Our grand plan was to visit the historical town of Çesky Krumlov, but as we were some distance to the North of Prague, and Çesky Krumlov was way down in the South, we decided to stop off at the town of Tábor on the way, roughly half way between Prague and Çesky Krumlov.
We set off early for the train, preparing ourselves for the long walk to the station. Thankfully, a friendly man from the hotel offered us a lift. He spoke perfect English and we chatted about where we had been and where we were going. At the station it was easy to get tickets as for once my Czech pronounciation was understood. We already knew the route - back to Nymburk and then to Prague, then on to Tábor. If only it was that easy...
On the way to Nymburk the small train filled mostly with locals, came to a stop and everyone seemed to be getting off. I noticed a young guy with a punk haircut looking over at us strangely. He went to speak to another passenger, who came over and told us to get off the train and get on a bus. Figuring we might as well take the advice as we had no way of confirming one way or the other, we duly followed everyone else. Sure enough buses were waiting, and the bus followed a road that at one point passed close to the track, where railway workmen could be seen. I am thankful to those helpful people on the train - if it weren't for them we may still be sitting somewhere between Jicín and Nymburk even now!
The ride from Nymburk to Prague was uneventful, but there was another bus diversion on the Tábor train. This time it was a much bigger train with compartments, and we followed a friendly Czech couple who seemed to know where they were going. Getting back on the train again, we met an English couple making the same trip, and they consulted us about whether this was the right train. It was, and we saw them again getting off the train in Tábor where we congratulated each other on our succesful journey.
We hadn't booked a place to stay this time, but we did have a map of the town in the guidebook. Tábor was a much larger town, with bustling streets and traffic. The first two pensions we tried did not have any rooms free, but the Kapital Hotel could accomodate us. After a brief rest we headed out into the town to explore.
Tábor consisted of a new town with a busy, commercial high street, and an old town with a complex maze of narrow streets (designed to confuse the enemy and toursists) and defensive walls. We took a detour along a road with excellent views over the valley and river below the town, then continued through a residential area down a steep hill to a tributary of the river where we watched a waterfall. This was an excellent town for walking around. Later we found the main square of the old town where there seemed to be plenty of bars and restaurants for the evening's entertainments.
When we returned later that evening though, despite the town seeming quite lively, most of the restaurants and bars had closed. We found a nice Mexican restaurant, however, and also met our English friends again. They told us they had returned to the Czech Republic several times and had never had bad food here, so we entered despite the lack of an English language menu. Inside we prepared to point and guess at what food to order, when the waitress realised we were British and fetched a translated menu. We emerged onto the streets some time later having stuffed ourselves full of delicious food as one tends to do in Mexican places.
The search for a decent bar proved fruitless - we had one drink in a seedy little bar with only the barmaid and two regulars who were watching TV for company. Feeling a bit unwelcome and uncomfortable, we left and returned to the hotel.
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