Třeboň

Our last stop in South Bohemia was the historic town of Třeboň. It turned out to be a lovely place to spend our final day, with a charming historic centre, good ice cream and beautiful ponds.
We started in Masaryk Square (Masarykovo náměstí), the heart of the old town, surrounded by colourful Renaissance and Baroque houses. The square is also home to the old town hall and the Marian column, a Baroque monument in the middle of the square. Once again, we came across Stolpersteine in two separate locations on the square, marking the former homes of two Jewish families who were victims of the Holocaust, another poignant reminder of the Jewish communities that once lived in the Czech towns we visited.

From the square, we wandered through the historic streets and castle complex, with its pretty pink-and-white buildings, arcaded courtyards and Renaissance and Baroque details. The Renaissance castle largely dates from the 16th century, when the Rožmberk family rebuilt the earlier medieval castle after a fire. It later became the residence of Petr Vok of Rožmberk, the last of the Rožmberk dynasty, who moved his court here in 1602.

Our next stop was the Church of St. Giles and the Virgin Mary Queen. There had been a church dedicated to St. Giles here since 1280, but the present Gothic church was built between 1367 and 1384 as part of an Augustinian monastery founded by the Rožmberk family. It was closed, but we were able to peek through the window.
After the church, we walked through the Budějovická Gate and took a short look at the old town walls. The gate dates from 1611, and this is a particularly well-preserved section of Třeboň's historic fortifications. Třeboň was an easy town to explore on foot, and we enjoyed simply strolling through its historic streets.

We made our way towards Svět Pond, which lies right on the edge of the town. The pond is one of the many fishponds that make the Třeboň region so distinctive, part of a vast system of ponds created over the centuries, primarily for carp farming. Its long dam is lined with beautiful mature oak trees and offers lovely views across the water. We had originally planned just to walk along the dam and enjoy the views, but then we spotted people queuing for a boat ride. How could we resist? We spontaneously joined the queue and ended up enjoying a lovely one-hour ride on the pond. It was a completely unplanned part of our day, but sometimes those are the best experiences of a trip! We enjoyed the peaceful views across the water and the chance to see Třeboň from a different perspective.

Back on dry land, we found an ice cream stall and stopped for a delicious treat. It was quite literally a hole-in-the-wall kind of place, but I don't think I have ever seen so many ice creams sold in such a short time! Obviously, the locals knew something we didn't!

At the end of the day, we drove out to Rožmberk Pond, the largest pond in the Czech Republic, covering roughly 490 hectares. It was created in the 16th century by the great South Bohemian pond-builder Jakub Krčín for the Rožmberk family, and its enormous earth dam is particularly impressive. Mature trees line the dam, and we walked along it for a while, enjoying the peaceful surroundings and taking in the sheer scale of the pond. After seeing Svět earlier in the day, Rožmberk gave us an even better sense of the extraordinary scale of the fishpond system that was created across South Bohemia.

From Rožmberk, we made our way back to České Budějovice. The next day, we drove to Prague's Václav Havel Airport, where we returned our hire car and spent one final night at an airport hotel before our flight back to Israel the following morning.
We had found a charming historic town in Třeboň, discovered more of the South Bohemia region's fascinating history, enjoyed an entirely spontaneous boat trip, eaten delicious ice cream and finished the day with a peaceful walk along the enormous dam at Rožmberk. It was a relaxed and enjoyable end to our Czech Republic adventure.

* This post has been shared on Busy Monday, Monday Morning Blog Club, Inspire Me Monday

Český Krumlov

We arrived quite early at the beautiful historic town of Český Krumlov, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and what a wonderful day we had exploring this fascinating place! With its winding medieval streets, colourful Renaissance and Baroque buildings, castle perched high above the town and the Vltava River meandering through it all, Český Krumlov really is as pretty as my photographs suggest.

I had originally planned for us to explore the town on our own, but after the successes of our walking tours in Prague, I'm so glad that I decided to check whether there were any tours in Český Krumlov as well. Our Wiseman Free Tour with Jan was excellent. He was great fun, but also told us so much about Český Krumlov and its history, making this beautiful town even more interesting to us. Over the course of about two hours, we explored the historic centre, learning about its medieval and Renaissance past and seeing some of the town's most important sights.

We walked through the five courtyards of Český Krumlov Castle, one of the largest castle complexes in Central Europe, and crossed the famous Cloak Bridge, a remarkable multi-level structure built in several stages between the late 17th and 18th centuries, with wonderful views over the old town. We also saw the castle's famous bear moat, where the 11-year-old bears Vilém and Polyxena, rescued in 2017, are kept, while the female bear Marie Terezie lives on the other side of the bridge. We passed the Gothic Church of St. Vitus, the Renaissance town hall and the houses of wealthy townsmen. Along the way, Jan brought the history of the town to life, explaining how its architecture developed through the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods and telling us about the people who lived here.

The tour ended at the castle complex, close to the extensive castle gardens, so we continued exploring on our own. We spent some time in the castle grounds and gardens, admired the views over the rooftops of the old town and looked around the exterior of the castle complex. We also had plenty of time to stroll through the narrow medieval streets, Mister Handmade in Israel waiting outside while I checked out the little shops!

Once again we came across Stolpersteine installed in front of the house at Latrán No. 41, commemorating former residents of the house, Marta Žaludová and her daughter Ilse Breuerová, who were murdered in the Holocaust. We visited the beautiful Český Krumlov Synagogue too, built in 1909 as a pioneering reinforced-concrete structure blending Neo-Romanesque and Art Nouveau architecture. It was one of the first buildings in what was then Austria-Hungary to use a reinforced-concrete structure. Following the Sudetenland crisis and Nazi occupation in 1938, the local Jewish community, numbering around 100 members, was devastated, with many sent to concentration camps. The Nazis looted the interior, and after the war the building was used for various purposes, eventually becoming a warehouse. The property was returned to the Jewish Community of Prague after 1990 and the synagogue was completely renovated in 2012. Today it serves as a cultural centre and memorial to the Jewish community that once lived in the town. The former rabbi's apartment now houses a café, and we enjoyed a short break over cold lemonade there.

By late afternoon, many of the day-trippers had left, and the town became noticeably quieter. We stayed on into the early evening, eventually having dinner beside the river and enjoying Český Krumlov at a much more peaceful pace.

It was a long day, but a fabulous one, and I'm very glad we arrived early and stayed until the evening. Český Krumlov is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful towns we visited in the Czech Republic, but learning about its history made it much more than just a pretty place to photograph, though that was of course fun too!

* This post has been shared on Thinking Out Loud Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things, Skywatch Friday and Mosaic Monday.