July 1st: The Black Forest

After an overnight stop at Nuremburg, we arrive at Lake Titisee. There’s also a small town of that name at the opposite end of the lake to the camp site. The site is at the lakeside, in terraces, so each pitch has a view of the water, trees permitting. The trees aren’t permitting you to see our caravan. 

There is a lovely lakeside walk to the town on a wide, well surfaced path. Titisee itself is very commercialised but pleasant for all that, and its many cafes do good coffee and kuchen, with a splendid outlook as in the photo.

The tripper boat on the right glides around the lake powered by an electric motor so that the environment isn’t polluted. We can vouch for that as we did the cruise and we weren’t polluted or even electrocuted. The majority of visitors in the town are of the older age group, so we fit in here comfortably.

Until the 1920’s much of the central Black Forest was isolated from the outside world so tourism is of fairly recent origin. In fact, many of the old tracks and trails have been turned into a highly organised network of footpaths that attracts many hikers, and to show we weren’t totally in the old fogies camp just yet, we did walk the 4 ½ miles around the lake.

We also paid a visit to Freiburg, the “Capital of the Black Forest”. The city considers itself as much Austrian as German since the region was under the protection and therefore influence of the Austrian Habsburg Empire for 450 years.

It’s certainly a splendid city that suffered a relatively small amount of war damage, from a single air raid, in 1944. The large cathedral, dating from about 1200, is especially magnificent. It is made of dark red sandstone and, as with many large buildings in ancient towns, it’s almost impossible to snap a view that does it justice, not only because of the press of other buildings but here in the Munster Square there is also a big market and several marquees all fighting for space. The central tower was the best I could do, and even that is partly hidden by scaffolding. The church interior was closed for renovation.

Some attractive buildings elsewhere, too, like the theatre.

This is one of the old town fortified towers that blends in beautifully with the later style buildings, but maybe not so well with the Pedestrian Zone sign.

The streets even retain the open gutters of the ancient sewerage system. Only water runs through them these days, although it was a shame that I hadn’t got the caravan toilet to empty so as to check that the system was still fully functional.

As can be seen, the streets in the old town are cobbled and there are many alleyways and little courtyards that make it an interesting town to explore at random.

Some of the later buildings, probably 1920’s, had some interesting carvings as for example the Pan figure flanked by two bare-breasted maidens who could almost be having mobile phones conversations. 

It is ironic that these scantilly clad females are fronting a building occupied by the Salvation Army (the two red shields between the figures), but then perhaps it advertises their willingness to guide such women back onto the straight and narrow.

We have been in Titisee for a week: a very relaxing, if rather wet, week. Tomorrow, 9^th July, we head for home, but are calling in on Adam and Alison first for the weekend. 

26/27 June: Prague

On each of the two days we visited Prague we drove the 60 miles from Jablonec into one of the city’s Park & Rides that connects to the centre by metro. Both the parking and the metro were cheap (park: 60p all day; metro: £1 per person each way).

It perhaps suits us to think of constructions from the Communist era as clunky and crude compared to our Western equivalents, but credit where credit’s due and the metro is a model of design and efficiency. This is our Park & Ride station; the train itself is on the left side, and it was all beautifully clean. 

The centre of Prague is predictably impressive. You know you’re in ‘A’ list tourist territory by the large numbers of tourist groups gathered around a coloured umbrella or flag, and the Hop-on Hop-off buses, and the Segway tours, and the street performers. I can’t complain because we’re one of the visitors.

We started at the Old Town Square; this is one side of the square, with the Tyn church dominating. You’ll notice the crowds are pretty dominating too.

The most popular monument is on the other side of the square. It’s the astronomical clock that forms part of the old Town Hall. Crowds gather to watch the hour strike when parades of mechanical figures perform a set-piece, Death, a Jew with his moneybags, a Turk, and so on. This is the clock, but not in action, although the coloured umbrella clearly indicates a flock assembling in anticipation of the hourly event.

In another must-see square, Wenceslas Square, we happened on a small military tattoo designed to showcase marching and manoeuvring skills. Some of it was quite entertaining, but on the whole it didn’t quite hang together as it was too disjointed with a huge mixture of different military participants.

This troop looks quite scary, as if they might be coming to pluck you out of the crowd and whisk you away for interrogation. 

Yet the next detachment could be the British Legion on Armistice Day Parade back in the UK (apart from the rifles with fixed bayonets).

Wenceslas Square is a large oblong boulevard with elegant buildings mostly 100 to 150 years old containing up-market shops- even Debenhams and M & S, where we had lunch.

