This weekend I stayed in good ol’ Ceska Republica, but headed south to a few small, historical towns in an academic trip with CIEE. Our first stop was Tabor, a stronghold of the Hussites in their heyday. The town is essentially entirely a tribute to Jan Zizek, a pretty badass Hussite leader who fought when he was 60 years old and never lost a battle. There, we claimed the central bell tower, which had 200+ of the steepest and scariest stairs I’ve ever seen. We sang all sorts of tunes to comfort ourselves (Livin’ On a Prayer, The Climb, etc), but were rewarded with beautiful scenic views when we reached the top. We also took a tour of the historical underground, which is a series of tunnels 12 km under the town square that were constructed as bunkers during World War II. Our next stop was our primary destination, Cesky Krumlov. It is a tiny, medieval town very close to the Austrian border that is simply magical looking. Once we checked into our beautifully rustic hotel, Hotýlek U Malého Vítka. My friends and I set out to eat something delicious, and found it Laibon. Not only did this restaurant serve awesome vegetarian grub, but it was located right in the center of town along the Vltava meander. We sat at a table right next to the river, underneath the castle as the sun set. To top it off, fireworks went off in the town square while we ate dessert. The next day, we walked around the castle (including climbing another tower wand seeing bears in the moat!) and the stunning Baroque Theater before heading to the Foto Seidel house which was pretty, but also pretty pointless. We spent the sunny afternoon exploring (read: napping in) the castle gardens, called “Little Versailles.” Besides the gorgeous landscaping, the most striking feature of the gardens is a revolving auditorium. It is constantly spinning slowly, and the scenes in the plays presented there take place in the garden areas around it - giving a whole new mean to theatre in the round. I’m pretty sure it’s the only one in the world. Nightlife in a sleepy medieval town is a funny thing. Both nights, we spent at “The Music Bar.” A simple name, a simple bar/club populated with mostly 50+ Czechs heavily drinking from the buckets of mojitos and margaritas. We indulged as well. Our final stop was the next day, in the town of Trebon. Trebon is a fish farming town, and features some man made ponds - the one we saw was beautiful and named “The World.” We walked around the town for a bit, and wandered into a courtyard with wild peacocks and a sort of Czech line-dancing group. This is cultural immersion, people. We then toured the Regent Brewery, which was basically an all-you-can-drink tour. So we did. Once we were sufficiently intoxicated, we had lunch at the brewery’s restaurant, which was delicious (based on the food or my beer consumption, who really knows). They did offer us unlimited svickova (a traditional Czech dish, one of my favorites, but extremely heavy) so I ate two plates … which includes 8 bread dumplings. What can I say - when there’s free food, I’m going to take advantage of it. We hopped on the bus, and passed out for the 3 hour drive back to Prague. And that’s another weekend! Time is really flying by, trying to make it last!
