Year Abroad Olomouc - Part 2

Plzeň

Up at the crack of 6:45 on the Friday to get the tram to the station to get a 4 hour train from Olomouc to Plzeň. Needless to say I actually meant to get up at 6 to get our 7 o'clock tram but in true early morning fashion I managed to just not wake up until 15 minutes before the tram... Cue massive panic and leaving with half wet hair... 

Plzeň main square

So we finally arrived in Plzeň 20 mins later than planned and made our way across town to the Pilsener Urquell museum where we were going to explore the medieval underground tunnels underneath the city. The tunnels were kind of cool but I'm not sure they were reaaally worth seeing.  The idea of them sounds interesting - 13 kilometres of tunnels running underneath the old part of the city which used to be used as fridges by the wealthy people or to hide from people invading the city. After about 45 minutes of wandering through these tunnels we finally resurfaced and made our way to the Pilsener Urquell brewery where we were having a tour. It was quite cool to see how the beer is made, as we got to see all the stages in the process. There were these huge copper containers which were heated by fires from underneath, which were used to enable the sugars to react and to turn the liquid to beer. We also went into their underground storage tunnels, where the beer if left to ferment. Generally it was pretty interesting but I think for most people the best bit was getting a class of fresh beer from a ginormous barrel in the cellars (which I couldn't actually drink booo :( ). 

 After the brewery we had dinner in the restaurant (which was pretty nice although it was 5pm so we weren't particularly hungry at this point) before finally heading to our hostel! We were exhausted at this stage so were all really looking forward to having a couple of hours rest or so before heading out to a bar. Sadly in the true nature of that weekend we only had 15 minutes to chill before going straight back out again! The evening was a slight disaster due to a miscommunication between the organising lady and us as it turned out I payed 100 crowns but could only have beer... But we had fun anyway :)

View from the cathedral

 Bright and early on Saturday we left our (very dodge) hostel to have a walking tour around the city centre. Although it was a bit drizzly it was still interesting to see the sights, particularly the main square and the cathedral. After defrosting and grabbing some lunch in a shopping centre, the weather finalllyyy brightened up just in time for us climbing to the top of the tower in the cathedral. The first few steps were a tiny narrow staircase made of stone, and I did have a tiny inward panic thinking that it would be like that all the way to the top! Luckily it opens out so I didn't have to worry too much in the end... Although the last few flights were pretty much ladders which were hilarious to climb up, and cued a lot of "I'm dyyyyiiinnnnggggg!!!". It was well worth the climb though because the view of the whole city from the top was pretty spectacular! 

Karlovy Vary 

Karlovy Vary

In the evening we jumped on the bus to Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad), one of the most famous spa towns in the Czech Republic. We didn't get to see much of the town that evening because we arrived quite late, but as it was my 21st birthday we decided to celebrate and go for dins which was soooo yummy! Despite a minor set back in the initial discovery that the showers in the hostel didn't have curtains, it turned out to be quite a nice place (we found normal showers in the end) and we even had wifi in the rooms! LUXURY.

Up at the crack of dawn the next day to more rainy weather but we decided to seize the day and see the town anyway. It kind of brightened up a bit late morning, or at least it tried to, but even so the town was sooo beautiful. There were no buildings in the whole town which weren't really interesting! Also being a spa town there were all these hot springs just chilling in random spots in the town, some of which were as hot as 60 degrees!! We saw a couple of people drinking from the springs so thought we'd try it out too, which was SUCH a mistake. To sum up, it tasted like blood. Ew. For lunch we decided to find somewhere less touristy off the beaten track and ended up stumbling across a really nice traditional Czech place with delicious food. Win!

Sadly we had to head back to Olomouc (via a random walk around the centre of Prague) right after lunch so sadly didn't get to spend a lot of time in Karlovy Vary but what we saw was lush! I'd love to go back in the summer if I get the chance to see everything in the sun.

So hot!

The following weekend I took a cheeky trip back to Britain for a family weekend in Wales which was lovely and we even had some sun on the beach! Back in Olomouc and my teachering is going pretty well :) I have already taught three of my own classes which is crazy but it actually went well! 

Lake and Přerov

Our next weekend in Czech was gorgeously sunny, basically summer, so we decided to hunt out the lake on the outskirts of Olomouc and visit a couple of the pretty towns nearby. The lake was only 10 minutes away by bus, and you can even swim there when it's a bit hotter so I can't wait for that! Irina and I took a picnic and sat by the lake in the sun which was fabbbb, bring on summer! Around 3ish, we got the train to the nearby town of Přerov which doesn't have a lot of tourist things but the square by the castle was really cute and the old town wall is still standing in some places. Worth visiting just for an hour and some lush ice cream but not necessarily a must see! 

Kroměříž

Peacock at Kroměříž

The palace at Kroměříž

Sunday was another gorgeous day in the Czech Republic so we went to visit the town of Kroměříž which is about 40 minutes by train from Olomouc. Kroměříž is a small town but it has a lovely old centre with a square and a huge palace and gardens. Sadly, as we were only three days away from April, we couldn't go into the palace, but we were still allowed to wander around the large gardens (I'd say park...). Not only did the garden have all of the necessary things - lakes, a tiny stream running through it and lots of trendy flower beds - it also had a mini zoo!! Everything from goats to peacocks, guinea pigs to reindeer, just chilling together in a section of the park. It was pretty cool, and we spent a long time stalking the peacocks until one of them finally opened it's feathers to show off for us ;) In my opinion no hot day is complete until you have ice cream, and we certainly didn't let the side down: one on the way to the palace, one on the way back. Oh and we also had to buy one of those really long sweet things like you get on holiday in France of course.. it was only 10 crowns! All in all a fab day strolling around in the sun and feeling like someone out of Downton Abbey. I think I will go back for one afternoon if I have time, as there are still flower gardens and the inside yet to be explored! 

So I have to say that my first few weeks in the Czech Republic has been great so far, and I have already seen so much already and can't wait to keep exploring this weekend! Bring on more castles ;)

Kroměříž town square