Years later, in 2010 when I was reading this report once more, I discovered that this guesthouse had entered the internet.
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THROUGH THE HABSBURG EMPIRE
Cycle tour Prague-Vienna-Prague 2002
Part 2
Terje Melheim
Along the Danube
In Austria the cycle way towards Vienna was connected to a local cycle way, called Leiserbergweg. For the first kilometres it was easy going through an agricultural landscape. Although we did not not exactly encounter the alps in this part of Austria we could not avoid crossing some steep hills at Ernstbrunn, but later on it was steady downhill cycling as we were heading for the Danube, which we reached at Stockerau. On the flat land along the river we left the Leiserbergweg and joined the famous Donauradweg. There was no chance that we would feel as solitary cyclists on our way towards Vienna. Actually we did not go all the way to Vienna, at Klosterneuburg, 10 km from the City we found a big, and well organized camping place.
The next morning Turid refused to cycle into the city. She said she wanted to visit museums and go into shops without being bothered about the bicycles. "But it is only 10 km to the centre of the town, and I don't know how to reach the centre by train and tram, and besides by bike you will be so flexible in the town", I replied. "And there is one more thing", I added, "if we don't cycle into Vienna, we can not tell other people that we have cycled to Vienna, and I can not call my internet report Prague-Vienna." Turid said, "well, in Prague we went by the metro, and we did not exactly start in the town itself." It turned out that we could go by a private bus who brought tourists from the camping at Klosterneuburg and to Vienna. By this bus we could go to the city centre, and it would pick us up exactly at the same spot and bring us back to the camping at 17.00 hours. Well, we did not cycle into Vienna. However I still take the liberty to call the report Cycle Tour Prague-Vienna-Prague 2002.
From Klosterneuburg we started our cycle tour back to Prague. We were going to follow the Danube to Linz, and we could enjoy this excellent cycle way along the Danube, in German called: Donauradweg. The cycle way follows the banks of the river Danube, and there is one way on either side of the river. Most of the distance old tow-paths ways along the river have been turned into roads for cyclists. As they are close to the river, there are no appreciable hills, and motor traffic has been kept away from the cycle ways. We chose to cycle on the south bank, and in spite of the extreme popularity of the Donauradweg we were cycling almost alone in our direction, but we met very many other cyclists. Strangely enough all cyclists go just one way along the Danube, from Passau on the border to Germany and to Vienna. When we were cycling along and met other cyclists, we greeted them by: Grüß Gott or servus or hello. Finally we said nothing, because there were simply too many of them. It is nice to see that cyclists are so abundant that they are of economic interest. Along the Donauradweg there are signs to hotels or B&B and even to bankautomats. Some outdoor cafes have been set up at the Radweg and they are selling refreshments, the only customers are cyclists, and the business seemed to be going well. Tourists offices along the river supply information for cyclists. It is nice to see all this attention to cyclists, for normally in the tourist business cyclists are a marginalized group.
Turid on the Donauradweg On the Donauradweg.
Refreshments could be bought along the cycle way.
As we were entering the area called Wachau, the the landscape was getting more hilly, the banks of the river are steep and the current of the Danube is more vehement. Along the river there are impressive castles, fortresses and churches.
The Danube in Wachau
Here we could have pitched our tent.
Look at the picture above to the right. Would it not be nice to pitch the tent right here at this camping in Wachau and enjoy the view on the Danube, the village on the other shore and the ships going up or down the river? We did however not stay here, we cycled on because we wanted to wash our clothes. At this camping place they had a washing machine, but no drier. When we had cycled through the gorge of the Danube, we found another camping place with both washing machine and a drier.The next day we could put on clean, dry clothes, and we really needed some extra clothes on because a hard head wind was blowing. The large gang of cyclists going to Vienna could just sit upright and let the wind push them forward, they hardly had to move their pedals. We had to bow low and pedal hard against the west wind. There were very few cyclists going our way, but we were overtaken by two Dutch cyclists on recumbent cycles. They had a much better position to fight the wind. Not only did a Dutch flag show their nationality. They were even cycling in Dutch wooden shoes. Like Bohemia and Moravia, Austria belonged to the Habsburg empire. The Habsburg emperors and other people among the Austrian elite brought architects and artisans from Italy to build new baroque churches or reshape old ones. Along the Danube the landscape is decorated with the round and swinging forms of baroque churches. We found a grandiose expression of baroque architecture in the palaces of the abbeys Melk and St. Florian.
