Český Krumlov - UNESCO World Heritage Site

I’m feeling a little short of inspiration at the moment, especially when it comes to topics, events or places to write about, so instead, I’ve decided to take a look back at a few of the amazing places I have visited over the years. First up is the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Český Krumlov, situated in the far south of the Czech Republic. This picturesque city was a place I’d wanted to visit for a long time, but by the time the right opportunity arose, it had become the number two tourist attraction in the country, after Prague.

The story begins back in the early part of the twenty-first century when I picked up a copy of the Good Beer Guide to Prague and the Czech Republic. Written by Graham Lees, who was one of the four founding members of the Campaign for Real Ale, the publication is very much in the same vein as Lee’s earlier Good Beer Guide to Munich and Bavaria. I bought my copy of Graham’s Czech guide at the London Drinker Beer Festival; an event that until a few years ago was held at the Camden Centre, virtually opposite St Pancras station. That particular year the crowds seemed too much, so I decided to leave early and escape to somewhere less busy and with far fewer people.

My choice of the Spaniard’s Inn, on the edge of Hampstead Heath, might seem a little strange at first, but I had been reading Charles Dickens’s classic The Pickwick Papers and this atmospheric old coaching inn featured in a particular episode of the book. Being in possession of an all-zones London Travel Card, a journey to Hampstead would cost me nothing, apart from my time.

So, after taking the underground to Hampstead, followed by a brisk walk across the Heath, I found myself in the relative tranquillity of the Spaniards. After purchasing a pint, I found a secluded corner to sit in and took the opportunity to get stuck into my Czech Beer Guide. The book was published at a time when the Czech beer scene was in a state of flux, following the changes that happened after the fall of communism and the rush to embrace a free-market economy. The changes that occurred are too numerous and too complex to discuss here, but on a more general note one particular travel reference really caught my eye.

The guide author was describing a small town in Southern Bohemia called Český Krumlov, saying that no visitor could fail to be awestruck by the time-warp medieval beauty of this settlement constructed in a tight loop of the Vlatava River. He went on to say that it was as though some witch had cast a spell over the entire town, leaving it preserved, like Sleeping Beauty adrift from the modern world. For various reasons I had to wait until 2015 to make that trip and by then, as mentioned above, Český Krumlov had soared in popularity amongst tourists, and was now second to Prague as the “must visit” location in the Czech Republic. The concern was that with the granting of UNESCO world heritage status. more and more tourists would discover the town, thereby breaking the spell that had kept the town in a state of preservation, free from the embellishments of the late 20th Century. Wow! This was a place I needed to visit and visit soon.

Son Matthew and I took an eight-day break in early October of that year, spending four days in Prague before travelling, by coach to Český Krumlov, where we spent the second half of our trip. Our stay was characterised by sunny days, but increasingly cold nights. Autumn was definitely a week or two ahead of the UK, with some spectacular seasonal colours from the trees. Snow was forecast for the weekend after our visit but I’m sure that’s probably not that unusual for a mountainous region of central Europe.

Our Student Agency coach dropped us off at Český Krumlov bus station mid-afternoon, and after getting a bit disoriented, we managed to locate our accommodation, Penzion Kriz at the edge of town. After checking in, we took a walk down into the centre of this charming old town, with its well-preserved medieval buildings. Chief of these was the imposing castle which looms over Český Krumlov, virtually dominating the town centre. 

It is the second largest castle in the Czech Republic, after Prague and is well worth a few hours exploration. The views from the castle walls out over the town alone, more than repay the admission charge, although you will have to dodge the hordes of eager tourists – mainly Chinese and American. Apart from a brief look around the courtyard, below the castle entrance, we left our main visit until the following day and set off to find a place to eat. We found this in the form of an old medieval tavern, called U Dwau Maryi, located down a narrow alley. Here we sat out, under cover (it was raining slightly), on a heated terrace, overlooking the Vlatava River. A meal of chicken and smoked meat pieces, with potatoes and salad, washed down with several glasses of locally brewed Eggenberg beer (both pale and dark), left us both feeling satisfied and full, and was a good way to round off our first evening in Český Krumlov. We wandered back to the Penzion and turned in for the night.

Now I’m not going to describe every meal we enjoyed during our stay, nor list every pub we visited, but apart from the medieval tavern described earlier, the large Bohemian-style beer hall attached to the Eggenberg Brewery was a good place to spend the evening. Its location, across the river and away from the town centre, did mean it was mercifully free of tourists. It is worth noting that Český Krumlov is quite a compact town that is easily covered on foot in a day. This does mean that a stay of two or three days is probably sufficient to fully explore the town and experience all it has to offer. Matthew, who was in his early twenties at the time, was a trifle bored by the end of our four day stay, as he was missing the shops and other bright-light attractions associated with larger towns and cities.

