So, we spent our last morning (Friday) in Prague – the sun was shining and UEFA football visitors were in town! Chelsea and Bayern Munich supporters were flooding the streets and there was a welcoming party in the Old Town Square. There was a definite buzz about the place! We decided to venture to Wenceslas Square, named after Saint Wenceslas, the patron saint of Bohemia. Not sure why it’s called a square really as it’s nothing like a square?! More like a boulevard! It’s a very long street on a slight incline and dominated by the very grand Czech National Museum, as well as a statue of Wenceslas. Our transfer is booked for 3:45pm, so we return to the hotel to collect our luggage at 3:15pm and shortly after our driver arrives – they are proud of their punctuality. We’re flying with Czech Airlines this time. We arrive at Terminal 2 and I haven’t seen a queue like that since I had to queue at 6am in the morning for the release of Teletubbies (for my, now 19 year old daughter!). We moved along slowly in our never-ending queue and when we reach the barriers near the check-in desks it says ‘please do not proceed unless you have your boarding card’?! What boarding card?! There was no option to check-in online? We eye up the passengers in front and behind us and we breathe a sigh of relief when we see that they don’t have boarding cards either. We check-in successfully and head to security, where the queue is longer than the Teletubbies queue 16 years ago. I am glad we arrived at the airport 2 hours ahead of departure – we lost 45 minutes just checking in! Security takes another 45 minutes and then our gate is open for boarding. Extra legroom seats again, free drinks and a nice packet of biscuits included and fancy screens that pop down from above and shows how the flight is progressing – to sum up, aircraft and service….10, airport organisation…3. We arrive into T2D Paris, and it takes us around an hour to retrieve our luggage, take the shuttle to T3 and pick up the hotel shuttle bus back to the hotel where we left our car. We drive to a little rural hamlet called Tassay, located in the Vienne region of France (45 minutes south of Poitiers) where our children have been staying with their cousins and grandparents all week. Just a little plug – but they have a great little Gite & Campsite…check it out -http://www.campinglabonnevie.com. We have a very chilled and relaxing weekend with a super meal at a small place called Mad Hatters Kitchen (highly recommended!) before heading back home to Dorset. Our ferry is booked to leave Cherbourg on Sunday evening at 18:45, last check-in 18:00. We leave Tassay at 11am. The motorway is swamped with cars – all French and hardly a Brit to be seen – of course, it’s the end of the French holidays and all the Parisiens are heading back home! We come to a complete standstill on the A10 about 10 miles before Tours and it takes us an hour, moving at snails pace to cover about 6 miles to the toll booths. This continues all along the A10 and we are now about 2 hours behind schedule! No relaxing pit stops for us, it’s going to be metal to floor all the way if we have any chance of making the ferry! Once quick pit stop, grab some food to eat along the way and quick driver changeover to share the driving and that’s it – we race into the check in at Cherbourg with just 5 minutes to spare….skin….of….teeth! 7 hours of driving and two very bored and grumpy children in the back of the car who just want to get out and run around! We board the ferry immediately, no waiting around for us this time and we unleash the beasts from the car! The ferry departs late (yes late!!) at 7:15pm and we arrive in Poole 4 hours later. They seem to have a problem with the ramps for the top deck…guess who is on the top deck….we are. We finally disembark at 11pm and are ushered into one of 4 lanes for passport control. Not sure what those Customs men were doing in their little booths, but it takes us 90 minutes to reach a booth, and not one flinch of an apology for taking forever to get everyone through! Just a snort when the children are flat on their backs asleep in the back of the car, and he can’t see their faces! My head finally hits the pillow at 1am. What an adventure!
From Prague to Paris to Rural France, then a 14 hour door to door trip back to sunny Dorset!
