Czech Mates Diary

It's hot (29°C) and sunny when we arrive in the Czech Republic. Immigration is a shambles: there must be 1500 people queuing for passport control. When we finally get through, 45 minutes later, our luggage has already been taken off the conveyor belt and is waiting for us. Before leaving the airport, we arrange our accommodation for the last night of our holiday with the intention of avoiding the stress of looking for a hotel at short notice. Now we have to find our hire car. The car rental companies are located in one of the car park buildings and are not easy to find. Once there, the girl behind the counter speaks little English, appears never to have been outside Prague and is not very helpful. Finally we familiarise ourselves with the car, an Opel Corsa, and off we go, armed with only a small scale map.

Some years ago I discovered a book, mainly in Czech, about Konopiste Castle, which was the property of Archduke Franz Ferdinand d'Este, whose assassination in 1914 led to the Great (or First World) War. Noticing it is just south of Prague, we head towards it. There is only a signpost from the nearby main road, pointing to Konopiste village, which we follow. Very soon, we turn into a car park, lined with a wide variety of souvenir shops, restaurants etc. There are a few cars and coaches, otherwise it is very quiet, probably only busy at weekends.

The castle itself is poorly signposted and we reach it via a steep forest track, emerging behind the castle. We first see a bear pit in the moat, where two black bears are supposedly being bred; we see one bear, which appears to be in perhaps a little distress, possibly due to the heat or confinement. We make our way round to the castle entrance and book places on a 40 minute guided tour. There are three tours available to different parts of the castle, costing Kc 130 (£3/$5) each; ours is in German as the next one in English will be too late for us.

The castle was originally built in the 13th century but has been modified and restored several times. We are first taken to the hunting trophy area. The Archduke was a tireless hunter: the castle contains the heads and trophies of 3000 animals and birds killed by Franz Ferdinand, including deer, foxes, bears, eagles, even tigers (on a visit to India); this figure reputedly represents just one per cent of the 300,000 he actually killed!

The tour moves on through beautiful state apartments, with fine ceilings, furniture, chandeliers (one weighing 300 kg), stoves and other collections made by the Archduke. After his death at the age of 51, his family, unable to speak Czech, left the country for various parts of the world, so the castle was given to the state in 1921 and left as it was in the time of the Archduke. Two of the last visitors were Kaiser Wilhelm II and Admiral Tirpitz, and the apartments they used now bear their names.

Around 2.30pm, we leave. The roads are generally very rough - we are travelling on country roads - but the rolling landscapes are very beautiful. We drive east through many small and larger towns, including one with a large castle (Kámen) and the attractive town of Jihiava, which has complete castle walls. We stop briefly for refreshments then continue in search of somewhere to spend the night. It's not too easy, but a roadside sign leads us to a tiny village with a couple of penzions. We book into one, which seems to have few visitors let alone foreign tourists, but we have a superb basic room for Kc 560 (£12 / $20). We have a good meal in the restaurant, two courses with drinks for £5 / $8. Outside the Prague area, few people speak English. German is widely spoken and we can converse with people in German or some odd words of Czech.

Friday. There is a great storm in the early hours and the day is mostly rainy. We continue to drive east along country roads, increasingly poorly maintained, with many holes. We are heading into a poorer area, where houses, signs etc are in a bad state of repair. We stop first in Prostejov and walk around the main square. All Czech towns seem to have a central square which is the best maintained area, with the town hall, main buildings, church etc, with fine architecture, statues and shops.

Our next stop is in Kromeriz, another beautiful town with numerous places of interest, including a Bishops' Castle, adjacent to the main square. But rain makes sightseeing unpleasant and we continue east to Roznov pod Radhostem, where we will spend the next three nights. We first call on our friend, Alena, who lives in this town. I met Alena through a group within Mensa, which has the common interest of collecting or exchanging postcards. Occasionally members of this group host a "Divan", open to other members of the group, who can join and either make their bed on a divan or the floor, or seek accommodation nearby. We opted for the latter, and check into our hotel, the Energetik, which is obviously an old hotel in need of considerable restoration. The plumbing is certainly antique; the window frames probably date from the 1930s and the electrics not much younger! We have a comfortable room, but the hot water is barely lukewarm. It appears that only three of the rooms are occupied. We dine in a restaurant opposite the hotel, to the accompaniment of live music from dancing musicians in traditional costume.