When we had been fighting the wind for 75 km, Turid was so tired that she refused to cycle on. We had reached the small town Wallsee. The strange thing about this town, was that it seemed empty. On the open square, or naměstý (namesty) as it would have been called in Czech, we saw no one around. The guesthouses were closed because they had their day of rest. We tried to find a guesthouse, and in the empty town we found just one shop open, a drug store where we could ask for a place to stay for the night. The reason why we finally found the best guest house we had for the whole trip, was that I saw a sign which directed us to a guest house 2 km away in the next village. When we arrived at the guest house it seemed closed, just as the other guesthouses. We were not at a good mood, but suddenly the door swung open, and some one asked: "Are you looking for a room?" We were heartily received at this "Gasthof" which is connected to a farm where horses are raised. This Gasthof is a really family institution and the family consists of three generations. They asked us about our cycle tour, and they became interested when they heard that we were not just cycling the ordinary way from Passau to Vienna. When we had had our showers we enjoyed a tasty and plentiful dinner. To drink we became local cider (Apfelmost), which was a nice change from the overall beer. Next morning we had breakfast without limitations. The host family knew we were cyclists and they knew we needed much food so they were constantly asking us if we would like some more. The address of this guesthouse, which we can recommended for cyclists along the Danube is:
Sindelburg 29
A-3313 WALLSEE/DONAU
Tel. 07433/2207
Years later, in 2010 when I was reading this report once more, I discovered that this guesthouse had entered the internet.When we cycled through the town of Wallsee in the next morning, the town looked normal, all shops and guesthouses were open, there were people in the street, and we were not tired any more. We could continue our cycle tour towards the west along the Danube. We did not cycle through the town of Linz with all its industry and much traffic. Before we reached the town we crossed the river on a dam, and we could cycle on the Donauradweg on the other bank of the river, from where we could see the vast industry on the other side. We ended up in a part of Linz which lies on the northern bank of the Danube. From here we travelled up in the hills by a tram line. Pöstlingbergbahn is one of the steepest adhesion railways of the world. Along the track the points are very remarkable. A whole section of the track is being shifted in order to lead the tram into another track. Just look at this picture:
Pöstlingbergbahn in Linz.
In the background, on the platform to the left Turid is speaking with two ladies from Baden-Baden in Germany. They were cycling from Passau to Vienna on the Donauradweg, and they had joined an organized cycle tour with altogether 15 people cycling together. Turid's reaction was: "That is too many". The ladies remained at the lower terminus of the Pöstlingbergbahn while the others were travelling to the top. They could watch the bicycles and luggage of the others. When they saw us leaving our cycles, they offered to watch our cycles and equipment as well.Not just the Pöstlingbergbahn has brought Linz into the railway history. Between the town of Linz in Austria and Budějovice (Budejovice) in Bohemia the first railway on the European continent was built. The railway was opened in 1832. No locomotive engines were used. The carriages were drawn by horses. The railway was important to the Habsburg monarchy as it connected two important rivers: the Danube and the Vltava. Already in 1868 the historic railway was made redundant because steam engines were much more effective. In Budějovice (Budejovice) we visited a small museum which gave us an impression of this railway, but before we could reach Budějovice (Budejovice) we had to leave the flat land along the Danube and cycle across the hills into the Czech Republic.
