Listed as one of the most charming town in east Europe and one of the UNESCO site. Our experience with this little town is romantic yet a bit nostalgic.
The setting of the town is interesting, a river - the Vltava make a dramatic twist which forms two peninsulae, each situated with a dominant building in town- the church and the castle.
We took an evening bus from Prague and arrived late. It was a time accessing data service isn't cheap, so dropping us off of a highway at 9pm without google map and two oversize suitcase does make you feel a bit adventurous and nervous.
Judging from ambient lighting source and a diagrammatic map at the bus station- I figured the entrance to the town is probably right across the highway. However, this is not the tourist town I pictured in mind, and we did not encounter any single person before arriving the hotel. And here comes the 2nd problem, the b&b we reserved --- it was closed.
The area is only lighted with fainting yellowish street light. Pretty much all the hostel in the area had shut their door at this point, with just a bit of faith left, we rang the door bell twice. After a long pause, a woman came out, who later prove to be the mother of our host, greeted us with hand gesture accompany her soft voice(she didn't speak English) and eventually get us to the room. After discussed our breakfast hour and other house policy stuff, she left us alone.
Now, dinner time - our night eventually turn totally amazing 30 min later, but we were simply hoping able to get bar food at that moment.
We take a quick stroll around the town, did encounter some tourist snapping night shot and one pub with a bar inside (perhaps that's our best shot, I was thinking) --- finally we stopped foot in front of a restaurant we had researched, a tavern, and it was open. At the moment, we step in the restaurant, something magical happened --- there is an open grille right at the reception area fill the place with wood flavored warm air, the atmosphere is cozy and relaxing. We observed a bit and found ourselves a lovely setup in the lower section. With a starving stomach and an open mind, we ordered quite a solid feast for ourselves --- more than enough we end of finishing everything off the doggy bag in the next couple days, well -- that's another long story to crave in if you like.
We took a stroll after the dinner, the night light highlighted areas around the castle. Standing at the foot of castle hill, you can observe the textural graphic and admire details of the illustrious result under the reign of Rosenburg family. Unfortunately, we did not encounter the white lady as the local tale, which I'm pretty sure she can provide stories in great details.
