Raiders of the lost fountain

After a long day in the mountains, we deserve a nice meal out.

Come late September, Dora is up for sale.     If you or anyone you know is looking for a reasonably priced motorhome then please check out the following link; https://www.2wanderers.com/dora-for-sale/ or if you have any questions email us at; info@2wanderers.com Thanks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our guide doesn’t mention any restaurants around this area, so we are just going to look for one that we like. We have read that the most local and traditional Slovak restaurants are called Kolibas.

And we find a koliba close to Rozomberok, a town 60 kms from the Czech republic border. We park Dora in their large car park and have that well-deserved and long-awaited shower.

The restaurant reminds us of a Beefeater back in the UK; wooden, shining, bright brown tables; and plastic, yellow menus. I think we may have traditional food but this may also be pretty trashy. Although we don’t mind that occasionally, as long as it is still local.

We order two starters; bountiful bryndza, a sheep spreadable cheese typical from Slovakia. We quite like it. It has quite delicate but nonetheless tasty flavour.

We have also ordered something that we don’t have a clue what it is. And this is what we get; some sort of meat stuffed in a jelly block. I am not impressed. But luckily, Gary likes it.

Sorry, we forgot to photograph our main courses. Gary has had a traditional dish, which I can’t remember the name, consisting of piece of pork, cabbage and dumplings. I’ve had salmon, my favourite fish. It was okay, slightly overcooked – as a sushi lover, I like my fishes pretty raw –.

Mine is pretty heavy and although quite tasty all quite monotonous. The cabbage flavour is quite overwhelming and the dumplings are actually think slices of white bread soaked in the cabbage juice. GDR

It has been a nice and satisfying meal. Luckily, we don’t have to go very far. The owners of the koliba let us sleep in their car park tonight. Very convenient!

 

The next day, we get up early and drive to Czech Republic. As we are only 60 kms away, we stop for a couple of hours at Lidl car park to use up some of the data to update the blog. But we are careful not to use it all, as we are back to visit Bratislava in a weeks time.

And now we are ready to go to Czech Republic, our 16th country of this years travels (including Transnistria)!

Wow, I had never realised we had been to so many, and with quite a few still to go. GDR

We are making the most of our last hour in Slovakia and take in more of its beautiful landscape.

and of its quaint, alpine, villages.

and of its numerous, wide, calm rivers.

This is a nice and quirky surprise. A castle on the top of the hill, overlooking the motorway.

Have we crossed the border yet? We look at the map. Yes we have, fifteen minutes ago. We haven’t even noticed. The two now separate countries used to be a single one for decades. In 1993 they split up peacefully and they have kept good friends since then. That may be why the borders are pretty much non-existent.

The landscape is also fairly similar to Slovakia, as you would expect when you cross borders.

Here, their wheat has matured earlier than in Slovakia. Ready-to-harvest wheat landscapes look lovely, like a soft, fluffy, golden mattress.

We have planned to stay in Czech Republic for a week. Our first stop is Olomouc, which apparently is one of the country’s underrated destination. But first we need to fill up Dora’s bare water tank. Springs and fountains, so widely available in Bulgaria and Romania, are pretty rare here. We were about to give up and buy a few 5 litres water bottles from Lidl, when we came across a pump.

The next morning we drive to Olomouc.

We park near the centre, which is surrounded by a river. It is the serenity and relaxation that a river brings to a city which we really love.

Baroque buildings, typical from the Austro-Hungary empire era starts to appear, as you would expect, as this country used to be part of it.

Colourful, excessively undulated forms, which have been well maintained.

And of course, trams. We have found that the whole Central and Eastern Europe have a good network of trams. I wish they had them in London.

We come across a town map. Essentially, there are sights  and a few museums but what this town is characterised for is fountains. There are plenty of them around the town. But the most famous ones are a set of six with mythological motifs, located in the main square.

So, yes, you are correct; this post is going to be about fountains.

Here is fountain number one, right next to us.

In search of our second fountain, we come across an exuberant baroque church. It looks like a catholic church, the most predominant religion in this country.

We have not seen many Baroque churches. Not that we’ve missed them; the decoration is over the top; too shiny, too goldy-godly, too opulent, not a fair representation of the philosophy of jesus christ; ‘give your money to the poor’. Maybe that principle wasn’t meant to apply to the church he founded.

The church seems to be underused, no one is here. Shame after spending so much money.

The rounded shape of this tower catches our attention. The walls, flush and simple; ditto the domes, except for the aesthetic angels and the golden crosses.

Fountain number two. A spike in the sky. Very unique feature for a fountain.

And finally we arrived at the centre of the town, where we come across fountain number three, currently under refurbishment.

We get distracted when we pick up the free town’s WI-FI. As usual, we abuse it by downloading lots of podcasts and the latest news.

Fountain number four, the Arion fountain. This is not part of the set of six. A bit of an animal theme is going on here; dolphins, turtles…It is actually quite cute.

One of the turtles has escaped, and it is wandering around the fountain. Children are fascinated by it. We wait a few minutes for their parents to realise that we want to photograph it.

Another shot from the front. We like this one, as you can guess.

Fountain number five, and the second mythological one. Unfortunately, our knowledge of mythology is very limited. We have no idea what motif this fountain portrays. Guesses are welcome.

This post is getting quite wet, not only because of the fountains, but because it has started to rain. We are reluctant to put our wet coats on, it is July and still fairly warm.

This is the Holy Trinity column, one of the must-see sights. It is 32m high and it represents the greatest sculptural work of Central Europe Baroque.

Fountain number six. Again, any ideas?

Fountain number seven, and you will be pleased to know, the last one. We have only seen four out of the set of six but we are not bothering with the two we have left. The weather is pretty miserable.

And we still have to see the town hall.

which holds the astronomical clock. Shame it has already passed midday, we have missed the figurines moving to the sound of the chimes.

We are heading towards Dora.

But we are not leaving without passing the church of St Moritz. One of the few Gothic buildings in the town.

It continues to rain. We have a snack lunch in Dora and drive off north. Our next stop; a concentration camp in Terezin, 60 kms north Praha.

Our stopover; Kostelec, 20 kms from Terezin. This time, we have not been able to find a quiet spot outside town, but this car park is empty and we have not seen any signs banning motorhomes. Finger crossed , we hope no one will disturb us tonight and asks us to move.

SM