Year Abroad - Olomouc Part 3

After almost 2 months in Czechland I finally had my first "YAY I LOVE OLOMOUC" moment yesterday, which I think you'll remember I had quite a few times about Heidelberg (see my goodbye Heidelberg blog for details...). I was on a run (I know, me + running = hilarious image) and as I had left it so late in the day, it happened to be as the sun was setting at the end of a really warm and lovely day, and as I turned to head back to my halls, I got a spectacular view of an evening sunlit Olomouc with the huge Jeseniky mountains in the background - which you don't get to see very often. Such a beautiful view to round off a fab day! I think it's safe to say I have finally settled in here.

I have even been speaking some Czech, and it might actually be improving, even if it is at a snails pace! Hopefully with 2 months left to go I should be chatting away in no time.. ha ha ha...

Anyway, it hasn't all just been teaching and learning Czech, I've been on some adventures lately too! Here are the latest places I have visited, with some hints on what to do if you find yourselves at any of them :)

Litovel

The Gymnazium at Litovel

One Saturday morning we woke up bright and early and decided to make the slightly fiddly journey to the castle of Bouzov, which took us via the small town of Litovel. According to my travel guide, Litovel is named the "Venice of the Hana region" with six streams of the river Morava flowing through it, so we were all pretty excited, and had some high hopes for it! Sadly it did let us down somewhat... We were already on something less than top form, due to an incredibly misleading weather forecast telling us it would be 20 degrees, when in fact it didn't get higher than 12 degrees the whole day. I, for one, was more than a little under dressed for 12 degrees and rain... But we powered through!

The column in Litovel town square

In Litovel we decided to hunt out something resembling sights, and came across the town's Gymnazium (grammar school) which had it's own lake and was actually pretty impressive!
Other than the Gymnazium, the town had a pretty town square with, of course, a column to ward off any plagues/bad things which might come to attack the town.
Sadly I can't really recommend Litovel as a great place to visit as there really wasn't a lot to see, but maybe if you are just on your way through and have half an hour to spare then check out the Gymnazium, oh and also in the play park by the old town walls there is a great zip wire, which we did spent about 20 minutes playing on.. That I can recommend... ;)






Bouzov

                                          

                                               A slightly grainy view from the bus

Trying out the local fashion

After Litovel we caught a bus to Bouzov, which is a minuscule village nestled among pretty rolling hills with a huge and amazing fairy tale castle! The bus dropped us off at the foot of the hill of the castle, and on the short walk up to the top we had the chance to try on some classic castle gear, test out their weapons, hold owls, oh and also buy some post cards - all pretty standard! Sadly I didn't get to actually hold an owl so there's no pics of that... but I did try on a rather splendid helmet! (You can't tell just how frozen I am in the photo...)

Inside the castle

When we finally made it to the castle after all of the distractions on the way we had to find our way around a slightly complicated ticket system with a lady who only spoke Czech (damn), but eventually we figured it out and were in! I literally felt like a princess the whole time we were having a tour around the castle, with all the tapestries and shiny things and huge fireplaces (except princesses would never be so cold) so it was definitely worth the journey/confusion in the end!
It had all sorts of curious passageways and towers and balconies making it a really interesting place to visit! I am hoping to maybe go back there in the summer when it is warmer because there was also a lovely park to be explored as well, but we were really too cold to do it...
Definitely worth a visit, but don't rely on public transport to get you there if you do! From Olomouc it is only 32 minutes by car, but by train/bus it took us 2 and a half hours... but if you have the patience/enough clothes then visit it :D and feel like a princess for a bit ;)

Šternberk 

On the Saturday I took a trip to the nearby town of Šternberk, where, according to my (now slightly untrustworthy travel guide) there is a beautiful castle which is really worth visiting. So I rocked up to the train station after a short 20 minute journey, with the usual plan in mind - follow the signs to the centre. On previous trips I had been super keen and prepared with screenshots of the way to the centre on my iPad, ready and waiting to lead the way, but after not needing the maps the last few times I just decided to wing it and follow the signs. The only problem: there were no signs... No offence to my Czech friends, but the sign system here does seem a bit dodgy, with them often pointing you in the exact opposite direction of where you need to go! With no signs and no map there was only thing left to do - follow the crowd ;D This worked to some extent, in that I did make it slightly nearer to the centre of town and then to my excitement I spotted a sign actually to the castle, YAY! So off I went following the friendly sign down a hill, a little confused because I still couldn't actually see a castle and they tend to be up hills not down, but oh well I had a sign so I went for it! 

However it was misleading, I think it was actually a sign for cars not pedestrians, so after a nice stroll along a river I decided I had probably gone wrong. Back to the main road again! This time I followed the sign as if I was a car, which took me up the hill (wooo) and slightly in the right direction. When I got to a junction (with no clues on where to go next) I spotted the spires on the main church, which I knew was right next to the castle. Now I had a goal I thought I would just find my way there keeping them in sight (through a play park, up a huge hill, back down the hill again, down some side streets).

My whole hike from the station to the castle took and hour and half, it only took 15 minutes to walk back... 

When I came to the main square it did cheer me up a bit, it was so pretty with lots of little places to sit and ice cream shops (my fave). From there I carried on up to the castle, excited to have finally made it! I had a quick wander around the outside, to get some piccies and see as much as I could before going inside, which I assumed I would probably have to pay for. When I did go inside it was only to find out that it is really expensive to look round, and you have to be on a tour, the last of which had just left... Damn it.

So to sum up I'd say that if you are around for a while, Šternberk is worth a quick visit, because it is very petty, and if you get there at a good time of day and don't mind paying a bit extra, then go and have a tour because in the pictures it does look really lovely on the inside! To give you some idea of how long you need there, my whole visit lasted 2 hours and that included an and a half of being very lost! Take a map and you could do it in 1 hour, plus an hour for a tour if you do one :)