Check out the Czech countryside
Sleeping really well, I was on the saddle before 6 am, being excited about the day ahead. Making good distance, I had to pass the urge to visit yet another beautiful castle on a hill-top - but had I done it, it would have cost too much time. Still, in the next little town of Budyne nad Ohri, I got compensated, as there was a castle - and two old ladies let me in to take a few pictures. After having a nice breakfast in the town square - of fresh bread, some cheese, milk, a tomato and a banana I did not leave behind - I carried on to the monastery of Doksany. Here I met a young monk who spoke perfect English, he was first a bit mad at me for taking photos, as it was not allowed, then we struck up a conversation. It turned out he was an avid biker, who had biked all the way to Rome over the Alps. We exchanged some nice routes tips, then he showed me the old Romanic church as well.
The monastery itself is very well-kept, however, I got in via the back entrance, which is an ancient building in a sorrow state. The monk explained that that part is in government hands and they have yet to find the cash to finance its renovation. Hope they will.
Then came the city of Terezin, otherwise known as Theresienstadt. If you're not familiar with the history of the 20th century, this was the place of a concentration camp, ghetto and a political prison of the Nazi regime. They bastardized an otherwise pretty town for their dreadful purposes: it was a military fortress built by Joseph II, named after his mother, Maria Theresia. The Nazis turned this to a place to round up the Jewish population on their way to extermination camps. I visited the prison and rode around the city. Almost each house had a sign: 'here perished x thousand Jews'. Even though Terezin was not an extermination camp, many thousand people lost their lives due to the horrible conditions. Another historical fact about this town was that the Habsburgs put Gavrelo Princip, the assassin of Franz Ferdinand, in this prison - of course this was before the Nazi regime.
Not far from Terezin was a jewel of a city called Litomerice, on the shores of the river Elba, which in Czech is called Labe, again, just to confuse the enemy. I found a beautiful church and thinking it to be the center of the town, I went to a wine shop and ordered a great cheese plate with some Riesling to wash it down. After that I stumbled upon the main square - I urge you to look it up online to see the pictures, I would be at loss of words here. Let's just say that it's definitely one of the nicest towns squares I've seen in the past.
Little after noon I started heading for a part of the country known as the Czech Switzerland. As soon as I left Litomerice, I had the feling the road will never stop going uphill. Let's just say that when I asked someone about directions, he told me there is a town about 10 km's away, but surely that was where I was going to stay overnight. He was very wrong, but with the best intentions. It was pretty gruesome - while the countryside was beautiful, most of the afternoon was spent with climbing and even if I got some downhill brake, it was followed by yet another large hill. Oh well, guess I could have driven, flown, taken the train to Ruegen as well.
At around 5 pm, I reached the town of Ceska Kamenice, the gateway to the National Park called, aptly, Czech Switzerland - and also a very nice town, not to forget that. Taking a nice rest, I arrived to a region which could really be somewhere in Switzerland or Austria - but this was very much the Czech Republic. VERY beautiful roads with VERY little traffic - it was a fun ride. I think I mentioned the love of the people about their outdoors: there were brand-new really cute cottages, huts, small hotels - all being a real temptation to just fall in, drink a beer and forget all this torture - but for those who know me well, I really did have a purpose - so on I rode.
There was a 2 km long shortcut through a forest, which I sort of regretted taking, but then there was no turning back, this brought me to the north of the national park and I was convinced it would be all downhill from there on. Wrong. I was up for quite a roller-ride and was determined to reach Germany that evening - as it was getting dark. My plan was to cross the border, then put up my tent in the wilderness. Then, next to a church, I found a guy who explained that it might not be such a good idea, as only recently they spotted wolves close to the villages. Call me a crybaby, but I was not about to argue with him. Then came a sign 'Germany - 3.5 km's'. It was on a beautifully maintained bike road, no cars (but even then, hardly anyone was there, I remember scaring two young girls to death with me coming from behind them). All of a sudden I was in Germany - and had a funny experience - the road, which was oh-so-nice on the Czech side become an unkept path with lots of potholes - as it was really dark by then, I really had to pay attention.
So it was that I got to Steinigtwolmsdorf - where I was lucky to find a young couple on the street. They told me they cannot offer a hotel, but some people have holiday homes. I cannot say everyone was all too pleased to be disturbed at 10 pm by some biker, but I was eventually led to the owners of the place and for the very fair amount of Eur 35, I had a whole two-floor apartment all to myself. Good night!