Czechia blog …
We now know where the best hiking trail in Europe is – it’s in Czechia! We found the most beautiful place in Czechia, and it isn’t the widely visited capital, Prague! And we had an altercation with the law! – all in the space of a few days!
Adrspach Rocks, North East Bohemia
Wow, we’d only just entered Czechia and bam! – awesome things are happening! This country is magnificent already! If you haven’t heard of Adrspach Rocks, I’m with you – they were news to me too. But honestly they ought to be on everyone’s bucket list – what an absolutely fantastic day out. I mean really, its right up there with the awesomeness that is Norway – just incredible!
Adrspach Rocks is a park full of the most amazingly bizarre sandstone rocks. WE’d never seen anything like it. Rocks just aren’t those shapes on Earth – incredible!
After looking them up, I was expecting a little jaunt around a park looking at some wonders of nature! But no, after an hour we were all panting for breath and everyone was sweating – you don’t walk under the rocks, you walk over and through them, up hundreds of stairs, though tiny crevices – just amazing!
After an hour and a bit, I thought I’d seen everything, but then I found another part, and then another, and another. It just kept going like this. After 3 hours, I realised that the park was going to close, so I had to leave – LOVE IT!
Tell you what though, you don’t have find some new aches and pains the next day after all that hiking up and down ladders!
If you’re ever in the area, definitely go for it! In fact, I’d make an effort to go from another country – oh yeah, I did that already 😉
Prague, capital of Czechia
Prague is beautiful and full of history. Though it feels like I’d been there before?? Maybe I had in fact – I have a terrible memory for these things – hence the photos nowadays! Though maybe it’s because I’ve visited quite a number of these old cities in the very recent past? Or maybe it’s because many of them are of a similar age and architecture?
We were there around 10 in the morning and it was pretty quiet. I’m guessing that later in the day, when the crowds really started to fill the place up that there was more of an atmosphere? Plus it was drizzling and not glorious sunshine like later in the day.
Also, doesn’t Prague have a reputation as a drinkers place? Hen nights and the such? Maybe everyone had a hangover? 😉
We’d stayed the night in Prague, but unfortunately we’d been right next to a train line, and had been kept awake all night. Maybe that also had an effect on our experience? Anyway, it’s a nice place, but it’s not in the same league as Český Krumlov in our opinion.
Český Krumlov
What a splendour Český Krumlov is. Another place I’d never heard of? I had no expectations, but really, it’s the best place in Czechia, bar none!
Our hotel was fantastic – right on the river in an old wooden house. The owners were super friendly and like friends we have back in Leeds. The weather was great!
After explaining what it was that we were doing – i.e. our round the world trip – we were advised to go visit the owner of a veggie restaurant in town, also overlooking the river. The owner was also well travelled apparently! Well, we hit it off immediately! What a great guy – David – see below. We had lengthy conversions about about travelling the world – the dangers and the thrills, Ukraine, Russia, USA, UK, growing up under communism, drug trafficking in Central America, Mali, Boko Harem etc … my kinda chat!
One thing that struck me was just how intelligent everyone we’d met in Czechia had been, and how well informed about world affairs.
A run in with the law!
So … when we arrived at Český Krumlov, we found it to be a fairly old place with very narrow streets. Our accommodation was set right on the river, and had no external parking spaces allocated to it. To avoid paying the local €15 parking tax per day, the owners of the hotel knew of a local place where it was free to park! No worries! People had been using the parking spots for years without any hassle at all.
One of the owners jumped in the car – once she’d realised what side of the car to get into 😉 and took us to this special parking space, which also had a decent view of the town – wow it looked awesome! Other people were also using the spaces, and it looked pretty safe to me – bonus!
Later on that night, I needed something from the car, so I popped over to pick it up only to find … (see below!)
Nightmare! I’ve never been wheel clamped in my life! In fact, I’ve never had a speeding fine (in the UK), nor a single point on my license! So this was quite a shock to me!
No worries though, the owners would be able to sort it out, and thank goodness they spoke the local language! We’d gotten on really well earlier, and they seemed like such lovely people.
I sent the pictures over by text and gave them a ring. Some time later, whilst I was trying not to fret, they rang back … mortified! They left their gig, knocked on my hotel door and you could tell straight away how shocked they were too. This had never happened before. They’d spoken to the police, explained it was all a mistake, and let me know that they’d pay the fine. Wow, what genuinely decent and honest people these women are! Just lovely.
There was one upside though – no-one was going to steal the car= with the clamp on the wheel 😉
By the way, they own Hotel Skippy, Plešivecká 123, Český Krumlov, Český Krumlov District, Czechia. Go stay there – they’re genuinely sound!
Long story short, next morning we all went up to the parking spots. I say we all, because a lovely Hungarian couple who were also staying at the hotel had also been wheel clamped!
A local turned up to park – he was shocked. No-one ever gets wheel clamped here. Apparently there’s a new young police guy who is eager to please! Typical!
Not long later, police arrived, spoke a lot about zones (that’s the only word I understood) and asked for my passport! Fines were paid as promised (THANK YOU!). And the police recorded the incident using my passport and car reg numbers. So now I’m on a list somewhere in the Czech criminal database – time to leave the country! 😉
Some hugs later and I was off. I drove for 8 hours and now I’m in Slovakia!