Czech walk - Sept/Oct 2010
Thu 23 Sep – Edinburgh to Olomouc
Olomouc is about 250km east of Prague. Our Jet2.com flight took off on time at 7:30 am and we landed in Prague at about 11am, the airport bus took us to the train station and just after 1pm we were on the train to Olomouc.
It was a bit of a chug-a-lug diesel, rocking and rolling along. Ww had booked into Pension Na Hadre which is quite modern and comfy inside, despite being in an old building in the old part of town. Having got up at 5am we were in need of an afternoon nap before heading out for dinner – we just stopped at the first place we came to, 20 meters from the hotel, for pizza and pasta. After dinner it was a stroll round the main square in town. Most buildings seem to date from 20th C but have been well maintained and restored.
Fri 24 Sep – Olomouc
Breakfast in the hotel was Ok but nothing special. It was a warm, sunny and windy day and we decided to have a leisurely day, mainly spent strolloing round town, checking out the main square and second square – which is a little less up-market.
We also checked out some of the main churches in town, including the three-domed St. Michaels which is just near out hotel. The churches here are extremely ornate inside, all the walls covered with intricate painting. Presumably they are kept up because they are still so well used.
Dinner was at Hanacacka Hospoda (Moravian Cuisine) which was a big cheerful place. A big dinner for 2 with a bottle of local red was 750Kr (about £25).
Sat 25 Sep – Olomouc
We decided to take a walk round the local gardens and then outside of some of the city walls in the morning. For lunch we gathered some food together and had a picnic lunch on the nice outside terrace at the hotel. Then Morag went up one of the local church towers for an overall perspective of town while Mal checked the footy result.
In the evening we ate at a restaurant attached to a micro-brewery (strong beers here, 10, 12 or 13 %). Once again a large busy place wehre two meals (Morag was very impressed with her goulash) snd wine was about 600Kr. Unfortnately, while eating this meal Mal began to feel a little unwell. So we headed straight home.
Sun 26 Sep – Olomouc
Some sort of bug – couldn’t eat breakfast, could hardly get out of bed all day. And what a day, it rained heavily just about the entire day. Morag went on an expedition on a local bus to a shopping centre where there would be a supermarket open on a SUnday – for Paracetomol and Ibuprofen. Did manage to get out of bed and go out for dinner – we ate at same place as first night because it’s only 20 meters down the road and quite cheap so didn’t matter that Mal only ate half his pizza.
Mon 27 Sep – Olomouc to Prague
7am bells….Feeling somewhat better today, and just as well as the walking part of the holiday approaches. Still raining this morning so once we’d breakfasted, packed and paid we got a taxi to the train station. We decided to upgrade to first class for a bit more comfort (well a lot more comfort actually) 930ck for both of us, ie £30. Arriving at the main station in Prague it wasn’t too far to walk to our hotel (Hotel Hastal) which is an 3-star hotel in a great location in the old town. Our room wasn’t ready yet so we dumped the bags and headed out into the drizzle for a wander round.
Once in the room it was time for a recuperative nap for Mal while Morag researched restaurants for the evening. The plan was to catch up with Mal’s nephew Michael who is on holiday with mate Shane and their stay in Prague coincided with out holiday so we have zipped into Prague for this night to catch up.
We met at Restaurant Kol which was close to our hotel and not too far from theirs. We met shortly after 6pm, had a good chat (hadn’t met Shane before) ate good meals (Mal’s was so huge that the doggie bag provided lunch next day), before heading off about 8pm.
We went back to our hotel where Morag drank both glasses of our complimentary fizz (red) before having an early night, we were both shattered after not having had a good night’s sleep since arriving.
Tue 28 Sep – Prague to Mala Skala
We could afford to have a leisurely start to the day because the train we were aiming for was at 13:25, so we had a sleep in (both slept really well, hurray!) then a good brekky before heading out for a wander round the old town square, which was heaving with tourists, and the Charles Bridge.
Our train was a real chug-a-lug, we had to move carriages because the one we were in had no heating, it had turned chilly! As we crawled into the countryside we began to see the result of the heavy rain all over the country the last 4 days – sodden fields and swollen rivers. In fact, as the journey wore on we saw rivers that had burst their banks and overwhelmed large areas, including some small towns – bit of a worry when you’re about to go walking in the countryside for 6 days.
Anyway we eventually arrived and it was a short walk in the drizzle to the hotel. Chap there assured us we’d have no trouble with the flooding, but we wait to see. I guess we will mostly be going uphill!
