2019 Czech Republic

Czech Republic

I had not done much research on the Czech Republic before this trip, that darn day job thing keeps getting in the way, so I didn’t know really what to expect. I knew it played a key role in WWII and was under communist rule for a number of years, so I think I thought it would be more similar to Romania than Montenegro.  After all, one of our “luxury” hotels advertised that it had a bowling alley and their online picture of it, well, it looked like it was built in 60s and in desperate need of some TLC. Hence, I was expecting a functional but utilitarian society that was still adjusting to a non-communist life-style.

Obviously, I should have done a little more research to get a better understanding.  Firstly, it was only under communist rule for about 40 years and was not just farms and countryside.  Ohh, what a silly tourist I can be. (By the way, I hate being called a tourist, I prefer to be a traveler. A tourist sees the world from a bus or following someone around, with 40 other people, listening to an audio tour. They take their pictures, then return to their western big chain hotel for the night; rinse and repeat for the next city or attraction. A traveler, in my opinion, is someone that tries to get a little closer to the people and the culture. Someone that doesn’t interrupt the flow of a city when they arrive.  Sure, they may easily be spotted as an outsider, but they shy away from the big hotels and main tourist spots for something a little more off the beaten path. Places where you can actually interact with the locals and they are glad to see someone coming to visit.)

One thing I quickly learnt was that the Czech Republic is the largest producer of castles.  You get a castle, and you get a castle, every town gets a castle.  Not just every town but every large hill gets a castle. OK, that sounds like there are too many or that they might be stretching the term castle to mean any significant building but that would be a wrong assumption.  Some castles had been reclaimed by nature while many others still stood in their grandeur and were well maintained (thanks to government and tourist monies).

The other significant thing I noticed was the vast countrysides and care for the balance with nature. Often we would hike up a hill and get a 180 or 360 degree view and all you could see was vast rolling farmland.  No mega-cities, no superhighways just life going on as it has for probably hundreds of years. This is not to say that the Czech Republic has been left behind, we did see one nuclear generating plant, and all the modern conveniences we are all quickly taking for granted.  They respect and preserve their history and warmly welcome those that come to explore.

Valtice – 1 Night

Our group met at a hotel in Vienna just before noon and after a quick round of introductions we piled into our little bus and headed for the Czech Republic.  Now Austria and the Czech Republic are both part of the Schengen Area so no border checks, which highlights one benefit of governmental cooperation. This became apparent as we often hiked close to the Austrian boarder.

After a short drive we crossed the border, thankfully there was a sign or we wouldn’t have known, and soon turned off on a country road and up a dirt road to our first lunch spot. A wonderful buffet picnic lunch under a tree just below the The Colonnade in Valtice, the first folly that we will come across. Continuing our walk we briefly crossed back in to Austria and then down to the Valtice castle for our first look at how life used to be for the aristocrats of the time.

 

 

Mikulov – 2 Nights

What is this wet stuff falling from the sky? The plan for the day was to start walking from Valtice and make our way to Lednice Palace (a.k.a. Lednice Castle).  We came across the Rendez-vous folly and were fortunate to be able go inside and into the rooms above the arch. OK, what is the purpose of these structures?  Well, it appears to be mostly about wealth and displaying your status to others. The interesting thing I found is that from one folly you can usually see the next folly however tree growth over the years has made that a little harder than it used to be.  Score one for Mother Nature.  🙂

 

The weather decided to be much nicer on this day which allowed for some wonderful views during the hike. This was my favourite hike of the trip, the trail was wonderful, quiet, close to nature and with views of the countryside that stretch to the horizon.  Děvičky Castle is the first peak and supplied a view of the surrounding town of Pavlov and Dolní Věstonice. Photographs never really show just how extensive the views were, so nice to look out over the countryside and see the farms and small towns without seeing highways and large cities.

After a rain shortened picnic lunch, we headed out for a short hike in Klentnice to burn off some of that home cooking. Later in the afternoon we explored Mikulov and the rich history and extremely well maintained architecture continued to impress.

The Galant Brewery in Mikulov is a very friendly place with their own beer, they do not know much English, but ordering beer is pretty universal.  Just point to the tap you want (they had three different types during our visit) and indicate large or small, then sit back and enjoy.

Telč – 1 Night

“Today we are going to do a nice hike, have a picnic lunch, cross back into Austria for some apple strudel and schlag and then return on the smugglers trail.”  Sounds like a nice relaxing type of day and it was except for that little kick in the head reminder about how horrible humans can be to each other.  War!  It’s part of the human history and as much as some may wish it cannot, and should not, be forgotten.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. (George Santayana)

We started our hike in the little town of Čížov, a typical small quiet little town. The type of place where everyone knows everyone and the occasional stranger is met with a smile.  As we would soon be reminded times were not always this way.  On the southern end of the town we came across a well preserved section of the Iron Curtain. We were informed that the forest had been allow to regrow significantly to the south and that one of the three lines of barbed wire was taken down but the site of the guard tower and barricades were a somber reminder of part of the history of this now beautiful land.  It is heartbreaking to think that we are taking a pleasurable hike on a sunny day in the vary spot that men, women and children may have died fighting for their cause. (I will save my viewpoints on war for another day.)  For now, take a moment to remember and try to understand what it must have been like at the time and then … as we always do, move forward.