We wake to sunshine! Breakfast in the dining room is the usual Continental spread with cold meats, cheese, breads, fruit yoghurt, oh and scrambled egg today! We are up early to see Cesky Krumlov before all the tourists descend. It’s quiet, just suppliers delivering goods to the little shops along the alleyways and the locals walking their dogs. No shops open, a few little cafes preparing for the day ahead, and all we can hear is the sound of the river….bliss. We take one last look before we head on our way. We have the longest journey on this leg today, and we are returning our pink hire car to Prague Airport – I will be sad to see it go, but not sure my husband shares the same feelings! The scenery is beautiful, valleys, lakes and pine forests. We join the motorway and we are shocked to find a smooth, flat road! We arrive at Prague Airport, finding the rental drop off very easily and wave goodbye to our pink Peugeot 208 which has only used around £60 worth of fuel for our whole trip (in 5 days and over 1,000km!). We make our way over to the terminal and take a taxi to our Prague hotel, The Boscolo. The taxi costs 773CZK (about £25) and takes around 15-20 minutes. A rollercoaster is nothing compared to this guy! He clearly doesn’t have any trouble locating the accelerator and we weave in and out the traffic, and pedestrians too! As we travel into the city, we pass high rise flats, street art on the walls and as we pass through a tunnel and come out the other side – wham bam, there is Charles Bridge, Prague Castle and a whole host of majestical buildings. A few minutes later and we arrive outside our hotel, The Boscolo. They knew I was coming and the red carpet is laid out for our arrival! Concierge take our luggage and we check-in. It’s a very grand hotel in, what appears to be, a very good location. Our luggage is delivered to our room and a quick change and we get back out to enjoy the sunshine and see what this city has to offer. Our very friendly concierge man gives us a map and sends us on our way. Less than 5 minutes and two streets later and right in front of us is the very gothic Powder Tower, one of the original city gates dating back to the 11th Century, and next door is the very Art Nouveau Municipal House building. Disappointingly, it has a very large banner across the top advertising the UEFA Cup Welcoming Party! Yes Chelsea and Bayern Munich fans are in town! We pass through Powder Tower into the Old Town Square passing shop after shop and street entertainers – there is a guy who appears to be sat on thin air, a man holding a snake and someone dressed up as Shrek advertising Thai Massages….not quite sure what the message is there??! We sit in one of the cafes on the square and order beer, it’s definite city prices here at CZK90 (about £3 and the most we have paid for a beer so far, but still cheaper than at home!). It’s fascinating and there is so much going on, ricksha’s, segways, vintage cars, horse and carts all taking tourists around. Street entertainers in abundance and tourists from all over the world having their photographs taken in front of one of the many interesting buildings including the Astronomical Clock, which is beautiful. We watch a typical Czech band which brings in the crowds and then we start to make our way to Charles Bridge, which connects the Old Town to the Lesser Town. We find it packed with tourists all trying to get their photos in front of one of the many Baroque statues. We decide to settle for the riverside views and take some photos with Prague Castle in the background. We return to the hotel to freshen up and prepare for, what we feel, is going to be a very buzzy evening. Given where we have been these last 5 days, we find the restaurants to be overpriced, so we opt for our final evening meal at the Hard Rock Cafe Prague! We sit outside on the terrace, watching the horse and carriage rides go by, enjoying cocktails and our bill is a very reasonable CZK910 (about £30). We’ve enjoyed every moment of this city so far, can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!
Apologies for late posting….no Wifi or any internet access in our little eccentric hotel in Cesky Krumlov!