After an hours nap we went for a wander round town, half-an-hour was enought to do the lot, then headed back to the hotel for a huge dinner – another meat fest! And less than 600Kr.
Our Bohemian Walk itinerary.
Wed 29 Sep – Mala Skala
Pretty misserable looking day, both slept pretty well as it’s really quiet here. Breakfast was decent abd we set off in the drizzle for our walk at about 9:50. Initially the walk was along the riverbank which weas a bit muddy as the river had recently covered the path, then our luck ran out, we got to a section where the fast-flowing river was still covering the path – no way forward. Consulting the map, Morag devised a detour up the side of the river-bank, across the railway line and onto the road, and we could eventually meet up with the path again. We carried on up the road for a while, still in the drizzle. Eventually we got to the top of the hill and could see our first set of rocky cliffs for the day – atop another hill.
After a few detours we did eventually get back on the prescribed path which led us to a wee town – Besedice, where we found a local pub open. It was a strange place, lots of chickens, geese, pheasants in the back yard, along with a statue of a naked woman, at the front there was a wooden carving of a totem pole with horse’s head half-way up. Inside, the owner was convinced we were German, we managed to order soup and goulash (though we actually only wanted one or the other). Both were good, we were just served our goulash when a school party arrived, about 30 youngsters (4 – 8 yo) and about 6 teachers. They’d all been up at the rocks we were heading to. It was reasonably amusing watching them (must admit they were extremely well behaved), one in particular was amusing as he was obsessed with putting more twigs on the small open fire – we were conviced he was going to set fire to something important, like his hair!
Anyway, our lunch was 210Kr then we headed off to do the circuit that included the rock labyrinth. This is a couple of collections of huge sandstone rock formations which you wander through on higgelty-piggelty paths – some quite dramatic formations of rocks and quite an interesting target for the days walk. After making our way through all these rocks it was then a fairly easy stroll home – downhill and on good paths, until we made it back to Mala Skala where quite a few houses had fires burning – it was only a max of 10c today!
One arrival back at the hotel it was nap time about an hours kip, then shower and dinner time. We decided to forgo the meat and fries menu at the hotel and instead try the pub next door, where the friendly barman translated their limited blackboard menu for us, Morag had chicken scnitzel with really nice with (boiled) potatoes infused with some extra flavour (unidentified) while Mal had an excellent goulash served in a loaf of bread. with some colas, this came to less than 300Kr.,,, and so much better than our hotel with ‘everything with chips’.
Thu 30 Sep – Mala Skala to Hruba Skala
so – an ‘early morning’ for our long trek today… and made it to an 8am breakfast….along with the other hotel residents including our 2 year old wee lad who has been stalking us since we arrived. True to form, he was in fine fettle and showed me his giraffe & digger — what a combination of toys, eh? We managed to get all packed up & out the front door at 9;30 – with luggage waiting for collection for delivery to the next hotel… and it was SUNNY!! how exciting is that??? considering the last couple of mizzle days, a sunny day – but chilly – was wonderful. We set off up the hill to the chapel & castle ruins in short sleeves with jackets in our packs… only to find the gates locked due to a ‘landslide’. At that very moment an official was coming up the track with a couple of gadgies (blokes) to check out the problems and he unlocked the gate. He let us in too, for a quick look. The landslip was fairly considerable – having taken away a chunk of the courtyard in front of the chapel. After a quick look we were on our way – up the hill…. forested ridge.. to the Frydstejn Castle — a remnant castle with a round tower that was visible from our hotel in Mala Skala. More country roads, forest trails & chanced upon a couple in the middle of a slaughter of a goat… with the wheelbarrow below to catch any…. bits. Thankfully the river in Turnov hadn’t flooded where we needed to go, and we managed to get across 2 bridges and a meadow without any problem, or flooding. We did however have to take a chance with the bridge workers who were working on the bridge and we needed to ‘walk the plank’ to get onto the bridge and then jump off the other end.. no chance for a pram or wheelchair who wanted to take that route.
Didn’t bother with the Bohemian Paradise Musuem as we had lunch on mind, and had some pasta for lunch and then treked on & up and out of Turnov. From there it was a long hard 6km up and along the ridge to get to Hruba Skala. We detoured via some amazing rock carvings that were done in early 20th century.. down in a valley near an 18th century house — that is apparently the location for many local children’s fairy tales. Continued up the hill and took in a couple of vantage viewing points off the edge of the ridge, before we finally made it to our lodgings at 5.30pm — that’s 9 hours since we left this morning. Morag’s toe blister and Malcy’s feet were needing attention.
