Among Europe's largest squares
Close to a hundred and thirty-three metres a side, laid out in the thirteenth century.
karakal — CC BY-SA 3.0 · donald judge — CC BY 2.0 · Richard Mortel from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — CC BY 2.0 · Richard Mortel from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — CC BY 2.0
The city is Budweis in German, and beer brewed there is called Budweiser after it. In the nineteenth century an American company gave its beer the same name, and the two have been in continuous legal dispute in dozens of countries ever since over who may use it. The result is that the Czech beer sells in America under a different name and the American one sells in Europe under a different name.
Yes, for a day. The train is frequent and takes about fifty minutes, and the city is entirely different from Krumlov: larger, more spacious and far less touristed, with one of the finest squares in central Europe. The tower, the brewery and the old town fill the day.
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A sixteenth-century bell tower seventy-two metres high in the centre of České Budějovice, the capital of South Bohemia. It was built between 1550 and 1577 as a fire watchtower and as the bell tower of the cathedral beside it, and a watchman lived in it into the twentieth century, ringing the bell when he saw smoke. The climb is two hundred and twenty-five steps to an open gallery running around the tower. What you see from the top is the real argument for climbing: Přemysl Otakar II Square lies directly below, among the largest square plazas in Europe at close to a hundred and thirty-three metres on each side, ringed by continuous arcades on every side. Its layout dates from the thirteenth century and has not changed. The city is about twenty-five kilometres from Český Krumlov with frequent trains, and it also holds the historic Budvar brewery. It combines easily into a day from Krumlov.
Close to a hundred and thirty-three metres a side, laid out in the thirteenth century.
The square is ringed by arcades on every side — shaded walking even in rain.
The city's historic beer, whose name is the subject of a global trade dispute.
Přemysl Otakar II Square, České Budějovice