Cesky Krumlov to Horni Dvoriste, CZ, by bike (28 miles +/-)
By train to Zell am See, Austria
Day 7: Friday, May 28

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Our resolve to ride to the border was immediately tested when we awoke to gray skies and rain (would it ever stop?). We muttered and complained, but a good breakfast of scrambled eggs, bread, and ham restored our spirits and sense of adventure, and we decided to ride on despite the dismal weather. We could have taken the train, but doing so requires taking the train from Krumlov to Budweis, and a transfer there to a train to Austria. It actually looked much more direct and faster to simply ride to a train station on the main line to Austria, which is what we decided to do.

Before leaving I asked the owner about the devastating floods along the Vltava in the summer of 2002 (reported to be the worst in 800 years). He responded by showing us photos of the river lapping at the bottom of the second floor balcony, with the breakfast room we were eating in totally under water. What a cleanup job! No wonder everything downstairs looked new. We would definitely stay at this B&B again. The owner was very friendly (although he doesn't speak much English, we were able to communicate with German and written notes), it's right along the river with a great view of the castle, and is convenient to the entire town. Plus, he has a big garage perfect for storing bikes.

Getting out of town was straightforward, but made a bit hazardous because of the wet cobblestones on the streets. After we left the old part of town we were on Rt. 160, a busy main road with no shoulder that followed the Vltava. We had consulted the map the night before, and noted that bike Rt. 12 took a long detour away from the river up into the hills, and after a while heads off to the east, away from where we were going to catch the train. We decided to take the road out of town, since it appeared to follow the river so closely. This proved to be a good choice, as it was a very pretty ride.

Despite the wet conditions and the rush-hour traffic, the ride out of town wasn't too bad. Once again we were thankful to have fenders on the bike. After we left the outskirts of Krumlov much of the traffic turned off on a side road at the town of Vetrni, leaving us in a much more rural area. The road follows the river closely through dark, dense forests, made even more imposing by the mist and rainy weather. It was a fairy tale sort of scene, where you expected elves to come walking out of the forest. The road climbed occasionally, but was level for the most part as it followed the river. It was really a nice ride, and a sharp contrast to some of the other roads we had ridden so far. I thought it looked a lot like the Pacific Northwest in the United States, with thick forests and a logging industry. (I guess the rain helped that feeling a bit.)

The rain picked up somewhat, but was still just a light drizzle and not too bad to ride in. We got a bit wet, but not soaked like on previous trips. The scenery and river views, coupled with light traffic and an excellent road surface, made up for the weather. From the map it looked like the area was some sort of national forest or recreation area and we saw many canoeists on the river in this section. We passed by the occasional very small town, but in general this area was not very populated. I'm sure in the summer there are a lot of people here, as we saw lots of campgrounds for the canoeists along the river.

Along a forested road outside of Cesky Krumlov, with canoeists on the Vltava in the background. A dreary and rainy day, but a nice ride anyway.

After an hour or so of not seeing much civilization we came into the small town of Rozmberk nad Vltavou, right on the river. The town had a few hotels, a small grocery store, a restaurant or two, and a gas station just over the bridge and to the right (with clean bathrooms!). We saw a large biking group, supported by two buses, getting ready to leave the hotel. It's a very small town, but it looks like it could be a good place to stay to explore the area. The main road crosses the river here under the watchful eye of an old chateaux/fortress, and continues following the river along a lightly rolling road that dead-ends after about three miles into another main road (Rt. 163, I think), where we turned left toward the town of Dolni Dvoriste and immediately began ascending a hill.

At this point we had to make a decision: we could either ride to the train station in the closer town of Dolni Dvoriste, or ride a little longer to the station at Horni Dvoriste. We decided on the latter, since Horni Dvoriste is the last station in CZ and the train stops there longer, allowing more time for loading the bike and gear. After climbing the hill we turned onto a small side road that took us toward Horni Dvoriste. The small road had lightly rolling hills through a pretty countryside of high meadows with cows and nice views despite the rain and fog.

Click one of the two maps to see a larger, highlighted view of our route.

The road led us directly into Horni Dvoriste, which looked pretty bleak in the cold rain. We were hoping to eat lunch in this town in order to use up our remaining Czech money, but the one restaurant in town was closed for vacation. We stopped in the main square, where a few old women eyed us suspiciously out of their Soviet-era apartment windows. We took refuge from the rain for a few minutes in a bus shelter, and then wandered about the square and investigated what we thought was another restaurant. It turned out to be a "lady club" (either a strip club or brothel, we couldn't tell which), one of two in the tiny town. Apparently this town, being close to the border, is a popular sex getaway for visitors from Austria now that the Czech Republic is part of the EU and the border crossing is easier. Ah, capitalism. Ginny discounted my suggestion to use up our remaining Czech money in one of these establishments, so we pressed on. In retrospect, we probably would have been better off had we gone to Dolni Dvoriste (the other town with a station). Subsequent research showed that the town was larger, with more services, since it is near a highway exit.

