We spent 6 days touring the Bohemian area of the Czech Republic here is the map of our trip. We were both overwhelmed with the beauty of the country and the driving was very easy, apart from coming upon a closed road with a warning of 1 mile , which the Czech's seem to do quite often evidently. It was a nightmare getting around it involving an extra 100 mile round trip on twisty country roads which added 3 hours to the already long trip, almost 7 hours driving in all. In the middle of the week my energy level and mood fell sharply, which I didn't understand until I suddenly realised it was lack of magnesium, I hadn't brought any oil with me because we only had carry on luggage which prohibited it. I eventually tracked down a chemist (which are not that prevalent there, I think their main medicine is beer ) and I bought some magnesium supplement tablets, I took a double dose and after 6 hours I was back to normal thank goodness. The most interesting place we visited was Cesky Krumlov a 14th century town which was mainly Jewish at that time, the Nazis seized it during WWII and then in 1945 it fell to the Communists. It's fully restored today and is a great tourist attraction mainly to the Chinese from what we observed. Here are some photos: They still brew beer here and give conducted tours around the ancient brewery, but sadly being Monday it was closed as are most museums in the country.
While wandering around Cesky Krumlov we came across a museum at the back of an antiques shop, it was free and we wandered through the rooms taking photos, they are through glass with poor lighting at times, excuse the quality . This antique metal sign was for sale at $40
It must be wonderful to visit so many places where History was made and is still being made @Terry Page. All the places you and Lisa travel to seem like such warm and homey places. In so many of your pictures that I look at I feel that I am looking at time standing still...if you know what I mean. I so appreciate your sharing your travels with us and the beautiful pictures you take too. You must have a really good camera and have a real gift for capturing the beauty and reality of the places you visit because you do a wonderful job and I often feel I am right there with y'all.
@Terry Page I'll also throw out my thanks for sharing your travels with us. I spent quite a bit of time studying each picture, enjoying each one. Thanks again.
Super set of pictures Terry, I would love to live in Eastern Europe. Years ago, my next door neighbour bartered aluminium for produce as theyt were communists. He gave us a case of twelve bottles of Czech champagne. Strong but made good paint stripper
I agree and second your comments regarding @Terry Page travels. I've never enveyed anyone their travel but I'm getting close with Terry's.
@Bill Boggs I have admitted several times that I am green with the demon Envy. But as I really don’t think I could deal with all the traveling that @Terry Page does, and so far my photography skill are not on par with his, I too appreciate his generosity in sharing with us. He tends to show us what each of the different countries’ populous see in everyday life, and that is what I like to see. I can get many pictures from Googling a place, but those tend to be for tourism, and they just don’t let us see the different lifestyles, or the everyday surroundings.
That's true, @Ina I. Wonder, @Terry Page captures real life and not just stock tourist photos....for the most part, you still got see those places too sometimes.
@Terry Page Fantastic and beautiful! All the more relevant because my Mother was born outside of Prague, and my Paternal Grandfather in Domazlice, not seen on your map. My Mother came to America on the Queen Mary at age 5, two months before the Titanic disaster. My Dad's father came to America the year the Columbian Exposition opened, 1892, at age 16, my Dad being born here in 1901, in Chicago. During the several years after I was divorced and finishing college, my Mother lived with me, my Dad having died in 1972, and she spoke of how wonderful it would be to see Bohemia again. We always considered ourselves (me by repetition from my folks) to be "Bohemians", rarely said "Czechoslovak", as the Slovaks my Dad claimed were the "hill-billies" of the country. How I would love to sit down in that little restaurant shown in one of your pictures, to a wonderful meal of cerstvi maso and knedlicky and zeli! MMMMM. Roast pork, dumplings, and sauerkraut! Frank
Interesting story @Frank Sanoica , I have always be drawn to the "Bohemian" lifestyle, at least the meaning that has been attached to it, "unconventional and arty" ............I looked up Domazlice it's to the far west close to the border with Germany. It looks similar to a town called Telč that we stayed in We actually had that meal ( cerstvi maso and knedlicky and zeli ) in a restaurant by the river there. I will post some photos of it later. Bohemian Garden Domazlice Telč
Yes I could imagine living in Eastern Europe @Mike Dobra especially the Czech Republic, it had a lovely feel to the place plus there is good beer everywhere..... According to research by the beverage company Kirin, the Czech Republic has topped the per capita beer drinking table for 23 consecutive years. Czechs drink on average 142.4 litres per person. That's the equivalent of 250 pints – or one every 35 hours. But, given that minors are unlikely to be contributing to that figure, it's safe to assume that the average beer drinker probably guzzles quite a bit more.
Thanks @Ina I. Wonder I try and use Homestays or small family run B&Bs, to get a local feel for a place, I avoid hotels if possible because they cut you off from interaction with the locals. The one big thing I have learnt when travelling, is that in general people are all the same, with the same desire to live a good life and have fun and enjoyment, unfortunately governments have different ideas, they are all about power and control and have little real interest in the population at large, especially these days.
These are some of the meals we had: This is the one you mentioned @Frank Sanoica this was in a deep underground restaurant in Prague A few variations on the roast pork dish; ........................with red cabbage .............. part of the restaurant which was set in a series of tunnels.. ......with a mushroom sauce, at an outdoor restaurant on the banks of the river in Telč This was a beef dish with dumplings and sour cream with cranberries Apple strudel with cream and a couple of glasses of Kahlua Frozen beer chips with sour cream and a syrup
@Terry Page The first pic with knedlicky (dumplings) reveals they were made with raised, yeast dough, while the second with the little brown holes which result from including bread chunks in the dough likely were not "raised", but rather leavened with baking soda. I make the latter, but not the former, which were a specialty of my maternal grandma. Our dumplings are laughingly "tested" after cooking by bouncing one off the wall; if it rebounds well, it's adequate for consumption! Thank you for the wonderful pictures! Frank