We said our fond farewells to Jana, Petr and family and set off on the 300km trip south west towards Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps. Today marks the mid-point of our trip and also when we start to head for home, but similar to the outbound trip we are taking a scenic route!
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| Český Krumlov Castle. |
Our first stop today was the historic town of Český Krumlov, situated on the banks of the Vltava River and dominated by the 13th century castle. Our schedule today could only allow a couple of hours, so after a quick lunch we had a walk through the cobbled streets before making our way up to the castle. The views looking down at the old town and meandering river were quite spectacular and it's certainly somewhere we'd like to visit again with more time to spare in the future.
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| The ornate Český Krumlov Castle Tower. |
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| Forrest enjoyed watching the boats navigate the weirs. |
Although it's possible to avoid the need to enter Austria and travel directly into Germany, by far the most direct route to Berchtesgaden takes your across the north west corner of Austria before crossing the border into Germany a few kilometers short of the destination. Having purchased our Asfinag vignette toll sticker for the Austrian motorways we had a quick photo stop at the border before continuing on our way. Today we drove straight past the large border checkpoint, all mothballed just in case the Schengen agreement is ever to end.
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| In no man's land between the border signs. |
The drive through Austria was a mix of motorways, including a section that currently has a trial 140km/h (87mph) speed limit in place, and very scenic windy hairpin roads up and into the mountains. After crossing the German border we quickly arrived into Berchtesgaden and to our apartment for the next three nights. It's our first location with a kitchenette, so we're looking forward to a low-key dinner tomorrow night instead of having to find a restaurant with a decent kids menu.
Blogged by Matt.
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