Log Jam....mmmmm...Log Jam.

Day 99

As forecast, we woke to a damp and dreary Cesky Krumlov. Despite the weather we made our way into town early to do a more through look around and discovered many places that we never even knew existed from our brief visit in 2005.

What really struck us was the size of the town, as we only imagined it to be a small town square with a castle and the river running through it, however, it was much larger and cuter than we imagined.

We stopped into a little café to have coffee and cake by the river and watch some people brave the weather to do rafting and tubing. We then moved onto the castle grounds and gardens and were again astonished at just how big the castle was compared to what we had previously thought. 

Getting a little excited about the upcoming coffee and cake.
A rare treat on a budget of £12 a day.

Times are tough when you're caught practicing your
golf swing with an umbrella rather than being out on the course.
Should of given up that coffe and cake.

Oh my god, I'm turning into Luke - I have no arse!

Moving up into the castle grounds also gave us a good viewing point to people coming down the last rapid that we had tackled the day before. It was great watching the look on people’s faces as they crashed into a wall of water much bigger than the rapids they had hit previously. There were also a few boats capsized and nothing funnier than an old bloke in his undies trying hopelessly to save his canoe from sinking as he clung to the side.

At the top of the castle looking over Cesky Krumlov.

Entering a slightly rainy Cesky Krumlov.

  

"This bloke has cut this hedge slightly off level on the southeast corner love.
Should of used one of those Ryobi hedge trimmers with the laser sight. Muppet"

A boat load of tourists getting a face full of the Vlatva.

With every inch of Cesky Krumlov covered, we made our way back to the van and started our journey towards Germany. As a brief lunchtime stop, we made our way down a narrow old road into the forest to what is called the Schwarzenburg canal. We hadn’t read about it at all, but thought it sounded interesting so decided to take a look. 

At first we couldn’t see the canal, as we were expecting something that boats would travel down – i.e. the ones you get in England. What this canal had actually been built for was the transport of logs from the thick forest and down to the larger rivers many kilometers away so they could be loaded on to boats.

The Schwarzenburg Canal - more like a very large gutter than a canal.

They used to send 2m+ logs down these narrow canals - amazing!

 People were employed back in those days to make sure the logs didn’t get stuck on the corners or on top of each other and they were scattered right along the canal – this may have been where the term ‘log jam’ came from?

With lunch out of the way, we continued on through the rainy weather with the plan to get into Germany as early as possible so we could allow ourselves enough time to get to Munich to pick Claire’s mother up and also purchase ourselves lederhosen and a dirndl for the upcoming Oktoberfest.

We drove through a couple of towns just over the border with no success and then decided on the larger town of Passau. With it getting late in the day, we decided to find a wild campsite and leave the shopping until the next day. We stopped at a designated aire in Passau, but found it to be completely full so the continued on further, eventually camping in a park and ride area on the other side of the river.

Getting Rapid in Cesky!

Day 98

Feeling excited about seeing Telc after our quick glimpse the day before we made an early start and travelled back into town.  

All was rather quiet in Telc on the sunny fresh morning while we had a look around.  The gorgeous town square was another UNESCO World Heritage site and well deserved with picture perfect architecture.  

Looking over the Telc Castle and Church from the town pond.

Working water pump in the main street.

Claire with all her friends in Telc main street.

The Fish Pond - Telc.

Young girl thinking about how she is going to get all the coins out of the fountain.

In the gardens just below the castle walls we came across an archery and crossbow practice range.   It was very reasonably priced at just £2 for 8 shots as oppose to £10 in Tallinn a couple of weeks earlier, so Luke jumped at the chance and fired the crossbow hitting the target with reasonably good aim.

Crossbow Target Practice - not sure you would
get this close to ones target in real life.

The safety briefing was just as long as those
we received with the AK-47 and Glock.
Stand here, pull trigger here.

Telc is a small place and it didn’t take long to circle around the old town and see the fishponds before we decided to head off and make our way to Cesky Budjovice the home of Budvar larger.  

We tend to avoid larger cities but with Czech having such a good track record of beautiful towns and cities we decided to give Cesky Budjovice a go – especially with it being the birthplace of a truly great beer.

Cesky Budjovice was home to yet another stunning town square and town hall but seemed to have more of dirty, big city feel.  We spent roughly an hour there wondering around but failed to get the town ‘buzz’ and decided to move onto Cesky Krumlov, which was about an hours drive away and somewhere we knew wouldn’t disappoint as we had visited it briefly on a previous trip in 2005. We have wanted to revisit ever since so needless to say we were quite excited as we drove into town.

