Today's post highlight is from the EuroVelo 7 route somewhere close to Hluboká nad Vltavou in Czech Republic.
 |
It was a beautiful hot afternoon on the 1st of august 2017 when I left Cesky Krumlov. Continued following EuroVelo 7 North to Ceske Budejovice without a clear destination in mind but confident that eventually I'll end up in a nice place and that's exactly what happened.
 |
Everybody is at the river in the summer and people seem to take good care of their dear Vltava cause I haven't seen any garbage around, it looked very clean.
 |
 |
Took a short break to cool down on this bench in the shadow after pushing the bike uphill from the river level, it was quite hot, around 34 degC.
 |
 |
Outside Ceske Budejovice the route reunites with Vltava and more people from the city can be seen here doing their afternoon sports. Such a simple thing as a paved cycle route free of traffic can have such a big impact on the wellbeing of the community. Everybody can come here and do their sport, either jogging, roller skating, biking or just walking. Love to see this, it's a good indicator of the quality of life in that community.
 |
 |
The town square of Ceske Budejovice is quite large and beautiful, surrounded by 48 colourful buildings, one of them being the Town Hall, built in 1555 in baroque style. The square is dominated by the Black Tower on the left side and the Samson Fountain in the middle of the square, which is a popular meeting place for locals. It was very quiet in the afternoon when I arrived but I think everything comes to life later in the evening when its not so hot. There are a lot of cafes and pubs where you can enjoy a coffee or a cold beer. Speaking of beer, Ceske Budejovice is known for its beer, brewed since the thirteenth century, one extra good reason to come for a visit.
 |  |
The Black Tower stands strong 72.3 m high above the ground level. It was finished in 1577 by three italian builders to protect the town agains enemies and fires. It stands separately from the nearby Church of St. Nicholas, which is not very common in the Czech Republic. Not even Prague has such a tower, despite being called the “city of a hundred spires“. If you climb its 225 steps you will be rewarded with a beautiful view of the historic part of the town as well as its surroundings. Unfortunately it was closed when I arrived but just staring at the entrance gate made my day.
Did you noticed the big fly in the middle of the tower? Do you think you can catch it, cause it drives me crazy to see it on my monitor :)
 |  |
 |  |
 | By the time I finished visiting the beautiful old center of Ceske Budejovice I also finished all the calories left from that 3 egg omelette I had for breakfast in Cesky Krumlov and decided to look around for a place to eat. Found a nice terrace and had some good pasta accompanied by an amazing cold czech beer. It was around 5 PM, still too early to stop and decided to continue as you already know, I love cycling on long summer evenings till the sun goes down. |
 |
 |
 |
Here the route got bumpy for a while and I think this was the place where I eventually broke two spokes, didn't noticed it till later on.
 |
I still remember this portion of EuroVelo 7 till this very day, the sound of gravel under my wheels, the mirror like waters of Vltava on the left and the beautiful straight line of trees on the right while the sun was fading away in the distance. Sometimes there are unique moments like this while bike touring that will stick with you forever and reminding you that's more to life than the daily routine. Sometimes I feel I just need to escape from the city walls, especially in the summer when Europe is so green and beautiful.
 |  |
While I was entering Hluboka I started hearing a strange noise coming from my bike. The back wheel rim was touching the brake pads at regular intervals which made me stop for investigation. I discovered that I had two broken spokes and my first thought was that of bad luck. But you know that sometimes what seems to be bad luck proves to be good luck later. This incident stopped me from going further which was a good thing in the end. I had no idea at that time about the amazing Hluboka Castle which was only 5 minutes away, even though I saw it in the distance as I was approaching but without any thought in my mind to stop. With my bike needing urgent repairs I decided to remain in Hluboka for the night and try to fix my bike the following morning. I took out my phone, opened Booking.com app and commenced searching for accommodation nearby. I was lucky to find a room at a nice hotel only 2 minutes away from the castle and not very expensive for what I later discovered to be quite a big touristic attraction in the area. So I ended up in a nice place after all, near a castle :) just wait until you see it in the next post!
 |  |
That’s it for today hope you discovered interesting new places in this post with me, until next time, keep on travelling!
I would like to donate the rewards from this post to @mrprofessor who's bike got stolen recently in London during his winter bike tour across Europe. Good luck Arthur, may the crypto market be with you!
©Discover EuroVelo
Do you plan to travel in the future? You can use my link here to get 10% off your next hotel room on Booking.com while also supporting Discover EuroVelo project (I'll get US$15 from them too), so both of us can travel a bit cheaper next time. Thank you!
