I Walked From Czechia to a Mystery Country (& Back)
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- čas přidán 28. 04. 2024
- I'm finally leaving Czechia (the Czech Republic) after an amazing eleven days in this beautiful and fascinating country in central Europe. I woke up not knowing where I would end up going next. Watch the video to find out what happens and which country I arrive in by the end of the day.
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Music during the video (in order):
"Spin and Scratch" by JR Tundra
&
"Wheel Of Karma" by Audionautix, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Artist: audionautix.com/
&
"Alike" by Jones Meadow
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Video created by Gabriel Morris, who is the owner of all video or photo content. Filmed with a DJI Osmo Action: amzn.to/3gSi8rA
Gabriel is a traveler, outdoors enthusiast and travel writer who has been adventuring around the world since his first trip to Europe in the summer of 1990 when he was 18 years old. He is author of "Following My Thumb", "Gabe's Guide to Budget Travel" and several other books.
Disclaimer: Gabriel Morris is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to www.amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate, Gabriel earns revenue from qualifying purchases.
do you even realize Gabe goes on vacation for work and goes home for a vacation? mind blown
Voodoo, no because he's on vacation when he's documenting
Nice meeting you today at a café in Bratislava. Safe travels Gabriel
Ooh spoiler alert 😂
Hey you too Matt, enjoy the travels. ✌️👊 No worries on the spoiler. It still leaves the ultimate destination unknown.
@@BhutWhutOther people already mentioned Bratislava before I did. Also it's not the final destination as Gabriel mentioned. Cheers!
That's for spoiling the surprise you jackass @@mateor7302
I have loved seeing more of this country. I studied Czech and Slovak in the army. The teachers were so patio ate about their homelands, it rubbed off. Thanks for these videos!
I can't believe you were in Gmünd! I live only a few kilometers away. It was a good decision to go back to the trainstation in Ceske Velenice. The railway tracks are currently being replaced. The bus ride was the rail replacement transport. It was a pleasure seeing you discover "our" little corner of the world! And yes, please come back. There is more to see! 😊 It cracked me up when you tried to read the sign in german!!!😂
That explains it, thanks. And funny that a viewer of my videos was nearby while wandering around in such a small and unfamiliar town, pretty cool.
Small world 😉
@Karin
Gabe's German was 100% spot on!
😝
German sounds like that to me too!
🤗
I say eastern Slovakia is worth checking out, allot of castles and mountains and hidden gems, I’m reading up about it now
Amazing you walk so much carrying that heavy backpack!! Too much for me!! But love going on your travels here on my couch !! ❤❤❤
Bit disppointed you didn't grab a rental car and do a road tour of the Czech Rep like you do in other countries. Lots of castles and such to stop off at along the way to the major tourist places/bigger cities. Hope you get to do something like that if you go back one day.
I bet a lot of people in the Cold War would have loved to be able to walk through that Gmund border crossing. What a difference time can make.
Love it. Awesome series. Nice!
Slovakia 🇸🇰 is beautiful .. but Oohh Vienna ❤
Forget Usta Pravdy, you want to see an incredible rock carving made in the 1800's, visit Čertovy hlavy (Devil's Head) just a short drive from Prague. I visited it a few years back and I was creeped out and amazed all in one haha.
Wow, that looks even more interesting. Next time.
Slovakia is actually not that similar to the Czech Republic in some ways! Way more religious and conservative, and the cities looks a bit different having history of different rulers, in Slovakia's case lots of Hungarian history, while Czechia was dominated by Austrian and German history. And the nature in Slovakia is extremely different from Czech nature, with the Carpathians!
I have been to both countries (mostly beyond capitals) and can confirm that.
Looking forward to exploring Slovakia more at some point.
That's true. One of the reasons Czechoslovakia is not Czechoslovakia anymore is, that we are really quite different.
@@GabrielTravelerVideos , if your Greece call is too strong right now, you can return from Greece when it becomes too hot or too much crowds there to cool in the Slovakian mountains (High Tatras are a must in the country, with Lomnicky Štit cable car to 2,634 m high - although with mandatory reservation for highest gondola on Gopass site), continuing through Zakopane to Poland and have another cooling in the Baltic Sea in Poland, Lithuania and/or Denmark (as these are also countries where you can explore much more) where there are also some very nice Hanseatic towns and cities. Otherwise, there are also possible flights from Krakow, Poland after doing Slovakia, not far away from High Tatras. If you go to Trenčin after Bratislava, it is possible to rent a car for a day to explore Čičmany and Bojnice Castle from there.
