Theresienstadt/Terezin - Kralupy: A strange breakfast - From Bavaria to the Baltic Sea and Back

July 6, 2011

Theresienstadt/Terezin - Kralupy: A strange breakfast

Looking out the window from our bed, I could see black clouds draped across the horizon. But I was sure that no amount of rain would make me want to spend another night in this room. We packed and went down for breakfast. I don't think this was a typical Czech breakfast, it was simply what didn't get eaten the day before. We were served warmed over pizza and pieces of stale cake with cherry topping. It might have been home made, at any rate it was wise to be careful of the pits.

Theresienstadt, or Terezín, built in the late 18th century, was a military fortress and a walled garrison town, a model of fortification architecture in the tradition of Vauban.

A view from above shows that the fortified town is made up of two star-shaped areas, which are known as the Large and Small Fortress.

During the second half of the 19th century, the fortress was also used as a prison and during WWI the fortress was used as a political prison camp. During WWII, the Gestapo used Theresienstadt as a ghetto, concentrating Jews from Czechoslovakia, as well as many from Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Denmark. It is estimated that some 155,000 people passed through the ghetto, and around 34,000 did not survive the harsh living conditions.

Terezin is one of the oldest and best preserved Baroque defence systems in Europe.

Partial view of the Small Fortress - The Small Fortress is a National Cultural Heritage Site and is now the Terezin Memorial - an institution dedicated to remembering victims of Nazi Germany.

The town makes a bleak impression. We spent some time at the National Cemetery before we moved on.

Empty streets of TheresienstadtYou can see the watermarks from the disastrous flood of 2002.

National Cemetery, TerezinOutside the entrance gate and bridge across the moat lies the national cemetery, where the bodily remains exhumed from the mass graves were reburied after the war.

Nationel Cemetery, TerezinRed roses mark each grave and their sheer number reinforces the scale of the horrors that took place in the fortress prison.

Today we had wonderful bike paths, quite the opposite from yesterday. And the sun came out. Mid-morning we stopped in the pretty town of Roudnice and had coffee and excellent cake in a chic little cafe on the main square. On a long stretch approaching Melnik, we rode on a brand-new bike path next to the water. Just at lunch time we found a garden restaurant where local cyclists and skate-boarders stopped.

In the garden of a small castle before we reached Kralupy

Melnik is a lovely historical town - we knew it from a previous trip. It is also the confluence of the Elbe and the Vltava rivers. Our route to Prague would now follow the Vltava.

In Kralupy we asked directions to a hotel and were given two recommendations. After a bit of a search we decided on Hotel Sport on the other side of the river. It was a large hotel with the fading charm of socialist days, had a good restaurant and cost 65 € including breakfast.

Today's ride: 74 km (46 miles)
Total: 2,310 km (1,435 miles)

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