a word to the wise: i got more and more excited about my camera as the trip wore on, so there are more and more pictures. i'm trying to restrain myself, but ...
i didn't have food with me, but i did admire the apples along the way.
shortly after setting out, i entered the national park.
where i went down and down and down a steep hill in the forest until i came to this great little suspension bridge
and then found myself at sobes, an ancient vineyard that makes white wines, right in the middle of a national forest that's famous for its snakes and other creepy crawly things. there was a whole crowd of people tasting wine at 10 am. here's a beautiful picture of it in wintertime.
and while the river and bridge was beautiful, the climb back out ... was tough.
stopping to read the visitors regulations gave me a nice break and a nice laugh
those unleashed dogs, always needing to be frisked. who knows what they might bring in.i admit it took me a couple tries to figure out which way to go here, on the other side of the national park:
but once i did i found myself in the woods whizzing by these AMAZING BUNKERS! when i realized i was in fact on the iron curtain.
i was heading (uphill and upwind) towards cizov, population 300, where the last remaining bit of the iron curtain fence still stands.
today reminded me a lot of the rocky mountains - high altitude meadows (ha! at 300 meters!), wildflowers, pine trees, and big clouds in the sky.
a tagalong:
me, going uphill. again.
drumroll ..... the iron curtain!
everyone thought i was crazy for taking these pictures, but they had really cool bike racks.
in cizov, looking to austria
the other thing there was in cizov was a great little interpretive center, which actually was more about the flora and fauna than anything else - reminded me very much of little nature centers in the u.s., with lots of stuffed animals and displays with rocks and things. but it had one of the most amazing kids' stories ever, linking the habitat of the praying mantis to ecosystems theory and geopolitics. (does anyone know what happened in september 1956? i can only find reference to multilateral trade agreements, which maybe is the relevant event, but maybe not.) anyway, i'll do a separate post with that book.
after cizov i cycled down to a resort lake, with what looked like vacation homes
a really cool pedestrian bridge and threatening rain.
i still didn't have a raincoat, having passed up several chances to buy one in berlin and prague ... but don't worry, there was a bustling tourist trade here in town where i bought a $15 sweatshirt (hey! where is that sweatshirt now?!?) from a vietnamese proprietor. did you know that there are immigrant workers in czech republic from vietnam and cuba? me neither. $15 doesn't sound like a lot, but keep in mind that's what i paid for lodging that night. anyway, it seems it was enough to propitiate the rain gods.
just on the other side of town was a beautiful castle. i sat on the side of the road and ate lunch (leftovers i snagged from breakfast)
and then realized that, yes, i was going up that hill. here's the back side of the castle. i love the little metal guy on the main tower.
proof! i have no idea what that weird thing on my forehead is.
and i kept climbing. you can see the very tip of the castle turret there behind me. doesn't look like such a deep canyon from this angle, does it?
through a cute little town with public art, around the time i'm realizing there's no way in hell i'm making it to slavonice, my intended destination.
i took the first penzion i saw - they were pretty scarce here - a few little towns later. the sign on the near edge of town was very promising (and they even have a website!)
but the experience was completely surreal. up on a hill on the far side of a tiny town, the penzion is in an old barracks-type building that was almost completely deserted.
luckily someone else was going in at the same time who showed me where to go, because there were no clues here
down a side hallway, through 2 doors, there was a little bar in the back with 3 bedraggled men drinking and watching tv. they were quite surprised to see me. i was definitely the only customer that night, though i did manage to sneak a look at the guest list and see they'd had another customer only 3 nights before. the man, who turned out to be nice but didn't speak any english (and his german was worse than mine!), turned on the hot water heater for me and showed me a room at the far end of the hallway. it was all clean, but felt like the shining a little - ok, a lot.
it was only 4 pm and i was ready for bed ... but instead i got to explore a really cool castle, in the process of being renovated. it was neat to see what they looked like before gads of money is poured back into them.
i wonder who lives here?
a young goose made friends
the countryside was gorgeous, reminding me of the rolling hills of the palouse.
there was one tiny restaurant in town, a pub i wish i could have taken pictures of. a bell rang on the door when i walked in; a couple, one the waitress/proprietor, was sitting in the corner watching a soap opera in czech; a glassy-eyed drunk man ogled me (and later other women); each table had a flyswatter, and i soon found out why; there was a complete bear skin, with a gun hanging across it, on the wall, along with many other animal heads. there was no menu, but i asked (via my phrasebook) for a food recommendation, and i got an actually pretty good goulash (i'm not sure i would have had a choice had i spoken more czech, anyway) and beer. the place started filling with all 9 of the local residents by about 7, who mostly were gathering to talk and drink - men at one table, women at another. i had the feeling i was in someone's regular spot, and they were running out of tables, but no one sat with me. i was exhausted from all the hills, and grateful there was nothing else in town to do but go to bed, very alone in the hotel, where i slept from 8-7!
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