From a nice camping at Ottenhofen we started the climb towards Bohemia. I tried to stick to roads which follow rivers, but my map was no too good. A hard climb was often followed by a down hill section. That was very frustrating because we knew we had to climb those vertical metres once more. In the hot sun we got very irritated that the road did not follow the river in a gentle manner. At Bad Leoben we got involved in a conversation with an 83 years old cyclist. He was cycling on a bike from the 1970s with small wheels. He lived at Steyr, 40 km south of Linz, and he told he used a folding bike in order to get the bike into the bus, because from Linz to Bad Leoben he had taken the bus, and on the return to Linz he could cycle much down hill, but still he had to cycle the 40 km to Steyr. He had just arrived by the bus and was about to go back to Steyr, but before he did so he phoned up his sons on his mobile telephone. An 83 years old long distance cyclist, that is very impressing.
Back to Bohemia
Just before we reached the border on the Czech Republic we passed the European fluvial divide. From now on all water would float to the north and eventually end up in the North Sea. Almost without pedalling we crossed the border and reached Viššy (Vissy) Brod. Near the monastery is a camping place, which is rather big. The sanitation is not too good, and worse; during the night people were making much noise, shouting and slamming doors. Most of the campers were canoeists who started their voyage down the Vltava river at Viššy (Vissy) Brod.
After a bad night's sleep I figured it was time to buy a new tyre. The cords were already visible, and I had better replace the tyre before getting a major puncture. The Czech Republic is a country with quite many cyclists, and even at a rather small place like Viššy (Vissy) Brod a bicycle store can be found, and I had no difficulties in finding a tyre of the correct size (28-622).
We have now entered the Chech Republic, and a special problem arises. The Chech alphabet contains more sounds than in the Western European languages. The additional sounds are recognized by diacritical signs. The letters with additional diacritic marks are different in the Western European ASCII-code and the Eastern European one. It can be that geographical names that I have made so much effort to write correctly with additional signs, are not recognized by the server, and thus the names are rendered with quite different signs or even different basic letters, and so they are impossible to read. Therefore I have written each name twice, once in the correct Chech writing and one (in parenthesis) with traditional Latin letters without diacritic signs.
From the border and north towards Český (Cesky) Krumlov and Česke Budějovice (Ceske Budejovice) goes a cycle way, marked as no 12. From the map we saw that a main road along the banks of the Vltava river would lead us to our goals in a much easier manner than cycle route no.12 did. First we reached the castle Rožmberk (Rozmberk), and because the river makes a turn of almost 180 degrees, we could view the castle from three sides. There is not much traffic on this road, and we had an easy going down the river. Beside us, on the river we observed many canoeists who were gliding down the river towards the north. Canoeing on rivers is a popular leisure sport in the Czech Republic.
After 30 km the traffic began to increase and we were approaching the destination for the day: The tourist town of Krumlov. It is one of the most beautiful towns of the world. Above the town is a magnificent castle, and inside a bend of the river is the old town with narrow streets and small houses. The town stands on the heritage list of UNESCO, and we were not the only tourists who wanted to admire the beauty of this town. In the crowded streets we heard all European languages plus Japanese. The first thing we did, was to search for a room, which we found close to the river, just on the edge of the old town. We had no desire to spend another night at a noisy camping place. On the next morning we had breakfast on the balcony, overlooking the river, the town and the castle. We really enjoyed the breakfast in these nice surroundings. Three weeks later I found a picture on the internet showing our guest house. The river Vltava had flooded the house, and the water almost reached to the balcony where we had been sitting on the morning of the 23rd of July 2002. I am feeling very sorry for the family who are operating this guest house.
The cycle route number 12 towards Budějovice (Budejovice) passes just outside this guesthouse, and the cycle way led us through the viaduct which connects the castle and the castle garden. The road farther on towards Budějovice (Budejovice) is well marked through forests and on minor roads through villages. The yellow signs indicate the route just like the ordinary Czech road signs do, they show the way by means of arrows before the intersections. Every time when we had cycled through a cross road, we turned our heads to see if there was a cycle sign for the cyclists going the opposite way. Then we could be certain that we were on the right way.