The train station is actually in the tiny town of Cesky Herslak, a few kilometers outside of Horni Dvoriste, so we started riding again, passing a local policeman and two young mothers pushing baby carriages along the street. We greeted them with a "dobry den," and got blank looks in reply.

We finally found the station, which was not very well marked. It's a good-sized station, as it handles all the cross-border traffic with Austria in this region. It features a big rail yard with engines switching freight cars back and forth. The station itself was dark and damp, like something out of a 1950s spy movie. Our first order of business was to find a bathroom. We entered into the dark, cold main part of the station where the WC signs pointed us. I went first into the men's room, which had no lights, broken glass in all the windows, and a just a wall with water running down for a urinal. When it was Ginny's turn she made me stand guard at the women's room door. She returned with a description of a single light bulb hanging from a wire from the ceiling, no doors on the stalls, and no running water at the faucets. I guess they don't get too many tourists here!

After taking care of the bathroom needs, I went to the ticket window to get our tickets to Linz in Austria. Unfortunately, the attendant didn't speak any German or English, which surprised me this close to the border. I wrote our destination on my notepad, and drew two stick figures and a bicycle. She nodded in understanding, and then spent the next 10 minutes furiously hand-writing out tickets in duplicate, stamping things, etc. After all this was done, she gave me the total cost: 1,000ck. I was somewhat shocked, as the most we had paid for tickets in CZ was around 200ck, but apparently the Austrian section was expensive.

I only had 400ck in cash remaining, but assumed that I could pay the difference in euros since posted in plain view on the ticket window was the official Czech crown/euro exchange rate. No, she said, only crowns. I asked if there was an ATM anywhere nearby. No. Credit cards? Yeah, right! I was out of luck, it seemed. Ginny suggested that we simply buy a ticket to Summerau, the first station on the Austrian side, where we could then buy an onward ticket to Linz using euros. I felt bad about doing this after all the work the agent had invested, but it seemed like the only way to get on our way so I explained to the ticket agent that we would only be buying tickets to Summerau. She looked at her carefully handwritten tickets that were now useless, looked back at me, looked at the tickets again, and then suddenly decided that she could, in fact, take euros for the fare. After another 10 minutes, consultations with the three other people in the office, and one phone call, she sold me the tickets for 34 euros, which I happily paid.

Since we still had 400ck to spend, and were cold, wet, and hungry, we were eagerly anticipating the opening of the station restaurant at noon. The menu posted outside sounded very good, and we figured we could eat a lunch fit for royalty with the money we had. We waited outside the closed door like a pair of hungry wolves, and sprinted for a table when the door was opened at noon. The restaurant was a small room sparsely furnished with small tables, a pool table in the middle, and a wood-burning stove, which was not lit (it was actually colder in the restaurant than outside, but at least it was dry).

A pleasant, older woman who spoke a bit of German came out to take our orders, and we asked for the menu. Sorry, she said, the cook did not come in today. We were crestfallen, as we were really looking forward to a good, hot lunch. Seeing the pitiable looks on our faces, she came back holding a pack of kielbasa in her left hand and a big, shrink-wrapped chunk of mystery meat in her right hand. We figured we'd go with what we could recognize, so we gratefully pointed to the kielbasa, which she cooked for us and served with some rolls and mustard. Not the grand finale of feeding we had hoped for, but it was hot and filling, and the waitress was very accommodating and friendly. Lunch only came to less than 100ck, so we used up the rest of our coins buying snacks and stuff from behind the counter and figured we'd change the paper money later in Austria (which we forgot to do).

The dreary Horni Dvoriste train station, the last station in the Czech Republic before Austria. This line leads to Linz, Austria.

We waited another 20 minutes for a small two-car train with a bike compartment at the back to arrive. The Czech border patrol reviewed our passports and off we went toward Summerau, Austria, about a 10-minute ride, where we switched to an Austrian railways (OBB) train. When we arrived in Summerau we started to get off the train, only to be turned back by the Austrian border guards who were checking passports as people got off the train and using a big German shepherd dog (Schaeferhund in German) to sniff for drugs. They waved us on after a quick look at our passports, but paid close attention to a couple of young backpacker types. I guess age has its privileges. We resisted the urge to pet the dog (he was cute) and boarded the Austrian train bound for Linz.

The train ride to Linz was uneventful, and we had a compartment to ourselves the entire time. The train was older and not as nice as most of the other OBB trains we've ridden on over the years. This mirrors the type of train that Germany used for their run to CZ. Both Austria and Germany seem to use older rolling stock on their runs into Eastern Europe.

