Monday, 5 May 2014
STN-BRQ
I got up and performed prayers at 3 and
settled back down in my seat. At 5, I got up and left the prayer room. Joined
the bag drop off queue. My line had to be the slowest of them all of course.
Bought some sandwich for early breakfast before clearing security.
Our flight took off on time and I slept
for 90 minutes. We landed at Brno at 10:30 and after collecting my bag, I went
to change money, just enough to buy a bus ticket with some change for a meal
and my room. The bus came at 11:07 and took 20 minutes to get to the train
station. I walked up to find my hostel at Minoritská and after pressing the bell
many times, followed a postwoman into the building. Located the hostel and the
owners had arrived by then.
After depositing my bag and paying for
my room, I stayed for a bit for prayers before checking out the city. Brno is
the second largest city in the Czech Republic but it was nowhere as big as
Praha. Armed with a map I took at the airport, I went to explore the city.
There are many beautiful buildings in the city. I noticed some gypsies at the
station (when I went to find out the train times to my next destination) and
lots of stalls selling kebab (not sure if they were halal). I did find a halal
kebab stall - I asked - and a bio-organic restaurant. There are quite a few
Oriental restaurants in the city centre too.
I returned to my room to check how much
of the local currency I would need before going out again to change. I then
went back to the train station and bought a train ticket for my next
destination. As I’d covered quite a bit of the city, I decided to take the
first train out the next morning, departing at 07:20.
Dinner was had at the bio-organic
restaurant, Rebio Sun at Provozovna Orli 26. It served organic vegetarian food
and I wanted to sample what they had to offer.
Most of the shops close at 6 pm so by
7, the city was half-dead. I returned to my room to rest.
Tuesday, 6 May 2014
Woke up for morning prayers and got
ready to leave. Left at 7 (of course I would have a tummy upset just before I
left!) and walked to the station. After asking at the customer service for the
platform, I made my way there and got on the train. The train left Brno at 07:20
sharp and we made our way into the Czech countryside, stopping at the
occasional town station. We passed small towns, winding rivers, forests with
towering pine trees, fields of rapeseeds, lakes... The Czech Republic is really
beautiful. The train was barely full, more empty than full in fact so I sat
down comfortably and watched the landscape and time pass by.
We arrived at České Budějovice at 1147.
I got down the train and asked for directions to the bus station. If you leave
the station, turn to your left and you see Mercury Centrum. Walk down the
underpass to Mercury Centrum and the bus station is on the second floor.
I took the 1220 bus ran by Student
Agency to Český Krumlov. It cost me 40 Kc. The journey took about 35 minutes.
At Český Krumlov, I got down at the second (final bus stop) and walked to my
hostel. It’s all cobble streets and oh how I hate them! Fortunately, the view
helped.
I reached the hostel at 1330 (it was
because I stopped every few metres to take in the view) and checked in. Paid
for my room (250 Kc/night or €10) and after prayers and a light meal, went out
to explore. I walked through the narrow winding streets, checked out alleys and
finally went across to the castle. At first I was reluctant to, thinking I
should save it for the next day but when I passed and saw it was still opened,
I thought why not now and went in. I even went to the castle garden (nothing
much, no flowers in bloom yet) before making my way out.
After buying souvenirs from a shop near
the castle, I made my way back to the hostel, stopping at two supermarkets
(both ran by Asians, the second ran by Vietnamese) on the way to pick
provisions.
Wednesday, 7 May 2014
I was woken up by my fellow hostellers
who came back after 2 am. Woke up myself shortly after for morning prayers
before going back to sleep. When I woke up at 8, it was grey and dull outside.
I thought it was because the sun hadn’t broken through but when I checked, I
was surprised to find it was drizzling! Well, well, well. What a good thing I decided
to push myself and explore the town the day before including the castle for the
lighting today would be poor for sure.
I left after 10 and make my way to the
town square. A few brave souls were there. I asked for the bus timetable to
České Budějovice from the tourist information office and decided to take the 12:00
bus there. I left the tourist office and wandered around, looking for crystal
jewellery. The Czech Republic produces fine crystal products including
jewellery, porcelain crockery, wooden items and glass products. I ended up at
the shop where I bought magnets the day before and the Bulgarian shopkeeper
told me he’d give me 10% discount on everything. I asked if I could pay in
Euros, he said yes. Told him I’d be back later in the day and left.
I hurried back to my room to get some
Euros and walked to the bus station. I reached the bus station in time to board
the bus to České Budějovice. This time, the fare only cost me 32 Kc (the
Student Agency bus would cost 40 Kc).
We reached a wet České Budějovice 40
minutes later and I walked to the town centre. It started raining again when I
was half-way there. I stopped at the tourist information office to get a town
map before exploring it. The weather however wasn’t at all encouraging and
dampened my spirits slightly. It didn’t take long to finish the compact town
centre. Before leaving, I went around the massive town square.
I stopped at a Doner Kebab restaurant I
saw earlier and had a vegetarian tortilla falafel. The Muslim chap working
there couldn’t confirm if the meat was halal (he knew they obtained it from
Germany) so to be safe, I ordered vegetarian. I surprised myself by finishing
the whole thing.
I returned to Mercury Centrum and
waited for my 15:55 bus back to Český Krumlov. I stopped at the first bus stop
and walked to the souvenir shop to buy crystal necklaces before returning to my
room. I stayed in the rest of the evening.
Thursday, 8 May 2014
I couldn’t sleep after morning prayers
and only dozed off after 4. Woke again at 06:30 and got ready. Had breakfast and
carried my suitcase down the perilous staircase. I had ordered a passage on CK
Shuttle. It cost 800 Kc or €32. I had paid a deposit earlier and had to pay 500
Kc in balance. We left after 8 as the Japanese girl who rode with me thought
she left her coin purse at her hotel and we went back for her to get it. Turned
out it was in her bag all along...
We drove winding country roads passing
the Vltava, lakes, fields, pine forests and towns and crossed into Austria 45
minutes after we left. It was cloudy with the occasional drizzle. We stopped at
BP pump station at some R&R before continuing on and reached Salzburg at
1030. Not bad. The journey time was supposed to be about 3 hours.
I went to study the airport bus
timetable at the bus station before making my way to my hotel.
After checking in and paying for my room, I studied
the city map while having a snack. I left at 12:05 and walked to the downtown
area. It was alternately drizzling and dry and I didn’t really enjoy it. And
besides, after Český Krumlov, I found Salzburg a tad
underwhelming and disappointing. And everything was so darn expensive. I left
at around 5 and walked back to my pension. I ventured again at 7 pm and guess
what, the sun was out in full force then. Walked to a nearby supermarket and
bought some food for dinner.
To be continued
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