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Czech Republic: Exploring Plzeň

After a while our bikes had a day off again, so Nada and me did a Plzeň walking tour. We visited The Puppet Museum and Pilsner Urquell Brewery, where we did a tour around the brewery. In the evening we returned back to a Turbo concert.

Previous days of our Czech cycling trip: Day 9, Day 8, Day 7, Day 6, Day 5, Day 4, Day 3, Day 2, Day 1.

 

For breakfast we had some plastic hot dog sausages. Afterwards, I took my bike to a bike shop, where they changed the cable of my rear derailleur.

 

Entering "Muzeum Loutek Plzeň"

The story of puppets the Museum narrates starts as late as in the 19th century when people in Plzeň could enjoy theatre performances of strolling folk puppeteers who travelled with their horses and carts.

Watching the puppet show.

Puppetry was practiced in Ancient Greece and the oldest written records of puppetry can be found in the works of Herodotus and Xenophon, dating from the 5th century BC.

Puppeteers in Czech Republic.

Spejbl and Hurvínek were conceived by Czech puppeteer prof. Josef Skupa. They have released many comedy albums, and had their own television show.

 

Lost a few years.

 

Puppets of all kinds.

 

They just moved.

Women in action.

Puppeteer on a bicycle.

One photo for goodbye.

 

Tuši and Nada were hungry.

Entering the brewery through the jubilee gate of Plzeňský Prazdroj.

Pilsner Urquell Harley Davidson.

 

Ticket and a replacement ticket, since they sent us to the wrong place and we had to do a different tour.

 

Railcars helped the Pilsner style reach far beyond the borders of Plzeň.

 

Plzeňský Prazdroj was the first brewery to produce pale lager, branded as Pilsner Urquell - the popularity of Pilsner Urquell resulting in it being much copied so that more than two-thirds of the beer produced in the world today is pale lager, sometimes named pils, pilsner and pilsener after Pilsner Urquell.

 

The brewery was founded in 1839 by both local Czech-speaking and German-speaking citizens in Bohemian city of Plzeň as Bürgerbrauerei (citizens' brewery, later translated to Měšťanský pivovar in Czech).

The first beer was brewed here in 1842 by Bavarian brewer Josef Groll.

Pilsner Urquell is hopped with Saaz hops, a noble hop variety which is a key element in its flavour profile, as is the use of soft water.

 

Nine out of ten beers produced and consumed in the world are pale lagers based on Pilsner Urquell.

Dream job?

 

By 1839 most beer in Bohemia was dark and top fermented. However bottom-fermented lagers were gaining popularity. The people of Plzeň preferred imported cheaper bottom-fermented beers to local top fermented ales. The burghers of Plzeň invested in a new, state-of-the art brewery, the Měšťanský pivovar (Burghers' Brewery), and hired Josef Groll to brew a bottom-fermented beer. On 5 October 1842, Groll had a new mash ready and on 11 November 1842, the new beer was first served at the feast of St. Martin markets.

Cheers!

 

From the old storage for ice to the new production line.

Who drinks that - 120000 bottles/h, 100000 cans/h.

Liquid gold.

Evening concert in front of the Plzeňský Prazdroj brewery.

Turbo - Chtěl jsem mít

2 days in Plzeň

Geocaches found (all received a visit by trackable items "remotesearchers GLOBALBUG", TB2R0H6 and "OceantagZ", TB5NYN3):
- Vzpominka na prvni cache v Plzni, GC2546C
- Brana a Vez, Virtual Cache, GC7B8A4
- Most Milenia / Millenium Bridge, GCZ8ZA