Crossing Europe– from West to East – Spring 2014 (part two)
- by anna
- 6 June, 2014
Day Four: Pilzen, Czech Republic
More beautiful buildings
The rain was not too bad on the way there, neither were the delays. Due to the fact that no-one had informed Emily about some road resurfacing, taking place in the centre of the town, we had to practice the usual scenario of me staying behind the wheel (I always drove for the second two hours of the day), while Chris went to find the hotel on foot in order to instruct me how to get to the parking place. 
Hotel Rango welcomed us with a lovely young receptionist, who helped us park our car in the car park and then gave us one of the largest rooms I have recently stayed in any hotel! The room had its own kitchenette and a spacious bathroom with a bath and a separate shower. It was also very handy that it was situated near the main square.
The beautiful centre of Pilzen
A visit to the Tourist Information Centre opposite the Cathedral soon confirmed the fact that on a Monday most of the museums and galleries were closed. We sat at a table in front of a restaurant in the central area and ordered a meal, which turned out very good. Here on the next table, we noted 2 men, who spoke Bulgarian and eventually, I said “hello” to them. It turned out they lived in CZ, it was nice chatting to them – this was the second contact with Bulgaria on the way -.the first Bulgarian lorry we overtook somewhere prior to coming here.
The gates to the Pizen Beer Factory
Pilzen was established as a town in 1295 by King Wenceslas II on a crossroad of commercial roads, which endowed the town with wealth. This allowed for art and architecture to flourish, which could be evidenced by the beautiful buildings in the centre of the main square. The famous all over the world Pilzen Urquell beer s factory started production in 1842, while the Skoda motor car factory was established in 1869. The city has won The 2015 European Capital of Culture title. And if you wonder, why the city’s coat-of-arms has a camel on it, you need to know that when it was surrounded by Hussite soldiers in the early 15th century, the citizens succeeded in capturing the enemy good-luck charm – their camel and of course won!
We went to find one of the few attraction open on the day – the Pilzen –Urquell Beer Museum. We enjoyed the tour in the medieval cellars and some examples of the produce. We purchased some beer glasses and mugs and moved to the other place of interest, which we could see – the Synagogue.
A restored ceiling of the Synagogue
Inside the Synagogue
After the expulsion of the Jews in 1504, in 1850, they were allowed to come back to the town. Some did and with the increase of the Jewish population, it became necessary to build a Synagogue. Now it is assumed that the building started in 1888. It was finished in 1893. But in January 1942, 2,605 Jews were deported to the Terezin Concentration camp, while the Synagogue was turned into a factory, producing military uniforms for the Germans. After the war, it was returned to the survivors of the Holocaust, 204 in all. Many of them immigrated it Israel and the US. But the few, who remained (currently no more that 200-300 families), started to collect funds to repair and conserve the beautiful, but badly damaged building, which was re-opened in 1998. Presently, it is used as a Synagogue and a concert hall in the city, and more funds are gathered in order to continue with the restoration.
The stained glass in the Synagogue
Looking at the motifs on the wall, ceilings and the stained glass, it struck me, that like the Muslims, Jews do not use human images for decorative purposes. The restored stained-glass windows were magnificent!
Shortly after 5 pm, we went to look at the Cathedral to discover that it was closed, despite the fact that the Tourist Information Office had told us it closed at 5.30 pm. It was possible to enter the building, but 5 steps inside and you were faced with a wrought –iron fence with gates, which allows you to see inside, but not to walk in. The same happened in the Catholic Church.
Buildings from the Central Square
All shops seemed to close at 5.30, which reminded me of England. Considering that many of those opened late in the morning and closed at lunch-time, this did not allow for many hours of shopping!
The Pilzen Thatre
On the next morning, we had a nice breakfast in Hotel Rango with excellent service and prepared to leave for our next destination. Driving out of Plzen, we say many old communist-built panel blocks, beautifully restored and rendered, repainted in bright colours. I was very envious of the fact that the problem of shoddy communist building had been resolved in such a good way –unlike Bulgaria, where every family renders their own flat. If they are lucky, they may do this in alliance with their neighbor from the side of below, but very rarely you see whole old buildings, done and painted in the same colour. As a result most of those buildings look like patch-work quilts!
The exit from Plzen was much more impressive, than the entry, perhaps because the industrial and commercial buildings were mixed with housing.
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Now we are on our way to Gyor in Hungary – the road in CZ, which so far has been very good, now, in the vicinity of Brno, it is being repaired.
Suddenly, we saw a deviation towards Humpoletc, with invitations to go to a number of hotels there. We remembered the time, when travelling to BG in the early 80-ies we once stopped in Humpoletc. The only hotel in town turned us away, with two small children, under the pretext that they were fully booked, which sounded improbable at the time. They suggested that we went to a B&B at the end of the town – a basic place, where lorry-drivers stayed. Approaching it, we went through a whole field of blue poppies, which we could not agree on – were they the heroin variety or not. Having checked later, it turned out that they needed to be light purple to be of the heroin variety.
On the next day we delighted the museum curator of the Mahler Museum in town with our visit. He rushed to turn the music and the lights on – it appears that Mahler was born here.
The things you remember on route! Still, one thing worth noting is that there were hardly any places to stop for toilet, petrol or to eat on this road! There were more of those on the section form Bratislava to Gyor.
Day Five: Gyor, Hungary
The Bishop’s Palace
We arrived in Gyor in the rain and found our Hotel Klastrom – a former Ladies’ Cloister. In the foyer, there were pictures of Pope John Paul II, who came here for a lunch on his visit to Gyor. Armed with umbrellas, we went out to sample the delights of this town. Gyor’s relationship with religion was quantified by a number of churches and a large Bishop’s Palace, with impressive gardens on the bank of the river Raba, tributary to the Danube. Around the Palace one saw other ecclesiastical building, religious statues and stone carvings.
The Celts, the first inhabitants of the area, gave the town the name Arrabona in the 5th century BC, which was used for about 8 centuries. The Romans settled here for a few centuries, but in 4th century AD moved out, as they could not keep the place. In the 6th century, the Slaves se
ttled here, but others, like the Franks and the Avars also dominated at different times. The Magyars settled here, taking the unused Roman castle. First they lived in tents and then built houses; the town was then renamed to Gyor. The first Hungarian Christian king – Stephan I founded an episcopate here.
The town was invaded by many – the Mongols, the Czech, and when the Ottomans invaded, the military leader of Gyor decided to burn the town completely, rather than letting the Ottomans take it. But the town survived and was rebuilt. The Ottomans left after the battle of Vienna and it prospered again. Maria Theresa gave it a Royal status. In the mid-19th century, the development of steam ships on the river Danube brought further prosperity to Gyor.
The central square
In the old centre a good number of buildings were nicely restored. Now, they were re-paving a number of pedestrian streets and squares. We looked into several wine shops, intending to buy some Tokay wine, and finally selected 6 bottles.
After we dropped the wine in the car, we looked from a bridge to the two sleeves of the river Raba, in the middle of which was an island, were the town’s park was situated. From another bridge further up the road we could see the Raba joining the Danube. In the new part of town was the majestic Town Hall, probably built during the Austro-Hungarian domination.
One of Gyuor’s Squares
After checking the menus of several restaurants, we settled for supper in the Theatre Bistro, next to the impressive Theatre building. Its side wall features a large and imposing ceramic display, ornament by Viktor Vasarely. Chris selected venison with dumplings from the menu and I had cheese balls with apple pure and nuts. It was unusual to find that they served wine by the glass only – you could not have the whole bottle! The food was delicious!