The M & S café was part of the food hall and operated on a different basis to the UK. We wanted soup, so asked the assistant (she spoke some English) what sort it was. She led us into the food hall and pointed to the soup section. We understood: pick any can and they warm it up. Bread rolls to go with the soup?  Just choose them from the bread dept. We took our selection back to the café where they charged us the food hall prices and a few minutes later hot soup, rolls & coffee. All for about £3.  

The square is named after “Good King Wenceslas” of Christmas carol fame, a revered Czech historical figure. I’m not too sure why, because he was a duke rather than a king and seems to have fallen out with a lot of people. He was murdered by his brother Boleslaw the Cruel in 927 AD at the age of 22 so hadn’t had much time to do a lot of good.  

We visited the castle on the Hop-on Hop-off bus. It was one of the largest castle complexes in the world, and is a huge palace rather than a moats and keep kind of castle. It’s still the administrative centre of the Czech Republic and includes the President’s official residence. The castle profile from river shows the spires of St Vitus cathedral on the skyline. After all that build-up, it doesn’t look that grand in the photo, just something in the distance, but it’s a nice shot of the water.

It’s a lot more impressive when we get there. This is the entrance into the first courtyard.

Then through the second courtyard and into the third, which is a large square, where stands the President’s residence and St Vitus Cathedral. But wait, there is another military parade just starting. This one is different and starts with a display of precision riding by the President’s motor cycle outriders. Quite brilliant.

The soldiers also performed some impressive drills to the accompaniment of the military band you can just see dressed in red uniforms behind the soldiers’ ranks.

St Vitus Cathedral was started in 1344 and officially opened in 1929! It was worked on all those years but still has the appearance, inside and out, of a typical gothic cathedral like, say, Lincoln or Peterborough. The art nouveau stained glass is less than 100 years old, and is beautiful. It looks unexpectedly in harmony with the cathedral’s ancient appearance; in other old churches modern stained glass designs usually seem to jar. 

There are some nice views of the Old Town from the castle gardens and we descend via a series of steps towards the river which we cross on the Charles Bridge to arrive back in the Old Town. The bridge is one of the icons of Prague and dates back to the 14^th century. It’s full of stalls and buskers and crowds. 

On the Hop-on Hop-off tour we stopped to look at the second largest sports stadium in the world, built in the 1920’s. It appears nearly derelict, because it is.

The problem is that the football pitch is surrounded by a large grassed area to cater for the massed keep-fit assemblies popular when the stadium was built. So the stands are too far back to see the football clearly. People seemed to put up with this until the fall of communism, but not since, and keep-fit activities have changed too, so nobody uses it. Perhaps they should turn it into a Hop-on Hop-off bus depot.

So that’s us done in the Czech Republic; the areas we stayed in and visited were part of the ancient kingdom of Bohemia. Especially in the Jablonec region we noticed a number of older men with long hair and scruffy, outlandish clothes whose appearance you would describe as, yes, bohemian.

Next move on is a two day journey to the Black Forest.

Sunday 22nd June: Krakow to Jablonec

A full day’s drive took us from Krakow to Jablonec, which stands 30 miles into the Czech Republic on the edge of the Jizera Mountains. These aren’t high peaks, more rolling, wooded hills with farms and villages, a favourite haunt of cyclists and walkers, and with some skiing in winter.

We are here in Jablonec because the town and its surrounding area is the most important centre in Europe for production of costume jewellery components. That is, the locality manufactures glass beads and items used with beads to make costume jewellery. As beading is Jane’s main hobby, we are here on a mission.

Production began in the 16^th century when Saxon glassmakers, from what is now Germany, began settling in the area. By the 19^th century the industry had brought such wealth to the area that many people were living in elaborate, large houses and the town sported many splendid public buildings.

At the end of the last war, the Communist dispossessed all the descendants of the original German settlers of their homes and factories, and expelled them, 100,000 in total. This was disastrous for the industry, but forced labour was brought in and some of the former trade gradually recovered. Many of the fine homes and buildings are now in decay or just shabby, but where they have been preserved and restored you get a good idea of how affluent the area was. This is the theatre, for example.

The central square also showcases the elegant lifestyle of the glass and jewellery entrepreneurs. A museum dedicated to the industry is located just off the back of the square.

The museum is where we’re going next. We’ll start with some amazing beadwork in the shape of a full size flower basket.

The collection is huge and I can only pick out a few examples, with Jane’s help, from the range. These are made from beads of jet.

This is an early beaded pen. Note that it’s a quill pen. I have a modern one done by Jane.