Despite these comments, the town did not disappoint, and I would urge anyone who appreciates great architecture in a spectacular setting to add a visit to Český Krumlov to their bucket list. The easiest and quickest way to reach the town is to follow our example and take the comfortable Student Agency coach. Services depart from Prague Florenc bus station, but there are also connections to and from Prague airport. Tickets, which are very reasonably priced, can be purchased in advance online, or from the driver. Journey times are just over two hours.

Is Untappd to blame?

Last Saturday afternoon, I visited a well-known local free house. The pub was quiet, although in mitigation it was the last weekend of the summer holidays, and the prelude to “back to school”, always a stressful time for parents with school age kids, teachers, and anyone else associated with the world of education. For those of us still gainfully employed, it would also mean that the stress-free and relaxed drive into work would be replaced by drivers jockeying for position at traffic lights and others pulling onto roundabouts without indicating. Worse still would be the school kids dashing out across the road, without looking, rather than walking the short distance along to a proper, traffic-light controlled, crossing.

Yes, welcome to the return of the dreaded "school run", where everyone’s in a tearing hurry, because they overslept, or their child was playing up. Fortunately, I only catch the morning rush hour, as my evening drive home takes place an hour or so after the afternoon session concludes. In addition, I only have three days of busy roads, and stressed-out drivers to contend with, so let’s return to the quiet pub I was referring to at the beginning.

It's a pub that offers a diverse range of unusual cask ales, sourced from a variety of different brewers, and sold at very reasonable prices. There is also an interesting range of keg beers, for those who prefer a bit more fizz with their beers. The pub has won numerous awards, mainly, but not exclusively, from CAMRA, and attracts beer connoisseurs from across a wide area. The pub has a lot going for it, but for some reason I seem to have been avoiding it, either sub-consciously, or possibly even consciously. After a lot of soul-searching, I realised that my main reason for swerving this otherwise excellent pub, is there is too much choice in respect of its beer range.

It’s that old paradox of more equalling less, and with such an extensive range of cask beers on offer, it was becoming increasingly difficult to select one I could enjoy, for its own sake, rather than being influenced by the novelty factor. It seemed that every time I reviewed the pub’s online beer list, I encountered numerous unfamiliar beers and also breweries. I used to pride myself on my knowledge of the UK’s breweries, but this is no longer the case due, to the massive increase in the number of new entrants to the scene, especially over the past couple of decades.

Then there’s the beers themselves, and with many produced by a “man in a shed” or a “woman in a lock-up” set up, the end result is often all too predictable. Many of these “home-brew on steroids” offerings can be unbalanced at best and of dubious quality, at worst, relying on an unusual name, or a colourful pump clip to catch the interest of the consumer. I realise this opinion might be at odds with that offered by CAMRA, but it’s one I stand by. Perhaps I am becoming more particular with age, (some would say, overtly fussy), but many newer breweries seem to be experimenting with styles, often at the expense of quality.

I appreciate that introducing new options can be a valuable marketing tool, for the brewery concerned, and can also attract trade for those pubs that like to offer something different. But when the different and the new start elbowing more established and well-liked brands off the bar, then it can be a step too far. Moreover, when pubs start overreaching themselves by featuring, exclusive, rare, or obscure beers, to the detriment of established and better-known offerings, then it’s definitely a step too far.

I’m going to leave it there for the moment, even though such pubs are a paradise for devotees of the beer ticking phenomenon that is Untappd. According to the Untappd app on my phone, I’ve been on the platform since June 2013, but despite this I’m still hovering below the magic 1,000 unique beers sampled – or ticked! The topic of Untappd merits its own dedicated blog post, which I intend to publish once my total reaches the milestone 1,000 ticks, or should that be “taps”?

Without saying too much about my Untappd experiences, I can reveal that I have sampled well over a thousand different beers, although not all of them were “tapped” at the time. There are a number of reasons for this, ranging from those I sampled before Untappd appeared on the scene, to the many where, for a variety of reasons, I was unable to score them. This was particularly the case in the early days when, unless I was able to establish a Wi-Fi connection, for my phone, I was unable to tick the beer(s) in real time. During those times, I visited quite a few different destinations, including Germany, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Austria and the USA. The phone package I had at the time, came with a very limited data allowance, which was soon eaten up, after just a few attempts at posting.