Dinner — we had a decision — the ‘exciting’ pub just near the castle, or ‘more refined dining’ at the castle. The castle won, and we had fine dining for our tea at a cost of £26 (760ck) total… soup – oxtail & cream of chicken & vegie, followed by a grilled pork chop with spinach ‘n tatties and a pork skewer with veg & rice, and a bottle of very nice wine (330 ck). Malcy was trying his best to fall asleep over his dinner, but we managed to get out the door and back to our room before i made him sit on the couch in an effort to not let him go to sleep before 9.30pm. We have a long day ahead tomorrow – they recommend an 8.30 start :-( but we’ll aim for a 9am start —- we ARE on holidays.
Fri 01 Oct – Hruba Skala to Neprivec
We did manage to get up for brekky and pickup our “lunch packets” in time for a 9am start on the walk from the chateau, anticipating a 7 hour walk. It was a cold but still and sunny morning, perfect for walking in short sleeves. This morning’s walk was a mixture of forest walks (pine and mixed), some rocky downhill sections (where we were overtaken by downhill cyclists – one with a very young baby strapped into a seat), large sandstone bluffs on one side or the other, and some wetlands and lakes (all a mucky brown colour and a lot of green algae – not sure if this was a result of the recent flooding or whether the local lakes and rivers are always like this?).
For our picnic we found a mice little village with some stone fence that we could perch on and eat out pieces – ham, cheese and lettuce. We didn’t linger long because it became a bit chilly if you stop moving for too long. So we pressed on past fields of corn and fields on not very much until we arrived at Castle Kost, a big imposing place – we weren’t tempted by the guided tour of the interior whihc is apprantly in Czech only and takes 1.5 hours “with no escape”. There was an option to do an extra half-hour longer route but we decided against that (feet were feeling a bit tender) and pressed on to our hotel which was only another half-an-hour or so further, so we arrived 1.5 hours ahead of the time scheduled in the walking notes (so after 5.5 hours walking).
So after checking in to the hotel, ditching our day-packs and putting our jackets on (getting chilly by now) we headed off down the road to a nearby picturesque village with lots of very well maintained traditional style houses. After a wander there we headed back to the hotel for: Mal – WiFi (pron. wiffy) and a coffee, Morag for a wander round the village where the hotel is located. The hotel had a (golf) driving range opposite and our room has a nice balcony with a view over driving range and local features, and across to Sobotka and Castle Humprecht – tomorrow’s walk, but it was a little too chilly to really take advantage of it.
We prepared for dinner by about 7pm and headed down to the hotel restaurant, once again we each had soup to warm our bones: Morag tried the garlic soup while Mal had chicken noodle soup. Then it was chicken schnitzle for Morag and chicken with ham and cheese for Mal, along with a bottle of local cab-sav (not as good as last night’s wine but half the price). Total 600Kr.
Sat 02 Oct – Neprivec to Prachov
Less hurried this morning so slept in till 8am and then down for the best breakfast so far, ham and eggs cooked to order. Two big dissapointments though: Stkilda didn’t win the grand final replay and we didn’t win the £82 million Euro jackpot.
We set off a little after 10am and ended up walking for a short way with a Czech lady who was taking her 4 month old border collie down the the stream to wash itself (had been “rolling in it”), also accompanying her was her 8 yo daughter and 2 younger neices and her parent’s very old labrador bringing up the rear of the troop. We chatted with her about things in general until we’d got past the stream then we headed on through fields and into the edge of town to have a look round the outside of Humprecht – almost a castle, on the top of a hill.
From there we went into the town of Sobotka, pleasant enough little place, though as we headed out we seemed to go through nedsville for a wee while, then past some newer houses with nice gardens before we disappeared into mixed woodland trails. These are quite pleasant but you don’t get many spectacular views. And once again, even in mixed woodland, there didn’t seem to be much sign of wildlife, maybe it’s the wrong time of year.
Looking for somewhere to have lunch out of the gentle but quite chilly breeze, we settled into a bus-shelter to have our cheese rolls with fresh tomato and cured-ham sandwiches with fresh tomato. From there the walk took us back out into open fields – for the first time we saw people picking apples off the trees. There seem to have been thousands of apple and pear trees on the walk, mostly with vast amounts of fruit rotting on thr ground below them. A couple of people with long sticks and bags (and kids throwing windfall at each other) was the first sign of the fruit being used. Also we saw more muchroom pickers, there’s been tons of fungii in the woodlands and have seen quite a few people carrying baskets full of mushies.
