Visiting the Music Festival in Bechyne

Pastry shop in Cesky Krumlov.
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We finished our exploration of Česky Krumlov today with a tour of its last surviving brewery, one that was founded sometime in the 13th century and moved to its present location, a Renaissance-era armory, in the 1620s. The tour was moderately interesting—we spent the extra money this time for a tour in English—and it ended with a free half liter of beer, which turned out to be our lunch before catching a bus to Česke Budějovice and from there to Bechyně.

This is a very different town, a sleepy little spa town on another river which I think flows into the Vltava—pronounced Vultava, with the “l” almost disappearing. On the subject of pronunciation, today—Thursday—is my favorite Czech word to try to wrap my mouth around: čtvrtek. (We packed some extra vowels in our suitcase, but we used them up within 24 hours.)

Dinosaury.
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The hotel on the square was filled, so they sent us to a nearby guesthouse within the castle walls, but we got lost trying to find it. I know the woman at the hotel was trying to be helpful by telling us the guesthouse was called “The Forest House,” but since the sign above the door said “Lesni Dom,” that wasn’t too helpful. “Forest” and “house” aren’t among the five dozen or so Czech words I’ve learned.

The hotel provides dinner to all the music festival participants, so we found Nathaniel there, but went elsewhere to eat since it was clear that it would be sometime before the hotel was going to serve anyone else. We ended up at a quiet little place, where we puzzled over the Czech menu for a while, particularly over a dish called dinosauři. The waitress, who had a little English, said it was chicken, so I decided to try it. Only on closer inspection did I see that it was under the category Něco pro dětičky: something for kids [picture attached]. It actually provided a pretty good counter to the liquid lunch I’d had.

These pants are all the rage here.
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Our meals in general have been very good and moderately priced. In Krumlov, we ate at one restaurant speciallizing in traditional Bohemian foods: generous portions of meat with millet, dumplings, and potato pancakes. We passed on the mead, and the hot grog also.

Our best meal was at the improbably named Papa’s Living Restaurant, where we shared a large and exquisite filet mignon with delicious red beans, along with onion soup, salad, draft beer, tiramisu, and hot chocolate, all for under $50.

Brewery equipment.
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Following last night’s dinosaur dinner, we went over to the nearby monastery for an informal concert of the chamber works that the Pellegrina festival participants have been working on. Nathaniel played baroque trumpet with soprano and continuo in several Bach and Handel arias, which sounded quite splendid in the space of the large church.