Cesky Budovice Town Fountain - would of been
way better if it was pumping out Budvar.

The Cesky Budovice Town Hall and
amazing flower arrangement.

This is what happens when you have too much Budvar!

The closest camping ground was located 3km out of town on the river Vltava so we parked up and rode the motorbike back into town after lunch. 

Back in 2005 we had heard one of the highlights was rafting or tubing down the river through town.  As rain was predicted for the following day we decided we better do the activity that afternoon when conditions were perfect and tour the town the next day.

Easy enough one of the first shops we saw offered rafting so we booked in and set off right away.  We were driving upstream to a drop off point 8km up the road and were told we had 5 rapids to pass over and given a quick run down on how to tackle each.

It was a rather relaxing paddle down the first section of the river until we approached the first rapid.  Having only been to told to keep right and not much else, we approached the first rapid with some trepidation. 

Starting the trek down the Vltava River through Cesky Krumlov.

Luke guiding the boat from the back - or so he kept saying.

The Vltava winding its way through Cesky Krumlov.

Having done a little bit of rafting in Norway we knew that it was always better to approach with a fair amount of speed and ensure the raft was kept straight on. This tactic seemed to work as we got through the relatively small rapid, unscathed. 

This trend continued for the next 3 rapids and we got through each staying fairly dry. 

The last rapid proved to be slightly trickier, however, as there a large amount of construction going on in the middle of the river. This construction had meant that a larger amount of water was being directed down the ramp we had to take compared to the rapids before hand.

This had obviously scared a few people as they decided to pull their rafts out of the water and walk them the 100m around the rapid. Not wanting to pussy out of a challenge, we watched a couple of rafts go down to see which way the water directed them. 

Two young Italians went before us in a rigid old canoe and they didn’t provide the best guidance, as they went sideways down the ramp and were tossed into the wall of water at the bottom and into the rocks. Their canoe slightly rolled and allowed enough time for the wall of water to direct it’s torrent into the front of their boat, causing it to fully rollover and throw them out.

With the Italians out of the way, and a crowd of people watching from the bridges and embankments, we paddled hard into the rapid and down the ramp. Watching the rafts go down earlier, we decided to keep the boat going right and hope to ride on top of the rapid and away from the rocks.

This strategy worked and we managed to get through unscathed, finally passing the two Italians who were floating down the river trying to capture their missing oars!

After our little adrenaline rush, we dropped off the raft and then started to make our way back through town, stopping to take some photos of the town before it got hit with the bad weather we heard was on the way.

One of the majestic churches built on the side of the Vltava.

Some old bloke who was no good at catching a Frisbee and ended up with it between his ears!

The rest of the evening was spent back at our idyllic little campground on the river, enjoying a BBQ and then finally listening the thunder and lightning roll in.

Bumble....bumble....bumble Bee and a Big Arse Flower!

The storm clouds rolling into our campground just outside of Cesky.

Orchard Camping

Day 97

It was a late and rusty start after enjoying a couple of bottles of Czech wine the night before.  Breakfast was perfect overlooking the lake after Luke took advantage of the great Internet connection and Skyped his brother Mark.

I went for a run around the lake and happened to come across a nudist beach, which made me run that little bit faster to get away from it.  It was far too early to be seeing a bunch of old fat men in their birthday suits.

It was after 1pm when we finally left the lakeside camping ground and headed off to a small town on the Czech/Austrian boarder called Slavonice.  It was a lovely drive through rolling hills, hay bails and tree lined roads to the small town.   

Slavonice is a little cute town that houses two town squares decorated in Renaissance style architecture.  We enjoyed an ice cream from the local supermarket while we soaked up the sun and atmosphere. 

Not sure what colour paint you ask for to get this effect, but I like it.

Some more amazingly decorated buildings in Slavonice.

Slavonice Town Square. The buildings almost looks like a Hollywood movie set.

Slavonice Main Square in Peak Hour.

We were blessed with another very scenic drive as we made our way out of Slavonice to the town of Telc.  Telc was described in our guidebook as a beautiful Czech town that has a lovely town square surrounded by medieval fishponds.  

Arriving into Telc early evening we saw a glimpse of the quiet town as we drove along the main road.  It was another stunning Czech sight with a large fishpond/lake, huge town walls and spires making us very excited to see yet another beautiful city.  

As it was getting quite late, we decided to save a wander around Telc for the following day and find the nearest camping ground to park up for the night.  