Despite the difficulties we encountered with the ticket agent at the Horni Dvoriste station, our experiences with the Czech Railways system were uniformly good. The trains themselves are definitely not up to the standards of Germany and Austria, but the conductors were friendly and efficient, the trains were on time, and in general the system was easy to figure out. We especially liked the claim-check system used for loading and unloading bikes from the baggage cars.

The rain tapered off as we got to the Linz train station, which was undergoing a great deal of construction. I had been here before and remembered it as a small, somewhat outdated station. They appear to be adding several tracks and constructing a much larger, modern station, perhaps to handle the expected increase in traffic now that CZ is part of the EU? In any event, the construction made for a lot of hassles moving the tandem and bags down stairs and up again.

We initially weren't sure where we would head once we got to Linz (yes, we are very indecisive!). Europe's vast train network is both a blessing and a curse, as it offers many options. From Linz we could have easily gone to Vienna or west toward Salzburg or Germany. We had decided en route to head toward Salzburg, and perhaps on to Zell am See. As we disembarked from the arriving train we saw that an express (InterCity) train to Salzburg was leaving in five minutes from a different platform. We quickly went down one set of stairs to the crossover under the tracks. Ginny waited at the bottom with the bike while I went up to the new platform to see about the train. Although we did not have tickets, it's usually possible to buy tickets on the train from the conductor. What I found was a train jam-packed with people; they were even packed in the aisles. We hadn't taken into account that this Friday was the beginning of a long holiday weekend in Austria (Whit Monday). The train to Salzburg had come from Vienna, and I was probably seeing the city dwellers fleeing for the beauty of the Alps. I couldn't blame them! Needless to say, I didn't even attempt to get us on that train.

A second, local, train to Salzburg was leaving in another five minutes, so off I dashed to see about getting on that. Unlike the express train, the local trains often do not have dedicated baggage cars. This one had an end of a passenger car dedicated for bikes (look for the bike symbol on the outside of the car), but it, too, was packed, and one glance told me there was no chance of getting on.

Defeated twice, we headed off to the main part of the station where I bought us tickets on the next express train to Salzburg an hour later. I spent a few minutes calling hotels in Salzburg trying to book us a room, but they were all full. Not a good sign!

Thankfully, the next train to Salzburg (also coming from Vienna) had room for us and the bike, but barely. We squeezed the bike into the baggage compartment, along with several others, and then, since there were no seats to be had, we sat down with the other bikers on the hardwood floor of the baggage compartment and read our books. While on board we noticed from a train schedule that part of the train we were on continued to Zell am See from Salzburg, so we decided to stay on board and take our chances finding a room there. We did have to get off the train in Salzburg and switch to the front section in order to continue. But, it was an easy transfer and we had around 10 minutes to do it. There were several other bikers heading to Zell am See, and we talked with a few of them about the Tauern bike path, which we had ridden two years before.

After a long day of traveling in the rain by both bike and train, we finally arrived in Zell am See around 8:00 p.m. We had been traveling by train for seven hours at this point, plus a few hours by bike. We were a bit discouraged to find that it was cold and rainy in Zell, and we wanted to find a place to stay quickly. I called the youth hostel in Zell and they confirmed that they had a double room available for 48 euros. But, the hostel is outside of town, and required riding in the rain. We figured we could probably find a hotel in town for a few euros more.

With the hostel as a backup plan, we quickly checked a few hotels and decided on a nice four-star hotel right in the center. Hotel Lebzelter, dating from 1482, was only 66 euros a night, including a breakfast buffet, and we decided to treat ourselves after a long day of traveling. After a quick shower we headed out to find sustenance. We were too tired to enjoy a big dinner, so we got pizza at a nearby restaurant. We regretted turning down the offer of half-pension for 11 euros each at the hotel, as it included an entree, salad, dessert, and even a drink! A check of an Internet weather site at the hotel told us the next few days were supposed to be beautiful and sunny, so we decided to ride on to Krimml on Saturday, rather that taking the train as we had originally planned -- we had spent enough time on trains at this point! We crashed into bed around 10:30 and enjoyed the down comforters and comfortable bed.

This day turned out to be one of our most expensive days, as we spent quite a bit on trains to get us from the CZ border to Zell am See in Austria (86 euros, or about $106 USD). Still, the price is reasonable given the convenience of being able to easily transit from one area to another with a bike, not having to worry about airplanes or renting a car. It would be wonderful to have this freedom in the USA.

Daily costs 5/28: Lunch: 150 ck; Train to Linz: 35 euros (944 ck); Train to Salzburg: 29 euros; Train to Zell: 22 euros; Hotel: 66 euros; Dinner: 19 euros; Internet access/phone card/misc.: 10 euros. Total: $230 USD.

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