We traveled to Terezin today. I was an interesting trip from start to finish. Every travel book, Czech travel web site and online reservation form said the bus left from the International bus Terminal, it didn't. The bus left from another bus terminal across the river. We had allowed enough time for these possibilities but it was still frustrating. In the Czech Republic we have found a lot of people speak English, the menu's are in English and the jazz singers sing in English but all of the street and highway signs are in Czech. We got directions to the other bus station, buy a Metro ticket, go 2 stops. We found the info booth, go thru a tunnel to the other station where the buses are, we were in the Metro station, not the bus station. We met a group of frustrated Spanish travelers who were having the same frustration so we joined forces and finally found the ticket lady. It really went smoothly after that. The Spaniards are headed to Budapest so of course we told them about Birs Bizstro.
The bus left us on the side of the road but with the instructions of the ticket lady we knew which way to walk. We headed to the Small Fort.
Terezin is basically a 15th century fort that would gave slipped into historical anonymity had it not been for WWII. As concentration camps go it was the place to be. The influential and government officials were often sent there. It was the camp the Nazi's showed the outside world, they made documentary films about Terezin. Don't get me wrong, it was still a terrible place.
The city is surrounded by a very extensive wall and series of gates and bridges, the museums are nice, actually not to dark. They have emphasis on the efforts of the residents to continue teaching. Art seemed to be a major subject. The entire town was flooded in 2002 and you can still see the effects. There is a major tree planting program underway. There were quite a few tour buses with a variety of passengers, high school age kids, seniors and a bus load of monks.
We met several sweet little docent ladies, their English was limited to "no photo." They pointed to a guest book and asked us to write something in it.
We ventured down a 500 M long tunnel that snakes under the defensive walls of the fort. Lisa wanted to see the girls dormitories where many of the art lessons were conducted but the building is privately owned and was not open to the public.
There are several restaurants and we chose one from a blog post and it was just OK...it overlooked the moat and the Jewish Mortuary. We checked out a couple of Antik shops, very expensive but fun to browse in.
We found the bus stop on the square and the bus arrived on time. We were back in Prague at the Ungelt by 5 pm.
We had a nice dinner at a restaurant we saw near the Jewish Museum. We tried their home made sausage, a combo platter of game, white and pepper sausage.
Prices here are sneaky. You really have to pay attention. They ask you if you would like bread with the sausage and then charge you for it. Waiters walk around with mugs of beer and quickly replace your 3/4 empty mug with a full one. Beer is cheaper than bottled water and the waiters say they are not allowed to serve tap water. They try that in Budapest but we're to smart for that.
We walked back to the Ungelt in a big thunderstorm. The lightening strikes in this area of tall church spires was fantastic. The power was out for a minute or two.
We will spend the morning and afternoon at the Jewish Museum complex, and may find time to go over to the castle. Our train leaves at 15:33. Back to Budapest.
The pictures are of the ticket lady, the cute Spaniards, a wall in Terezin, the restaurant and streets of Terezin.
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