Semily District

I thought I scored a major bargain for the bus fare from Prague to Turnov for 15CZK per person just over AUD $1. Then I realised that it was only a seat reservation fee, and the fare was to be paid to the driver, however that amount was not stated anywhere in the email confirmation nor in the ticket. A kind man at the bus station looked at his phone and told us it was 110CZK, still very inexpensive at AUD $7.30 for a 1 hr25 min bus ride. We took a Bolt to the bus terminal. Bolt is very much like Uber, but cheaper. We had a very stern young man as our driver. The fare was AUD $12.50 for a 19km 30 minute journey. Petrol here cost AUD $3.70/litre. We did give him a tip and he almost smiled when we thanked him for helping us with our bags. I read somewhere that many ride share drivers here are immigrants who do not speak the language and they just need to work the app. My wild imagination led me to wonder if he was from Ukraine. Quite a different experience to our taxi ride from the airport. Our very proud father chatty driver then showed us photos of his 10 month old baby girl. He used the Sayhi app on his phone to tell his experience at the birth of baby. We conversed through his app. I don't think there's a rule against using one's mobile whilst driving. It was common to see drivers blatantly scrolling through their phone or holding it whilst talking.

We had some time for a last walk around Mala Strana (Czech for Lesser Town) this morning. Not sure how we could still be jet-lagged after 5 nights but Grace was wide awake at 5pm, very unusual for her. I was awake more than an hour before, not at all unusual for me. We stopped by Cafe 22 for second breakfast served by a very animated waiter. He said that he was in a very good mood this morning, but won't be for much longer as he has a 12 hour shift. On a Saturday, in a cafe on the main tourist route from Charles Bridge, I'd be grumpy from the week before to the week after.

Our lovely host at Turnov picked us up from the train station. We are in an apartment at the ground floor of her family home. She and her sister run this airbnb. We took a walk to the Information Centre to get the routes for our hikes sorted. Turnov is in Cesky Raj, Bohemian Paradise, known for its beautiful scenery. Turnov is a small town, so we haven't seen any of that scenery yet. We did walk to the Tesco round the corner to get some pork and chicken and broccoli. We brought 3 packets of curry mixes from Perth, and Grace made a delicious curry. I mistook flour for rice in our cupboard, so it was curry on pasta for dinner. A very nice combination, when you're travelling.

Distance walked 5.3kmRead more