Bohemia and Moravia

24 April – 1 May 2018

After I left Prague and Central Bohemia behind me, I moved to the region of South Bohemia. The Bohemian region of the Czech Republic is beautiful and the landscape changes between green plains and dense forests. The river Vltava runs through the valley all the way to Prague and castles can be seen on top of some of the hills dotting the landscape. My first destination in South Bohemia is Tabor, a town that played a significant role during the Hussite Wars, when the Hussites used Mount Tabor as their fortress and base of operations. Nowadays it is a very clean and neat town, with a nice historical center with small alleys and old colored buildings. Only one tower of the castle still remains visible, the rest of the castle was either destroyed or used by the brewery that can now be found there. Around the historical center you can still find some of the old city walls, surrounded by a lot of vegetation and a path leading down to the small river below. It is a very pleasant and cosy town and a good place to stay for a day, so that is what I did.

I stayed with a very friendly woman, her daughter and a dog. Her husband was currently elsewhere for business. They live in a very spacious apartment right next to the old town square. I had my own room, with plenty of space. It felt good to stay at a home, rather than a hostel. I put my stuff in my room, got settled and then went to bed.

The next morning I could finally do my laundry, so I washed all my light clothes. I didn’t realize that my now only remaining shirt and shorts were of the exact same color, which must have looked rather weird. . . But nothing I could do about it, I was just happy that I would have fresh clothes the next day. When I went into town, I started looking for a place to have something for brunch. I soon found a place named Constanz with a small terrace in the sun, that looked very welcoming. They were selling quiches, so I bought one with ham and cheese, and a cappuccino. I soon realized I had picked the best spot to have breakfast in Tabor, if not in Czechia. The quiche was absolutely delicious and I decided that I would come back there the next morning for breakfast.

Now there are not that many things to see or do in Tabor, so I went to visit the church and hopefully climb up the tower for a nice view over the town. But it seemed that the church as well as the tower were closed for “interior reconstruction”, so now there were even less things to do in Tabor. I went to visit the Hussite museum, located at the old town square. The museum has an interesting permanent exposition about the history of the Hussites. Despite the fact that the Hussites were originally a religious movement, they knew an awful lot about warfare. They had a mercenary army under the command of a certain man named Jan Žižka. This man is often described a brute, but for some he is a hero too. He is easily recognized by his eyepatch and you can find a statue of him on the old town square of Tabor.

After my visit to the museum I went for a walk around the park (though it looks more like a forest than a park) that is surrounding the city walls. There was an abundance of birds, and even a woodpecker. Later that afternoon I joined my host to pick up her three year old daughter from the daycare. We also had the dog with us. First we went to a very nice plot of land, just outside of town. It was a sort of community garden where different people owned a piece of land where they grew fruit and vegetables. My host had planted some salad, beetroot, carrot and peas. I helped her get some water from the creek that ran behind the garden and I helped her water the plants. Meanwhile the dog was laying in the sun and the daughter was enjoying herself with her own little watering can. After we finished at the garden, we continued walking to the playground and the park. The little girl loved to pick all the flowers she could see, and she took her sweet time to do it. When we came home we had some dinner and we made some drawings on a chalkboard. Later that night, just before I went to bed, I decided to take a walk around the old streets of the town and I took the dog with me. I ordered a beer on a terrace outside and the dog waited at my feet for me to finish it. Then we walked back home and I went to bed.

The next morning there was a market on the square and I went to have a look. They sold a lot of fresh produce, like meat, bread and vegetables. There were also a lot of stands selling flowers. I bought some treats from the baker that I could have later that day. I also bought some flowers for my host as a token of my appreciation for hosting me. Then I went back to Constanz to have another one of those quiches, like I had promised myself. Then it was time for me to move on to my next destination, the capital of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice.

Once I arrived at the main station, I got greeted by a friendly girl named Jana. She drove me to her place, where I met her sister. Her sister had just prepared some snitzel and mashed potato for lunch, so we were happy to help her eat it. After this lunch Jana had to return to her work and I got to explore the city center. It didn’t take much time to explore the city center though. Ceske Budejovice is not a place with a lot of landmarks, and therefore I went to sit someplace nice to have a drink and write about my experiences in Prague. When I finished, I went to have some typical raspberry beers with Jana and we talked about . . . Well, about everything there’s to talk about. On the way home we stopped at a brewery to try another local beer, that was rather strong. Later that night we went to another pub and Jana’s sister, cousin and friend joined us (they are all flat mates). We had some beers and a delicious local food that goes really good with beer, called Masova Topinka. This is pieces of beef in a ketchup sauce on a slice of fried bread. Trust me when I say that it’s very good.

The next day I went deeper into South Bohemia, to the well-known town Cesky Krumlov that got placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. When I got out of the bus, I was stunned by the beautiful and picturesque view over the town. I was standing on a hill and below me was the town, with the river Vltava running through it. On top a hill in the center of the town was a castle with a beautifully ornamented tower. As I descended to the center of the town, I passed another viewpoint which showed me the beautiful and old houses of Cesky Krumlov. In the center of the town I waited for a tour guide, who would show me and a couple of other people around the town. The town itself feels very cosy and has a really pleasant atmosphere, though I must say that besides the castle there are not a lot of really special landmarks. But the castle is very nice to visit. Before entering the first inner courtyard you must first cross a stone bridge. Below the bridge still lives a bear. This is because the ruling family had close ties to the Orsini family, which means ‘bear’. The castle itself has four courtyards and the walls are beautifully painted, with some decorations and fake painted windows. Behind the castle you can visit the large castle gardens, from where you can also see the hills surrounding the town. It was a nice visit and the perfect place to go to for a day-trip. The best time to visit would probably be just before high season, since the town gets really crowed with tourists during the summer. On the other hand, there are more concerts and other activities during high season, like the famous Baroque Festival, during which they perform authentic baroque theatre pieces in the original clothing. After I payed a visit to the iconic tower and admired the view from the top, I went back to Ceske Budejovice.