It’s the glitzy stuff that catches the eye, not practical at all for wear or use. This display looks like the Crown Jewels.

On the theme of impracticality, this is the longest necklace in the world and is in the Guinness Book of Records. It’s 220 metres long and was made by local art students in 4 hours. From a craft quality standpoint it has little merit.

The next exhibit is a much more wearable and beautiful creation, and just what a skilled beader might want to make.

 Some factories produced glassware as well as beads and here we have a superbly engraved glass from about 100 year ago.

More modern products were also displayed, for instance this designer vase, and underneath some intricate and delicate glass flowers.

These days production comes from large factories, but there is still some of the cottage industry that it started out as. The next photo shows a typical glass producer’s dwelling. The work was carried out in the attic room, and you can see a large vent in the centre of the roof to extract the large amount of heat generated, and the tall pair of chimneys to draw the fires for the glass making and shaping process.

Below is a model of the modern Preciosa Bead Factory, and it’s made from 200,000 beads. The little electric train and trucks are also beaded and run round the building on pressing a button.

I stop at a final exhibit. It looks to my untrained eye like a beaded bikini. I can only hope that they used strong thread.

We’ve also been to several bead shops out of the many here. The product ranges were large and the prices cheap with good but not top quality beads apart from Swarovski beads but these weren’t much cheaper than back in the UK. Our visit here was interesting and unusual compared to tripperland, but we’ll put that right in the next blog- we’re heading for Prague, one of Europe's most popular tourist destinations.

June 21st: The Polish Aviation Museum

Poland had a thriving aircraft industry before the last war and also a well-trained air force, although their front line fighter planes were no match for Hitler’s blitzkrieg attach in September 1939. 11,000 Polish airmen subsequently made their way to the UK where they flew with distinction during the Battle of Britain. Flying our modern Hurricanes and Spitfires they could fight the Luftwaffe on even terms which did very successfully.

There’s a Spitfire here to commemorate this significant Polish contribution, but the predominant number of exhibits is from the Communist period. This was of great interest because some of these planes are rare or non-existent in the UK.

The soviet aircraft show starts in the car park, before we even enter the museum, where several dilapidated MIG fighter air frames have been dumped. This one looks like it’s just burst through the hedge and landed on the car. Note the high-tec binbag protective cover.

The museum entrance is solid and rather forbidding in typical Communist style. 

 There were a staggering number of MIG fighters of all types on show within the museum. Jane looks as if she’s wandering around a used car lot trying to decide which one to buy. I think she’ll go for the one with the red nose. It will look nice in the front garden and much more classy than a garden gnome.

The one below is a German Junkers used as a transport before, during the war and after. This particular plane was operated by the French until 1960, then it went to the Portugese Air Force until 1973 when it was donated to Duxford, Cambs. It was restored there and sold to the Polish museum in 2012. Unbelievably, I would have see this actual aircraft in Duxford.

 This one is a real oddity: the only crop spraying aircraft ever made to be powered by a jet engine. Its quirky name suits it, the Belphegor. You can see the chemical tanks joining the two wings.

The Pope’s helicopter. The Poles still adore their local lad who reached the top even though he died in 2005. Images of Pope John Paul II are seen on hoardings and buildings everywhere; he was born not far from Krakow and lived in the city when he was a cardinal. Maybe it’s no bad thing to have a hero that isn’t a football star/popstar/filmstar.

 How would you fancy flying one of these? It’s a Polish training glider from the 1950’s. Interesting point- there’s no cockpit, in fact nothing much at all. You are sitting on a wooden seat fixed to a narrow wooden strut. You’re presumably strapped in, with some basic controls, but it's completely open to the elements: it looks like a self-assembly kit with half the parts missing.  

This was the top Soviet fighter, a MIG 29. Top speed 1,500 mph. East Germany kept their MIG 29’s when Germany united in the late 80’s, and in 2002 they sold them to Poland – for 1 Euro each, because they needed major overhauls. The example here was operational until 2007 when it was retired to the museum. We weren’t told for how much the museum paid for it; perhaps they didn’t want to admit they’d paid over the odds and parted with 2 Euros.

Last picture is what the pilot of the MIG 29 would have needed to wear. It’s a G-suit that inflates on tight turns to stop him blacking out . It looks vaguely spooky, the sort of thing perhaps issued to a skeleton crew.

It was an interesting museum, especially so because many information boards were in English as well as Polish. However, it was sad that most of the open air exhibits were noticeably decaying. On the other hand,  I don’t suppose the country can afford costly preservation for these aircraft with so many other demands on public funds and especially so in times of recession. 

