Tag Archives: Klatovy

Travel Flashback: Bavaria and Bohemia 1999 (Part 2)

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

In 1999, Klatovy was not the most obvious choice for our first destination in the Czech Republic. Even now, with a population of just 22,000, not too many people have it on their travel radar. But I thought it might make a gentle introduction, as it was not very far from the German border. It wasn’t just close to Germany…it is also known as Klattau, and many of the surnames in the area are clearly German in origin (our inn was run by the Hauptmann family).

The Municipal Building in Klatovy, Czech Republic

I took a LOT of pictures of Klatovy’s main square (náměstí Míru), because it was just so photogenic. One of those appears at the very top of this post. But we enjoyed other aspects of the town too. Klatovy was where we first enjoyed Knedlíky (boiled dumplings), and also hosted the first store in which I saw Ukrainian champagne. After a couple of days here, we were ready to move deeper into the Czech Republic.

Katedrála svatého Bartoloměje, in Plzeň, Czech Republic. Note tourists on the deck above the clock. That’s where I took my photos

Our next destination was Plzeň, a considerably larger city on the way to Prague. LIke Klatovy, Plzeň also has a German name (Pilsen)…after which Pilsener beer was named. The highly respected Pilsner Urquell beer is from here. Alas, our accommodation in Plzeň (a cross between a hostel and a budget hotel) won a different kind of recognition from us: due to the openly hostile service and lack of cleaning, we declared it the inaugural winner of the Anti-Tourist Awards (a shortened form of the actual name!). It really was a letdown after our fine accommodations in Klatovy,

Climbing the Katedrála svatého Bartoloměje in Plzeň, Czech Republic.

Many of my photographs in Plzeň were taken from the top of Katedrála svatého Bartoloměje (St. Bartholomew’s Cathedral), located in the absolute centre of the city. As you can see from the photo above, it required a steep and narrow ascent with very low ceilings. It was worth it in the end, however, as the 46 m high tower afforded some great views.

View from the top of Katedrála svatého Bartoloměje, in Plzeň, Czech Republic.

Although parts of Plzeň were a little rough around the edges back then, we still found some cool places to visit. I stumbled across the hockey arena, which foreshadowed a subsequent part of our trip, and my friend found a spectacular wine shop. Although it has a fine history of beermaking, the Czech Republic also takes winemaking very seriously. Once again, this foreshadowed something we would return to later.

Another vertiginous view from the top of Katedrála svatého Bartoloměje, in Plzeň, Czech Republic

We also found a very ornate synagogue, which turned out to be the second largest one in Europe. It had been restored only in 1998, after being closed in 1973. The Plzeň Jewish community had numbered about 2,000 when the synagogue was completed in 1892, but now numbers only about 70. Part of the synagogue is once again used for worship.

Velká synagoga (Great Synagogue) in Plzeň, Czech Republic…it’s the second largest in Europe.

After Plzeň, we were ready for our biggest challenge yet: Prague, the legendary capital of both Bohemia and the Czech Republic. Would it live up to its advance billing? Stay tuned!

Travel Flashback: Bavaria and Bohemia 1999 (Part 1)

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

Yesterday, I discovered a long-lost treasure: a photo album I assembled right after returning from my October 1999 trip to Bavaria (Germany) and Bohemia (Czech Republic). I’ve decided to prepare a few “Travel Flashback” posts for this special trip from a very different time.

Neues Rathaus (New City Hall) on the Marienplatz in Munich, Germany

I wasn’t alone: my friend Trevor was willing to join me on this exciting adventure. As flights to and from Germany were considerably cheaper than flying direct to Prague, we decided to fly into Munich…and back home from Frankfurt. In between, the focus of the trip would be the newly independent Czech Republic. This would be my first sustained trip behind the former Iron Curtain: other than 3 days in Hungary in 1991 (and a couple of hours in Yugoslavia on that same 1991 trip), Eastern Europe was still largely unknown to me.

Munich’s Olympiastadion, as seen from Olympiapark (there’s a soccer game between Germany and Turkey in the stadium)

To begin, however, we had a couple of days in Germany to acclimatize ourselves. In retrospect, this was a great idea: when stepping outside of your comfort zone, it’s a good idea to take baby steps at the beginning. I could survive in the German language, and I had been in Germany many times before. It seems strange to talk about culture shock in the Czech Republic now (here’s a link to the start of my posts from a 2014 trip), but back then it was still emerging as a travel destination and few of my friends and family had been there.

Neuhauserstrasse (Munich, Germany)

Alas, our brief stay in Munich was plagued by fairly grim weather. The old city is beautiful, as you would expect, and not even the wet/overcast weather could obscure that. You’d think that October would be a great time to visit, given that Munich is the home of Oktoberfest. Well, Oktoberfest actually ended the week before we arrived. The various pavilions (and they are indeed massive) were still there, but they were empty and abandoned. On the plus side, this explains why the accommodation costs were quite low and the various other attractions in the city were not very busy.

The Paulaner pavilion, on the Oktoberfest grounds in Munich, Germany

In addition to the medieval city centre and the Oktoberfest site at Theresienwiese, we saw the impressive Deutsches Museum, the Olympiaturm (Olympic Tower), the BMW headquarters…all the things one should properly see when visiting Munich. But we also knew this was only an amuse-bouche.

Another Oktoberfest pavilion in Munich, Germany.

On the morning of October 11, 1999, we took a regional train from Munich to Plattling, in deepest Bavaria. In Plattling, we hopped on an even more regional train to Bayerisch Eisenstein: a small village right on the Czech border. In fact, the border runs right through the train station. We walked across the border, technically now in the Czech village of Železná Ruda, and hopped on the “regionalest” of all trains to our first Czech destination: Klatovy.

This was the train that we took to Klatovy, Czech Republic. Taken at Klatovy’s train station (October 11, 1999).

Stay tuned for my first immersion into the Czech Republic!