The next day I left South Bohemia behind me and traveled through the country by train all the way to South Moravia in the west, where I would visit the city Brno. During the journey the scenery was beautiful and forests made way for large open plains and then back to forests again. After a journey of 5 hours I arrived in Brno. Here a girl with the following description was waiting for me: “very black dressed, heavy boots, sunglasses and a septum ring (whatever that may be)”. Now I thought it would be very easy to find someone matching that description, but as it turned out, there were more people matching that description around the station. When I finally found her, she brought me to her apartment where I would stay for the next couple of days. As you may have guessed by her description, Skrikja (that’s her nickname) is the kind of girl who loves heavy metal en fantasy, but she is very kind and thoughtful. That afternoon we had a typical dish named Svickova na smetane se spekovymi knedliky (beef sirloin with cream sauce and dumplings) and it tasted really good. That night I tried something new: I went to an absinth bar. Honestly, I wasn’t really sure what absinthe was. I knew it was alcohol, but not just normal alcohol. In the Netherlands I don’t remember seeing any absinth bars either (but I’m sure we have them too, though maybe they are not as popular or they are part of our coffee shops). Anyway, I decided to try it. I chose the drink called St. Antoine, which had 70% of alcohol. What you get is a glass with a bit of the very strong alcohol. This alcohol is infused with herbs and distilled multiple times. Then you add water from a tap they give you and that’s it. Too be honest, it’s not that special. It doesn’t taste that great (I actually tasted like coughing syrup), but it was an interesting experience. The rest of the night I just had beers. I also met some of Skrikja’s friends, who were really nice.

In the morning Skrikja showed me around the city. People who have been to Brno will probably agree with me when I say that the city has quite the collection of weird statues. First of, we have the statue of a man sitting on a long-legged horse. This might not be that weird, but when you look at the statue from below, you can see something entirely different, namely a man’s private parts. Another statue shows some sort of figure lifting a cube from the ground. This symbolizes the release of freedom by lifting the block, but Skrikja told me that she and her friends are calling it the tax collector who takes the washing machine. And the final strange statue stands prominently on Freedom Square. It is supposed to be a large bullet, but people refer to it as either the dildo or the dick. I guess that’s what happens when you put modern art in a student city. . . After the little tour she gave me, I went to see a guy named Ondrej from Couchsurfing.

Ondrej was a very friendly and knowledgeable boy, who lives in one of the city’s suburbs. We talked a lot about our education and our travel plans. It was funny how many things we have in common. For example, neither of us have any siblings and because of that we understood each other very well. In the late afternoon I went to a nice cookie shop, where Silvi (a girl on Couchsurfing) had invited me to stop by. Silvi has a very outgoing en enthusiastic personality and it we had some nice conversations. I also tried one of the cookies she was selling. I took one with lavender, which was actually quite tasty. I helped her close the shop and then we went to get some local Moravian white wine. While we were enjoying our wine, we talked about lots of things, but – of course – mainly about traveling.

On Sunday I met Ondrej again and we went to the dam. This is a very nice area on the outskirts of Brno. It is a large lake where lots of people enjoy spending time during summer. There is also a boat you can take that will take you to various places located around the lake, including a castle. We didn’t take the boat though, instead we just found a nice place to sit in the grass and enjoyed the nice weather.

The following day I decided to go on a day trip, since Brno, although it is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, feels like relatively small city that you can see in a day. Besides, I would like to see more of South Moravia and the wine regions of Czechia. It is a nice change from all the beer I’ve had so far. So I took the train to Mikulov, a town one hour south of Brno, close to the border with Austria. It is a very nice town, situated in the hills. Also, I thought it wouldn’t be really touristy and if there are visitors, it’s usually the Czech people who go there. So I was just thinking about this, when I got almost trampled by three groups of tourists, who seemed to be coming from out of nowhere. Luckily, during the rest of my visit to the town I didn’t see that many tourists. In the center of Mikulov there is a hill with a castle, from where you have an amazing view over the entire area. The castle gardens are amazing and they offer a spectacular view too. I also tasted a local Riesling wine at a wine shop within the castle and it was quite good. After a walk around the town and a visit to the Goat Tower on Goat Hill, I went to get some food. After some searching I found a nice place to sit and I ordered a typical Czech dish: beef tenderloin in cream sauce with dumplings. Of course I also ordered a local wine. It was delicious. After this filling meal I slowly returned back to Brno, where I would spent my final night in Czechia.

That night I went to have some drinks with a friend from Slovakia, who currently studies in Brno. The Czech Republic has a lot of Slovak people, since they used to be one country once. Although they have different languages, they can understand each other well. My friend was not very positive about his home country, and from what I understand there still seems to be some form of corruption. Especially the people from Bratislava are not exactly loved by the rest of the country, at least so my friend told me. But I would have to find out for myself, when I will visit Bratislava later this week. But first there’s Vienna! While typing this I am sitting in the train from Brno to Vienna, excited for what will await me there. . .