Day
4: Tuesday, May 25, 2004
We woke up early and
were at the breakfast room when it opened at 7:00 a.m. We ate quickly, checked-out
and loaded up the bike by 8:00 for our brief ride to Prague's Hlvani nadrazi
(main train station) to get our tickets for the train. We found the Czech
Railways site in English the day before on the Internet, and it looked
as if there was a train at 9:17 heading toward Tabor. Despite the drizzling
rain and the wet cobblestones, we got to the station around 8:15. (An aside:
one of our chief memories of Prague is the amount of cobblestone paving; nowhere
else in Europe have we seen such pervasive use of this paving method.) We found
a ticket window and bought our tickets (160ck for both of us, around $6 for
a 1.5-hour train ride) for the 9:17 train to Tabor (which also continued on
to Ceske Budejovice). I confirmed at the info window on the ground floor that
the train did take bikes, and that we would just pay the conductor for the bike
(20ck) when we loaded it on the train (unlike in Pilsen, the ticket window person
did not sell us a bike ticket).
We had about 45 minutes to wait for the train, so we went up to the main level and tried to find the train on the big digital board showing all the departures and the tracks. The train was listed, but no track. So, we tried to get out of the way and look as inconspicuous as possible (hard to do with a bright yellow, fully loaded tandem in a train station at rush hour).
There were quite a
few Eurailer-type backpackers wandering about, looking dazed and confused (probably
just arrived on an overnight train). By now we were old hands with the Czech
railway system, so I helped some of the more obviously confused American college
students. God help them as they wander about
We noticed while watching
the board that some trains listed their tracks no more than 5-10 minutes before
departure, and we were a bit worried that we'd be able to get the bike and luggage
to the correct track in enough time if that happened. Finally
our train's track was displayed, leaving us more than 20 minutes to find the
train and get all our stuff stowed. Whenever possible we try to get trains that
start and end their route at our departure location and destination; it makes
loading and unloading much less stressful.
While waiting at the
baggage car (signified by a "K" designation on the train or in a window)
we struck up a conversation with
two retired Germans from Koeln who were heading home after biking in the Czech
Republic. They complained about the hills in the country, and said they liked
biking in
At the next station
a large school group inundated the train, and our previously private compartment
was filled up with four young teens out on a school trip. Thankfully they were
fairly quiet and respectful, but we felt a bit self conscious about talking,
since when they heard us speaking English they gave us quizzical looks. Usually
we'll try and talk to people in this situation, but our brains were a bit overloaded
after
Although we were originally
conflicted about taking the train rather than riding out of
We were carefully observed
by a small group of teenagers as we made our way to the main platform to prepare
for riding. A representative detached himself from the group and made his way
over to us and asked us something in
We get asked this question
occasionally in the USA, but never in Europe. Although at first it seems to
be intrusive, I think it's really just because tandems are still fairly unusual
and people have no conception what they cost. We always feel a bit over-consumptive
telling the truth. We bought our Santana Fusion tandem used for $3,000, but
the original owner spent over $6,000 to purchase it. Despite the high cost it
has been worth every penny, as it has provided many miles of good experiences
and time spent together.
Coming out the front
of the station we rode straight on a sort of access parkway until we came to
a main street, where we turned right. We didn't have a detailed map of the city,
but we found what we thought was the street to the main part of town and turned
right to head to the main square. Although it was overcast, thankfully it wasn't
raining. We stopped at a Billa supermarket to buy a few things for lunch and
a lemon for our water bottles, then crossed to a side street (the pedestrian
zone started right across from the store) to get to the main square. A lot of
people were in the pedestrian area, including school kids on their lunch break
enjoying ice cream cones. The main square in Tabor is fairly large, surrounded
by some restaurants and a church and featuring a fountain. Not too many people out and about here, probably
because it was a work day.
