- Prague
- Prague > Kutna Hora
- Prague > České Budějovice
- CB Day Trip: Český Krumlov, Telc(x), Trebon
Day 1: Prague (half day after our 11am arrival)
We took the Metro to Malostranska station, hiked 15mins up to the hilly slope to visit the Prague Castle. From the slope, we saw the whole Prague, the Charles Bridge, the towers of the churches. No wonder people called it town of towers. We purchased the ticket (czk250) to see the Bazilika church (very tiny), the golden alley(filled with shops), and the castle (closed and sub for the History of castle-small and boring), but we found it's not worthy to do so because the best place to visit is the big cathedral which is free of charge.
After a short 1.5-hr visit to the castle, we headed to Strahovska Knihovna. On the way, we strolled around the lovely cobblestone streets behind the castle and found Loreta church. Strahovska Knihovna (czk 80) is very small but I think it's worthy to pay for a little price to see this gorgeous library and to dream about having a room like this at home. The best part of this visit is the walk that lead the way down to Mala Strana. Since not many people took this route, we felt like we were walking in our own courtyard. It's a very romantic and lovely walk. I wished we would have dinner around the castle area instead of Mala Strana, as most of the restaurants have wonderful bird-eye view of the old town.
Mala Strana is a hilly area which is full of souvenir shops and some restaurants that offer low-priced tourist menu (run!). We saw numbers of shops that post a sign for zimmer, and the rooms seems nice. If you have a light luggage or don't mind to carry it uphill on a cobblestone streets, it may be a good location to stay. This area is close to the castle, the Charles bridge, and old town. Just find one that close by a Metro station or at least not on the top of the hilly slope.
Once you walk down the slope, you will see Charles Bridge right in front of you. Many "artists" sells their art works on the bridge - posters, pictures of the city, portrait drawing, hand-made earrings, etc. Since it is still under renovation, 1/3 of the status towards Old town and near the middle were covered. It's nice to take a walk there in the evening.
Once you cross the bridge, you will enter the old town - Stare Mesto. It packs with shops and tourists. You will not need a map and you will find Staromestska Radnice (aka city hall) at the center of the town. Without effort, you will find the clock(天文鐘) as there are many many tourists lined up in front of the clock to wait for the show. Study the clock carefully and you will find that the numbering system is quick different than the clock we use today. About 150m on the right of the city hall is the Tyn Church. The interior is quite beautiful. Not far away, you will find Prasna Brana, Obecni Dum...ar...not much thing to see.
Out of our initial expectation, we finished most of the sites on our first half day. In deed, it is a tiny city. Enjoy your time in wondering around and get lost in this romantic peaceful city.
After a short 1.5-hr visit to the castle, we headed to Strahovska Knihovna. On the way, we strolled around the lovely cobblestone streets behind the castle and found Loreta church. Strahovska Knihovna (czk 80) is very small but I think it's worthy to pay for a little price to see this gorgeous library and to dream about having a room like this at home. The best part of this visit is the walk that lead the way down to Mala Strana. Since not many people took this route, we felt like we were walking in our own courtyard. It's a very romantic and lovely walk. I wished we would have dinner around the castle area instead of Mala Strana, as most of the restaurants have wonderful bird-eye view of the old town.
Mala Strana is a hilly area which is full of souvenir shops and some restaurants that offer low-priced tourist menu (run!). We saw numbers of shops that post a sign for zimmer, and the rooms seems nice. If you have a light luggage or don't mind to carry it uphill on a cobblestone streets, it may be a good location to stay. This area is close to the castle, the Charles bridge, and old town. Just find one that close by a Metro station or at least not on the top of the hilly slope.
Once you walk down the slope, you will see Charles Bridge right in front of you. Many "artists" sells their art works on the bridge - posters, pictures of the city, portrait drawing, hand-made earrings, etc. Since it is still under renovation, 1/3 of the status towards Old town and near the middle were covered. It's nice to take a walk there in the evening.
Once you cross the bridge, you will enter the old town - Stare Mesto. It packs with shops and tourists. You will not need a map and you will find Staromestska Radnice (aka city hall) at the center of the town. Without effort, you will find the clock(天文鐘) as there are many many tourists lined up in front of the clock to wait for the show. Study the clock carefully and you will find that the numbering system is quick different than the clock we use today. About 150m on the right of the city hall is the Tyn Church. The interior is quite beautiful. Not far away, you will find Prasna Brana, Obecni Dum...ar...not much thing to see.