So, we wake to torrential rain in Emmersdorf an der Donau – certainly not bike ride weather! It’s lashing it down and bouncing off the windows, so we go for a leisurely breakfast. Out of all the hotels we’ve stayed in so far, this one has the biggest selection of tea – at least 20 different offerings! Fresh honeycomb, cold meats, cheese and freshly baked bread is on the menu. We study the weather forecast and it’s not set to improve at all in the next 24 hours, so we decide to move on to our next destination….Cesky Krumlov. We get on our way to the Czech Republic, taking our time as we head for Linz. The rain stays with us for over 100km and the spray on the motorway makes driving conditions very poor. As we head out the other side of Linz, the rain stops (hallelujah!) and we join a road which greets us with pretty, typical Austrian houses nestled in the valleys and some of the prettiest scenery we have seen so far. We climb up, passing through small quaint villages with pretty churches, and eventually reach the border of Czech Republic – goodbye Austria. Shame we didn’t get to spend more time there, but the weather did not allow! The roads change immediately, and we look at one another and burst out laughing as we are greeted with potholes, lumps, bumps and cracks in the road – welcome back to Czech Republic! We meander our way back down through the valleys and stumble upon the fast flowing River Vltava, dotted with kayakers. The River bank is lined with campsites, hostels and stations offering kayak and canoe hire. We pass through a village which looks like something out of a war zone – not sure many of the inhabitants here have had a wonderful life. The street is lined with kids that look like they need a good bath and a clean change of clothes, dogs roaming and a group of ‘lads’ who I wouldn’t like to meet on a dark night. A few miles further down the road and we reach our destination, Cesky Krumlov – we drive through a somewhat average looking town from the outside and we follow our directions, easily finding the Hotel Gold, our accommodation for this evening. We have arrived early and our room is not quite ready, so the receptionist guides us to the secure car park so we can leave the car and have a wander until check-in. The hotel is located on the edge of the historical centre and as we turn the corner from the hotel we are met with a majestical looking building with a stunning church on the river. We cross the bridge and within a few minutes we go from the average town centre to a different world! Cobbled, uneven streets lined with shops and cafes housed in buildings, where no two are the same. We wander the streets and every corner we turn there is something different. It’s got a lovely feel to it and there are groups of tourists with their local tour guides wherever you walk – Japanese, German, Americans. You must need a full day here to appreciate everything in this town. There is so much to see. We return to the hotel to check-in and freshen up, but can’t wait to get back to the town, however I am also intrigued by the hotel and want to see our room! Eccentric springs to mind! It would be wrong to have a modern hotel here, and I know that this hotel is going to ooze character. Reception is a small area with dark wooden furniture and we are checked in by a very charming gentleman who speaks very good English (in fact EVERYONE we have met speaks very good English!) Room 105 – on the corner of the building is ours for the evening. The room is dark, but enormous, with two beds, green floral carpet, a large green sofa and lots of oak furniture – just how I envisaged! Although it’s dark, it’s quite homely, but very hot – no air conditioning. We head straight back out to explore the town further and find the main square which is made up of cafes, hotels, a police station, the tourist office and the tortury museum! We decide to sit in one of the cafes on the square and people watch for a while – it’s fascinating! A beer, glass of wine and a plate of fries costs us CZK150 (about £5) and we sit quite happily watching the world go by. After spending the afternoon browsing the souvenir shops, visiting the churches and exploring many of the winding cobbled streets we begin to try and choose a restaurant – not an easy task here – so many to choose from! We look at all the menus on display outside and look for the busy ones, but nothing immediately jumps out at us. My husband then spots a sign for a restaurant down an alley advertising angus steak, so we go to investigate. As we approach, the large wooden door is closed and there is no menu outside to be seen. I insist it’s closed, but my husband says he can see people through the very small window. We open the door to find life and are offered a menu. There are a few tables and chairs in front of the bar and then we are directed through a tunnel into a cave with benches and and candle-lit tables. Beyond this is another cave and as the waitress takes us to a table, wherewe are met with lots of people enjoying themselves, and an open fire in the corner. The menu consists of steak, steak, steak and steak, oh and the odd bit of chicken. The steak choice is between Brazilian, Argentinian or American and you order by the weight in grams starting from 200g up to 500g. Our steaks arrive on wooden boards served with fries, salad and barbecue sauce – it’s delicious! The wine and beer isn’t bad too. Our bill comes to a total of 685CZK (about £23) and is worth every penny. Such a hidden gem! After a coffee in 
the square, we return to the hotel, happy and content after a fabulous day in Cesky Krumlov. Tomorrow….Prague!