Are they not very similar? 😮@@Busha69
Another Awesome Adventure Thank You Gabriel 🙂❤👍
Slovakia is not similar to Czechia in any way (as whole countries, not only capitals), except for similar language and 70 years of history in the same country Czechoslovakia. Why? Because Slovakia is more mountainous country, is not so much industrialised and belonged to Hungary for many years in history (while Bohemia/Czechia belonged to Holy Roman Empire and Austria). Even traditional culinary is much different. If there are better historic towns in Czechia, it is much better nature in Slovakia (especially High Tatras are a gem) and folklore is also much more appreciated in Slovakia (also in architecture in the village Čičmany). All this is not seen by tourists that go only to capitals of these two countries; but more someone goes beyond them, more it is clear to see the difference.
+ in your tempo, you can do Slovakia without problems in 6-10 days as it is smaller country than Czechia. So nothing to lose (as there is still much May after that), it is only to gain.
I think they are the same. Sorry
@@BhutWhut Nature is completely different, Czechia is mainly flat land, Slovakia is very mountainous and historical architecture has more Hungarian inflience than German/Austrian like in Czechia. Cutlure can't be that generalized, but generally, pretty much everyone in Czechia is atheist, while in Slovakia, religion survived more and they are very conservative and mostly support (sadly) Putin.
@@Pidalin They should be united because they are the same, almost. Slave must unify!
Nice! 🙂
The reason you don't find a historic center in České Velenice is because it was one town together with Gmünd - divided after the Austro-Hungarian monarchy fell apart in 1918. And further divided over several decades by the Iron Curtain in the second half of the 20th century.
Actually, the current České Velenice train station was the historic station for all of Gmünd.
27:00 These train tracks are part of the Waldviertel narrow gauge network, the southern branch. Once the narrow gauge railway also connected to České Velenice station and was later rerouted.
Very interesting, thanks for the info. 👍
Hey Gabriel, I truly think you should do a video summarising your adventures around central europe and what you think of each country or city. As a Czech myself, that would be super interesting to hear whats the perception of foreigners on our country. Thank you :))
Vienna looking very interesting glad to see the weather getting better. Take care.
Thanks
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Thanks Mark, appreciate it. ✌️
White asparagus are a very seaonal vegetable, basically end of april to the end of june in Europe and are considered an absolute delicacy. During these times it looks like every other restaurant has some sort of special menu featuring them. So, great job on having some while they are in season!
48 minute video from Gabe, YES PLEASE! 😃
You Made It Gabriel Where You Wanted To Go Without Revealing It, These Little Towns Are So Darn Cute!
This is the first time I heard you reading a longer German text, was funny. :) On the other hand, Česke Velenice is a border town with Austria - that means that it is a very popular destination for Austrians to get many things and enjoyment and similar much cheaper than in their own country (although differences are narrowing themselves, were much greater after the Iron Curtain fell in 1989-90). Some locals have a profit because of that and know very much what Austrians seek. So Velenice look much alike some other little towns on the Czech-Austrian border, yes.
Love to see Slovakia! Particularly because of the castles, caves, hot springs and wilderness. It looks very magical, and different from most European countries. Wherever you go will be great, I'm just sayin.
Another vote for Slovakia!
@@user-yt8ey7ul8k Here's hopin'! :)
Keep on cruising. Will be in same areas in October. ❤
Nice !!! 😊❤🇧🇦
I live in Weiden in der oberfalz Germany. It is a quite town but definitely worth the stop while you are in Central Europe.
You should see more of Austria, like the smaller, lesser known towns. They're really chill and nice.
I agree: czcams.com/video/p79NqDmY5a0/video.html
Wasn't Adolph from a small Austrian village? 🤔
@@BhutWhut Yes, Braunau Am Inn.
@@RicardoRMedina that must be a creepy place
Trip reminds me on vacation in Antalya
I’m guessing Austria, I just started watching, I’m not looking at the comments
GREAT VIDEO I ENJOY. SALUDOS
Hey Mate, first I thought 48min is pretty long for a video, but it was really interesting and not boring at all. At the border you could have asked at the POLIZEI / Police station if the bus would have passed there to avoid walking all way back, the police in north and central Europe are normally pretty friendly. Or you could have asked at the stripclub, get a glimpse of the situation inside, they opened at 11am, and their job is (among other things) to be friendly too ;-)
Best wishes to you Gabriel!
