An afternoon in Divoká Šárka

Pronounced Deevoka Sharka.

Home to myth and legend, the beautiful valley at the edge of Prague 6, one can find total escape – Divoká Šárka, a huge nature reserve. The name means Wild Šárka, a mythic female warrior(she wasn’t Zulu tho) and is, indeed, somewhat of an untamed place.

As legend has it, the city was controlled by a small, but fierce tribe of Amazons on one side of the Vltava river and a large all male tribe, ruling from the vantage of Vysehrad on the other side of the river. The women, knowing they were greatly outnumbered; felt the best way to beat the men was to capture their best warrior, Ctirad.

So Vlasta, the female tribe leader, set Šárka, beautiful warrior, as the bait to trap Ctirad. Here is where the legend has a couple of different versions. One says she seduced Ctirad and while he slept, her sister warriors captured and killed him. Another version says she dispatched him herself. The end of Šárka’s life also has a couple of versions. One has her wracked with guilt over what she as done and she throws herself off the cliffs in an act of repentance, while another version has her falling in love with the handsome Ctirad and being broken-hearted at his death, she plunges off the cliff (which bears the name Divci Skok or Girls’ Jump) to her death at the grief of his loss. Either way, it’s a lovely and romantic legend, something Czech history is full of, and adds an extra special beauty to the naturally beautiful Šárka Valley. (full version of the legend is here: http://www.radio.cz/en/article/11889)

Knowing the legend, it is impossible to walk through the Šárka without feeling that you are walking back in time to when warriors roamed the wild. And truth be told, there are very few places in the CZ where you don’t feel the sense of the times of old when warriors roamed on horses and mighty battles were fought. The girls below making a house for the local mice of the Šárka:

At the entrance to the Šárka is a McDonalds, so we were not able to pass by without the standard wails of starvation and near death, so we ended the evening on burgers and chips.

Eufrat Week-end in Modrava

Since leaving Plzen, the very large gap in the girls’ lives has been Teacher Hanka!  When Eufrat invited us to join the school for a week-end away (see Pirate Week-end in April for the last one), we jumped at the chance for the girls to see their old school mates, and especially Teacher Hanka.

We were building up for the week-end for over a month and A&S were collecting things all over the house to wrap up and provide as gifts – we still don’t know what got given in the pile of presents handed over to T.H. in the end.  At restaurants, Sarah was folding fans of the paper napkins to present as gifts as well :)

The big day arrived and after leaving Prague after work, we were the last to arrive after 9pm (although the programme started at 3).  The location was a small village called Modrava in the Šumava mountains.  The hotel “Klostermannova Chata” is a cultural monument named after a Czech author Karel Klostermann who spent much of his time in the house.

The next morning, the weather was gorgeous!  The children were setting out for a walk into the forests and we took the opportunity to get into the mountains ourselves and do some walking. 

Sarah coming running out of the house below to join the rest of the gang for their hike: The whole Šumava park is spider webbed with hiking and cycling trails and it is a really beautiful part of the country to go exploring.  The Šumava is known as the green lungs of Europe due to the extensive forests everywhere.

Colin and I set off and soaked in the beauty of the country.

As the week-end coincided with Halloween, the theme for the week-end was dressed up kids and the story of Hansel and Gretel.  They made a ginger bread house and put on the play of the story for the parents on Saturday evening.

Teacher Hanka made an excellent old lady who turned into the witch and the children all took it in turns to play various parts – the children; the trees of the forest; the mom and dad.

Teacher Lenka was Hansel:

Sunday, Colin & I took more time out to explore the area and went on a stunning 10km hike.

Sunday afternoon, the girls ended their week-end with a treasure hunt and were all lined up to receive their rewards.

    

Budapest

Alrighty then...

With London looming in the spring, and a (hopefully) busy ski season still to be had between now and then, there are not many more touring days to be had. We've not been anywhere East of CZ yet, we've spent our regional time West and South, but have not been North (Poland) or East (Slovakia / Hungary) at all.

With only a long weekend for the trip, all we had time for was Budapest. We decided not to drive, but do the night train thing again - it was so pleasant and successful on the Holland trip, that we thought it would be worth repeating. The girls were all a twitter about the idea too - they love the "sleeping train".

The only over-night rail service between Prague and Budapest is a ČD - České Dráhy - the local railway service. We've travelled on ČD before and, while we get from A to B, safely and usually on time, there is no class involved at all. Really - there is nothing more praiseworthy to say about ČD than "they are functional", dirty, old and scruffy, but functional. Anyway, I don't know why, but we thought the night train would somehow be better than the day ones we have used before - as we discovered - it's not.