After a bit of searching, we found a ‘homely’ camping ground about 6km outside of town. The campground was actually more like a working farm and orchard with room for some camper hookups and we actually parked in the middle of apple/plum and pear trees for the night. 

Wild Camping at the back of the farmhouse and in the Orchard.

The Czechs Should Stick to Beer

Day 96

Feeling energetic we decided to go for a run around our new favorite town of Olomouc.  We ran around the outskirts of Old Town in a loop through the park returning to Maxi from the other direction.  On the run back we passed huge 10m city walls, which was very unexpected, as the town seemed very level when touring around it the previous day and we were not aware of city walls.

An hour or so drive from Olomouc was Czech’s largest wine growing areas of Moravia.  Not ever having tried Czech wine we were keen to sample the local specialties and see the area. 

You could see the town of Mikulov sitting high on a hill as we approached it from the north.  It was stunning and building up from the base of the hill were orange roofed houses, rising up to the city walls and a church perched high above the town.  

Main square of Mikolov Old Town.

Wandering the quiet cobbled backstreets.

After finding a park on one of the back streets not far from the main square we set off to explore the town.  Winding through the streets we came to a look out tower that gave a panoramic view over the Old Town of Mikolov.

View from the top of a tower just outside the Old Town. A lady sat out in the sun all day collecting the $1 or so to take in the view - a highly stressful job I would imagine.

After visiting the church we made our way back to the main square to the local ‘Vine Skleppy’ (Wine Shop) where we purchased two recommended bottles of local Czech wine. 

Satisfied with our look around town and eager to try the new purchases we drove back along the road to a lakeside camping ground we had spotted earlier on the drive into Mikulov.  

Czech version of the Notre Dame?
Luke is proudly showing off the two bottles of Czech wine as well.
Two bottles of beer would of been better.

Once parked up alongside the lake with a perfect view we took the opportunity to take a swim in the fairly murky water.  The lake looked very inviting from a distance but not so much up close as it was muddy and had a slight stench of fish. Nonetheless we went for a dip and tried not to freak out with the unknown lurking below. 

Lakes always look better from a far.
Until you get in them.

Just about to tuck into dinner.
Not sure who the other chairs are for?

After the swim we enjoyed a platter of cheese, prosciutto, pate and biscuits with the new Czech wine, which turned out to be fairly average but drinkable – I guess that’s why we hadn’t heard about Czech wine before!

Dusk over the lake just outside of Mikolov.

Czechs Most Underrated Town

Day 95

From the truck stop in Lodz we made an early start driving south down to the Czech Republic to a town called Olomouc.

I think the tow truck driver underestimated the weight of this car!

Maxi getting its first wash since leaving the UK.

Again we had been to the Czech Republic before in 2005, but only visited the capital of Prague for 5 days and Kutna Hora. This time we entered from the northeastern point of Poland and again were amazed at just how beautiful the local countryside and farmland was. Although we came in from Germany in 2005, our memories of Czech were of a fairly run-down and poor country trying to find its feet. 

In the 7 years that had passed, you could really see how things had developed with some great roads and a sense of pride in each town.

Roaming the very quiet streets of Olomouc.

One of Olomouc's Town Squares.
The finished one.

Olomouc Town Hall and the Holy Trinity Column.

 

Olomouc had been recommended in our guide as one of the most underrated towns in the Czech Republic, and was probably not on tourists travel lists as it was so far west of the capital and a lot of other ‘more touristy’ towns of the Czech Republic. 

We made our way around the outer edge of the city, stopping at a tyre repair shop to get a quote on our recently exploded tire and then gradually made our way closer to the old town, finally stopping at a paid parking lot within walking distance of Olomouc’s two town squares.

With it being a beautiful sunny day and only about 3pm we took a stroll into town to see the sights and were instantly amazed. Although one of the town squares looked like an archeological dig, you could tell from the surrounding buildings that this place was special. 

Dodging the rubble and holes left in town square number one, we made our way over to town square number two to see the town hall and surrounding buildings. What we got was a hidden gem, with very little tourists and some amazing architecture.

The other Olomouc town square
undergoing some reconstruction.

Just outside the reconstruction zone.

Wandering the town square and little cobbled streets we could not believe we had never heard about this town and the fact that it still hadn’t quite taken off. I guess the fact that it hadn’t taken off was great for us as looking at the prices of food and drinking sent a shiver down ones spine. You could literally have a three-course meal for under £5 and the price of a pint of beer at 70 pence was laughable.

