Ever since we moved to Bavaria, I've had my eye on the UNESCO heritage city of Český Krumlov in southern Czech Republic.
Marc asked me what I wanted to do for my 32nd birthday last week.
I pitched the road trip with promises of good meals and medieval wanderings.
His response: "It's less than three hours away? No problem!"
(There are so many places that I would have not been able to experience in the same way without Marc graciously offering to drive me around. I'm really lucky, and even luckier that he usually enjoys the places we road trip to!)
Marc and I have both shared with our local friends that we went to Český Krumlov for my birthday. The only person who had heard of it was the Czech player on Marc's basketball team.
It's crazy to me because I have personally been hearing about it for at least a few years because this little Czech town is definitely a hot spot for bloggers. I want to especially thank Cynthia over at Adventurings.com and Lorelei at CaliforniaGlobetrotter.com for their very accurate and inspiring posts that really showed me what a great idea Český Krumlov is!
We didn't take any pictures of the food. It was too delicious and we were too hungry to need to do that. I also think it's one of the things I would have done with Instagram, and I am avoiding that kind of social media vacuum now.
But you can know that we thoroughly enjoyed Papa's Living Restaurant for lunch, where we both devoured different kinds of seafood with delicious risotto. We stopped in a little cafe for a cappuccino and hot chocolate, and later at the super chic Apotheka Cafe Bar for winter tea and cider blends. We finished our "food tour" at Krčma v Šatlavské ulici (Tavern in Šatlavská Street), where we ate fish that had been grilled in front of us on the open fire inside the cavern restaurant. You won't regret trying the potato pancakes, either! Our only strikeout of the day was that Monna Lisa Gelateria was closed for the winter months.
All of these spots were recommended by other travelers and can easily be found by searching these names that I have carefully spelled correctly on Google Maps.
We didn't end up going into any of the museums, but that's better for next time. Especially with how great of weather we were having for January, we opted to walk more outside instead of inside. Someday, we'll return and go inside the sprawling castle on the mountain, the monastery, and I am also interested in the photo museum on the south side of the town.
Český Krumlov is actually the second most visited place in the Czech Republic after Prague. Of course, in order for someone to know about it, they really have to have already been to Prague and have a deeper interest in Bohemia. In our case, we have a little of both, plus actual proximity, and that brought us to this adorable city.
What have your experiences in the Czech Republic been like?
Have you been able to road trip to smaller cities in the countryside?