Czechia Part 2 - Towns Around the Country
In addition to visiting Prague, I was able to visit a bunch of other towns and cities around Prague. It’s pretty easy to get around the country, as many places are connected by either rail or bus. It does take awhile to get from place to place, but both the trains and the RegioJet buses have free wifi. It was definitely confusing, but people were nice and mostly helpful when I inevitably messed up and it is great to be able to reach all around the country. I highly recommend getting out of Prague and visiting some other locations, even just as day trips. For me, I stayed in two additional towns and took two day trips, one of which was from Prague. Here are the highlights of the four towns I visited.
Cesky Krumlov
If you visit one place outside of Prague in Czechia, visit Cesky Krumlov. Cesky Krumlov is on a loop of the Vltava River, and is known for its extremely picturesque castle, and this place does in fact live up to the hype. The castle grounds are beautiful, particularly the Romanesque triple-arched bridge between two parts of the castle. The only way to see the inside of the castle is, naturally through a guided tour, and I do recommend it as mine was quite interesting. But in addition to the castle, the old town is just so lovely. There are all these little restaurants - including a fully vegetarian one I went to twice! – where their restaurants open up against the river. Honestly just sitting outside at a table, with a drink and just looking at the river next to me was the most relaxing thing I did on my entire trip. I definitely recommend staying overnight at least one night so you can relax and enjoy the location.
Valtice
Valtice is by far the least known place I visited, but I went there for a singular purpose: wine. Southern Moravia is the primary wine region of Czechia, and their wine industry has been rebuilding since the end of Communism. Valtice, specifically within the Baroque, UNESCO-listed Valtice Palace, is home to the National Wine Salon, where you can do tastings of 100 different Czech wines, largely from Moravia. You can do a structured tasting, or you can pay a flat fee and be let loose in the cellar to try any and all wines they have over the course of two hours (they provide plenty of water and also a plate of bread with this option). Naturally I did the second option. They have tons of information on each wine and of course, all of them can be purchased by the bottle. Of course, you need to enjoy this experience responsibly. But if you’re interested in wine it's a super fun and unique experience.
Brno
Brno is the second-largest city in Czechia but somehow feels more like a prosperous village. I think that’s because most of the time I spent there, and most of the stuff, is in the fairly compact, but interesting, historic center. Honestly, Brno is a bit underwhelming. There is a castle (on top a very steep hill) but maybe it was me that day or maybe it’s history as an infamous, brutal prison, but I was pretty meh towards it. The most interesting site to me was the Museum of Romani Culture, which was a bit outside the city center. The museum was small (and empty, they had to unlock the exhibit door for me!) but packed with information, going chronologically over the centuries from when they first arrived in Eastern Europe and then Czechia. If you are in Brno, I highly recommend this museum. The only other thing of note was a local microbrewery called Axiom. Tons of different beers and the vibe was great. So while I wouldn’t say you need to go out of your way to Bruno, if you’re in Moravia, it’s a good base and there are a couple things worth seeing.
Kutna Hora
Kutna Hora was a place it didn’t intend to visit on my trip, but I had largely seen what I wanted to see in Prague, so I took and impromptu day trip out there. Kutna Hora is famous for a few things, but the best known is the Ossuary, which is a chapel entirely decorated with human bones. I felt fairly ick about the concept before I went but decided to check it out. And I was surprised at how respectful it all was. Cameras and talking loudly (and tours) are forbidden inside, and there is a sign asking you to respect the sanctity of the space before you go it. It was hard to remember that the bones were real, but at least it felt more interesting and introspective than I would have thought. There was also a series of placards about the ossuary on the second floor, which provided helpful context for the site. It was definitely interesting to check out, but more of a “if you have a spare ½ day” than a “must see.”
Conclusion
Prague is wonderful, but there are also plenty of smaller cities and towns in Czechia that are totally worth checking out (no pun intended). So if you do go to Prague, I highly recommend tacking on a couple extra days to your itinerary to visit some of the other parts of the country.