Well we woke in Bratislava to a dull and wet morning, but this didn’t stop us. After a delicious breakfast in the Conservatory overlooking the fountains in the square, we decide to make the most of our 12 noon checkout and spend the morning in Bratislava. Coffee, cake, a quick trip to the shopping centre, and a few shopping bags later, we return to the hotel. Concierge are delightful, they collect our car for us and we embark on our next leg of the journey into Austria! We leave the city with sad faces and pick up the roads very easily towards Wien. Again, we need to purchase a Vignette for Austria and have read that it is very strict – if you do not display your Vignette you will be fined EUR120! No sooner have we left Bratislava and we join the E58 motorway, we travel less than 10km before we see signs waving goodbye Slovakia….eeek! We haven’t seen anywhere to buy our Vignette. As the official border reaches us, there still doesn’t appear to be anywhere or any signs for the Vignette! As we pass through in the outside lane, overtaking a lorry, we suddenly spot a tin shed with a sign for coffee and Vignettes, so two wheels and wishing I was wearing Tena Lady later, we screech into the parking area and purchase our Vignette at a cost of EUR8,30. We continue on our way towards Vienna (or Wien) and the sky is changing before us. We suddenly hit torrential rain, and with windscreen wipers on full and Germans passing us at about 150mph, we pootle on our way. As we get closer to Vienna the rain gets heavier and the motorway begins to flood, so we decide to give our afternoon stop in Vienna a miss – as much as I would love to see the home of Mozart, I’m sure he won’t mind if we don’t visit right now. We continue on our way and we talk about visiting Vienna by boat or train the next morning, as our stop for the night is near Melk, in a small place called Emmersdorf an der Donau. As we pass Krems an der Donau, we are met with the almighty River Danube and we join route 3 which passes right alongside it. The rain has stopped, and as we turn the next corner, we hit the most beautiful scenery and a sign saying Willkommen Wachau with vineyard after vineyard of hand-laid terraces. I immediately know why the Wachau was inscribed as ‘Wachau Cultural Landscape’ in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites! We stop at Durnstein, where King Richard the Lionheart of England was held captive by Duke Leopold V. Very popular with tourists, we can see the River boats lined up in abundance with tourists flocking the town, but this place needs to be seen! We park (very reasonably at a cost of 0,60c) and we meet an American tour group off the Viking River Cruises boat – the tour guide is walking along with her blue lollipop and the group inquisitively follow behind. Cobbled streets and a beautiful former Augustine abbey church with a blue and white steeple dominates this pretty little town, and a notable hotel here is the Relais Chateaux endorsed, Hotel Schloss. We continue just 10 miles or so down the road to our hotel for the night – the Best Western Landhotel Wachau. Not quite the Relais Chateaux luxury in Durnstein, but nonetheless, a very quaint family run, typically Austrian establishment. Very pretty from the outside, overlooking the Danube and a fantastic view of Melk Abbey. We are greeted by a girl dressed in Lederhosen and shown to reception – checked curtains, pine tables and lots of funny looking ornaments on the walls, but it cries out Austria and cosy! Only a small hotel with 36 rooms, but very friendly people and the room is a standard double room – perhaps a little dated, but clean! The hotel is a little way out on it’s own, so we decide to eat in the hotel restaurant, which was a good choice! Food was of high quality and my husband says the beer is the best so far, as is the wine! Off to sleep before we see what tomorrow brings – on the wish list is to hire bikes and cycle along the Danube…let’s wait and see if the weather improves first! 
