A Taste of the Czech Republic

Thursday morning found us docked in Linz early in the morning, and after breakfast, we headed on a bus to the beautiful village of Césky Krumlov. 

The drive was on a main highway along the upper Austrian countryside, and involved crossing the border into the Czech Republic.  As part of our travels, we passed what was previously termed the "no go" zone.  There were still reminders of the control that the former Soviet Union had over this part of the country which prevented the citizens from leaving the country once it was under its occupation. 

Our guide, Carolina, gave us a detailed accounting of her personal story having grown up in this area.  She said that her mother was pregnant with her when the opportunity came to leave the Czech Republic. It was a rushed decision, and her parents were late by 5 minutes and missed the last train departing from Prague.

She grew up hearing her father bemoan that her mother had made them late which resulted in the lost opportunity for freedom.  All personal property was confiscated by the state.  All people were expected to work for the state and to "share the wealth".  If one chose not to work for the state, then one was imprisoned. 

She recalled that toilet paper was quite difficult to obtain, and they would stand in line for that, as well as meat and bread. 

Some restrictions were relaxed in 1965, but that was short-lived as the rules changed in August of 1968 and the borders were closed again for nearly twenty years. 

But she attended school, and college, and even earned a mechanical engineering degree, followed by a textile degree.  She decided recently to forgo those and act as a guide due to her love of history.  And, I must say, she made an excellent guide. 

Once we arrived, we departed the bus and began the trek up the steep hill to the castle area which covered a vast amount of the village.  In fact, it is so large that it would be impossible to get a single photo.  

Hrad Césky Krumlov is the second largest castle in the Czech Republic and has stood here since the early 1200's. 

Here is a view from a crosswalk along the buildings of the castle nestled on the hill. 

In the 14th century, Peter von Rosenberg added a monastery, a hospital and the church of St. Vitus. In 1334, Jews were invited to inhabit the town.  A Catholic Church, hospital and monastery were added.  The castle changed hands several times over the following centuries and was eventually a part of Czechoslovakia.  

In 1938, under the Munich agreement, the town was annexed as part of Sudetenland and came under Nazi occupation. Due to the political situation, Jews who had lived in this village for centuries, lost their property and were forced to flee for their own protection. 

Carolina shared a personal story about two women, both of Jewish heritage,  who had been born in this village. Shortly after this takeover, these women, both very young girls in 1938, were rescued by a man named Nicholas Winton.  He was instrumental in relocating 650 Jewish children in 1938 to safety by arranging paperwork for these children to board a train in Prague with the destination of Great Britain. 

His story was discovered quite by accident, 50 years later, when his wife found papers in the attic that detailed the many arrangements that he had made. Winton took no personal credit for his responsibility in saving so many children. He had been haunted by the number that he was unable to save. 

Winton then met with a journalist to ask if he'd be interested in the story. It was at that time that Winton's efforts were made public for the world to see.  I had seen footage regarding a planned interview with Winton by the journalist where, unknown to Winton,  he had invited guests who were survivors due to this man's efforts. When the question was asked, "how many of you are a survivor thanks to Mr. Winton?"  over 300 people in the audience stood. One can only imagine how emotional this had to be for this man, and how grateful they were to him for his efforts. 

Getting back to the story of  Césky Krumlov, I would describe this village as the perfect example of what I imagine a Medieval town would look like.  From the castle on the hill,  overlooking the red roofs, to the moat around the bottom.  Simply breathtaking. 

But I will say, I never expected to see these in the moat!

Here's a closeup from Marty's zoom camera.

Yes...those are bears and they were having a grand time frolicking in the water.  How is that for a surprise?   Apparently bears  have been part of the castle's history, having had the creatures living near the moat since the early 1700's.  

This village had fallen nearly to ruin, but was rejuvenated after liberation in the early 1990's and it is now classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.   Just take a look at the delightful streets that we perused. 

We enjoyed a fabulous Czech meal at a restaurant that was recommended by Carolina. 

