Text : M. Zisso picture – Vaclav Pavlas
Germany has long held the 1st place in the number of foreign tourists visiting the Czech Republic. “A total of 178,891 Germans arrived at domestic hotels in August this year, which was 9% more than last year and even 13% more than in August 2019, before the Coronavirus pandemic. Among the foreigners who visited the Czech Republic, guests from Germany won an imaginary gold medal, they were the most,” says František Reismüller, director of the Czech Tourism Center – CzechTourism.
Natural monuments, gastronomy, castles, and sustainable travel. These were the themes of this year’s Czech-German cross-border campaign Ahoj Nachbarn! – Hallo sousede!, meaning ‘Hello neighbor!’ in the funny mix of respective languages. “We focused primarily on sustainable tourism. Cross-border travel concerns not only attractive border areas, but also other regions of both countries,” says Jan Pohaněl, head of the German Tourist Office for the Czech Republic.
We are enjoying the special German atmosphere of the Christmas markets, we loaded the car for a short trip with our two dogs, who are happy to travel around and off to Regensburg, about 2 a 2-and-a-half-hour drive from Prague.
We took a hotel room in the city center “Hotel Goldenes Kreuz”. Great location, even with a few parking spaces in the yard. The staff was very friendly, and the room was big and clean. The hotel is friendly to pets.
Exploring this beautiful city, visiting St. Peter Cathedral and Basilica of the Nativity of our Lady Regensburg, and stopping at almost all the Christmas markets on the way. Great atmosphere delicious food and hot wine.
We visited a few years ago, just before the Covid time the Regensburg market at the St. Emmeram’s Palace, the residence of the princely “Thurn und Taxis” family. It was something special. With very high expectations we walk to the palace to enjoy this year’s market. A long line at the entrance to pay almost 10 Euro entrance fee. With such a high entrance fee our expectations were even higher than before.
I must say I was very disappointed, the charm of the place disappeared, there was no special activity for the entrance fee we paid, just the same stands with food, beverages, and presents like at the other Christmas markets in the city that are for free and less crowded.
We had a very nice traditional German dinner at “Gravenreuther” ( pictures attached ). Dogs friendly and good service.
It was still early evening, just a few minutes after 8 pm, we wanted to have a few more drinks at the Christmas markets around. Then we found out they were closing at 8 pm. Walking around we saw a nice place to have a drink. “Orphee” – it’s a French restaurant with very special food, but we were full and tasted only the dessert menu: Crepe “Ballett” with Chocolate and nuts, served “flambe”, “Pavlova” cake, Crème Brulee and Mousse au Chocolate. It was a great end of the evening.
The next morning after a nice breakfast at the hotel we plan to do some shopping at the Donau-Einkaufszentrum, the biggest mall in Regensburg. We were very disappointed when we found out that Dogs are NOT allowed in like at other shopping centers in Germany.
We will travel again to Germany our neighbor beautiful country.