Thursday 23 July 2015

Malkov, Czech Republic

20 July 2015

We are in Malkov, Czech Republic, where Jirka lives. This house is the birthplace of Joe's mother and of ancestors back to 1600s. Jirka is a second cousin so he shares ancestors with Joe. It is wonderful that the house remains in the family after so many generations! Last time we were here (2005) Joe's mother was with us and we made a video of her talking about her recollections of her childhood here.

We are so glad we got that video since it is now too late to get her memories recorded! 


She told us of the delight of the children of the family sleeping on the back of this old stove! The stove has a cook top, as well as two ovens -one exclusively for bread. Of course it also heated the house. It is very nice that it remains in the house - many families have taken the old stoves out. 


The house has a barn, and an orchard as well as some hectares of forrest for firewood. Jirka keeps rabbits (traditional Czech variety) for fur and meat, and turtles (native Czech species) for pets. 



Jirka's house is Malkov number 17. Just down the road is Malkov no. 2. Where Joe and Jirka's great grandmother was born. It is still owned by a family member, Vaclav Skala, and he and his family use it as a summer house. It has a different design, with a courtyard formed by the house and farm buildings. 



Malkov has about 80 residents, quite a few of them relatives of Joe and Jirka.

The nearest city is Klatovy, about 40 kms away. This is where both of Joe's parents went to school, albeit 10 years apart. Joe's father walked for 2 hours every morning to attend school. They didn't meet until university in Prague.

Klatovy still has its old walls and the city square is inside the old city. 



Joe's cousin Martina lives here with her daughter Stèpanka. We spent an afternoon catching up with them.

Other scenes of. Bohemia...





I will pause this blog at this point. Our first 3 months of our European journey is over. We can only stay 3 months in any 6 months in the Shengan zone, so we must leave. Fortunately the car can stay longer, and Jirka kas enough room to park it. We will go by train to Paris and then home, with two stops -Dhubai and Bangkok. That way we arrive home without too much travel stress. We should be home 8 th August. 

I will recommence the blog in about February next year when we expect to be back. So watch this space! If you subscribe to the blog you will be notified when it starts up again.












Tuesday 21 July 2015

Poland

20 July 2015
We really had to hurry through Poland to get Jirka back to work...

My impression of Poland was of a prosperous rapidly developing country. There were grain fields everywhere, and not very much forrest or undeveloped areas left. 


But the highways were sophisticated and the towns had new or well maintained houses. 

We did find some natural areas where we had lunch or camped. 



There were religious symbols everywhere! Fields were graced with icons and small shrines, and each town had some shrine decorated with ribbons! I think there must have been a recent holy day....


It was a weekend and the weather was warm to hot! The Poles were out on the water. 










Lithuania scenes

20 July 2015
We have arrived in Malkov (Czeck Republic) passing through the Baltic States. 
I'll let the pictures tell the story of Lithuania....


























Saturday 18 July 2015

Latvia - glimpses


15 July 2015
We are now hurrying to get Jirka home by 19/7/15. That means a fairly swift journey through Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. 

After our brief stay (overnight) in a small private camping area, with this cheerful farmer...


we continued south into Latvia. 

We spent a couple of hours in Riga, where we saw a mixture of old pre-soviet buildings, and modern architectural masterpieces. 


Then we headed for a national park, which centred around these cellars which had been carved into the soft sandstone of the area, also seen in the form of caves. The town was Ligatne.



We have discovered a MAJOR enjoyment here. BERRIES  - blueberries, raspberries, wild steawberries are all to be found in the forests. We have been camping and then taking our fill of these delights. We have more on our muesli for breakfast, and they go well with a vegan (soy based) whipped cream we have found. 


We are not the only ones enjoying the berries. Berry collecting in state forests and on private land is considered a right of every man. So we see people caring buckets and plastic bags emerging from the bush, or parked along the road ar frequent intervals. Some of them put their collections out on the bonnet of the car for sale, along with fresh mushrooms also from the bush. We have bought kilos of mushrooms from these collectors. 

Latvia of course shows the relics of the Soviet era there. These apartment buildings are everywhere, mostly abandoned for more personalised dwellings. 


Other images of Latvia...







Buying berries at a farmers market...




Rundale Palace was the home of part of the family of Czar Nicoli, and shows the opulence of the ruling class whilst the ordinary people were so repressed. 




I liked this glimpse into the lives of the "downstairs" staff who cooked in this kitchen.


And finally the patch worked roads... Which were very bumpy as a consequence! They occurred all over Latvia! 




















Tuesday 14 July 2015

Estonia

12 July 2015
We arrived after midnight on the ferry from Finland, and immediately started looking for somewhere to park for the night. We ended up in a paddock on the edge of town, probably an area being prepared for housing developement. The moment the engine was turned off Jirka heard a bird call. It was "his bird", a corncrake which he has been researching for the last three years. The bird is protected and he has been using satellite tracking devices to track its migration into Northern Africa. And here it was in our camping spot, in Estonia. 


By morning Jirka had heard a number of different males calling. In addition he had seen no less than 6 protected species in this meadow. He told us that he has organised a conference about the corncrakes to take place in October. Among those invited is a biologist from Estonia. 

Next morning we headed into Tallinn, Estonia's capital. Here we found the city square and a market, with the stall holders dressed in medieval costume. 



The medieval theme continued around the city with children riding"horses" and wearing tin- bucket helmets, and jesters and horse carts. It was very quaint, and merry. 



Another feature of the city centre was these Eco-Taksis. They were electric with pedal assistance so could be managed by quite slight persons. 



Then it was off to the Lahemaa national park in northern Estonia. A major feature of this park is a large area of bog lands. This is an area where the moss has built up on top of itself without decaying, until it is meters deep. The land us very spongy and watery. It is quite dangerous, with the real possibility of sinking into it. In fact during the war a whole military tank is said to have sunk and disappeared here! 


There was a boardwalk into the bog area, where we saw very interesting plants and landscape. 



These bog holes have very dark acid water, but this didn't deter the youth of the area swimming. There was one hole designated for swimming and we saw streams of young people heading into the park with swimming gear.

Other images of Estonia...