Zbiroh, Czech Republic - an Unexpected Journey

Today it's farewell to Ireland and hello to the Czech Republic. It's an early start, out to the airport, drop off the car with thanks to Betty, the GPS, and a short wait for the shuttle.

To the airport, check in, with the help of the lovely Niamh...

Bags through, us through customs and to the other side where breakfast awaits, breakfast with a view...

Today, we are flying Aer Lingus. I do wonder at their logo...

..why isn't it a four-leaf clover? Isn't that the Irish thing?

Finally onto the plane and there is a queue so we wait for a while, then up and away. Down again and we are in Prague.

I had found this fabulous place to stay - a Czech castle! Zbiroh Castle. The problem was after I booked it, what they had told me would be a reasonable shuttle ride turned out to be way more expensive than that so I decided to drive - it's only 35 minutes from the airport and the other way from Prague, should be pretty easy - The plan was never to drive through Prague! So we picked up the car, the Budget rental guy keyed the address into Boris, the GPS, and we were off.

Boris is a bit harder to follow that Irish Betty - he doesn't give warnings or audio clues, so I missed a couple of turns and had to backtrack. I'm also driving on the wrong side of the car and the wrong side of the road. As we're driving along, we realise it is getting pretty built up - which is odd as I thought we were going to the country.

Once we get to where Boris tells us we will arrive at our destination in 3.5 minutes, we know something is seriously amiss - Boris has been programmed with the wrong address, which was a combination of the Budget man not understanding what I was saying and me not sure of the exact address. 

So now we are driving through Prague! Finally find a park and have to call the hotel as I can't find the exact street number. Get the correct address and we have to go back past the airport and out in the other direction - 45 minutes worth! 

Thankfully it's a nice car to drive, the other drivers are pretty good and it's not too bad, it's just very annoying!

And as we head past the airport and onto the main road, the sun is down and it is blinding!

We finally reach what I had thought we would be driving through...

And we arrive - about 1.5 hours later than expected. But it is fabulous...

The sun has gone down by the time we arrive and settle in so all exploring will have to be done tomorrow. We have the Classic Package, which included a welcome drink - this was indeed very welcome after the journey getting here!

Down to the impressive looking dining room for an absolutely delicious meal of tortellini followed by 'chocolate cake with cherries from the royal orchard', according to the menu. We had to try that - superb, chocolatey and fudgey.

So it was a longer than expected travel day and we could have certainly done without the unexpected scenic route through Prague, but every trip has a small hiccup and now we have had ours! And tomorrow, we shall explore our castle!