Tabor was a Hussite stronghold for Protestants fighting
against the Catholics in the 1400s, and has a well-kept Hussite church in the
main square. We looked around the square some, and then Ginny found the public
toilets (usually marked as "WC" in Europe) down a side street off
the main square (rule number one in bike touring: never pass up a flush toilet),
and I watched the bike while she used the facilities. A nice older couple from
Holland stopped by to talk about the tandem; they also have a tandem in Holland,
but the man said the Czech Republic was too hilly for them at their age.
After Ginny returned
I visited the WC, too. When I came back she was having a halting conversation
in German with an older Czech woman from the town. The woman said she had never
seen a tandem before, and was talking a bit about where we were going. A very
nice conversation and interaction with a local. She also noted that the next
day was her 80th birthday! As we left we marveled at the things she has experienced
during her lifetime in the Czech Republic: independence during the 30s, the
Nazis, Communism, and now independence again.
We thought about having
lunch in Tabor, but nothing really looked too interesting, and we were eager
to start riding (we had made a few sandwiches at breakfast in the pension).
We knew we needed to find the Luznice River outside of town to hook up with the cycle route, but it wasn't obvious
how to get there from the main square. Remembering our cool new handlebar-mounted
compass/bell, I did my best to orient us to the map and headed us in the direction
of the river. The compass-bell proved its utility several times during the trip,
and will definitely accompany us on our future tours. We descended and crossed
on a small bridge, but were still not sure if we were on the bike route or not
since there were several bridges in Tabor. It turned out not to be the bridge
used by the bike route, but thankfully shortly thereafter the road we were on
joined with the bike route.
For most of the trip
we were following Czech bike route #12, one of the national marked bike routes,
which is marked regularly with small signs. The "Czech
Greenways" route also followed route #12 for some time, and we
also were on the lookout for these signs. The Greenways route turns east before
the town of Cesky Krumlov, though, so we would be following route #12 south
to Krumlov. We had originally thought of riding the Greenways route all the
way to Vienna, Austria, but were concerned about the amount of hills on the
route because of Ginny's lack of energy due to the pregnancy.
We ascended the first
of many hills into a small town just outside Tabor, and then the bike route
turned left onto a much smaller side road. We still had our rain pants and fleece
vests on from riding to the station in
The countryside is
very rural and pretty, but we started to get a bit bored after a while. One
of the things we like about touring in
Unlike
We started asking for
rooms at the hotels in the main part of town, only to find that all were filled
(or closed). Despairing, we saw a sign for a pension and I stopped to ask for
a room there. Again, they were full, but the man saw my discouraged look and
told his wife to call to see if a friend with a pension had any room. While
we waited for his friend to come and guide us to the other pension, we talked
with him (in German). He told us about his daughter who was one of three students
from the
His friend showed up
with his car (which worried us: how far was this place?), and after introductions
we said goodbye to our Good Samaritan and followed his friend to his pension
on the main street just on the periphery of town. Although it seemed a bit far
at first (after a long day and a long search for a room), it turned out to be
only about a five-minute ride from the main part of town. We were given a large
room on the top floor with a private bathroom (740ck + 120ck for breakfast).
The pension had a large rear lawn and garden area that fronted on a large lake.
I believe there were some other private rooms in an outbuilding, too, since
there were other guests at breakfast the next morning who were not in our building.
Although it was billed as a pension, it's really more like a B&B in
Telephone: +420-387965541.
We looked at a few
menus and settled on "Restaurace Zdmeckem Pivovaru," a restaurant
that had a nice terrace overlooking the valley. Although the actual menu didn't
match the one posted out front (it was higher priced), it was still reasonable.
The large terrace had wrought-iron patio canopies over each table, giving it
a festive atmosphere. We both ordered soup and had one of the best Cordon Bleu
dinners we've ever had (it's one of my favorite meals). We topped it off by
sharing an order of palatschinken (crepe-like pancakes with fruit and ice cream,
common in
Daily costs 5/25 (in
CK): Train to Tabor: 180; lunch/misc.: 34; dinner: 470; pension: 860. Total:
1544 ($58 US).