I don't think any of us had a decent night - the train leaves just before 10pm and arrives just after 7 the next morning, so a little thin on the shut-eye for the girls, and a strong reluctance to lie down on the bunks for us.

We were all tired when we arrived, and after equipping ourselves with the means to travel the city without limits (Budapest Card, a good deal for tourists) and upgrading our return trip to first class, in the hopes of a better trip home, we made for the nearest refreshment stop which happened to be under golden arches. Mc Donalds for breakfast in Budapest…

Having a decent grasp of English and Afrikaans has helped us navigate most of Western Europe, and the little Czech we know has helped too. Getting by in France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland hasn’t been too hard, based on a combination of the good folks there knowing some English, and us being able to piece together meaning from our Latin and Germanic / Dutch roots. According to Wikipedia, the Hungarian language is something of a linguistic island in the rest of Europe, not being related to any other dialects. Even after reading about it, I thought we'd be able to cover the basics well enough - like learn the word for "exit" for subways, shops etc… We weren't able to decode a single word of Hungarian.

Fortunately, (or unfortunately), Budapest, like every other major European city, is awash with tourists (just like us) and therefore you don't have to go far before you are understood.

Budapest is a lovely city – really. The Danube is the absolute central point of the city, and there is not much else you want to do besides just soak up the miles of great architecture, history, culture and nature for a good few miles along its banks. It’s probably not fair to compare one city with another – they each have their own art, style and qi. But, of the cities we’ve been visited, Budapest has to rank near the top.

In what seems to be fine European tradition, the Magyars have had their fair share of difficulty to deal with. They’ve seen invasions, e.g. Mongols and Turks, the rise and fall of the Romans, the Austro-Hungarian empire, been through WWII from both sides, then dealt with the Russians and, along with the rest of the world are now up to their ears in political and economic woes. They are outspoken in their dislike of the Communists and Germans, and, from what I read in the tourist material and a few daily papers while we were there, there is a tone of bitter resentment toward these two.

For instance, Memento Park is a collection of the statues that the communists erected in Hungary. These were all removed to the park and are presented with a historical commentary that does little to disguise feelings towards the Russians and what they thought of their dictatorship.

Due to the weariness felt by the family, a nap was demanded. Hayley and the girls settled down to catch some zzz after we wangled an early check-in, and I went out to the Citadel.

This is a panoramic shot from outside the front gate.

It’s atop a hill over-looking the city and the river.

From almost the same position as the Citadel front panorama – this one looks the other way over the city. The vantage from the top of this hill is about the same, or better for all 360°. The weather for the entire trip was overcast and hazy like you see it here, apart from brief spells of sunshine.

During WW II it was the location of a LOT of action – German / Hungarian bunkers, artillery and anti-aircraft guns, and strategic in the battle of Budapest too. Walking around the citadel, there is still plenty of evidence that violent stuff occurred here – every wall is heavily pocked with either shrapnel or bullet holes, I expect that some reconstruction has been done, but no attempt has been made to hide the damage that remains. Inside, there is a display of one of the bunkers with war-time photos of the devastation – shocking stuff, I think the statistics are that over 80% of buildings in the city were either destroyed or damaged.

Here is one example of what I mean… add one shell-burst and season with various calibre small-arms fire to taste, best served while hot, to your enemies.

After my brief tour here, it was off to the Buda castle – Bugz and the girls were done with their naps…

This is the Széchenyi Chain Bridge over the Danube on the way to the palace – the first bridge to link Buda and Pest (1849)

In one of those rare moments of sunshine – the same bridge from about half-way up the funicular to the palace.

The city of Pest from the palace

The Buda palace from the city of Pest

The girls having rested are now flying like the eagle behind them… this is in front of the palace main gate. This is one area I think deserves more touring time – the walled area around the palace includes a town, all up on the hill. We had dinner here and browsed some streets and shops, but did no real exploring.

High-pressure busking! This guy was going to get some cash from the foreigners – after the initial, polite “no-thankyous” one routinely issues to solicitations of cash for amusement, he invited the girls to play his violin – holding it all the while… and when they accepted, he knew he’d get some green. Very pleasantly done too BTW.

Us.

In one of those streets we walked through (within the castle walls…) we were, as we always are, trapped by a souvenir and local-type goodies shop – here the girls are showing off their stuff – Amber opted for a traditional doll and Saz for a Tiara-type thing.

Time to snoooze – more Budapest tomorrow.

Day 2…

Brass man-hole covers….? I’d give this about 10 seconds in Jo’burg before it’s in a smelter someplace.