Wed 18th June: Ojcow Park

Ojcow is the smallest of Poland’s national parks and is only 20 miles from Krakow. It’s basically a gorge running through small hills providing a network of footpaths through mixed woodlands. This is the typical sort of scenery, not spectacular but very pleasant.

You see so much more walking than driving; Jane’s discovered here some unusual large trumpet shaped fungus. So if you know of a trumpeter that’s looking for his fungus, we know where they are.

There’s a chapel with a strange story in the park: the Chapel on the Water. This part of Poland was controlled by the Russian Tsar at the end of the 19^th and early 20^th century. The Tsar wanted to limit the influence of the Catholic Church and decreed that “no religious structure should be built on solid ground”. So in 1905 the Poles built their chapel here “on the water” i.e. not on solid ground. Let’s hope the Tsar had a sense of humour.

We had local food for lunch, veal goulash with potato cakes, and meat filled dumplings, again at bargain prices. These were very tasty and seemed to use good quality meat, always a concern with cheap prices and unfamiliar dishes.  

There was more to the park than we had time or energy for, a ruined castle for instance, but we were pleased to have a day out in the country after so many city and high volume tourist places.

Krakow

Krakow was the capital of Poland and the seat of government for 500 years up to 1596. It was the only Polish city to have come through WW2 mainly unscathed so is able to present us with a beautiful and original Old Town.

The central square is the focal point where the Sukiennice, the medieval Cloth Hall, dominates the middle. There are shops and cafes through the arcade arches you can see, with a central mall of stalls selling a variety of reasonable quality tourist goods.

 On the opposite side of the Cloth Hall are the towers of the Mariacki church (St Mary’s). The taller, left-hand tower was used as a lookout station. Legend has it that a watchman spotted a Tartar raid approaching and put his bugle to his lips to signal the alert, at which point an arrow pierced his throat. Since that time, each day on the hour, a lone trumpeter plays the missing bugle call from the top of the same tower. He repeats it four times, once from each direction. He’s probably also been issued with an arrow-proof  vest.

The church itself is described as one of the finest medieval churches in Poland. Inside, the alter is a masterpiece by German carver Stoss. The whole church, but his work in particular, is awe-inspiring.

The Town Hall Tower is all that’s left of the 14^th century town hall pulled down in 1820. A pair of lions guards the entrance. The right-hand one is wearing an Ena Sharples hair-net and looks totally bored. There’s got to be more to life than watching tourists.

 Walking from the central square to Castle Hill, called the Wawel, we pass many elegant buildings and smaller squares. Some were designed by brought-in Italian experts. We could have been back in Italy where we spent the winter. They do good ice-creams here too, just like the Italians. Mama Mia! (In Polish).

The Wawel was the seat of government when Krakow was the capital.  It comprises a castle, administrative buildings, museums  and a cathedral that contains the remains of nearly all the Polish kings.  We went in the cathedral- no photos allowed- and then walked around the courtyard and garden area. All beautifully preserved and nicely presented. This is the cathedral from the gardens.

South of the Old Town is the Jewish Quarter, the Kazimierz. We explored this on an organised walking tour with a guide. The Jews first came to Krakow in the 11^th century and their numbers had risen to 25% of the total population by the eve of the last war, around 65,000. Some came back after the war to try and restart their businesses but found Communism hostile. A single one has succeeded in reopening the family business, and that since Polish independence in 1988.  

The original name is etched in the stonework under the top row of windows and is the same as the garish modern sign. Difficult (impossible?) to see in the small blog photo. The shop is the same business, painting and decorating, and It has to be said that their building might benefit from a pot or two of what they sell. 

Schindler’s List was filmed in Kazimierz and we saw several of the locations used. Schindler’s factory was actually close by and was in production until 2004 as an electronics factory. It’s now a museum associated with Krakow Jews in WW2 and was included in our tour. It’s difficult to move away from the tragedy of 1939 to 45, but that was the subject of the Auschwitz blog.

Our guide was a mine of information. The Jews and Catholics integrated well and helped each other- the Jews even provided funds for the upkeep of Corpus Christi church! The Jews also believed in keeping to the city rules however arbitrary, for example that their synagogues should not exceed any Catholic church in height. Guess how they got round it in building the synagogue below.

Where there’s a will there’s a way: they excavated the floor to get the extra metre of internal height they wanted.

We also went inside a synagogue and Jewish cemetery where the guide explained the details of their religious practices. It was a very different and interesting tour.