So, it’s raining when we leave Brno – which incidentally looks very bland and uninviting from the outside, but hides an intriguing Old Town, offering an authentic Czech ambiance, within. As we negotiate between the trams and the potholes in the road, we begin our 90 minute journey to Bratislava – oh hang on, better add another 30 minutes to that on the Czech roads! We know that before we can enter Slovakia, we need a Vignette – this covers road tax and tolls in Slovakia and is compulsory. We shake and bump our way along the motorway and stop at the first Vignette sign just before the border. We find a dilapidated building, that looks like something out of a horror film, to find it locked! There is another tiny building further back down the car park which we assumed was the WC’s, however, on further inspection this is where we purchase the Vignette! A grumpy lady murmuring ‘cash only’, EUR10 for 10 days and a blue sticker on our windscreen, and we are on our way again. As we cross the border there is no-one to be seen and within 5km the scenery and the road condition has changed! We are no longer driving over a herd of camels and the roadsides are densely populated with very tall pine trees. We drive into Bratislava and unlike many city centres, the drivers here are considerate and don’t drive like lunatics! We pass derelict buildings and graffiti in abundance, closely followed by the financial district with it’s high rise office towers housing companies such as Allianz, IBM and the National Bank of Slovakia. As we approach the Danube River, we spot our hotel – The Sheraton – which is located in a pedestrianised area within a new complex called Eurovea, which backs onto the Danube River. Our car is taken by concierge and we have been upgraded to a Junior Suite – thank you Sheraton! The room, as you would expect, is fantastic. Eurovea is a complex made up of 200 shops, restaurants and bars, which line the Danube – a very buzzy place. We wander through Eurovea, along the Danaube and in about 10-15 minutes we have reached the Old Town. One word…..beautiful. Full of architecture, buzzy restaurants, local artisans along cobbled streets, all overlooked by the stunning Bratislava Castle. Tours around the Old Town can be taken in a little red Presporacik OldTimer – look them up! We return to the Old Town in the evening and enjoy dinner in a restaurant called Primi, which describes itself as a City Lounge & Grill also serving Pizza. The menu appealed to us and it didn’t appear too busy, so we are directed down a spiral staircase where we are greeted with a large restaurant with tables outside in an enclosed garden and such a buzz! So deceiving and such a welcomed surprise – we instantly like it! Fantastic food and service, all for EUR25. We return at midnight and it’s back to our sweet sleeper bed at the Sheraton….one of the most comfortable beds I have ever slept in. Now it’s time for breakfast and then one last walk into the Old Town before we leave. As this is the home of cake, it would be rude not to have a coffee and sample the local delicacy at the famous Cafe Mayer! Bratislava is a definite winner in my book. Next stop…..Vienna! 
I flew from Paris to Prague with Air France – good airline? Yes, I’d say so. Despite paying less than an un-named UK budget airline, I received one free checked in bag AND free tea/coffee and pastry on my early morning flight, all served by a very charming French airline steward who went by the name of Pasacal. On arrival in Prague, I pick up some Czech Koruna’s, and then its off to collect the hire car. No sign of any desks inside the terminal building….of course, they are located about a 10 minute hike down the road in a separate building – this is my first encounter with poor signage in Czech Republic! Around 10 car hire desks in the building. I’ve hired with Budget, who have the longest queue – everyone else has nobody waiting. I guess this tells us they have the best deals? I collect my PINK hire car – thank you Budget, you know me too well – however, my husband is not all that amused. We embark on our journey from Prague to Brno in our pink car – the SatNav says 223km, mainly motorway, taking 2 hours…we thought easy….wrong! Our journey takes us 3 hours on motorway that has more lumps and bumps than a camel, and we soon discover that the hire car has a very squeaky seat! After 3 hours of lumps, bumps, potholes and cracks in the road, accompanied by the horrific noise of the road and our squeaky seat, we finally leave the motorway. Good news! The SatNav tells us its only 13km to our hotel. We bumble along listening very carefully to the SatNav directions, and then we see signs for our hotel. Our SatNav lady