This past weekend, the village of Karlštejn (pronounced karl-shtayn) held an historic wine festival. I checked it all out online to see if it was something we really wanted to go to but, in reality, they had us at wine.
The festival is one of the largest vinobraniin the Czech Republic. Held in what used to be the seat of the Bohemian aristocracy, the festival has everything medieval. There are scores of people dressed in costume, sword swallowers, fire throwers, jousting tournaments and a parade that starts in the vineyards and winds its way through town and up to the castle. Lining the parade route (lining the entire village, in fact) are stalls filled with crafts, treats and wine. Lots and lots of fermented wine.
They celebrate the wine because back in the day, if you drank the water, it was more likely to kill you, than slake your thirst. Clean water was scarce so they had to come up with something to sustain them. Hence, the advent of fermented beverages. Once the water was turned to wine (pun intended) it was much safer for you to ingest. And all ages (and I do mean
all) imbibed. So it is no surprise that wine was celebrated as the lifeblood that it truly was. And it still is today.
And all of this happens in one of the most story book perfect settings I have ever seen...
A trip back to tour the inside of the castle is in order, as we ran out of time. But I think I have found where I am going to take our Christmas card picture this year...
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| If this isn't a postcard town, I don't know what is... |
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| Pronounced Burrchahk. It is only sold for a short time (by law) from August 1 - November 30. The grapes used are all from the Moravian region here in the Czech Republic. |
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| This slightly fermented wine is young, thin and sweet. As far as Czech wines go, it might be the best I have tasted. But that isn't saying much. |
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| The verdict from B - It was good in small doses. And small doses is all you should drink. According to legend - the wine keeps fermenting once it's been drunk. So if you drink it fast, which is easy since it tastes like sweet juice, you will probably drink more than you should without feeling any effects...but hours later you will be drunker than a skunk. It's just a legend but we witness many a person weaving down the cobblestones that may have had a few too many. We stuck to sharing one glass (and not one liter, as it is usually sold) |
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| This castle. Amazing! |
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| The back side. (obviously not in the order I took these...) |
Yep, beer is cheaper than water. We paid almost twice as much for the girls water (about $4) than we did for a 2 half liters of beer (about $3.00). The food, traditional Czech. We had just had lunch and it wasn't time for dinner, so we didn't try any.
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| The town as seen from the castle. |
Pony rides and hot air balloons finished our afternoon. Fun was had by all and I would definitely head back again next year.
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