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CKC2301 The Kings and Castles Tour

Monday, June 26, 2023 | Angela / Michael Stegmayr | Europe | 2 Comments

A visit to the Jewish quarter of Krakow

Cešký Krumlov

The view of the blue Danube from Maria Taferl.

At the Castle Schönbrunn

Visiting the city of Vienna

Vienna calling - not only the famous Austrian singer Falco loved Austria's Capital. We, too, want to go and explore this beautiful historical city.

Joanna and Eric from the United States of America and myself, on the day ahead of the start of our Kings and Castles Tour, took the time to walk and enjoy a selection of Vienna's highlights.

Its not a secret that Vienna is Austria's city of Music. There are statues of famous musicians and other people all over the place. Here is one of the famous musician Brahms.

As a matter of fact, we even got more out of our Vienna visit by starting our walk through the city already the evening before, after our dinner.
The nice cool breeze and a warm late evening sun made us not want to go back to our hotel rooms yet. So we went to see the Karls Church and the Belvedere Castle.

Inside the Karls Church

Castle Belvedere ...

... and the attached garden part

Joanne and Eric said the visit was the real treat after dinner

We wanted to learn the difference between a "regular" supermarket and a "high end" supermarket. So we went into the "elikatessen Julius Meinl". Among other things, though, these huge ostrich eggs caught our special attention.

It wouldn't have been a real visit of Vienna without having one of these yummy Sachertorte in the Café Sacher, would it?

Castle Schönbrunn

Joanne and Eric at the gardens of Castle Schönbrunn

At the Castle Schönbrunn, we also went to see the palm house and the desert house. This incredible plant easily can turn 1500 (!!) years old !!

Comparing different types of eggs

The palm house

After all this walking we have done so far, the three of us were quite happily taking the opportunity to sit down and relax for a few minutes under the palm trees.

Moving a palm tree from one place to another - even over large distances - still today is a challenge. Back in the days they were using this vehicle.

There were lots of other strange plants to be found between the palm trees.

Day 1 : from Vienna to Budweis

Maria Taferl - The village is the most important place of pilgrimage in Lower Austria and after Mariazell the most important place of pilgrimage in Austria.

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Crossing the Danube on a ferry is so much nicer than just taking a bridge .

The castle is known because the English king Richard the Lionheart, returning home from the Third Crusade, was imprisoned in Dürnstein or a side castle in knightly custody from December 1192 to March 1193 on the initiative of Duke Leopold V under Hadmar II and then handed over to the German Emperor Henry VI.

It's really fun to be on the road with such a great group.

Day 2 : from Budweis to Prague

Today we are leaving Budweis to make our way into Prague, the Czech capital city. We have also some highlights to see and visit along the way. Our first stop was the beautiful city of Ceske Krumlov. Probably the most well-kept medival city I know of.

The second half of the ride takes us through a large part of the remote area of the Bohemian forest before we take the faster roads into Prague.

The first view of the entrance gate into Cesky Krumlov

Walking through the small city makes you feel like you travelled right back into the medieval times

And of course, it is a constant up and down, which makes us sweating quite a bit

A rewarding view over Cesky Krumlov after the climb

The motorcycles are parked for lunch somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the Bohemian forest

The tour deserves its name - we are passing by a large number of castles. Maybe we will even find also a king

Day 3 : A rest day in Prag

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What a great view over Prague.

Prague is rightly one of the most beautiful cities in the world and this wonderful metropolis should definitely be discovered on the rest day.

Even then, you can only explore a fraction of the sights.

Zu Recht ist Prag eine der schönsten Städte der Welt und diese wunderbare Metropole sollte man unbedingt am Rasttag entdecken.

Selbst da kann man nur einen Bruchteil der Sehenswürdigkeiten erkunden.

Charles Bridge is an absolute must-see when staying in Prague.
Charles Bridge (Czech: Karlův most) is a historically significant bridge built in the 14th century over the Vltava River in Prague, connecting Prague's Old Town on the right bank with the Lesser Town on the left. It is the oldest preserved bridge over the northward flowing Vltava River and one of the oldest stone bridges in Europe.

A beer cellar from 1418, there you can feel the history with every sip of delicious beer.

Day 4 Prague - Dreden

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The bone house in Melnik: When the plague swept through Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, people quickly ran out of space to bury the victims. The remains of the dead of previous centuries were unearthed and stored in bones houses. Her in Melnik 10.000 - 15.000 people are stored.

Angela treated us to a sensational picnic lunch.

The Bastei is a rocky prominence overlooking the Elbe River.

View from the Bastei into the Elbe valley.

Day 5 : Our rest day in the city of Dresden

On the way to the world famous Frauenkirche we passed by our namesakes and later stopped there for lunch.
Other sights are "the Zwinger", the Semper Opera, the Taschenbergpalais, etc. etc.
Not for nothing Dresden is also called Elbe Florence.

Day 5 : The ride on the rest day in Dresden

On our rest day in Dresden it turns out that some people of the group want to visit the city and some prefer to go for the rest day's ride. It is a tough decision, as both options are very promising.

For the people who went on the ride, we got to see and visit the fascinating castle of Weesenstein. Later in the day we went to the village of Glashütte to visit the Museum of the watchmakers there.

What a beautiful ride it was!

Castle Weesenstein ...

... with its well taken care of gardens

The original castle was built in the mid 14th century. The part of the castle you can see here was added in the early 18th century. It is very impressive to see how well the building was fitted into the natural rock.

Inside, the castle had a very entertaining way to explain the history to the visitor.

Roland and Mary were fighting the invisible Knight

And the, there was the wooden horse, which was especially attractive for the men in our group

The three horsepower knights

Intense fights deserve an intense rest

The beautiful village of Glashütte in the Czech-German ore mountains

The German museum of the watchmakers

Inside the museum we found this very artful gigantic astronomical clock

And also this old TV set. It was really great to see. Same as the rest of the museum, which offers a very interesting design to the visitor.

And at the end of the day we finally found him ... King John (of Canada)

Day 6 : from Dresden to Lazne Belohrad

Today, we are leaving Germany again, returning back to Czech Republic for our next overnight stay. During the day, however, we will add a loop into Poland. Even though those countries are located right next to each other, you can tell the difference in culture almost as soon as you cross the borders. This is what makes Europe so interesting - even though we all live in a Union, each country has kept its wonderful character to it.

The city of Görlitz will be the border point for our short day visit to Poland. Soon after, already for lunch, we will cross back into Czech Republic.

The Giant Mountains (Riesengebirge) will be our riding playground for the afternoon. Another wonderful and warm day is about to start.

A comfortable coffee break in Görlitz

And also our lunch break in the Czech Republic gave us a nice cool down in the shade

Great rides through the Giant Mountains

And at the end of the day ...

... the boys got a boot beer and the ladies gathered for a massage circle

Some of us walked around the big pond next to the hotel and found some interesting wooden sculptures

Day 7 : from Lazne Belohrad to Stary Jicin

Day 8 : from Stary Jicin to Krakau

Day 9 : our rest day in Krakau

Once again, we have another rest day in another outstanding city - Krakau will host us for the next two nights.

While Roland and Gavin where going on a ride with Michael, Angela took Dave & Carol, Eric & Joanne, Aline and John to the Wieliczka Saltmines near the city of Krakow.

Back again in the afternoon some of us added a visit to the Jewish Quarter near the old town of Krakow.

A delicious dinner in one of the typical polish restaurants rounded up the fantastic time we spent here.

We learned a lot about this huge salt mine and its numerous sculptures and chambers. It is so big, we spent about 2.5 hrs walking around underground.