In Budějovice (Budejovice) the conditions for cycling are good. Right through the town we could cycle along the river on roads with no motor traffic. From this road for pedestrians and cyclists it was, as soon as we knew the town, rather easy to reach our destinations like the main naměstý (namesty), the pension where we were staying and the way to the village Hološovice Holosovice), which also stands on UNESCO's list. The cycle way even goes continuously all the way to the castle at Hluboká (Hluboka).The naměstý (namesty) of Budějovice (Budejovice) is very impressive because of its size and because of the elegant houses bordering it. Originally the houses belonged to ethnic Germans, and it was not until 1890 that the first Czech was able to buy a house at this square. This shows some of the social differences between the Czech and German population of Bohemia before the war.
To Halošovice (Halosovice) we cycled on local roads. The houses of this village line a central naměstý (namesty). The structure of the village is typical of planned villages in Eastern Europe. In contrast to more clustered villages of Western Europe the villages of the Habsburg empire were set up by the authorities, and on our cycle tour we cycled through many villages where the houses line the road. What makes Halošovice (Halosovice) so special, is the homogenious traditional style of the houses, they are all built in a baroque style.
At Hluboká (Hluboka) we visited, like many other tourists and even cycle tourists, the elegant castle which looks older than it really is. The castle of Hluboká (Hluboka) is for the Czech Republic what Neuschwanstein is for Germany; all tourists want to see the castles, but both castles were built out of romantic sentiments as late as in the 19th century. In Hluboká (Hluboka) we bought a booklet of castles of South Bohemia, and we could see that practically all of them we had visited during our cycle tour.
From Hluboká (Hluboka) we composed our own cycle route towards the north. If you would like to trace our cycle route on a map, it goes like this: Ponešice (Ponesice), Źimutice (Zimutice), Březnice (Breznice), Bechyně (Becyne), Bernartice, Milevsko, Kovářov (Kovarov), Předbořice (Predborice), Klenovice, Solenice, Milín (Milin), Vysoka, Příbram (Pribram), Jince and Hořovice (Horovice). Just before Předbořice (Predborice) we had a nice experience. At a parking place I was waiting while Turid had gone to the woods. A car stopped and the driver handed me a paper bag with some cakes. It was the local baker of Kovarov who had been out delivering his products to the customers. With the baker we had a nice conversation, and we even managed to make ourselves understood by simple words in Czech. We were not able to make whole sentences, but it functioned well by isolated words. We could talk about nice things like the weather and journeys.
At Hořovice (Horovice) we found the best bargain accommodation for the whole cycle tour. The hotel at the central naměstý (namesty) of the town offered a room with shower and toilet for two persons, and even breakfast was included for only 600 Kcs. The hotel's name is Zelený strom (green tree). Strangely enough they demanded 20 Kcs for storing the bicycles, but still the total price was very modest.
From Hořovice (Horovice) Prague is just one day of cycling away, but we had some extra days to spend before our return journey home. Hořovice (Horovice) is 50-60 km away from another important Czech town - Plzeň (Plzen). Why not making an extra cycle tour to that town? Although we were lacking maps all the way to Plzeň (Plzen), we used our maps as far as they reached. After the town called Rokycany our troubles started because the road signs directed us to the motor way, and the old main road had been removed because the motor way had been constructed on the same spot. This was a Sunday, and there were quite many cyclists out. When we asked for the way, they were very friendly to explain the way which we could go through the villages. Plzeň (Plzen) is a big town with much industry. We ended up in the centre of the town, at the large naměstý (namesty), and we spent the rest of the day at this location. Plzeň (Plzen)is a nice city if you just stay in the historic part of the town. The accommodations in Plzeň (Plzen) are more expensive than what we were used to from elsewhere in the Czech Republic, but at City Pension we had the best breakfast during our cycle tour. How did we find our way back to Hořovice (Horovice)the next morning without a proper map? We cycled exactly the same roads as the day before until we reached Rokycany. From there we had a map and could take new routes to Hořovice (Horovice) and hotel Zelený (Zeleny) strom. After almost a month on our bicycles through a landscape rich of culture, we had got too much of all the sights, so I am going to express myself in this rather superficial way: In Hořovice (Horovice) we looked at the usual sights; a baroque church with gothic foundations, a baroque château, a town hall in neobaroque style and a decaying building of the communist party in the plain functionalism of the 1950s.
