Jewels of Bohemia Day 7

Monday, September 1

After breakfast, we departed Cesky Krumlov for an overland journey to Slavonice. En route, we stopped in southern Bohemia's regional capital, Ceske Budejovice, to visit the famous Budweiser Budvar Brewery. While the history of brewing in Ceske Budejovice dates back to the 13th century, Budweiser Budvar was founded here in 1895 (the U.S. brewer chose the name Budweiser in 1876 because it was synonymous for superior beer).  

After our brewery tour, we stopped in Trebon where we had lunch of eel in a local restaurant. 

We then stopped in Jindrichuv Hradec, a charming 13th-century town with a huge castle just outside its Old Town. We visited the castle museum, which features the world's largest working mechanical Nativity scene, which is even written in the Guinness Book of World Records. The magnificent nativity scene, which was made by local Jindřichův Hradec master hosier Tomáš Krýza, took over 60 years to construct. There are 1398 human and animal figures, of which 133 are movable. The figurines are made of wood and laminate materials. The original mechanism, which in the beginning was driven by a hand-crank, brings the entire piece into motion using a single electric motor. 

Next we visited the Jacques Gobelin tapestry workshops and studios.  Here they were repairing centuries old tapestries by hand.  It could cost as much as hundred of thousands of dollars to repair some of these tapestries, depending on the amount of work required.  We also saw demonstrations of hand weaving.

  


We arrived in Slavonice in time to freshen up at our hotel before gathering in the hotel’s wine cellar to taste the cellar’s wines.   

Then on to a local restaurant for a festive dinner complete with traditional Moravian music.  There was a violinist, two guitarists and a drummer (spokeman) and they played all kinds of music, ending with Good Night Irene, in which all the American travelers joined in.