Bezděz
The Bezděz Castle was the best! This is the first one I have seen that assimilates to what I had imagine a castle would look like. The building has been there for centuries, since the 1200's, is in ruins, is atop a mountain, the view of the landscape is great, and inside there is an air that gives a feeling of what life probably was like to the last day the castle was in use.
There are large fields of brassica flowers surounding the area where the castle is located. From beneth, on the mountain skirts, the small town feels even smaller at the sight of the castle above. One can only imagine Wenceslas II looking down to his domains, and descending to relax and hunt in the forest. This guy was the boss of the Bohemian Kingdom and Poland from age 7! Guess pre-K was just too easy.
The way to the top of the mountain is fascinating. Entering the town, there is a small beer patio, where a nice old lady sells Kozel beer, and sausages that are clearly unhealthy, but tasty : ) This beer is now at the top of my list of heavenly tasty Czech beers, on second place right bellow Pilsner Urquell.
Back to the road, there is a stone gate, still standing from way too long ago. The stone steps go around the slope of the mountain, and one can only imagine why it was needed to have a well stocked castle with food and board games! Along the path there are large structures with the Stations of the Cross from the 1700's when the castle was turned into a monastery.
I liked the simplicity of the castle. The large heavy brown and black gate is not that old, but it is cool and looks like those in the movies! Passing a large well at one extreme of the court yard there are the spiral steps leading to the top of the main tower, and the view is breath taking. The view from the highest point in the castle goes as far as the eye can see. The King came up here from time to time to have a nice look of his Kingdom.
About 8km northwest there is the small town of Doksy (1200's). Getting there is part of the adventure. One can take two trains, but that is long and not as interesting. Instead, walking through the forest is better, and it only takes about 1 hour. Here, the king came to hunt, and people from town cut trees in preparation for the bitter winter. Now there are roads where bikers and joggers exercise, but back then it was trees and more trees, and one could find himself takin the last breath before facing a fatal sward. Now the worse one can face is dog poop.
In Doksy, there is a small square, and about a mile from there there is the train station next to Lake Mácha. There is a beach, and a nice view of the castle. This is a great trip if one is to see a castle in the Czech Republic, one of so many still avaiable to discover.
Vienna
In an attempt to save money and time, we had a short trip in Vienna. We were actually going to Bratislava, one hour away, and it was not that expensive to include a stop. So, we took the morning bus and arrived at 5:00 am. It was dark, and no people around. At 6:00 we found a small cafe shop and there we made the plan to visit Vienna.
In total we walked around and stop at different cafes from 6:00 am to 4:00 pm. It was Saturday, and a very unlively morning... duh! it was too early to see any action on a weekend! Good thing is that the architekture of the city is impressive. It reminds me of some buildings in Berlin, with large spaces and nice green areas, super sized statues, dramatic stone buildings, colors in gray, black and beige, and a nice collection of Gothic and Baroque buildings.
Around noon it got more active, and after a long walk it was a good time to stop for another coffee and bisquets. In front of City Hall, at Rathausepark there was an Austrian Fest. People from different regions of the country came together to celebrate their traditions. They weared traditional customes, played fold music, and participated in old celebrations while drinking Austrian wine and eating sausages.
They were having a lot of fun doing their thing. One group of tipsy guys were playing a game where you hammer a nail in one blow into a tree trunk - and the drunker you are, the more fun it is! There were also many music groups and dance groups, all showing the folklore of their towns.
What I really like is how they were enjoying their fest, their music, traditional dances, costumes, food, beer, wine, coffee... it is really a lot of fun. And even some people who were not participating in the programmed events came in traditional costumes to show what is traditional in their regions. In the video above, the same dance can have different themes, many related to the life in the country side.
Photo album