proceeds to tell us at the next junction turn left, but the signs say straight on….we decide to follow the signs. We enter a very pretty looking town with cobbled streets and then we lose the signs! Lesson one….don’t rely on the signs in Czech Republic…should have known this from our experience of wandering around Prague Airport looking for the car hire desks. We eventually find our hotel after another 30 minutes, which is located overlooking the fantastic Brno golf course. Our home for the next 2 nights is Hotel Kaskada – look it up, it’s unique to this area – it’s modern, clean, and despite our initial reaction that we would be living in a hut for 2 nights, it’s far from it! Rooms are modern, bright and airy with superb views of the golf course. The hotel has an indoor pool, spa and and a bowling alley! Our meal last night in the hotel was excellent, costing us 585 CZK, which is under £20 and included some lovely wine and beer. The hotel restaurant overlooks the golf course with stunning views and staff are extremely friendly. We spent the day at Brno Circuit yesterday watching the MotoGP cheering on our Brit rider, Cal Crutchlow…unfortunately, he lost control on lap 8 right in front of us, but he picked it up and carried on – well done Cal! We booked the hotel because it had a fairly good location close to the circuit…6km away….guess what, it took us half an hour to get there! What have I learnt….people are friendly, and nearly everyone speaks English, you get a lot for your money, road network is poor and it takes double, if not triple the amount of time to get anywhere, and expect a bumpy ride! Next stop Bratislava……….
Just dropped everyone off at Prague Airport for their flight to Paris, very sad to say goodbye but glad that they all had a great time. I want to thank them all for various contributions towards a most excellent trip and hope they have a safe journey, perhaps our paths will cross again some day but until then, STAY IN TOUCH! x
Fiona Wells – Tour Manager
Well we knew it couldnt last, we woke up this morning to discover the temperature had dropped about half and was now a chilly 12 degrees celsius. After unusually hot weather for this time of year for 11 days i suppose we couldn’t be too put out when the last 2 days were a little cold and drizzley! And so we soldiered on through the sightseeing making sure to stop for extra coffee and hot wine breaks throughout the day. First of all we set off up the hill to Prague castle to explore the grounds and to hear of the history from our guide Sofie. Within the grounds of the castle (the biggest ancient castle complex in the world) there is the majestic St Vitus Cathedral which stunned pretty much everyone in the group into silence with it’s vast gothic interior and huge stained glass windows. Following a coffee and cake break at the castle we descended the narrow cobbled path leading to the old town to explore the various crystal shops, traditional czech restaurants and to see the famous clock tower and it’s hourly performance.
Then shopping until it was time for dinner.
We had decided to experiment with taking a tram to the restaurant this evening which was all good in theory until a girl in a bar told me the wrong directions and i led everyone around in a big circle…..oh dear. Appetites worked up we arrived on time (amazingly) at the medieval czech restaurant where we were treated to a meal for champions and entertainment worthy of kings! A sword and fire dancer had been booked especially for our final dinner and caused much mirth with the group as a few of the gentlemen became very much involved with the female performer’s routine!
Speeches made, dancers danced, so much laughter laughed and we were all ready to retire to our rooms. A very succesful penultimate day.
Prague Castle
Vitus Cathedral
We were all dreading another long drive as everything in Eastern Europe seems quite far apart and there is only so much light entertainment that Coach FM (ie Mr Sunil Pai on the bus mic) can provide and so it was a huge relief that Bratislava was only around 2 hrs away! We met our guide in the classy cake shop Kaffee Mayer which apparently serves the best cakes in Slovakia and it didnt disappoint. Straight from there we embarked on a delightful walking tour of the main town area and even managed to book the majority of the group into a Slovakian Violin Concert in the Opera House later that evening. Bratislava is a cobblestoned delight of Venetian design combined with German style cleanliness. Speaking of delights, our hotel The Falkensteiner was INCREDIBLE, i’ve heard the gym even had an amazing view over the nearby Palace. I want to stay here forever.
Tomorrow…Prague!
brighthorizontravel 