Marty enjoyed a pint of the local beer.

We both ordered something similar to a potato/onion pirohy, served with sour cream and fresh chives. It did not disappoint! After lunch we walked around a bit as we had about half an hour of free time to work off some of the calories that we had just consumed. 

We popped into the church which was beautifully adorned. 

And admired some of the shops tucked into the alleyways. 

This was a sweet shop that specialized in marshmallow creations. 

They even had what looked like full sized bananas among their treats!  (Sorry...no photo).

Marty found himself some locally made liquor and a glass in which to enjoy it. 

Finally, we were back at the designated meeting place to begin our walk back to the bus.

The bus ride was a bit more adventurous as there had been an accident on the main highway, so our driver was forced to reroute via a much more scenic roadway.  It had a lot of twists ad turns and one surprise when he made the turn around a sharp curve and had a semi staring at his face.  But with some quick maneuvering, he was able to get around the truck without us sliding off the embankment. 

The layout of the road offered some outstanding views of castles nestled on hill sides and forests blanketing the cliffs down to the river.  Simply breathtaking! 

Upon our return to the boat, we had 10 minutes to regroup for a tour of Old Town Linz. Once again, Carolina was our guide and led us to some of the more historical buildings. 

The Cathedral is tucked behind 19th century buildings, and this might be the only way to view the top as it gets hidden among the height of them.

This statue signifies is categorized as the Trinity Statue.  It was erected in thanksgiving for surviving the plague, but also was considered a symbol to protect the city from war, fire and plague.

We quickly popped into this church which was just off the square. 

Then we headed back out to explore some of the other sites.  One was the house where Mozart composed the Linz Symphony in three days while visiting in 1783.  There is a plaque on the wall of the building showing where he stayed at the time. 

Upon completion of of the tour, Carolina suggest that we pop into the basilica which was just about a bock away.  The cathedral is the largest in Austria, but not the tallest as no building was permitted to be higher than the tower of St. Stephen's in Vienna.  The interior was quite grandiose.

and the stained glass windows were stunning. 

They stood, one after one, along the outside walls of the building, each one of them equally beautiful. 

We walked back to the ship, traveling along the main square, where some beautiful flowers stand in fun bloom. 

Dinner was once again, extremely entertaining as we were invited to join a group of five single women who travel together, a young couple from Wales, and Bob and Carol, both in their mid-80's, married 62 years who come from Arizona.  They are a hoot! Needless to say, there was a lot of amusing conversation.

Until next time....

 

Austrian Magnificence

 Imagine waking up to see this site: 

I had been SO excited to capture this photo from the cabin, only to learn that we would be stopping there, by bus, first thing after breakfast.   The plan was that we would disembark for the bus, and the ship would travel north without us, meeting us at our next destination.  How clever is that? 

I was able to capture a couple of photos from the bus along the way.

It only took about 10 minutes for us to make the drive to Durnstein, where this beautiful church stands.  And, what is very interesting is that there didn't seem to be a way to capture a photo of the church from the village as it is nestled at the foot of a sloped hill. 

This is Durnstein, a small village along the Danube, that is known for wine making, as well as the production of Apricots.

Our tour guide was extremely entertaining and had to keep to a strict schedule as we had an appointment to tour Melk Abbey and it apparently is crucial to stay on schedule due to the policy of the Abbey.  So we really had only a very short time to absorb the beauty of our surrounds. 

We climbed a pretty steep stone walkway to make our way up to the main street.  Apparently 279 people live in this charming village. Our guide told us that in the summer months, there could be 15,000 visitors in one day as it is obviously a tour destination visit. 

The village is surrounded by rows and rows of grapes that seem to climb endlessly up the cliffs

There are walls at the base of the town.  They served different purposes over the years, acting originally as defensive positions, and when the need for that was no longer, it became used as a convent among other things. 

