Hluboka nad Vltavou to Cesky Krumlov, 27.2 miles (44 km), 2 hours 53 minutes, 1532 feet (467 m) of elevation (climbing).
Finally, we get an easy-ish day with fewer miles and a mostly flat ride, as you can see from the elevation chart. Unfortunately, the hard part started mid-way with some climbs and eventually a very nerve-wracking descent down to the old city, where we were staying.
Roughly ten miles out from Hluboka, we went through the city of Ceske Budejovice. I bring this up because it had a huge impact on US culture. It is technically the birthplace of Budweiser Beer, in its original form. This is relevant to our family because my brother-in-law, bless his heart, is a hard-core Budweiser beer and Budweiser memorabilia nut. We mock him because we are IPA craft beer type of people. I would have liked a day there to see the Budweiser touristy things but alas, we were just passing through. I had to get a photo of the "Budweiser Hotel for my brother-in-law and I thought that other building was really cool. The photo rendering does not do it justice:
We also made a brief stop at an abbey along the way that we did not pay to tour, given our time constraints. We met some tourists from Austria at the abbey and one of them spoke English. They were very curious about our bicycle and one of them asked questions about it.
The interesting thing about being in a foreign country where no one spoke our language was that I yearned to run into people who I could speak to and understand, and who could understand me. I did not realize how mentally draining a communication barrier really was. At every encounter I was constantly thinking of ways to convey what I was trying to communicate (without having to drag out my phone and use Google Translate because that can be a pain and I get impatient.) Every time I came across a sign, my brain would automatically try to read it and interpret what it meant, even though it truly could not. It's mentally tiring when it is constant. Not having to struggle to communicate with another person, those times it happened, was a blessing and a mental break. I actually made it a point to talk to anyone along the way who spoke English on this tour and was very grateful for every single person we came across that spoke English or who made a valiant attempt. When the local people spoke some English timidly, I would actually compliment them on their English skills whether they were great or not. We were very grateful for their efforts. I speak some French but that is it. I tried using it once in Vienna with some Italian tourists (interesting story to come later in the blog) but with no success.
Cesky Krumlov was a complete surprise. I loved our stay there so much that it was the one place I wish we could have spent an extra day. We were greeted upon our arrival by this awesome medieval castle wall/gate into the city. It was awe-inspiring. We rode into the old city through that gate:
Since this was one of my favorite places, I think it deserves its own blog post. We did a lot of exploring that afternoon and early evening and I didn't want that to be just a footnote to this post.
As always, you can view more photos of our tour on Instagram under the handle 7th_decade_redhead.
If you would like to read more about our three week-long bicycle tour starting in Prague, Czech Republic and ending in Budapest, Hungary, here are the links to our entire adventure:
Day Zero in Prague (Weather or not I wanted to)
Day One.... The Hills are Alive .... and I am not
Day Two....Vistas and Grocery Stores (and an angry cashier)
Day Three.... Are we Hiking or Cycling? (Today it was hard to tell....)
Day Four.....My Favorite Place on the Entire Tour (and a nod to the Beer of Kings along the way)
Day Four and a Half (I couldn't do it justice in one post)
Day 5 ...... Will This Day Ever End???
Day Six... Pausing in Passau (AKA This is the way we wash our clothes.....I think....)
Day Seven - Off down the Danube (If we'd only had that meeting.....)
Day Eight - We needed a day like today.....
Day Ten Cycling the Danube - Cloudy With a Shot of Melk
Day Eleven Cycling the Danube... A rare short mileage day!
Day Twelve Cycling the Danube - Aahhhh Vienna!!!
Day 13 - Our Day in Vienna (It's not supposed to be this HOT)
Day 14: Vienna to Petronell-Carnuntum (Apparently, I can speak some Italian.....)
Day 15 Petronell-Carnuntum, Austria to Bratislava, Slovakia (Rain and broken Chain...)
Day 16 Bratislava, Slovakia to Gyor, Hungary (There's a snake in the grass....)
Day 18: Komarno, Slovakia to Esztergom, Hungary (A tense tummy and a tense moment......)
Day 19: Esztergom to Budapest, Hungary (A long ride for the last day)
Day 20: A Day in Budapest (We had to see the last of the "Stevens/Stephens")
