Time to Slow Your Pace in Eastern Europe

We knew as we parked the car that a crowd would gather to look through the windows, walk around, touch and look underneath.

There just aren’t many, if any, Mitsubishi Lancer station wagons traveling in Czechoslovakia these days. Almost all cars are Skodas (the Czech product) or Ladas (made in the Soviet Union). Even VWs are rare.

We had flown into Vienna, rented the car at the airport and driven the short distance into Czechoslovakia. The year before, we discovered what a wonderful vacation could be experienced in that country, and returned for a more prolonged exploration.

Countries in Eastern Europe offer some of the most magnificent scenery imaginable, along with freedom from masses of U.S. tourists and a sense of adventure. And all at a very low cost compared to the United States and other parts of Europe.

My wife Kay and I like to travel the back roads and seek out small towns, which we have identified in our planning as worth visiting because of ancient squares, remarkable cathedrals or castles. Typically, we have learned about a hotel (through travel books) that will provide a room--with bath--at a very reasonable rate, from $15 a room to $40 for a suite per night.

Wrong Idea

Some American travelers seem hesitant about venturing behind the Iron Curtain. It’s perceived by some as an area of police states, tightly guarded, not safe, with unhappy people dressed in gray . . . and much hassle at border crossings. It just isn’t so.

Border crossings are a bit slow. While Western European countries have relatively open borders, with casual glances from officials at passports, Eastern guards do look at passports, require a visa (which should be obtained before leaving the United States) and often inspect luggage, particularly when leaving a country.

But we have found the guards to be courteous and at times very friendly. The delays, which may run to half an hour or more, are caused primarily by the volume of cars and lack of adequate staffing at the border.

Once across, we’ll stop at the first little town and find a bookstore to buy a really good road map and a dictionary. In East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Hungary the roads are excellent, though almost all are two-lane. But many country roads are not heavily traveled, and passing trucks and horse-drawn hay wagons is fairly easy.

Excellent Signs

I’ll usually drive while my wife navigates from the map and road signs. Country roads tend to have many curves and intersect frequently. The signs are excellent, but they may only identify some major town ahead, so good navigation is imperative.

In spite of a good car, limited traffic and reasonable speed limits, travel is much slower than in the United States. Every few kilometers the highway will lead you through the center of a village or small town, and the speed limit drops to 40 or 60 kilometers per hour (about 25 to 35 m.p.h.). But if one wants to get acquainted with a country, speed shouldn’t be important; it’s the experiences of small towns that make a visit special.

We see stork nests on top of chimneys, small inns at which to stop for a glass of beer, local folks in their native outfits, as well as young people in jeans and T-shirts, and delightful little churches and old farmhouses. Communist propaganda slogans, always white on red, are everywhere.

Outside the towns we may travel through dense forests and lush, fertile fields, golden from hundreds of acres of sunflowers, or wind through foothills that are often topped by ruins of ancient castles.

Once we find the town where we plan to stay for a while, it may take some searching to find the hotel. In spite of my fluent German and French, many people in small towns don’t speak those languages--they’ll know their language and Russian. But Kay has picked up enough Czechoslovakian to ask the right questions and often be understood.

If all else fails, we write down the name of the hotel and show it to people, hoping for the best. We often find ourselves on the same intersection or square two or three times before reaching our goal.

No Double Beds

Somebody in the hotel will likely speak German or English. Reservations are generally not needed except in popular resort areas such as the High Tatras.

You have to accept that there are no double beds in much of Europe. You’ll find two slim singles with delightful down pillows and comforters, a couple of armchairs and a table or two.

The bathroom will probably have a hand-held shower head and an overhead tank for flushing the toilet, which can roar like a major waterfall.

In many hotels, asking for a room with “shower” provides just that, but no toilet. A room with “bath” usually includes the toilet. Your room may have a view of the town square, from which you can watch the life of the community and perhaps participate in some of it.

Ordering meals can also be a bit of an adventure. In the cities, menus in most restaurants tend to be multilingual--usually German, English and Russian. But in the small towns they are in the language of the country, particularly in Czechoslovakia.

Kay has listed in her notebook translations of major food items, so we can tell beef from eggs and pork from peas, along with other significant essentials. Most of the time we have had at least some idea of what we are ordering.

When all else fails, we’ll order the most expensive meal on the menu, and are rarely disappointed. We can do that because meals are so inexpensive in Czechoslovakia, particularly in small towns. The best meal, typically, will be no more than $4 or $5.

We like to stay put in one hotel. We don’t enjoy constant packing and unpacking, spending a lot of time moving about and never having the time to really get acquainted with any place or anyone. So we’ll select a town from which we can make interesting day trips, and get into the capital city for a day or two.

Sleepy Little Town

Perhaps we are limited to a small area of a country, but we get to know that area well, and sometimes make friends there.

If it’s Czechoslovakia, I’d recommend Kutna Hora, about 70 kilometers southeast of Prague. You’ll find it a delightful, sleepy, ancient little town with its magnificent Santa Barbara Cathedral, the giant mint building dating to the Middle Ages, and tiny streets, gardens and squares that haven’t changed much over the centuries.

In Hungary, stay in Eger, and experience a town that reflects all the glory of the history of Hungary. Its basilica and cathedral are truly awe-inspiring, the streets are quaint, and you can sit on the main square and sip a cool drink in a sidewalk cafe, soaking up the atmosphere of a wonderful ancient town.

From both of these locations you can easily make day trips into the respective capitals of the two countries (Prague and Budapest), but you’ll enjoy returning to the peace of the smaller towns in the evening.

For more information on Czechoslovakia, contact the official Czech government tourist agency CEDOK at 10 East 40th St., New York 10016; phone (212) 689-9720. For information on Hungary, contact Centrotourist International, 630 Fifth Ave., Suite 2455, New York 10111; phone (212) 582-7412.