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Grand tour '04 - by
1981 Vauxhall Chevette
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Having enjoyed two other excursions into Eastern
Europe in our ‘new’ (bought in 2000 with 460 miles on the clock)
Chevette we decided on a tour covering some cities and areas not
seen before.
This time we would spend 5 weeks on the continent making for a more
leisurely itinerary. As before the spare wheel compartment was
packed with small spares and the car given the once over. We had
fitted an electric fan a couple of years ago to help control the
temperature in heavy traffic and on long mountain passes, which was
a worthwhile modification. I had also fitted a ‘Sparkrite’
electronic ignition, the advantages of which are less obvious and
more long term.
Much against my principles we fitted a roof rack for the two folding
bikes we were taking. We also took our camping gear to keep costs
down – not that we intended putting the tent up for one or two
night stands. We had an outline itinerary but left plenty of room
for changes as we went.
We took the P&O to Calais on the 19th of September and spent
that night in a F1 hotel in the outskirts of Brussels at a cost of
26 Euros for a room! It was then on to Dusseldorf, via Zolder where
we took a look round the circuit that we had not seen before. We
spent a pleasant evening with our very good friends, Helmut and
Maria Kasimirowitz.
Then it was across Germany, resisting the temptation to test the
max. speed of the Chevette on the ‘un-limited‘ autobahns, to
more friends. Lutz Schmidt and Sylvia live in the old DDR area of
eastern Germany not far from Gotha in which we spent a couple of
hours on the way. The following day Lutz took us into Erfurt, the
capital of the Thuringer region. An interesting city with a superb
town hall and the well preserved ‘Petersburg’ citadel. The most
unique feature though is the beautiful Kramer Bridge, the longest
inhabited bridge in Europe with houses/shops on both sides! That
evening Lutz helped me change the fan belt on the Chevette – the
original was still screeching in spite of being tightened before
starting out.
After another night at ‘Schmidtshof’ it was off to Moritzburg,
with Eileen taking the wheel for an hour. Lutz had phoned to book us
into a bungalow at a campsite there. It is common on the continent
for camp sites to have bungalows for hire. Most, like this one are
fully equipped and all you need is your toothbrush and soap. This
site was handy for visits to Dresden and Meissen. We took the bus
for the 20 minute ride into Dresden. On arrival the first thing we
needed was a loo. We went into a nearby ‘Markthalle’ where we
were delighted to find – as well as the toilet –
a museum, devoted almost entirely to the iconic East German Trabant.
On show was just about every variation of the basic 500 and 600
model as well as beach buggy, rally, stock car, hot (?) rod, battery
powered and camper etc versions. Also shown were parts and
assemblies of the simple, basic car that had provided - and still
does provide - East Europeans with mobility. I couldn’t help
comparing the car with the Austin Seven and the original Mini in it’s
many uses and said so in the visitors book. Anyway we were here to
see the architectural masterpieces for which Dresden is famous, and
there are many, so we crossed the river Elbe to the area where most
of the ‘sites’ are. The Semper Opera House, Zwinger Palace and
Frauenkirke, still to be completed, were particularly spectacular.
My first thought was that the wartime bombing of the city had missed
all the prime sites. However, we later saw pictures of the
magnificent buildings that we were admiring that showed that they
had in fact been severely damaged in the ’44 raids, but most had
been expertly rebuilt - even to the extent of being ‘aged’ so
the restorations don’t show.
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On the Silvretta Pass
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Next day we took the car into Meissen. Much smaller and without the
big showpiece buildings it was nevertheless a very pleasant town
that at the time of our visit was celebrating it’s 1075th
anniversary. We took the opportunity to visit the famous Meissen
Porcelain factory. For a small fee we joined a small group to be
shown the techniques used in throwing and hand painting their fine
products. Unfortunately there was nothing we could afford from the
sparkling displays in their shop!
On the way back we took a closer look at our ‘local’ Moritzburg
Schloss. Set on an island on a lake, it is a stunning looking
building in peach, white and red with round towers in each corner,
straight out of a childs book of fairy tales.
That evening, after a nice ‘home cooked’ meal, we discussed the
following day’s route, agreeing to take our German friend’s
advice and miss out Poland and go straight on to the Czech Republic.
Having already seen Prague, we headed down the Elbe for about 30
miles, then turned east to the Czech boarder. There were few
formalities for us compared with when we crossed 4 years ago. Hooray
for the EU!
For about half a mile the roadsides were crammed with stalls selling
goods to Germans at prices much lower than in their own country.
Today’s drive of about 240 miles took us through some pleasant
rolling countryside. It was very noticeable that the standard of
living was much lower than Germany with the villages lined mostly
with small peasant houses and un-curbed verges. We had chosen
Olomouc, capital of Northern Moravia, as today’s destination –
mainly on the recommendation of "Lets Go to Eastern
Europe".
We found a small hotel, close to the cathedral which, at about £40
B&B, was a bit over our budget but very comfortable, with a
secure car park and well placed for exploring the city.
‘Olomootz’, as it is pronounced, is a lively university city
with an attractive restored historic centre surrounded by a network
of narrow, cobbled streets. The large and beautiful town hall,
dating back to 1378, stands in the centre of the main square. It has
a superb astronomical clock on one face. We were told that the
communist clockmakers changed the figures that move on the hour,
from saints to ‘workers’ with hammers and sickles. Opposite the
town hall is the impressive 35 metre high, Unesco listed, Trinity
Column the base of which seems to be a meeting place for students.
There are many other sites but we found the interior of St Michael’s
church and the park that surrounds the old town wall, were
especially attractive .
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