Well, Southern Bohemia is definitely one challenge. First and foremost, it is really beautiful: gently rolling hills, romantic scenery with many forests and small villages. The roads connecting those villages are still as narrow as I remember them at home when I was a child, which is the most sensible thing I can think of.
The place where we arrived and depart from, Jindřichův Hradec, with its approximately 21,000 inhabitants is a colourful village. We discover impressive buildings, much water and a pedestrians’ zone full of life.
Our horse-drawn wagon is called Obelix. It, too, makes me wonder. Allegedly, it weighs a ton. On board, you will find a small kitchen, four beds and many other useful devices. Still, this huge covered wagon weighs a lot less than a normal middle-sized car. To be sure, Sita, our horse, adds another almost 800 kilograms to the total.
The team can do about 30 kilometres per day. If you change horses, you might manage twice the distance. I am sure many vehicles powered by electricity will be happy to hear this, because they can beat it easily.
But you have to keep in mind that the only thing we have “under the engine hood” is Sita, our horse. In other words, we are one horse strong. Yet this one horse is definitely preferable to modern power in many ways.
For instance, we enjoyed a wonderful week in this covered wagon travelling through Southern Bohemia, which before had been totally unknown territory to me. If you consider how near to Bavaria it is situated, I almost have to say I am ashamed I have never before been there.
We had a wonderful time. Everybody we met was friendly. The food always tasted delicious and we were able to enjoy fresh air. Some nights were a little colder, some were quite warm, but on the whole, we managed to survive them quite well in our covered wagon. We had lots of fun.
Everything had to be paid in Czech Crowns. It felt nice to see a different currency when on vacation and I enjoyed having to do the quick calculations of the prices. After said calculations, we were often surprised and sometimes even shocked to discover how cheap you can get the daily necessities. The only thing that is a little more expensive than at home is fuel. For the locals, however, one litre of fuel costs the equivalent of a fortune. Consequently, I am quite surprised to see what sorts of people believe they have to go by car even here.
It seems that the Czech Crown gains in value relative to the Euro all the time. If you keep in mind how cheap not only the beer in the pub but also the entire life is for us in Bohemia, that makes a lot of sense.
Today in the afternoon, we will start our journey home. At 14:43 hours, our train will leave Jindřichův Hradec for Pilsen. Since we want to buy some provisions, we have to start by bike an hour earlier.
In Pilsen, we will change trains. The Alex “Albert Einstein” is to take us to Munich. Around midnight, we are scheduled and wish to be at home in Ottobrunn.
At least, that is our plan. We already know it is not going to happen. Gudrun, who went the same way yesterday, told us about a considerable delay. She had to take two busses where no trains were active. On our way out, we also had to go a detour. It caused two extra hours on the way.
This is the current situation of the infra-structure in the middle of Europe. And starting next Monday, we will witness another round of worries about the EU and Greece? Isn’t it just perverse.
Whatever. Some way or other, we will manage to arrive in Munich. And if the train is running too late and the connection cannot be made at all, we will have to look for a hotel in Pilsen. Then we can enjoy another day in beautiful Bohemia.
No, we are not worried. On the contrary. It was so nice that we decided to ride through the Czech Republic on our next bike tour in July and definitely not give the cold shoulder to Bohemia.
And in August, we go to Greece – and we will again enjoy the fact that Greece and the EURO find it so hard to go together.
RMD
(Translated by EG)
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