here; I had roasted chicken, dressing and potatoes and many of us accompanied our lunch with Radler, a German drink of beer and lemonade. Quite refreshing.

 

For the next two nights we’re in the UNESCO World Heritage village of Cesky Krumlov. More on this tomorrow; we have a guided walk in the morning.

Eastern Europe: Tabor to Hluboka

Hluobka nad Vitavou is a small town with a stunning chateau set on a hill. Our “opulent” hotel is adjacent to the “chateau of Hluboka”.

We leave Tabor under cloudy skies with a forecast of 60 – 80% chance of rain.  It’s cooler this morning (56 degrees) and there is a fairly strong wind so almost everyone has on jackets.  The morning’s ride is difficult – lots of hills.  And they’re steep – 6%, 8%, 10%, 15% grade.  It’s this grade or angle or gradient or slope which impacts cyclists, not the length of the hill. (Of course a 15% grade for .25 miles is a different ballpark from a 15% for 25 miles.) Other than the photo at the start, I took no photos this morning. I was too bust trying to keep up with Brenda on these hills. (Now why was it I married a younger woman?) Oh yes, the wind also impeded us this morning.

 

 

Once again we had a picnic lunch. While we were eating Henry, the driver, filled our water bottles and equipped every bike with a banana and energy bar. What service! As we were leaving lunch the weather deteriorated.  We’d only had a couple of very light showers in the morning. As we left lunch we had to go uphill, into the wind and it was raining pretty hard. God, this is fun. I can’t believe that everyone doesn’t take their vacation on a bicycle.

The bad weather was brief and the scenery was great.  We went through farmland (grains and corn), by lakes and ponds and in wooded areas.  Near the end of the ride, we were on a one-lane road with no cars, no jogger no cyclists, in the forest next to the river.  Of course the hills continued along with sweeping curves.  The previous rain dampened the road and the still cool weather (62 degrees) plus leaves on the road gave the impression that autumn is just around the corner.

 

The other night, as we were leaving Prague there was a celebration of the 700th reign of Charles IV. He was an interesting person, King of Bohemia and the first King of Bohemia to also become Holy Roman Emperor.  TO READ MORE ABOUT HIM, CLICK HERE.  Chuck Carlson took this close-up of Charles IV in the pageant.

Eastern Europe: Prague to Tabor

This charming, historic small city is worth considering. Tabor is famous among Czechs as a fierce Protestant stronghold during the Hussite Wars.  Ringing the square are some modest museums, a towering church, and some al fresco restaurants.

   

 

Our plans worked well and we were on the road around 10:00.  In the morning we were in partially forested areas and there was a lot of uphill.  Two hills were particularly challenging and several walked their bikes. Today, like a few other days, we did not go through towns with cafes for lunch. So the guides provided a picnic; I think they’ll have to do this again tomorrow The afternoons ride was much more of an open landscape and we had quite a few fast downhills. Overall there was very little traffic and the roads were very good, very smooth.  Navigation was not a problem; our Garmin navigation systems were very beneficial.

 

Eastern Europe: Bike Preparation

On Friday night, 9 of us took a boat tour on the Vltava River.  It was a small boat which allowed us to explore areas that a larger boat could not.  The perspective from the river was quite different than on land.  Note that the Charles Bridge looks better from this perspective. And I’m impressed that it was built in 1357.  Compare that to my career as a computer programmer. Not one line of code that I wrote in 38 years survives today, only 16 years after I retired. Well as least I got paid well.

Four of us went back to the restaurant that some had visited on Wednesday. The food and ambience were still great but the service not as good tonight, as was reflected in our tips.

 

 

 

The ride will soon start and we have a detailed plan to organize the bikes and begin the tour:

SATURDAY (TODAY)

- At 9:00 the bikes in cases will be taken from the hotel up the street to a Monastery garden.  Riders who brought their bikes from the US will have all day to assemble them.  There are 5 tandems and 2 road bikes.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

- At 2:00 those of us who are renting bikes will be transported to the local guide company for bike fitting and test rides. Ten people are renting bikes.

- I should explain that two tour companies are involved. I contracted with Pedaltours in New Zealand to organize this tour for us. By “organize” I mean they planned the routes, hotels and meals.  Then, on the ride they will provide support by transporting our luggage, providing guides, etc.  Why hire a company from New Zealand for a tour in Eastern Europe? Good question. The answers are because they do provide tours in Eastern Europe and have  a good reputation.  I’ve personally  known the president of the  company since 2001.  Actually he sold the company this year but it’s pretty much the same company.  For tours in Eastern Europe, Pedaltours subcontracts to a local company, AVE.  So our support staff will consist of 3 AVE staff and one from Pedlatours.

- At 6:00 we have an organizational meeting and at 7:00 have our first group dinner.

SUNDAY

- Early morning, AVE will transport the individually owned bikes and cases from the Monastery  garden to AVE headquarters.