My mom was born in Brno and grew up in Prague, she escaped from communist Czechoslovakia in 1951
Oh cool, you're not the only one, both my parents did similar escapes from communist Czechoslovakia to Australia (father fled at a similar year to your mother, my mother some years later) and met and married in Aussie land.
My sister fled to Canada after the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968.
@@davidmuller404Dubcek sold out 👎
14:37 Every time I see scenes like this I always think about the The Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar video clip :) Nice trip Gabriel!
Great video.Sulzberg Is only a short trip from Cesky Krumov too😊
Hi Gabriel, those travel days where you got to go somewhere else is sometimes turns into an adventure in itself. But you know you you're going to Vienna Vienna is amazing it looks amazing it looks very modern. There is a museum district in Vienna from what I see I don't know if you can take your camera there that that might be a bit overwhelming. I know you must be thinking Greece at this point the islands the mainland the warm weather the Greek food and all that.
32:22 "Rail replacement service", "Göpfriz an der Wild" = Göpfritz=the town, Wild=located on the Wild river.
Replacement rail transport with buses is set up if a railway line cannot be used temporarily.
I saw that you talked about a Safari experience in this video.
I can only recommend you to come to the Safari Land Stukenbrock. And in the vecinity you got the Hermannsdenkmal (Germanys statue of liberty).
Save travels Gabriel Traveler.
Gabe, why don't you try some of the major international car rentals? There's at least one branch in each airport.
Also Slovakia and Czech republic are not that much alike. When it comes to nature Slovakia is just beautiful and spending at least a few days in High Tatra mountains would definitely be worthwhile.
wow town so quiet .My favourite..
There is Easter, the year's biggest festive season, in Greece from the 3. - 6. May. Things do not function normally then and because of an influx of visitors, hotels might be hard to get.
Good to know, I'll work around it.
You might like the island of Delos. A lot of cool ruins to explore
Apropo Slovakia and High Tatras... *important info* - many of the mountain trails are closed up to 31.5. (some even up to 15.6.)
Would you consider Poland? One of the highlights of your videos is the food. Wonder what other countries eat.
Done with czechia...it's quite kafkaesque!
Vienna is my dream destination!! Are there any art museums with Gustav Klimt paintings?
Love to see more of Greece!!! 🇬🇷
We've seen too much
I was shocked he nailed a few. Czech pronunciations in these series too 🎉
Hranicni prechod is most likely border crossing and Mestsky urad is local government. Thats when you know Slavic languages like me. You can always guess the meaning of the words and sentences because we have many similarities between each other.
Mestsky urad is a Town Hall
@@ivonahofman8457 while miyskiy uryad means local government in Ukrainian and misto means location/town.
This video is about the Czech Republic, not Ukraine! Thanks
@@ivonahofman8457 I know but I just described the similarities between Slavic languages.
I was in Slovakia in December 2023. I wasn’t sure what to expect but Bratislava is a pretty nice and chill capital city. I enjoyed the Bratislava castle and the blue church as well.
9:04 - Pricing of train tickets got much more complicated in last years becuse of private companies, competition on some routes + sometimes you have option to buy flexible ticket (which was default in the past and more expensive) or ticket with mandatory train which is mostly cheaper, but when you combine more trains and go to other country, who knows what they actually sold you. There are also trains of different classes and I am not talking about second or first class, some trains are just more expensive, like Pendolino for example.
These buses instead of trains are very often thing here, but thankfully, it's mostly not a big problem when you know about it before your ride, but sometimes it can be tricky to find where bus goes from, because not everywhere there is a road next to train stop, but local people mostly know where temporar bus stop always is in case of some accident or something that trains can't go.
14:15 - This says request stop, press the button if you want to leave there. I can't imagine beying foreigner here and using these ordinary trains where everything is only in Czech. But I also survived Portugal, Poland, Latvia and other countries, sometimes it's kind of punk traveling, but that's probably what we love about that. 😀
Those strip clubs or casinos are very common near borders with Austria or Germany because they have everything somehow regulated and taxed there, while here, it's the wild east for them, so they travel here for these experiences, it's sad, but reality. I am pretty sure that most of "thai massage" places are just another strip clubs or masked brothels.
Careful with the bears. There’s been some bear attacks in Slovakia
😳😳😳😳😳😳
Ah, you mentioned my suggestion from a previous video.
Brno is a nice city.
very pleasant town
Sad you're leaving CZ but happy to see the next step of your adventure. Btw, the W in German is pronounced V!
