September 15, 2019: Jindřichův Hradec Rest Day

September 15, 2019

A pretty plentiful spread for breakfast at our guest house Bílá Paní. -- Jindřichův Hradec, Czechia

Hotel: Hotelá Bílá Paní, € 50,85

BEING used to getting up early, I awoke early again and was hungry so I slipped out and went down to the breakfast room shortly after it opened. Though I have had better, the spread was pretty good and there was quite a lot of choice. Throughout the meal, the owner/manager replenished various items which makes me think they had read online reviews in which people commented that food ran out well before the 10 am closing of the room.

This is our guest house, Bílá Paní (the White Lady) with our windows peeking out of the greenery. -- Jindřichův Hradec, Czechia

We just took it easy for the day and wandered around the castle walls and through some of the winding streets of the Old Town. There is another square up the street so we sat and people-watched for a while and all of a sudden it was lunch time. We chose to eat in the Main Square for the ambiance but the place ended up being a bit of a fail. The server seemed to be put off when we only ordered drinks. The drinks came, but then we ordered a bit of food - a simple salad and soup. The salad came but without utensils and then the soup never came. I figured I would eat elsewhere. It was after I checked TA reviews that we found the place was rated a 2/5.

The Main Square in the centre of the Old Town. -- Jindřichův Hradec, Czechia

The castle. -- Jindřichův Hradec, Czechia

A Canadian cyclist on a rest day on a walk along the castle walls. -- Jindřichův Hradec, Czechia

For my food, we returned to our hotel's restuarant where I had their version of French onion soup which was really tasty. I was pretty hungry by then which helped, but it was quite good

A straight-on view of our hotel Bílá Paní (the White Lady) from the entrance of the castle. Our windows are on the second floor through all of that greenery. -- Jindřichův Hradec, Czechia

After the lunch we went back into the castle walls where we could here a string and brass ensemble playing or practicing in one of the upper floor's ballrooms. Beautiful music.

To continue with the day of relaxation, we returned to the room for a pre-dinner snooze before searching out a highly-rated restaurant that was up past the square, near where we were walking around last night. Restaurant Udirne, the second-best rated restaurant in the city. As soon as we stepped in, there was the chef at the open kitchen and the aromas were heavenly. We took a few steps down into a dimly-lit arched room that was covered in stone. It oozed atmosphere. There was also a room out on a back patio but this room was amazing.

Initially, we were the only ones there, but shortly afterwards along came an American group of eight cyclists who were riding from Vienna to Prague. They commented that we had some nice days ahead of us though they said they had found it tricky to follow the Greenway route. I suggested a few online video vloggers to check out the route.

For dinner we both ordered the pork fajitas, which was served on a cast iron plate with stir-fried peppers, onions, and pork strips, all with a nicely spiced coating. This came with a pita bread. I chose to eat it like a stir fry and just rip off chunks of the pita. Really tasty. We chatted a bit with the other cyclists, enjoyed the ambiance of the place, before heading out and through the fading sun through the Old Square, down to the lake's edge, and finally back up to our room. Just before getting back, we stumbled upon a tiny variety store just down from the square. Yes, they had the desired selection of Milka bars.

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