This town is simply charming and walking along the cobblestone streets was a delight.  I imagine it would not be as delightful if those scads of tourists were attempting to squeeze onto the streets.  We were fortunate that only about a third of the ship had decided to take our tour, about 48 people.

There appears to be only one main street, but charming sites to be seen while strolling along it. 

There was a castle ruins up on the hill but we would never have had the time to climb to the top for a visit, as we had 10 free minutes after the tour, which gave us just enough time for a few photos before scrambling back down the hill to the bus park.  The castle was built in the 12th century and has a history of imprisoning Richard the Lionhearted for two years in 1192 and 1193.  It was destroyed by the Swedes in the 30 years war and has stood untouched since. 

From here we drove about 45 minutes to the town of Melk where a stunning Benedictine Abbey stands. 

This Baroque style complex has been here on the outskirts of Melk for over 900 years.  There are about 29 present day  monks who continue to live on one of the wings, ranging in age from 25 to 95. 

No interior photos were permitted.  The one long wing of the abbey is set up for tours, with interesting artifacts among the rooms.  This same wing was the official residence of Queen Victoria when she would come to visit the area and I was quite surprised to see how large the bedrooms were along this one very long hall. 

The abbey holds a large library that is presently under renovation.  The old, valuable, books are being carefully digitized to preserve the contents, to safeguard the contents from any future loss.  

In the library stands a huge globe, about 4 feet in diameter.  It was made in 1620 and has an amazingly accurate representation of the world, particularly of North America that we could see.  It was noted that California looks like it has broken away from the continent, and most of Quebec was missing, but the general figure looked very much like what we would expect to see on a present day globe.  Personally, I find that fascinating.

In the back of the complex stands the church. 

The interior is quite ornate and very overwhelming.  There appears to be a substantial amount of gold, but it turns out that only 8 pounds of the precious metal was used as gilding over wood was used to create the glorious beauty.  I had seen that in St. Petersburg palaces when we visited.  

Outside the church is a courtyard that offers a view of the river. 

And there are substantial gardens that one could visit if one had time.

Unfortunately, we were stressed for time once again and unless we sprinted, there was no way we would have been ever to view them.  We walked briefly to explore, but the grounds near the entrance looked like a forested maze and we were concerned that we'd get lost and miss our transfer. 

Back on the ship, we once again traveled along the Danube enjoying the lovely views.

We docked in Grein where a lovely castle stands upon the hill.

We had an excursion to the castle, so we headed up to the base, and climbed up the 120 steps to the entranceway. 

It was built in the late 1488 and is considered to be the oldest residential castle in Austria.  The owners have direct ties to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.   The present day owner decided to open it up for tours so that the people could see the splendor of the interior. 

One of the rooms has this unique diamond shaped pattern for the ceiling.   

There was a "grotto" among the rooms, which offered cool relief.  I've never seen anything like it.  We walked inside and were stunned by the details. 

Everyone of the stones came from the Danube.  The grey and white are natural colors, and the red, black, yellow and green are painted.   It was a visionary delight!

There is a full sized altar off a large hall, with doors that can close in front. 

It featured a carving of the nativity in the center. 

Each of the rooms had one of these ceramic heating stoves tucked in the corner, or standing along the wall.  We had seen these unique heating devices when we visited many years ago.  I found them fascinating and quite beautiful. 

The tour was rather extensive, and Marty and I really enjoyed it. Afterwards, we made the trip back down the 120 steps, stopping to take this photo along the way.  

Isn't it stunning?

Once again, we had no time to explore the town as I had scheduled the special "Chef's" dinner for the evening.  But, no worries...we enjoyed several courses picked by the chef, each with complimentary wine to enhance the experience.  

Dinner took over two hours!  And we certainly had a grand time enjoying it.   (We had a record number of utensils to choose from when we sat down.  I told Marty that I needed Carson from Downton Abbey to instruct me on what to use when.  I went with the "start from the outside and work your way in" suggestion.  But there were two across the top!  No worries... the staff just comes and moves them around anyway.) 

Until next time....