Vienna Austria is a beautiful city
You have a talent for languages,Gabriel😊 I like that wherever you go,you try to greet people in their language,learn the pronunciation,which is often complicated.Thank you for visiting our country.Good luck choosing other destinations,happy travels.👍
I get those 7 day croissants as well. Guess where they're baked? Bulgaria!
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Zu DDR Zeiten war ich oft in diesen schönen land mit schöne Erfahrungen ! Habe einen SKODA S 100 gefahren und wo ich jung war eine 350 er Jawa !
1992"da Urlaub gemacht etwas unfreundlich aufgenommen !
2015 Urlaub gemacht war wieder schön
Gruß aus Potsdam
hearing Gabriel read German language one can just close the eyes and imagine watching a WW2 movie
Yes, he could get a speaking role in a Hollwood WW2 movie. But to be fair his pronunciation of "Ignaz-Pilz-Gasse" and quite a few other words was just perfect.
Rerminds me "Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz" scene, but vice versa. 😀
Good tunage, but you must add Wheel of Karma to your first train ride when in India, the extended version. After my recent Amtrak experience I really want to experience an efficient and timely train journey, feel like Europe is my best option for this.
This is also how it is at the border between Sweden (my country) and Norway, even though Norway is not in the EU but is still part of Schengen, language (the very little difference there is) and currency changes at the border, but otherwise you won't notice anything and a foreigner probably won't be able to detect the language difference. You can walk all the way from the North Cape (including pedestrian ferries across the Öresund and Fehmarn straits, in order to bypass Russia) to the southern tip of mainland Italy without crossing a single active border checkpoint! So many non-Europeans are surprised by this concept here.
Another Europe hack many don't think of, if a flight is too expensive from one airport or you can't find one that goes directly, look at flights from another nearby airport even if it happens to be located in a different country! I live in Sweden but most of the times I fly somewhere it's actually from Copenhagen, Denmark, an easy 2 hour train ride from my town Sölvesborg, Sweden. You did the right thing to book from Bratislava!
Funny is that even before we entered Schengen, border looked pretty much like this, I left Czechia in 2006 for the first time and there was still some police at border with Germany, but nobody was stopping, they were just showing "go, go, go" to every car. We were going thru Switzerland (again, before we entered Schengen) and they just lookd thru window and again - go, no actual border check. When you ask older people who remember communism how it was before, it's like completely different world, even when you went to other communist country, you was waiting like 8 hours in line at border and when you looked suspicious, they completely destroyed your car while looking for western money or other banned things. When they cought you with too much cash or all your papers, they immediatelly arrested you because it was obviouse that you are trying to escape, not just going to vacation. It was easier to leave thru Yugoslavia, because they were ally, but not literally part of that Soviet madness, they had much more freedom down there.
I saw you travel book
Ithaki and Kefalonia are amazing places
Try add Lemnos 🌋
The Busdriver spokes german;)
I remember back in the 90s, I was standing staring in awe at the spectacle of St Stephen's Cathedral when an American tourist walked past and said "That ain't so spectacular!" lol
Seriously? Wow, what a dork. 😛
👍👍👍
You should visit Slovakia Gabriel its not the same as Czech Republic explore it and fly from Bratislava to Athens.
The list of Gabriel’s favorite countries: Greece, Turkey, Thailand.
I believe he has been to India the most!
You forgot the all time favourite, India!! But yea, seems he can't wait to get back to Greece for the 30 th time!
czcams.com/video/9hR1Lc62onA/video.html
I am from India dude❤❤❤❤❤@@user-zn1ww6sl9r
@@normanlee31of course I am from India❤❤❤❤❤❤
There’s a direct flight to Mykonos from Vienna too, fyi
🎉
Should also go back to Slovenia while in that area
White asparagus is a delicacy……well, at least in the US, it’s expensive AF but great
Yeah Greece!! I’m going this fall, because of all your videos from there!
I still can’t get over how empty everything, city & towns in check are.
Oooh, I am so looking forward so some ocean views, warm waters, and sunshine!!
Hardly see any people on Road. How all those nice buildings, nice roads etc maintained.
Is Czech is rich in resources.
! Salzburg and Berchtesgaden are awesome places to visit. Vienna is my fav city in EU.
I visited Salzburg last year: czcams.com/video/QZA2ekXDwLA/video.html
@@GabrielTravelerVideos Checking it out now
The train conductor said Wien at 11.16!
