Day 3: Pustevny [Czech Republic]
We are officially on the road! We caught some great breakfast at our hotel and brought our things out to the bus. Our driver, Branco, was there waiting. He was very nice and kept a super-clean bus for us! We were heading to Pustevny and were going to make our lunch stop at a small town named Štramberk. This quaint little town just had only locals. We were the only tourists, so we had several food options to choose from. From what we heard, they were all great!
We ate lunch with tour members Mike and Kathy [we had a total of three Mikes in our group]. They are from Washington state and we enjoyed visiting with them very much! After lunch Mike...and Mike really wanted to head up the hill to "the tower", which is actually Trúba tower. We were a little short on time because we chatted at lunch for quite a while but decided to head up there to check it out before hopping back on the bus. Once to the top, the view of the town and hills was fantastic, check out the pictures below! While Mike and Mike climbed, Kathy and Nicole, paid for them (silly boys didn't read the sign, but the attendant was very nice, we assumed our husbands were not the first to do this) and enjoyed the amazing view at the base of the tower.
After we were done with the tower we had ten minutes or so before we needed to walk down the hill. There is a little tasty treat in this town, they are Štramberk ears! No, not "ears", but tasty cream-filled gingerbread type ears, do not miss them!!!
We ate lunch with tour members Mike and Kathy [we had a total of three Mikes in our group]. They are from Washington state and we enjoyed visiting with them very much! After lunch Mike...and Mike really wanted to head up the hill to "the tower", which is actually Trúba tower. We were a little short on time because we chatted at lunch for quite a while but decided to head up there to check it out before hopping back on the bus. Once to the top, the view of the town and hills was fantastic, check out the pictures below! While Mike and Mike climbed, Kathy and Nicole, paid for them (silly boys didn't read the sign, but the attendant was very nice, we assumed our husbands were not the first to do this) and enjoyed the amazing view at the base of the tower.
After we were done with the tower we had ten minutes or so before we needed to walk down the hill. There is a little tasty treat in this town, they are Štramberk ears! No, not "ears", but tasty cream-filled gingerbread type ears, do not miss them!!!
...and we're off again! Up to the mountains, to a town named Pusthevny. The drive has many switch-backs but they were conquered with ease by Branco [our driver]. Our group was split into two hotels, just a minute or two walk apart, we stayed at Koliba Valaška. After we settled in, Kataka offered to take us on an optional trail hike, which most everyone attended. The main trail isn't a difficult walk and is a nice surface to hike on, we certainly recommend it. We walked up to a couple of the beautiful "look-out" points and made our way up to the statue of Radegast. Radegast is a pagan god of war, victory, sun and richness. As we rendezvoused back at the hotel, we had a group event, more of a "name game". This was a great building block for the group as we had a few, ahem, beverages that were made available and got to learn everyone's name in a fun way.
After the "name game" we had time to freshen up before our group dinner! Our dinner was to be accompanied by local dancing and music! This group was very entertaining and put on a great show for just our group! At one point, our members were right in the mix dancing along! What a great night!