Day 136: Dêčín & More Hockey

Reaching our big city limit, we ventured into North Czechia to access the Bohemian Switzerland National Park. Dêčín is the recommended home base for this region with its train and bus access as well as lively pubs and restaurant choices.

The World Ice Hockey Championships were still running and we knew Canada would be facing Switzerland while Czechia would face Sweden. We set out to explore the town and locate the perfect bar with food to watch the Canadian game in the evening. The Czechia game was on as we passed bars and could hear the locals cheering and celebrating. They beat Sweden 4 to 2.

We walked through Podmolky, up the Elbe river, and over to downtown Dêčín. The walk also took us along a huge highway and camping location that provides full tent set up and local tours. In total we walked aimlessly for two hours before heading back home for dinner.

The bar we selected for the Canadian game was locals only and had a townie feel. The best part was a very old drunk man who kept talking to us in Czechian. It didn’t matter how many times we said, “Nei Czechian”, he still wanted to talk. Kieran resorted to laughing and saying yeah every once in awhile and it made the old man smile and talk more! Eventually the old man’s friends sat down and he got distracted.

Sadly the Canadians didn’t too very well and it came down to a shoot out. Everyone in the bar cheered for Switzerland except for us. It could be a Europe VS North American thing or they wanted the Swiss to win so Czechia could clobber them later on. Canada lost in the end 😞 At least we only paid $12 USD for 5 beers, 3 glasses of wine, and a shot 🫠 Before leaving, we said goodbye and “Go Czechia” to our old man friend and he was elated.

Restaurants:
Bar U Prince

Spots:
Podmokly
Děčín
Tyršův Most BridgeEn savoir plus