We travelled through the southern Bohemian region of the Czech Republic in early August and visited three charming towns: Tabor, České Budějovice and Český Krumlov. Despite it being peak tourist season, we were able to stroll through the kinky cobblestone streets of each town, amongst colourful, ornate buildings, decorative churches and majestic palaces in relative peace. Czechia felt very different to its old neighbour/ conjoined state Slovakia and we were curious as to why/ when they’d spilt. Well, after the collapse of communism in 1989 each state realised they had different religious (Slovakia very Catholic and Czech more open) and economic views which lead to a ´Velvet Divorce”, the name given to the splitting of Czechoslovakia on January 1st 1993. We recognised they still had a common thread with their neighbours at least language wise (Good morning in Polish : Dzień dobry and Slovakia & Czechia : Dobré ráno) but we also noticed a lot less shrines and Jesus on crosses. We certainly saw a lot more embracing of tourism in the Czech Republic than Slovakia especially their celebration of castles (there are many off the scale mega-castles) and old fortified towns.

The sliver of the Czech Republic we visited was affordable, full of character and friendly people. Here are a few curious observations as we drove through the southern Bohemian region:

• they provide air temp and road temp on freeway signs (28c/39c when we drove through)
• there’s lots of roadworks, Skodas and big old trucks on the roads
• Quirky graphics on the street signs look like characters from the 1950s
• They have a street sign forbidding people to wheel barrows or suitcases down the street (the cobblestones may be the reason here…)
• They have O% alcohol limit when driving and must carry safety kit and have lights on full 24/
• We saw deer in the wild (but none of the signs for deer we had seen everywhere else!)
• The countryside is very green mostly for grazing and crops (corn but no vines) with soft rolling hills rather than mountain peaks
• There are no temples by the roadsides or in the little towns (unlike Slovakia & Hungary)
• They play street hockey (summer ice hockey) in the small towns – rather than soccer that we’d seen in other areas.

Terrific Tabor

The high-on-a-hill Tabor (26,000 pop) was our first stop in southern Bohemia. This little town is 120km south of Prague and often overlooked as people head for the dizzying heights of Cesky Krumlov but for us it was a perfect introduction to the region.  It was quiet when we visited and we got the feeling it was a pretty chilled town – which reflects how it was founded really. Tabor was created in the 15th century as a model of the perfect city, where everyone is equal ( it was part of the Czech Hussite reform movement– you can find out how this went in the Hussite museum in the Town Hall).

The centre of the old town is Žižkovo Máměstí, or Zizka Square and there are some pretty impressive buildings here including the Dean’s Church (climb the bell tower for great views) and the Town Hall ( crawl in the tunnels underneath to see how they escaped faire, famine and invasions).  There was a stage set up for a comedy festival when we visited the square and car parking is allowed in the square which kind of detracts from its beauty but it a good starting place to fan out into the side streets to discover the real treasures of the town.

We enjoyed winding down the little streets and found a curious amount of Cigar bars and little organic produce cafes. We also found a nice little wine bar and sampled the Czechia Riesling that was super delicious and affordable so bought a bottle for dinner. There were also some delicious looking restaurants but our apartment had a rooftop terrace, so we elected to cook in and eat dinner on the rooftop overlooking the countryside while a thunderstorm broiled in the distance.

There’s plenty of good walks around Tabor including a walk around the old fortified town walls that takes you past some great viewing points as well as the last remaining tower of the old medieval town.  You can also walk around  Jordán Lake, the oldest reservoir of its kind in Central Europe, and have a swim off the little beach on the far side too. We also explored the rather ramshackle but pretty Botanical gardens that tumble down to Jordan lake.

České Budějovice.

45 mins west of Tabor is České Budějovice the capital city of the southern Bohemians region. We wandered the streets of the old town and discovered the beautiful Přemysl Ottokar II Square, the second largest square in Czechia, and its Baroque town-hall (Radnice) with three spires and the lovely Fountain of Samson (Samsonova kašna). Not far from the square is the 16^th century Black Tower (Černá věž) – easy to find as it is nearly 72 m high! This tower served as a watchtower and a bell tower for the Cathedral of St Nicholas (Katedrála svatého Mikuláše).  And a little further along is the Iron Maiden Tower (Železná panna), a Gothic tower which used to be part of the defensive walls of the České Budějovice, and was built in the second half of the 14th century. It was named after the medieval torture device, which had allegedly been used in there.

This town is famous for its beer from Budweis brewery, known in Czech as Budějovický Budvar, founded in 1896.  It is known in other countries as Budweiser, (which the US tried to steal but now have to call their beer ‘Bud’). We didn’t sample any but I did find a curious lunch treat – soup in an edible bread cup – it was delicious! This town has a real multi-culture flavour to it as well and we noticed that there were cafes and shops from South America, India and Africa.

Český Krumlov

Another 45 mins along from České Budějovice is the epic little beauty: Český Krumlov.

This place is large scale gorgeous due to its beautiful Baroque buildings and sprawling castle with its sky-high aqueduct style Cloak Bridge. You can walk all around the castle grounds and gardens and across the cloak bridge for endless views over the terracotta town below. We didn’t tour inside the castle as we got a real sense of its interior from pictures on a board outside the ticket office (the tourist office  might want to rethink that picture board!).

One surprise aspect of the castle that we discovered when we walked out the lower castle gates was the three live bears in the old moat! Apparently bears have been kept in the bear moat since 1707 ( I felt sorry for them!). We had a drink at the old apothecary (now turned hip cocktail bar) near the castle gate and dinner at a Thai restaurant on the river watching the #1 activity in this town – riding down the little rapids and slipways of the Vitava river on rafts, rubber dinghy’s, kayaks or SUPs! It really is an amazing town with so many beautiful buildings, little squares, the river winding through and the castle standing guard from above that we wished we’d had more than 2 days here.