loket? i love it! – Adventurings

it only took seeing one photo of this beautiful little town in northwest czech republic to get me to add it onto my trip, and i’m so glad i made it up there!
we spent our fourth of july this year in loket, a sort of “český krumlov of the north”, checking into our cozy little pension facing the long main street. to spend one night here is the perfect amount of time, even more if you are planning to go boating on the ohře river or mountain biking in the lush surrounding forests.

as castles go, this one was both beautiful to look at and fun to visit, housing many mini-museums. when we went to buy tickets, i marched up to the window and ordered in czech. i think the cashier was so unused to foreigners speaking czech in this area of the country (very frequented by german and russian tourists), that he complimented my czech! that’s really never happened here in south bohemia before. i think people do appreciate it when foreigners do make an effort to speak czech, even if there is that knowing glance i see all too frequently (and sometimes a giggle).

anyhow, how ‘bout them views, eh?

when you live abroad, you know that it’s often tough to make your country’s national day really feel like home, so i figured the least we could do was a good meal with great beer, and sv. florian’s brewery (the yellow building near the bridge) was the best place in town to go, with probably the best beer in the entire country (also featuring an amazing rauchbier, or smoked beer, not easy to find here!). it was truly the perfect evening of al fresco dining, good summer vibes, and a gorgeous warm weather perfect for strolling.

followed by said stroll around town. i was so into this disused school by the river that was boarded up, but kept trying to sneak peaks into it…

somebody photo-bombed… (below)

just that kind of night when you don’t want to go home and want to keep walking the quiet streets for hours! above, this shop was very quick to adopt “czechia”. in case you didn’t know, the czech government voted in the spring to change the english name of their country from the czech republic to czechia. (why? apparently to have a quick, easy to say name. whether or not people have actually adapted to that is another question entirely)

at just a thirty-minute bus ride from karlovy vary, loket is a perfect place to go to drink absolutely delicious beer, visit a beautiful castle, and enjoy the peaceful, green landscape that only northwestern czech republic can do. i almost didn’t even miss those fireworks!