Through more woodland and the mystery of the purple crepe ribbons arose, lots of crepe tied around branches so as to be obvious, some notes attached to trees and even sets of cards arranged on the ground (cards with pictures of anumals on the back) and with adults standing guard over these things. Looked like a kids treasure hunt or something, but we followed this trail of crepe for more than an hour and saw not one person taking an interest in this stuff (apart from the guardians), so not really sure what it was about,
Anyway, just before 4pm we rolled into out hotel, Parkhotel Skalni Mesto, which is a large brand new building full of families (some German, some Czech). It’s by far the busiest place we’ve been in so far and the only new building, so rooms are much smaller but not quite so decrepate. After a nap we rolled down for dinner about 7pm, garlic soup for Mal, “Devils Toast” for Morag (some toast covered in ratatouille type stuff), then both had grilled sirloin which was nice and tender, and a local bottle of red and other drinks for just over 700Kr. One of the best meals so far.
Sun 03 Oct – Prachov to Jicin (pron: Yichin)
Today is out last day of walking and promises to be a mixed walk, some woodlands, some meadows and some rocky canyons. We were able to take our time with the pretty good breakfast. It was chilly to start wth so we had jackets on, but dry once again, hasn’t rained since the minor drizzle of the first day of the walk.
We soon arrived at a controlled area of rocky canyons where we had to pay 50Kr each to enter, lots of paths around this area so we just wandered, soon finding some great viewpoints where we could get a great view of the very impressive rocky pinnacles, including one with a person sitting on top while his partner made the hand-over-hand journey up the side of the rockface. On another pinnac;le a climber was half-way up – looking for his next route upward while his partners watched from below. An activity that’s not for us!
Eventually we had to leave this area and press on. As promised we went through some nice woods, though once again there seemed to be very little sign of wildlife compared with France, Spain or Italy. Apart of course, for the mushrooms which are absolutley everywhere.
Best part of the rest of the walk was the walk down through Brada with nice houses and a good view of Jicin across the fields and also a view of the Zeben Challenge – a hill protuding from the flat fields, this was an optional part of our walk thet our feet convinced us not to do. So we rolled into Jicin not long after 3pm. It’s by far the biggest town so far and had a very nice square but a robust and very chilly breeze blowing through it this afternoon. After chec,king into our very nice 3* Hotel Jicin we went for a wander round and Moraqg even had the energy to climb the tower.
Dinner was at the hotel and was gargantuan. Exeprience had told us that the meat dishes in Czech don’t come with any vegetables, so we ordered a side salad and side dish of potatoes with out main courses. We also decided to have proper starters instead of soup. Mal ordered “grilled vegetables with toast expecting something similar to what Morag had the night before – a slice of toast with some finely chopped grilled veges on top, instead this was a meal on it’s own, pretty much an entire pepper sliced and grilled, three big slices of aubergine, three slices of courgette, three spear of broccoli and three hunks of toasted bread rubbed with tomatoe and garlic. Morag had an antiore soft cheese round with peppercorms and a sauce. Main courses were pork fillet wrapped round bacon and garlic (Morag) and chicken breast with a gravy containing raisins and apple (Mal) bit both of these also had some vegetables or salad, so we were absolutely bursting by the time we ate as much of this as we could. Most expensive meal to date too, at 1,100Kr.
Mon 04 Oct – Jicin to Prague
Another chance to sleep in a bit and have a leisurely (and excellent) breakfast. We had a choice of bus or train to Prague so decided on bus as we’ve already done trains, also easier to get to our hotel via the bus. After a stroll along a 2km avenue of trees (4 columns) heading out of town from near our hotel, we collected out bags and went to the bus station where we caught the 12:00 bus to Prague. It was only a 90 minute journey but the roads are such that it was just as bouncy as the train. The bus dropped us off at the end of one the the three Metro lines in Prague and we just had to travel 10 or so stops, change to another line for a couple of stops, then it was a 10 min walk to the Hotel Certovka. This hotel is booked through our walking holiday with OnfootHolidays.co.uk and is the most comfy so far. It’s right at the end of Charles Bridge and our room has a nice view of the Cathedral at the top of the hill.
