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| Prague |
Terezin/Litomerice
Our first intended stop in the Czech Republic was Terezin, a small town with a tragic history. We spent the night in a small campground in the nearby town of Litomerice. Arriving in the late afternoon, we walked into town for a look around and to see if we could find an alternative to dinner at camp. We were surprised to find a charming town with great old buildings on a large square with winding streets branching off in many directions. There were lots of touristy looking restaurants but Dermot noticed a woman emerging from a business set away from the main square and decided to investigate. What he found was a bright, modern looking restaurant that the locals seem to frequent. Dinner was very good and the prices were much lower than we were used to.
Back at camp, we noticed the camp owners put alot of emphasis on the restaurant and bar. People seemed very social. They lingered in the bar laughing and talking well into the night. We lacked the language skills to join but it looked like fun.
Touring Terezin was interesting but the whole town seemed steeped in tragedy. The museum was excellent at conveying just how horrible the concentration camp was even though the Nazis had used it once (with over a year’s staging) to show how well the imprisoned Jews were treated. Less than one percent of those who passed through the camp survived to be liberated. The town seemed deserted the rainy day we visited.
Click here for a silly number of photos, (i) for information.
Prague
Though it survived world wars nearly unscathed, Prague is now at risk of being loved to death by throngs of tourists. As I'm sure you've heard and can see from the photos, it’s a beautiful place to visit. Rick Steves’ guided walks taught us the history and pointed out the landmarks that made our visit so much more meaningful. I was moved by small monuments to young men who had literally set themselves on fire in an effort to gain independence for their country. The public transportation in general and the trams in particular made zipping from place to place a breeze. There are historical treasures sprinkled throughout the city. Our campground was set in the outskirts of town and the apartment buildings there often had a Soviet block feel, but as we entered the older sections of the city, the architecture was usually interesting and often beautiful.
However, there are places so packed that our touristing was reduced to shuffling along slowly towards the next destination and foregoing entering intended destinations due to long waits and crowded conditions. What should have been an enjoyable experience was, at times, rendered irritating. And yes, I'm fully aware we were contributing to the problem. I can only imagine how the locals feel. All that being said, we were treated politely at all but one restaurant - probably dealing with the same staffing shortages we have at home. We arrived on Friday and spent our last full day was Monday and I much preferred Monday since there were fewer people and we employed crowd avoidance techniques.
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| Healthy choices. |
Fields between towns and cities were planted with crops - most of which we couldn’t identify. Some had yellow, purple, blue, chartreuse and even burgundy shades in stripes and patches across the land. Many trucks were stacked high with logs.
Cesky Krumlov
Our last stop was a small town in the south with a castle surrounded by a river that encircled it providing lovely views from every angle. This is the kind of town I can imagine spending months exploring. The streets and buildings bear traces of the passing centuries. There are always interesting ways they adapted spaces to accommodate modern conveniences such as electricity and indoor bathrooms while still retaining the original structure. Heavy wood and metal doors have fascinating handles, latches and locks.
Without reading our guide book I never would have known there are only about 20 permanent residents in the old town but it receives two million tourists a year! We saw teenagers dressed up for what we guessed was a graduation each carrying a single rose and walking with their families so they must live in the outskirts. We walked 20 minutes from our campground and followed the guided walk of the town which was a delight. Coming from flat lands, we marveled at the castle perched high above the town on a cliff facing the river. We stopped for a beer and spiced mead beside the gurgling river and watched happy people enjoying a paddle. After more exploring we had dinner at a "Gypsy"restaurant. A visit to this town was worth one last night in the Czech Republic.
I'm so glad we visited more than one place in the Czech Republic because if we had only visited Prague, our impression of the country would have been entirely different. The culture is rich, the people have overcome huge barriers, and I really enjoyed it.
Language Barrier
Though we tried on multiple occasions to learn a few polite phrases to indicate we had at least tried to learn a bit of the language, we failed miserably when the circumstances warranted it. We always got the information we needed from a kindly bilingual person or google translate. When confronted with informational signs on buildings or monuments we just scratched our heads and moved on.
General Notes on Traveling in a Van
I don’t want to give you the impression that all our travel experiences are reflected in the photos we post. For example, at the Berlin campsite we only had one restroom key for the two of us. Restrooms were separate units and pretty abysmal so Dermot would have to drop me off at one restroom and he had to find another. As he opened the door to let me into a women’s unit one night, I noticed a spider slowly rappelling from the ceiling on a long silky strand right next to the only sink. I just entered and didn’t even mention it to Dermot because yeah, I could work with that. I've handled worse.
In Prague, I was in a restroom stall and heard two young men enter laughing. One literally pushed my stall door open as there was no lock. I had to push back grumbling that it was the women’s. During the next morning’s shower, I was plunged into near darkness while dripping wet. The motion sensor was set to detect people entering the shower room, not those currently taking one, so no amount of sudsy waving illuminated the room. Every camp in the Czech Republic had fairly rudimentary bathroom and camper service facilities.
Then there are the difficulties staying connected via pay-as-you-go phone sims and intermittent internet connections. The struggle is real my friends! As I write this I'm huddled near an internet connection point in the cold and drizzle. But when we hear that people are enjoying the blog posts and may even get the feeling they are traveling along with us, it gives us such a thrill to share it with you!