The booklet about the Greenway Prague-Vienna describes two routes to/from Prague. From Hořovice (Horovice) we could follow an alternative route from the route we took when we started. The alternative route took us down into a valley excavated by the river Berounka. This is a limestone area with a special vegetation and the valley is surrounded by steep lime cliffs. We arrived rather early at a camping place in this valley. The toilets and showers were clean, the people running the camping were nice, so we decided to put up our tent for the night. The hot sun made us relax by the tent, and in the afternoon we cycled 3 km upstream to visit Karlštein (Karlstein) castle, which is situated on limestone cliffs high above the valley. All tourists coming to Prague must visit Karlštein (Karlstein), so there were plenty of people around this castle. As we arrived so late we did not have to walk in a queue. Karlštein (Karlstein) is named after Charles IV who was an emperor of the Post-Charlemagne empire. He was also king of Bohemia and his residence was Prague, and he had the first parts of castle Karlštein built. With a Bohemian king in this important position it is no wonder that the Czechs are proud of his castle. The castle has been renovated many times, and it looks very impressive. The Charle's bridge in Prague has also been named after the emperor Charles IV.
The camping place turned out not to be better than any of the other bad Czech camping places. Two canoeists went ashore from the river Berounka and put up their tent at the camping. In the night they were making a hell of a noise, screaming and staggering around the tents. The next day we could have followed the river Berounka, which is a tributary to the Vltava river and then we could have followed the Vltava to Prague. That would however have meant cycling in the terrible traffic in the centre of Prague. As we were at the south-western edge of the town, and we were going to our guest house at the airport in the northwest, we could just cycle to the north in rural areas outside the town. Our route had to be well planned, and from the valley of the river Berounka we did not go by any main road, which would be steep and with much traffic. I searched for a side valley with a road in it, and we chose the valley Karlik. That was a good choice. The road was rising gradually with no steep hills, the trees in the valley gave shadow, and the road was so winding and narrow that the auto traffic avoided it. By this valley we reached the agricultural plains to the west of Prague, and on the last day of our cycle tour we cycled through the villages where we could enjoy the last sights of rural baroque churches.
Hypothetical questions. What would have happened if.....
When we were cycling into Prague in the northwest, we went through the district Bílá Hora (Bila Hora), or White Hill. This is the place where the Czech army had once been beaten by the Habsburg forces, and from that time Bohemia was ruled from Vienna. What would have happened if the Czechs had not been defeated at the White Hill? Bohemia could have been an independent kingdom. There would have been no counter reformation The churches of Bohemia would have been allowed to retain their clear romanesque and gothic structures. The German immigrants would have respected Bohemian laws, language and tradition, and there would have been no disgraceful Munich convention of 1938.On our last day of our stay in the Czech republic, during a cycle tour in the vicinity of our guest house in Prague, the rim of my rear wheel broke. It was no problem to cycle the 5 kilometres to the airport the next day. But I could not use my rear brakes. What would have happened if my rim had broken in the middle of our cycle tour?
In the morning of the 4th of August 2002 when we cycled to the airport, the weather was nice. Before we left Prague in the evening, it was raining heavily with thunderstorms. In the Czech Republic and in Austria, that is in the area of the Habsburg empire, a week with much rain and floods followed. What would have happened to us if we had still been on our cycle tour in that rain and with floods along the Danube and the Vltava rivers? We were happy that we could travel to sunshine in Scandinavia, but I am feeling really sorry for the people who got their homes and jobs destroyed by the water.
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