After checking in we went for a stroll for an hour or so, had some cakes and coffee, then headed back to the room for a nap. Next thing you know it’s time to shower and head out for dinner. Just to have a change we decided on a Spanish restaurant nearby where we had a grilled meat skewer each (pork and chicken) and side dish of boiled vegetables, along woth a local bottle of red for less than 700Kr.
Tue 05 Oct – Prague
After a leisurely breakfast in the hotel we headed up to the castle. All interweb information had telt us it was going to be 18’c and sunny/cloudy – so we believed them, and headed out in short sleeves. by the time we’d got up tothe castle, we were getting a few odd looks – everyone else was in winter coats and scarves ! It was a tad parky in the open areas at the castle, but certainly not winter coat weather … but a light jumper would have been welcome. There were absolutely thousands of tourists up at the castle — the ground was littered with them. We got up there just in time to see the 11am changing of the guard then headed into the castle grounds to see the rest of it. The queue for St Vitus was enormous, so we headed off further into the complex. Unforturnatley the Golden Lane was closed – ‘due to technical difficulties’, ie – they were doing lane-works along the lane, so we didn’t even get to see it. We’d planned to head back tothe start along the gardens and then otu the back to catch the number 22 tram back downinto the city… but were flumoxed again with the gardens closed – so ended up walking back through the castle complex and out the other side — just in time to see the 12 noon guard changing there.
We found the tram stop and bought our tickets and then waited and waited and waited for the ‘trams every 5 minutes’ tram to arrive. It took about 20 minutes… and then 3 arrived at once. The first one was overflowing, so we left them to it and jumped on the second one with seats available…. then choofed down through Mala Strana and over the river and through the new town and towards Vinohrady. Our 26KC tickets were valid for 75 minutes – and just as well. By the time we’d seen a fair bit of the city and out past Peace Square and been warmed up with the onboard heaters, we jumped off and returned on the next tram it was an hour later. We were on a mission to find a fabric shop mentioned by the receptionists here last night — but with no luck. However we did come across a huge department store Tesco, and took advantage of their WC facilities…. then off to find the cake shop – also recommended by the reception gals. It was up on Wenceslas Square and as we wandered up the square we agreed on how it was so different 17 years ago. We found the cake shop and fed on delicious cake & latte/hot choc for 140CK (half the price of yesterday’s disappointing cake ‘n coffee). Then it was back via the backstreets to find another fabric shop and were lucky with the search, I had a quick look and will try to come back tomorrow by myself! By then, it really was time to head home for the siesta (4.30-5.30).
for dinner we decided to go back to the ‘beer hall’ we visited with Michale & Shane last week — for Malcy to have a meal he could actually finish… so trekked off there for 7pm. We were lucky to get a table, as they were all reserved, but he relented and gave us one. We had a burger (mo), pork sparrow (malcy) and bottles of wine and water (800 ck) and as we headed off home the rain started. A wrong turn took us way out of our intended route – but not all was lost – as we picked up a couple of magnums for dessert to munch on the charles bridge.
Wed 06 Oct – Prague
another grey but clear morning in Praha and a leisurely breakfast whilst deciding what to do for the day. We decided to go for a wander around Petrin Hill – it’s on our side of the river, and just along the road – perfect. We wandered along and caught the funicular up to the top and then spent a few hours wandering about the rose gardens, the ‘eifel tower’ and eventually got down to the road. We’d seen the rooftop of a huge shopping centre from up top, so headed to that and had a muffin & drink for our lunch. Then it was a wander back down the river and Morag headed off over the river to the fabric shop we’d found yesterday – for a proper look solo… and Malcy headed home to the hotel. Unfortunately – or fortunately ?- the shopping trip was in vain, and no fabric was purchased.
The afternoon siesta was had and then we headed out for dinner — decided to go back to the Spanish El Centro just around the corner from our hotel. We’re on a limited budget with the cash we have left, once we put aside the cab fare for the airport tomorrow. Nevertheless we had some soup, grilled aubergine with mozzerella, followed by chicken snitzel & chicken skewer…. washed down with a bottle of red & some water … and a choccie mousse for mal to finish – 900CK. Then a wander on the route up to the castle to check out the doorway decorations and home for 9.30pm. We’ve got a cab booked for 9.15 tomorrow – for our 11.30am flight.
Thu 07 Oct – Prague to Edinburgh
11.30am flight, arr Edi 1pm. Washing machine working flat out…