I must have sampled dozens of beers in those countries, but apart from photos, the odd paper list, plus my memory, of course, it would be extremely difficult to “tap” those beers retrospectively, even if the “rules” surrounding Untappd, allow such a thing.  It’s frustrating though, because many of those overseas ticks, were beers that were not only hard to come by at the time, but also beverages that I am unlikely to encounter again – even if it was possible to go back in time and retrace my footsteps.

 

 

A couple more books at bedtime

This post is the fourth in a rather drawn-out series of the same name, and like its predecessors looks back at some of the books I’ve read over the last year or so. There’s much to be said about “a book at bedtime,” especially as one can lose oneself in another word, before drifting off into a restful sleep. Climbing into bed, and snuggling down under the covers, with just enough room to hold and read a book, is certainly a good way to relax and to forget about the trials and tribulations of the day just passed.

My most recent “Book at Bedtime” post appeared back in February 2024,  and covered one lengthy work of fiction - "Tom Jones", by Henry Fielding, plus one, non-fiction volume entitled, the "English Pub". Paul Jennings's history of the English pub is essential reading for all those who enjoy visiting and spending time in, what is definitely the UK's gift to the civilised world. Following that I polished off "Cask", Des de Moor's equally definitive book on cask beer, yet another gift from Britain, even though most of the world has turned it back on this uniquely British way of brewing, keeping and serving,beer. Less controversial, but no less a joy to read, is Adrian Tierney Jones's "A Pub For All Seasons".   

 Back to the present, and the book I’m reading at the moment, is book five of a six-book series, and I'm getting close to finishing that particular volume. What I'm about to write concerns a common thread, that runs between the books of what began as a three-volume series, and one that I first became acquainted with, 20 or so years ago. 

I expect that some of you will have heard of the “His Dark Materials” series, written by acclaimed fantasy author, Philip Pullman. It was a customer at my old off-licence, who first made me aware of this trilogy, and sometime after our conversation about this connected set of novels, I came across the first book in the series, in a charity shop. Tonbridge’s numerous second-hand shops were a rich source of both novels and CD’s, and back in those straitened times, when money was rather "tight", and provided some welcome relief to being “wedded” to my workplace.

“Northern Lights” was the title of the first book in the “His Dark Materials” series, and as my customer friend had hinted, it proved a gripping read. My weekly forays into the world of charity shops, eventually unearthed the sequels – “The Subtle Knife”, and “The Amber Spyglass”, but I’ve a feeling that I didn’t finish the series until I was gainfully employed in my current job. I found all three novels enthralling, with their intricate plot-lines, set against a background of familiar and not so familiar settings. They combine elements of adventure, fantasy which allow the reader to question the nature of authority and the universe itself.

The most interesting aspect is that whilst the stories are set in Oxford (the familiar), it is an Oxford that exists in a parallel universe, with subtle differences to our own world. In Phillip Pulman’s alternative Oxford (and other familiar places), people have animal companions called daemons which, in effect, are physical manifestations of a person’s soul. This means they can communicate with their human “owners”. The principle characters are Lyra and Will, both in their early teens, but belonging to different universes. Lyra inhabits the slightly strange, alternative Oxford, whereas Will’s Oxford belongs very much in our own, early 21^st century Britain. The way their paths first cross, and their lives become intertwined, forms the background to the trilogy, although there are also some fascinating diversions.

Following the success of “His Dark Materials”, Pullman started writing a follow-on series, entitled "The Book of Dust”. It is a sequel with a difference, because the first novel, “La Belle Sauvage”, serves as the prequel to the original trilogy, whilst the second book, “The Secret Commonwealth”, picks up the story, years later, when Lyra, who is now a young adult, embarks on a perilous journey of her own, traveling across Europe in search of her estranged daemon, Pantalaimon. Hot on her heels are agents of the Magisterium, the sinister and all-powerful religious body, that was first encountered in “Northern Lights”. This is the 686-page book I am reading at the moment, and whilst I’m nearing the end, it’s the type of novel you don’t want to finish.

All is not lost though, because the “Rose Field”, the final novel in this particular trilogy, is due for publication in the autumn (23^rd October). Pullman, who is 78, is reported as being "relieved" to have "come out of the end alive and able to see this final part of his six-book series, being made into a book and published". I can’t wait to purchase a copy, and get stuck into the novel.

Footnote: just to confuse matters, the American publishers of the first three books, decided to rename "Northern Lights" as the "Golden Compass". The latter happened to be Pullman's original title for the work, so perhaps we can excuse them, in this instance.