Out of our initial expectation, we finished most of the sites on our first half day. In deed, it is a tiny city. Enjoy your time in wondering around and get lost in this romantic peaceful city.
Day 2: Kutna Hora (UNESCO World Heritage)
In the morning, we took the 8:10am bus from Florence bus station to Kutna Hora. For the bus station, you will find a map that show you how to navigate the town. It's a fairly small town, so we chose to take a 15-20mins walk to the Bone church at Sedlec instead of taking another bus.
A little bite history of Kutna Hora - This small town was one of the biggest silver mine in Medieval time, which produced nearly one third of the whole European silver production. Kutna Hora was a coinage center of so-called "Prazske grose" (Prague pennies) which ranked among the most stable European currency at that time.
Our two main visits in there are the Kostnice Ossauary (aka Bone church) and St Barbara church. Bone church is famous for its unique display of ornaments made human bones from people who died of plague or Hussites wars. It's quite impressive to see all sorts of human bones got used to display/assemble as ornaments. I was not horrified but with a question in my mind for the entire visit - How could one come up with an idea like this? What was he thinking? Recently a company came up with idea of turning ashes into diamond. 「鑽石恒久遠，一顆永留存」......化骨灰為3萬元寶鑽. Not surprise at all!
Anyway, be aware not to buy the combo ticket(czk50), coz it is for the Bone church and the Church of Assumption of the Virgin Mary, not St Barbara church. Silly us, we bought it and end up skipped the Virgin Mary Church.
By 1pm, we came back to Prague for lunch at a century old brewery hall at new town. Wonderful food and atmosphere. We love it! After lunch, we walked back to old town. On our way, we found many shops and local folks gathering around Mustek. A totally different vibe from the old town, and glad that we have a chance to experience it. Somehow we came across a local market that sells fruits, gifts, clothes...anything you can think of....and the prices are alot cheaper than those in Old Town.
Not for awhile, we found ourselves in Josefov. Since we were in Israel couple months ago, we are not that interested in visiting Josefov. We just took some pictures in the Jews area and walked back to Old Town and Charles Bridge.
Even though our feet got really tired after a lot of walking, we still think it's the best way to see and experience the city.
A little bite history of Kutna Hora - This small town was one of the biggest silver mine in Medieval time, which produced nearly one third of the whole European silver production. Kutna Hora was a coinage center of so-called "Prazske grose" (Prague pennies) which ranked among the most stable European currency at that time.
Our two main visits in there are the Kostnice Ossauary (aka Bone church) and St Barbara church. Bone church is famous for its unique display of ornaments made human bones from people who died of plague or Hussites wars. It's quite impressive to see all sorts of human bones got used to display/assemble as ornaments. I was not horrified but with a question in my mind for the entire visit - How could one come up with an idea like this? What was he thinking? Recently a company came up with idea of turning ashes into diamond. 「鑽石恒久遠，一顆永留存」......化骨灰為3萬元寶鑽. Not surprise at all!
Anyway, be aware not to buy the combo ticket(czk50), coz it is for the Bone church and the Church of Assumption of the Virgin Mary, not St Barbara church. Silly us, we bought it and end up skipped the Virgin Mary Church.
By 1pm, we came back to Prague for lunch at a century old brewery hall at new town. Wonderful food and atmosphere. We love it! After lunch, we walked back to old town. On our way, we found many shops and local folks gathering around Mustek. A totally different vibe from the old town, and glad that we have a chance to experience it. Somehow we came across a local market that sells fruits, gifts, clothes...anything you can think of....and the prices are alot cheaper than those in Old Town.
Not for awhile, we found ourselves in Josefov. Since we were in Israel couple months ago, we are not that interested in visiting Josefov. We just took some pictures in the Jews area and walked back to Old Town and Charles Bridge.
Even though our feet got really tired after a lot of walking, we still think it's the best way to see and experience the city.