With such low prices we stopped in at a pub and enjoyed three beers in the sun. It’s quite a strange feeling when the bill comes out for three beers and it only amounts to £2.70!

After dinner we made our way back into the town to take some photos of the square at nighttime. We stopped into a café/bar just outside the town hall for an Irish coffee and then through chance were entertained with a 15 minute long light and music show, as the town hall was illuminated with different coloured lights and to different classical music – you can have your Astronomical Clock Prague!

Olomouc Town Hall Light and Sound Show!

Olomouc Town Hall Light and Sound Show
(see link to video above).

The Holy Trinity Column at night.

 

Olomouc Fountain and Holy Trinity Column in the background.

The Wolf’s Lair

Day 93 & 94  

The marvelous weather the day earlier quickly vanished on day 93 and we were left with a fairly dreary and overcast day in Gizycko. Our original plan was to hire a motorboat and go out on the water for the day, however, the only boats they rented were sailing boats and with little to no experience sailing we remained on dry land. 

The Gizycko Canal.

Gizycko Marina - for a town that got a pretty bad wrap in our guide book, it turned out quite nice.

The rest of the day was therefore spent cleaning the van, recharging batteries, catching up on emails and doing the washing. With that, I will leave day 93 in the annals of history, never to be spoken about again.

Again we woke to some average weather, only this time the rain was coming down a little harder. With what felt like a very uneventful time the day previous, we were keen to hit the road early and make as much out of the day as possible.

Our first stop, was somewhere I had always wanted to go, but never realised was in Poland – The Wolf’s Lair.

We were only about 30 minutes drive from where Hitler based himself for much of his campaign on the Eastern Front and arrived just after 10am to a very damp and quiet parking lot. 

As we climbed out of the van, a Polish lady offered us a guided tour for 60 Zloty, which I thought was a bit steep and was correct when I managed to pick up a guide book of the Wolfs Lair for 10 Zloty in the gift shop. 

Not only was the guidebook very cheap but extremely informative and took us on a very detailed walk of Hitlers Lair. My original expectation of the Wolfs Lair was that it would be fairly small and a complex of underground bunkers – I was wrong on both accounts.

All of the bunkers (light and heavy) were built above ground and the whole area was enormous, covering about 2 km². Bunkers were built above ground and had 8 metre thick walls and 10 metre thick roofs. There were also bunkers within bunkers, with a 50cm gap between walls that was filled with grit to dampen and shockwaves. The grounds also featured two airfields (one onsite and another 5km way), plus a railway line that ran right through the lair.

The guests bunker and where Hitler stayed for a period
of time while his bunker was being refurbished.

Claire standing by a slab of the roof of one
of the bunkers that was blown up.

With the war going badly for Germany on the eastern front, orders were made on 24^th January 1945 to destroy the lair so the encroaching Russian army could not use it. Each bunker was filled with 8 to 10 tonnes of explosives and detonated, rendering it operationally useless. I only say operationally, as you could still make out a good deal of the structures and walk through many of the original corridors – including Hitler’s personal bunker 13.

One of the buildings that was completely flattened was the conference barracks where there was an assassination attempt on Hitler in July 1944.  This was only a light bunker so not as reinforced as those with 8m walls and 10m thick roofs. 

It is believed that the assassination attempt on Hitler would have been successful if it had occurred in his heavily fortified location rather than the light bunker, as the shockwaves would not have escaped through the open windows. The meeting was moved to the conference room at the last minute due to works being carried out on his personal bunker. 

Outside the conference bunker where there was an attempt on Hitlers life in 1944.

Outside Goebbels heavy bunker.

It was also quite interesting to see that only a couple of hours after the assassination attempt, Hitler was greeting Musolini to the compound and entertaining him as if nothing had ever happened.

We spent over 2 hours at the lair and it was an extremely fascinating and somewhat spooky place to wander around. After all it’s not everyday that you walk the same path that Hitler, Goring and Colonel Staffenberg did many years ago.

Claire inside the door well of Hitlers bunker.
Photos we looked at later show him
entering and exiting from this exact spot.

The interior of Hitlers bunker.
Could do with a woman's touch I think.

 rom Hitler’s bunker we settled in for a big drive south through Poland heading towards the Czech Republic.  We drove for about 8 hours covering about 500km winding up at a Polish petrol station just off the E75 south of Lodz.  We didn’t need anything fancy, as we were to continue driving the next day so we bunked up next to a few trucks cooked dinner and hit the sack.