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.

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