Well I really got off the beaten path today. I took a bus for about an hour east of here to a little town called Trebon. It must have been all the talk about those carps because I came to the fish raising capital of the Czech Republic. But more on that later.
I spent the first part of the day walking around the main part of town and then rented a bike to explore further out and around the lakes.
Trebon dates from the 14th century and like Cesky Krumlov and Prague, it’s part of the Bohemia region. It has nothing to do with the beatnik bohemians, but with the Celtic Tribe of Bohemia that inhabited the land before the coming of the Slavs. There’s two other regions of the Czech Republic which are Moravia (the wine growing region to the east) and Silesia (a small section in the north near Poland).
Trebon is also know for its spa treatments using peat. Patients from all over the world come here for week long stays to get buried in the black, smelly sludge that’s thought to cure aching joints and spines. Yuk!
But the towns main claim to fame is all of the artificial lakes they created that are swarming with fish, mostly carp! There are actually 460 lakes (they call them fish ponds) all around Trebon. The largest one is called Svet Pond (meaning world). That’s the one behind me on my bike. I rode around that lake so I guess you can say I biked around the world!
The building in the woods that looks like a castle is the Schwarzenberg Tomb. The Schwarzenberg family began to rule in the Trebon region in 1660. The tomb is one of the most interesting architectural monuments in South Bohemia. It is a six-sided neo-gothic building with a beautiful tower and majestic double stairs surrounded by an English park. I rode my bike all thru that park and it was really beautiful on a perfect fall day.
The other pics are of the tree lined bike trails along the canals as well as the colorful main square of the town.
But the highlight of the day was dinner. After biking around the world I was hungry! So I figured I’d have sort of a Czech Christmas Eve dinner! I started off with carp soup! Believe it or not it was really tasty (I assume they had kept it in their bath tub for a few days to clear out all that mud!). Then I tried the pike perch. Very yummy and as you can see, very well presented. I figured if I was going to come to the fish capital I better try the fish. When in Rome!
Well that’s all for today. Tomorrow I’m off to Prague. Hope everyone is having a great Sunday.
By the way, could somebody pick me up a couple of those Mega Millions lottery tickets? I hear the jackpot is now over $1.6 Billion!! I may need it to pay off all this travel! Lol
Jeff
The Wandering Italian 