Gabriel, enjoy Bratislava!
You could've visited other interesting places in Southern Bohemia that are not similar to Pilsen or České Budějovice, like Hluboká castle, Třeboň, Jindřichův Hradec or Rožmberk nad Vltavou. Those are really nice places, but instead you were considering some carving in the woods... That's a shame. Also your visit to Kutná Hora was horribly botched, there's much more to see than just the church of bones... It's a beautiful medieval town that you didn't even reach, cause the bone church is located in the suburbs.
You have to keep in mind that for digital nomads the 90 days limit in the Schengen Zone is an issue and challenge, these people travel full time (pretty much) and they can only stay in the area of this large amount of countries for 90 days in a 180 days period, its not like you can get to the next country and get a new 90 days period there.
On to tak packá všechno. Dopředu moc nepřemýšlí a spousta věcí mu pak unikne.
Brno is much more interesting than Plzen or Ceske Budejovice, IMHO. Also, a great way to vary the video content when you're in Czech Republic is to visit castles there, which are many and fascinating.
Brno is Prague with fewer tourists.
How about getting some Croatia's Dalmatian coast islands on your way toward Greece?
Or is it still a little too cold to go there?.
Caught a flight to Athens but I love the Croatian islands. I'm sure now is a great time to go, water might be a little cold but things are warming up. I visited the islands a few years ago: czcams.com/video/-ds6VXz8M-c/video.html
26:22 We could have so much fun hiking the german speaking world. 😄
Visit Ostrava pls😊 it's Silesian diamond. It's not far from Ostrava to Greece.
omg. do not go to Ostrava :-)
@@IceGuts OSTRAVA is the best. Plzeň,Praha,Brno,Český Krumlov are very boring cities.
@@IceGuts OSTRAVA is the best. Plzeň,Praha,Brno,Český Krumlov are very boring cities.
@@Prudic1 dude. I grew up in Ostrava. Spent 20 years there. I KNOW Ostrava 😁
Thank you for this very fascinating video. If you go to Slovakia, you involuntarily make a comparision between Czechia and Slovakia. Bratislava borders on two countries: Austria and Hungary. A curious fact: Bratislava was the capital of Hungary for some time in the past.
True, even for almost 250 years Bratislava was the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary. But prior to WW1, it was known either by name Pressburg (German) or Pozsony (Hungarian) as there were only 15% Slovaks, based on the 1910 census. The city went on total demographic transformation in the 20th century as now it is 90% Slovakian people there.
IT IS MONDAY TODAY . SO I THINK YOU HAVE ARRIVED TO GREECE ,,,,,,,,WELLCOME .....
Dear Gabriel the old man you met on your way to Gmünd already told you so but you didn’t get it. He said this way “Österreich „ (Austria) the other way „ Bahnhof „ and Zentrum „.
FIFTH…..OHHHHH some day I’ll make it first!
Wow, a lot of German spoken (of course). I studied German for 5 years so I can understand a bit of it. Never used it in practice so I forgot a lot.
Room looks expensive tbh think will have to stick to hostel dorm beds on budget of 30usd a day. 😂😢😢😊
Hi Gabriel, again I see You in some kind of trouble when it comes to planning trips and buying tickets. Public transportation is well organized in Czech Republic, there are digital tickets available for all trains and buses. There's a real good possibility to check out connections and buy Your ticket online, no need to worry about whether You got the correct departure time and no need to go to any salespoint and stand in a line. If a train or bus is already on track, You even get information about actual delays in there. Almost every Czech already knows what I'm talking about I think, but unfortunately, whenever I refer to some online resources in here my comment will be deleted.
You forget the subtiles again Gabriel 😅
As for cities, Slovakia and the Czech Republic are very similar, but Slovakia is less populated and almost all the country is mountains so it is much nicer than the Czech Republic. Lots of mountain trails and wild.
A taky spousta rómských slumů:)
Bus driver speaks with an Austrian accent. Did you go to Austria ?
You will always find adult stuff over the border from Austria and Germany because it’s way cheaper
You should consider coming to Patras , Greece and then take a ferry to Zakynthos island when you come in Greece. Nice vids as always Gab
Been there: www.youtube.com/@GabrielTravelerVideos/search?query=Zakynthos
@@GabrielTravelerVideos haha ofc you have :) youve been to the whole world bro :)
1st
Boom, got it, you're on a roll.
Wien is pronounced "Veen". The "W" is actually a "V" in german, don't ask me why..