Another tourist-trap being sprung – now they both have dolls…

This is the Pest Market, no-one about on a Sunday, but apparently a veritable hive of activity otherwise

We wanted to see some of the museums while we were here, and there is quite a lot of choice, but the really interesting ones are not for sensitive viewers – those dealing with the various wars and oppressions suffered in the history of Hungary. We settled on the National Museum – it’s a stunning building, very pretty both inside and out, but small as national museums go – still well worth the visit esp when you get free entrance on your Budapest Card!

Above is the Museum…

I don’t know if it is my memory that is under-serving me here, but I experience the fall in Europe as far more colourful than I can recall it in ZA, or any other place I’ve been to. To add a twist of irony to the ex-African lament of having to forgo affordable labour, and the only exception I can think of, it is a pleasant thing to find fallen leaves un-swept, completing the picture.

This is a mild example of what I mean, the light is poor and the colours are not as intense and brilliant as they would be in sunlight, but you get the picture…? Look at the second photo at the top of this post – the panorama of the city - and notice the colour in the trees in the foreground. In sunlight it’s a surreal palette.

After the museum, aided by pleas of starvation from the girls, who’s new favourite phrase is “I’m dying here!”, we found a nice restaurant on the river-side.

I felt like establishing a deeper acquaintance with the local cuisine and, not being very hungry, a menu item describing a mixed platter of Hungarian foods seemed appealing. The kids and Hayley had a variety of soups. The food arrived, and looked great. I had a selection of pates and sauces with a variety of cold meats, some peppers and a salad. One of the sliced meats was tongue…

I had sudden flashbacks to my youth – my inability to eat an ox’s tongue had been a problem on more than one occasion – it showed up in sandwiches regularly as I recall. Thank heavens my sister loved the stuff and would take the burden from me. All I had to bear was hunger - by far the easier fate. And here it was again… and I couldn’t touch it.

I am generally quite selective on who, and in this case, “what” I go tongue-to-tongue with. It’s an exclusive list - one member long - and there is NO space to add a dead ox. If you were served your steak complete with singed hide and fur lining the edge, you’d have something to say, but when tongue is served, you get it complete with the boiled taste-buds still installed… My stomach turns just thinking about it. I am slowly turning vegetarian with age, experiences like this accelerate the process.

This is one of the brass sculptures on the pavement near the restaurant – a girl playing with her dog, below, Amber with another.

After lunch was a long walk down the river taking in all the sights.

A long walk after lunch is so much easier when you can scoot – look at that poise!

These are the houses of parliament – inspired by the English ones, the resemblance is not hard to spot.

We hired one of them 4 seater bikes on Margaret island in the middle of the Danube and went for a pedal – these bikes are a great idea, but they’re a lot of effort! Still, we had loads of fun, the girls each tried their hand at driving, and scared other pedestrians off the path with their wild swerving. Fortunately their screaming had everyone on the island warned long before there was any danger of impact.

All saddled up and ready to go, the ladies up front are all smiles.

The girls – not shouting “Faster Daddy!!” and pointing in all the directions they want to go - for a moment.

Leaving the island, the sky was a stunning deep blue and just wanted to be captured – Not sure what this is, some kind of art, or monument…? The lighting was interesting…

… and the road leading off the island all lit up.

This is what Budapest looks like from Margaret Bridge – houses of parliament on the left, the chain bridge over the river, the palace just to its right and the fisherman’s bastion on the right. Atop the hill, where this blog post started is the Citadel.

A closer shot of the Palace

and the chain bridge – palace in the background

Last day today – first stop is Hero’s Square, a huge public square in Budapest that marks a thousand years of Hungarian settlement.

I put together a synth of the photo’s that I took there, have a look at it here…

Thanks to my girls for the patience as I took the 200 or so photos that make up this synth.

Just across the road from the square is Vajdahunyad Castle, there is a huge flat area running under the bridge between the castle and the hot baths (I think) that becomes one enormous ice-rink in the winter – it must be really something.

This image of the ice rink is from Wikipedia

It was a cold day and the wind was really chilly so we took shelter in a restaurant in the park, and while the girls fed the fish in the lake to draw them away from the fishermen, throwing leaves onto the water to hide the fish once they had run out of bread, we sipped hot chocolate and had some goulash soup – altogether very pleasant.

We managed to get a night cruise on the river too – very nice, we should have done it sooner, for the short distance we travelled, a lot is covered as part of a tour in the boat. That cruise on a clear, sunny day would be a photographers paradise.

Now to cart sleeping babies back home.

The trip back was very pleasant for a day-time trip – first class cabins are definitely the way to go when travelling CD!