Saturday. Two more members of our group have arrived now. Altogether there are eight of us, six nationalities; the hostess, Alena, who has always lived in this Czech town; Mukke from Denmark; us from England; Rudi (who founded this Mensa group some 20 years ago and has made many friends through it) and his wife Doris, who come from Austria, although work takes them to many parts of the world - they got married on 1 January 2000, three days after us - Gunther from Germany; and Nick, an American now living near Prague.

We meet at Alena's house, from where we walk to the town's Wallachian open air museum, Europe's oldest, dating from 1925. There are three parts to the museum and entrance to all three costs Kc 120 (£3/$5). Numerous old wooden farms and cottages were brought here from the surrounding area and restored. The museum also preserves many old traditions e.g. bell making, wood handicrafts, weaving, music and dancing. The museum is crowded, probably because it is Saturday and the start of the summer holidays. Beside the wooden church are several graves, including that of Olympic athlete Emil Zatopek. The family of tennis player Martina Hingis also comes from this region. Around lunchtime we have to dodge some showers, but the afternoon becomes hot and sunny as we climb a hillside studded with more traditional wooden buildings, most of which may be entered.

Sunday. lt's hot and sunny today. We spend much of the morning writing postcards so that absent members of our group can receive one with all our signatures. Towards lunchtime we all drive off to Kromeriz, where after lunch we have a guided tour of the Bishops' Castle (entrance Kc 120), originally founded in 1260; in 1643 during the 30 Years War the town and castle were destroyed by the Swedes, so the castle was rebuilt. It was owned by bishops, later archbishops, whose pictures adorn some of the walls of the apartments. The first room is the Hunting Room, with models of trophies of the animals killed in the surrounding forests, also owned by the bishops. The tour of the rooms on two floors is in Czech, but visitors may ask for a leaflet in German or English. The tour is protracted as the guide seems to be reciting a guidebook word for word.

Parliament was held here in 1848 during a revolution in Vienna. The great hall, which is two storeys high, was used for parliamentary sessions; it is now used for chamber music concerts. In this hall, the guide begins singing the Czech national anthem, which the other Czechs among us join in. In 1666 the bishops founded a mint here, and the library contains copies of some of the coins. This castle was also used for filming parts of Amadeus.

Monday. It's hot and sunny as we leave Roznov at 10 am. Before us is a long drive and we will have to find our hotel, which is closer to the centre of Prague than we would have desired. The thought of driving in Prague is terrifying. We plan to visit a town called Kutna-Hora on the way, but a detour and lack of signs mean we miss the required road, stopping briefly in a smaller town called Chiumec nad Cidlinou. We enter Prague at 4.30pm in fairly heavy traffic. Good fortune and a good sense of direction mean that we find our way to the hotel Jasmin, which is in a side street, with the help of a local shopkeeper, arriving at 5pm.

After freshening up - hot water this time! - we head into the city centre by bus (four stops) and Metro (7 stops). A travel ticket costs Kc 12 (25p/40c) and is valid for any combination of bus, tram and metro travel within 60 minutes. We were in Prague last year, but it's such a splendid city that one can never grow tired of it. We pass the Powder Gate, through the Old Town Square with the Astronomical Clock, and reach the Charles Bridge, probably the most romantic place we know, with the sun setting behind the Hradcany Castle across the bridge. Prague seems to be a different country from the rest of the Czech Republic. There are crowds everywhere, many languages are spoken and prices are around three times those in other parts of the Republic. Even so, we have a superb meal overlooking the River Vltava by Charles Bridge for the total of less than Kc 600 (£14 / $20) for two, including drinks. Shops are still busy past 9.30pm. After some final souvenir shopping, we return to the hotel by metro and bus.

First published in VISA issue 47 (autumn 2002).