Day 3: Český Krumlov (UNESCO World Heritage)
Since we were ahead of our schedule and didn't need to visit other places in Prague, we got the luxury to take a long sleep until 8:30am in the morning. Before our departure from Prague, we went to the supermarket to buy some bread and cheese sausages for our bus trip to CK. The 11pm Student Agency Coach took us to the bus terminal in Cesky Krumlov around 2pm. It took us 10mins to get to our pension, as the bus station is in the outskirt and we have to pass over a slope to reach the town.
After check-in, we ran to the castle as fast as we could to catch a guided tour before the castle closed. Thanks God that the town is smaller than we thought. It was fun to run through the town and pass over the bridges like a kid.
Cesky Krumlov is gorgeous! It sets nicely in a valley with a horse hold bend of river run through the well-keep medieval town. We were glad that we planned to stayed two nights here and do excursion to Telc and Terbon. We both voted that CK is the best town in this trip. Love it!
After check-in, we ran to the castle as fast as we could to catch a guided tour before the castle closed. Thanks God that the town is smaller than we thought. It was fun to run through the town and pass over the bridges like a kid.
Cesky Krumlov is gorgeous! It sets nicely in a valley with a horse hold bend of river run through the well-keep medieval town. We were glad that we planned to stayed two nights here and do excursion to Telc and Terbon. We both voted that CK is the best town in this trip. Love it!
Day 4: Day Trip: Telc (X) + Trebon (UNESCO World Heritage) + České Budějovice
Since Trebon is a bigger town in comparison to Telc and the famous box-house in Telc is similar to those in Trebon and CB, we altered our plan and headed to Trebon at the very last minute in the bus station of CB. Kelvin thought it was a better plan to get a taste of a small town in Trebon first before we head further east to Telc.
Trebon is famous for its fish ponds. Fish Pounds? Yes! Isn't it interesting to see what kind of fishpond network that ancient folks build back in 16th century with an ecosystem design in mind? Jakub Krcin - the master who turned forbidding forests and marshland into prosperous ponds for fish farming. The famous ponds in Trebon are the "Svet(the World)" Pond and the "Rozmberk" Pond.
Out of our expectation, the fishpond network doesn't have stinky fish smell or share any typical characters of the modern fish pound network. It is like a lake inside a park. Besides fish farming, the pond is used for water sports, recreation and sport fishing. We took a walk along the lake before we headed back to have lunch at the close by Supina and Supinka Restaurant (quite chic and fancy in this little town). What's for lunch? Fish! We order fish soup, grilled trout, fried kapr (=carp), and some white wine. The fish are fresh, but I like the fish soup the most.
After our visit in Trebon, we decided not to visit Telc and took a bus back to CB. What a mistake! It was a weekend and the bus is not in hourly schedule. We have to stay in CB for 4 hours. How we spent it? We visited the marketplace and shopped at the supermarket. It seems like a lot of tourists got strained in the bus terminal building/mall.
To conclude, it's doable to visit Telc, Trebon and CB on one day from CK. Since I majored in geography at High School, having a chance to see the fish network in Trebon is interesting to me.
Trebon is famous for its fish ponds. Fish Pounds? Yes! Isn't it interesting to see what kind of fishpond network that ancient folks build back in 16th century with an ecosystem design in mind? Jakub Krcin - the master who turned forbidding forests and marshland into prosperous ponds for fish farming. The famous ponds in Trebon are the "Svet(the World)" Pond and the "Rozmberk" Pond.
Out of our expectation, the fishpond network doesn't have stinky fish smell or share any typical characters of the modern fish pound network. It is like a lake inside a park. Besides fish farming, the pond is used for water sports, recreation and sport fishing. We took a walk along the lake before we headed back to have lunch at the close by Supina and Supinka Restaurant (quite chic and fancy in this little town). What's for lunch? Fish! We order fish soup, grilled trout, fried kapr (=carp), and some white wine. The fish are fresh, but I like the fish soup the most.
After our visit in Trebon, we decided not to visit Telc and took a bus back to CB. What a mistake! It was a weekend and the bus is not in hourly schedule. We have to stay in CB for 4 hours. How we spent it? We visited the marketplace and shopped at the supermarket. It seems like a lot of tourists got strained in the bus terminal building/mall.
To conclude, it's doable to visit Telc, Trebon and CB on one day from CK. Since I majored in geography at High School, having a chance to see the fish network in Trebon is interesting to me.
Top Picks: Český Krumlov, then Prague.
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