After passing this memorial we followed the trail down to a small lookout over Hardegg, Austria.  A wonderful spot for our picnic lunch.  Sitting in the Czech Republic looking into Austria with only the Thaya river separating the countries.  After lunch we casually stroll across the bridge, no fortified boarder crossing, no passport checks, a stark difference to what it would have been like in the past.  The only difference you can see is the paint on the bridge, as you can see in the picture below, the Austrian side has had a more recent re-painting.  After our apple strudel and schlag (I can’t believe that Wikipedia doesn’t have a page for schalg 🙂 ) we headed back along the smugglers trail, past the iron curtain and then drove to Telč for the night.

 

Jindřichův Hradec – 1 Night

We spent the morning in Telč to explore their central square (that means souvenir shopping) and to tour the Telč castle (some call it a Château but it’s a castle in my opinion), which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The amount of detail put into the facade of the buildings and within the castle is an indication of what beauty we can create (before the era of video games, 24 hour news stations, …).

Leaving Telč around 11:30am (according to the sun dial on the building in the pictures below) we drove just west of Slavonice to start our hike for the day. Again, I was caught off guard when in the middle of this calming forest we start to come across concrete bunkers and other remnants of the Iron Curtain. The area used to be cleared of trees to allow for clean lines of sight between bunkers, this area never saw any major hostilities. In learning and seeing just how many of these bunkers were created is both a marvel at human ingenuity and plan, but also an indication of the fear brought upon people by war.

After this hike it was time to drive to Jindřichův Hradec for the evening. Driving through Dačice I was able to get a quick photo of their monument for the first sugar cube – yup, they were invented/created in the Czech Republic!

Český Krumlov – 2 Nights

Our guides said I would really like the plan for today, not sure if they were being sarcastic or not, I was ready for more castles (they were starting to look all the same to me) or some really challenging hiking trails.  Well, it turned out I was wrong on both counts. We drove over to the tourist town of Třeboň and started a nice walk through the town but it wasn’t long before we found the spot.  Was it a scenic lookout? The location of a strategic battle?  Nope and nope, it was … the Bohemia Regent brewery!  Unfortunately, no time for a tour but there was time for tasting of their four signature brews.  Not always best to start drinking right before a hike but one must make sacrifices in life.  The afternoon hike was more of a walk but very scenic along Svet (World) Pond and past the Schwarzenberg tomb.  It was not a long walk to Spoli before the quick drive to Český Krumlov, where the throngs of tourists awaited our arrival.  😉

The next morning the itinerary had us doing a nice hike through the Blanský Forest Nature Reserve forests in the area but our guides had a couple of nice surprises for us.

The trees were starting to change colour and our guides were able to get a local forest ranger to join us for part of the hike. This was very interesting to hear about their philosophy to forest management and their attempts to restore the forest to their original varieties while also letting nature do most of the work.  The views during this hike were truly wonderful; being out in nature doing the fall is something everyone should strive to accomplish.  The forest ranger left us before we reached the Kleť mountain peak, where we stopped for our last picnic lunch of the trip.

After lunch was our second surprise (the forestr ranger being the first); we were given the option of hiking down or taking a scooter down. I had never been on one of these scooters before but with a little instruction and a helmet about half our group was off.  Ohh that was fun, and you could get some good speed going downhill, but with the available views it was rewarding to slow down and just enjoy the smells of the forest.  This was a great way to end the afternoon before heading into the very touristy Český Krumlov area.

Český Krumlov is obviously a tourist favourite due to the castle, cobblestone roads and architecture, but I appreciate the itinerary our guides came up with that kept us out of the town for most of the day, returning only in the late afternoon after most of the tourists had moved on.

Prague – 2 Nights

Before leaving Český Krumlov we toured the Český Krumlov Castle but first we had sneak our way past the unBEARable tight security. (They have 2-3 bears in the moat around the castle.)  This is one of the larger castles and the main tourist draw of the town so getting an early start is recommended. We all have our biases and I have to say that I enjoyed the castle gardens much more than the tour inside the castle. I just prefer being outside and closer to nature.

On the way to Prague we stopped in the historic village of Holašovice for a great lunch. I wish we had stayed in small villages like this so that we had more time to interact with the locals. It looked like one of those sleepy little towns where you could just sit and relax without worrying about time. However, it was back on the road and off to Prague for dinner.

Our last day with the entire tour group but before people started to depart we received a tour of Prague. The map below is from our tour but it did start with a ride on a city trolley to take us to St. Vitus Cathedral as it is great way to get from the eastern part of the city and always fun to take local transit.

Logistics

My second National Geographic Expeditions trip and this was their 9 day Vienna to Prague Hiking Adventure. There were a total of 15 guests, 2 guides, 1 driver. Although the title of the trip says “Vienna to …”  and Vienna is the original meeting spot for everyone, we immediately drive out of Vienna and Austria.  It is really a trip in the Czech Republic but, in my opinion, they just start in Vienna as it helps in marketing the trip.  Never having been to Vienna or anywhere in Austria we (myself and two friends) arrived a couple of days early so that we could explore Vienna.

Some final thoughts on the trip. The people we came across in Vienna and in the Czech Republic were all very nice and the majority of people we came across spoke English.  The places we visited are popular with tourists and hence they catered to tourist.  You have to make your own call if that’s what you are looking for.  Vienna and Prague are both huge tourist areas and have some awe inspiring architecture and history.  I tried many of the local foods and it was all great and I gained too much weight, despite the hiking, on this trip.

Thanks for viewing my page and let me know if you have been to the Czech Republic and what I need to see on my next trip.

Cheers, Nigel