- At 8:30 all riders will be picked up at the hotel and taken to AVE’s headquarters where the bikes are located.  We’ll all get on bus and be taken out of the busy city of Prague.  As soon as we’re  out in the country, we’ll begin riding. First day’s destination is Tabor.

Eastern Europe: Orientation Day 4

I write my blogs with a free Microsoft product, Open Live Writer.  But is sometimes has problems and thus would not publish the blog for day 4.  So I'm rewriting it directly into BLOGSPOT.  And this is why day 4 comes after day 5.

Last night 13 of us went to a concert at the Klementinum.  Founded in 1232, this is one of the Old Town's most historic sights. It includes the Mirror Chapel, Astronomical Tower and Baroque Library Hall. Our concert was in the Mirror Chapel which houses two precious Baroque organs. Mozart reportedly played on one of these, but which one?  No one could tell us.  The Mirror Hall is small, seating maybe 120. And the “orchestra” was small, four strings and the organ.  But that’s pretty much how concerts were in Mozart’s days. I remember well.

There are multiple concerts available daily.  Looking at tomorrow, September 2, I see 14 scheduled concerts. Our concert today was basically baroque. I was surprised to hear “The Four Seasons” because I don’t associate Vivaldi with Prague.  And I couldn’t find a connection in Wikipedia.  Of course Mozart is expected; he is associated with Vienna, Saltsburg and Prague.  When our British Air flight from London landed, Mozart music came on the audio system. Classy.

After  the concert we had another great meal at “Malostransky Hostinec” which basically translates to “Beer House on Malostransky Street”.

Eastern Europe: Orientation Day 5

    

 

This morning we toured the Old Town Hall.  This was established in 1338 as Prague’s oldest town hall on the basis of a remit to do so issued by the Czech King, John of Luxembourg (no relation to me). It  was established as one of the houses on Old Town Square.  Throughout the following centuries, the town hall was extended to include other buildings and it went through several phases of reconstruction.  It is currently used for ceremonial purposes by Prague’s Lord Mayor.  The photo on the left is from the cellar.  The streets flooded in the 13th century so the streets were artificially raised.  What you see is underground areas which are used as cellars. (Too bad this is a beer town and not a wine town; they could rent out wine cellar space.) The photo on the right is a portion of the ceiling in the main vestibule.  It is done in mosaics.  In order for the art to be not destroyed during the second world war, it was covered in plaster.  The Germans will never find it!  It was uncovered in 1947.

We went from the cellar to the top of the tower.  See photos taken here.  Brenda didn’t tell me there was an elevator to take me to the top!  Remember the Celestial Clock from the other day? Well this is the tower on which the clock is installed.  The 360 degree views from the top are quite stunning.

    

I’ve mentioned the throngs of people. It was particularly bad this morning as we tried to walk to our 12:20 tour.  The damn people are everywhere - just sauntering, looking here and there, not knowing where they’re going, taking pictures.  Can’t we have an express lane?  I now have a pet peeve, much more stressful than Segway's. It’s “selfies”, worse yet “selfies on a stick”.  They’re everywhere.  On the road.  On the sidewalk. In front  of every monument.  I saw a guy today with a selfie in one hand and a cell phone in the other. Agggggggggggggggggah! At the lookout on the top of the tower, a very crowded place, the kids in front of us would take a selfie, walk three  feet and take another.  How can anyone be so f___ing self-centered?  Maybe I’m getting too old for this world. Anyone know of a senior center on a circular bike path – and with continuous wine service?

Eastern Europe: Orientation Day 3

 

We toured the Jewish area of Prague this afternoon. You can’t see in the photo on the left that all walls in this Jewish Museum have writing on them. The handwritten names, shown in the middle photo ,are the names of 77,297 Czech Jews sent to the gas chambers.  It is estimated that the Czech Jews were the hardest hit by the Holocaust. Of an estimated 120,000 Jews living in this area only 10,000 survived to see Liberation. And then to exit, you had to take along walk thru the cemetery where body's are piled 8 deep.  Which reminds me  that in the past 20 years in the US the popularity of burials vs cremation has gone from 70/30 to 30/70.  Great for the environment.

  

Photo on the left shows the throng of people in the Old Town Square.  It’s like this everywhere.  In the middle is a picture of open town cars which are popular with the tourists here.  The one shown is an Alfa; I’ve also seen a Jag – but most are Fords.  And on the  right is the famous Charles Bridge. Rick Steve’s says this is one of Europe’s most famous bridges.  To me it is a mass of humanity and hustling. At  least the  “artists” and buskers must  have a license and are restricted to times and locations they can operate.

Walking through town you’ll also be annoyed at the Segway's. But this won’t last long.  The city has banned them from the pedestrian areas, which means most areas. But the police cannot enforce the ban because the signs prohibiting them have not been installed yet. But it’s coming.

After two and a half days of walking the cobblestones of this hill city I’m tired and sore.  ‘Can’t wait until Sunday when we get on the bikes.  I’m not sure that walking is good for your health!