I have never been to Ceske Budejovice. Well, I drove through the city on the way to Cesky Krumlov :) I've heard that the city center is beautiful but never seen photos of it :) Now you made me want to go there!
This Vltava doesn't really look like Vltava in Prague, lol. Did you see it there? You would not recognize it :)
Lucky you to make it to Hluboka!! When we were there the castle was closed. And you didn't even know about the castle!! Lucky, lucky, lucky.. I can feel that your next post will be AWESOME!
I am sorry to hear about your spokes but I'm sure that you repaired them quickly :)
I hope you don't mind me giving you one suggestion.. if you cast any upvotes, don't do that until the post is older than 15 minutes. Otherwise you send part of your curation rewards back to the pool so at the end your curation will be lower.. you can check how much was 'burned' on steemworld when you click on your post..
Looking forward to seeing your post from Hluboka :)
Yes Hluboka was totally pure luck for me and I think it has the most beautiful interior I've seen in any castle, and I've seen couple of them so far, you definitely need to short list it. Thank you for the suggestion, I am using Steempeak to post and they have this option to check to upvote your own post before you actually hit publish, but seems they don't take into account those 15 min. I was thinking to give it also my vote since I will donate the reward, but I'll have that in mind next time since this doesn't do anyone any good.
Oh, I will have to go there too :) Also the exterior is pretty special. I haven't seen such a castle before.. when I'm in Czech Republic for the next time, I'll go there. Just need to make sure to do it in summer so that it's open :)
I didn't want to point out that you did a self vote :) Anyone can do whatever they want to do with their stake.. I've just noticed because I was actually waiting until it hits 15 minutes to upvote it and you were faster than me ;) so I thought that you might not know..Hmmm.. I wonder how it would work as I think that the payouts can't be different because these platforms are connected. But I'll try to ask around and see :) It's an interesting topic :)
Have a great weekend my dear friend and don't let us wait too long for your next post ;)
Then I should use this positive momentum to boost my inspiration and not let my friends waiting. Have a special weekend Martina, I really enjoyed your last one :)
Posted using Partiko iOS
Then I should use this positive momentum to boost my inspiration and not let my friends waiting. Have a special weekend Martina, I really enjoyed the previous one :)
Posted using Partiko iOS
Go for it! ;)
Oh no, I missed this post! Been busy outside of Steem. That sounds like a great path to follow, incredible how the weather is different from the time I passed through Czech Republic hahahaha
Did you manage to fix the bike? Mine at some points had all sorts of branchs and stuff entering in between the spokes while doing heavy trails amdst the forests, luckly never broke one, but pretty sure they got loose \o\
You are a legend for donating the rewards, but don't worry, very soon I'll present the new monster.
Yes I managed to find a bike shop in the area and got it fixed the following day, I will write about it on my next post. Look forward to see your new travel partner :)
Beautiful photos I lived in Prague for couple of years but actually never made it to this region. Awesome travel report!! :)
You should see Hluboka castle, it's very beautiful, I'll have it in my next post. Thank you for reading it!
Breathtaking post. It does feel like we are there with you when reading it :) Thanks for reminding me how beautiful Ceske Budejovice and the whole region is, I have been there just once so far, when I was like 13. I come from the very opposite corner of the country.
Btw donating the payout to Arthur is so kind of you! I have been in close contact with him since we met in Poland in November and this guy absolutely deserves all the support. He is a Steemit legend already.
You are so kind, I was at least hopping for that, took some inspiration from you also :) Yes, Arthur is a special guy, love his work here on Steemit.
Man, how could I inspire you? Your posts are just so much better and more elaborate than mine, seriously ;) You post quite rarely but whenever I see your post in my feed, I know it will be a top-notch travel/cycle report full of amazing photos ;) Keep them coming my friend!
I dunno who you are but you're killing it with your posts! Must take hours to write them...btw why are all ur posts from czech rep but ur profile says Romania? Will keep in mind your Booking offer!
Ty neznáš @discovereurovelo? Spolu s Arturem největší cyklo ikony Steemitu :) Já už ho sleduju dlouho, je to borec!
Glad you like it, yes takes me too long to write them, hope at least my words match the beauty in the photos. I am from Romania but I'm cycling EuroVelo routes. At the moment I am focusing on EuroVelo 7 which took me into Czech Rep in the summer of 2017 and briefly last year. Loved the week I had in your country, need to come back again one day.
Matko is actually from Slovakia - have you been there too?
Congratulations @discovereurovelo! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click here to view your Board
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPDo not miss the last post from @steemitboard: