Prague is the most common destination for tourists in the Czech Republic. It is notorious for being the most beautiful city in the world. However, Prague is only a small part of what the Czech Republic has to offer. Stano, a mate we were staying with in Prague, suggested a road trip through southern Czech Republic. Aisha and I heartily agreed to spending the weekend travelling through part of Bohemia. Caroline, a Swedish friend of mine that recently relocated to Prague, also decided she'd like to tag along. So, early Saturday morning, after an awesome shotgun call by me, Aisha and Caroline piled into the back of Stano's Honda Civic, I stretched out in the front and Stano revved up his beast.

The area of the Czech Republic to the south of Prague is densely spattered with historical towns, castles and chateaus. As a prelude to the weekend ahead, Stano had already taken us to a few of the close by castles, Karlštejn and Křivoklát. For the weekend itself, he'd compiled a list of places to visit. Unfortunately, we barely made it to half of the list, as we spent more time at each place than expected.

Tábor was the first town that we visited, with its quaint apartments and narrow cobblestoned streets. On one side of the central square stood a large cathedral, surrounded by trees with their leaves turning red. In the centre of the square stood a deep, murky fountain where two of the local bums were fishing for coins using speaker magnets tied to lengths of string. We took a tour through the underground tunnels that were once used as transport routes for cattle, dungeons for badly behaved wives and storage for wine. Beef, women and booze, it sounds like a good combination to me!

The next stop of the day was Hluboká, a 16th century chateau with a very extravagant interior. We had to wait for an English tour, so we wandered around the beautifully kept grounds. Stano and I tried our hand at some archery, with mixed results. Let's just say that the safest place to stand when Stano is shooting is in front of the target. The tour itself was interesting, but we were not allowed to take photos of any of the interior.

We didn't book any accommodation for the night, but the plan was to stay in Český Krumlov. The entire town is a UNESCO heritage site, and it is absolutely stunning. We managed to find a penzion (something like a B&B) with two free rooms, so we dumped our stuff and went out for a walk and dinner. The town itself lies on a bight in the Vltava river, which runs around the bases of steep hills and cliffs. A castle stands on the edge of one of these cliffs. Cosy, terracotta tiled houses line the maze of streets. We sat down to dinner at a dimly lit restaurant by the river's edge, where we were served a hearty meal and good beer.

After an excellent sleep and breakfast, we headed off to Blatná castle. Coincidentally for Caroline, Blatná was holding a Swedish festival of sorts. A Czech-Swedish girl sang tunes and played the violin as we walked through the grounds and the forest nearby. We wandered around idly until it was time to to head to Plzeň, home of the famous Pilsner Urquell brewery.

Naturally, I decided it was important that we do a tour of the brewery. On entering the brewery grounds, the first thing I thought was "how very Charlie-and-the-Chocolate-Factory-esque." A large chessboard stood near to the visitors' centre. All of the pieces were somehow related to beer. Tall, brick smoke-stacks and an authoritative-looking clock tower protruded upward from the old factory. In complete contrast, the shiny steel and glass of the new factory hung off the side like a limpet. Inside the visitors' centre stood a glowing beer vending machine. Roald Dahl for adults.

We had a short amount of time before the tour started, so we rushed through a lunch of guláš at one of the Pilsner Urquell restaurants. The tour started in the packaging plant, where an incredible flux of glass bottles went through the processes of being washed, sanitised, inspected, filled, capped and put into cartons. All processes automated, of course. After this, we were led through an exhibition that explained how beer was made, and we were able to taste the malted barley, Saaz hops and spring water that go into producing Pilsner Urquell. Next was a tour past the mash tuns and boilers. Sugars are extracted from the malt by a triple mashing process, then the resultant wort is boiled with hops to add bitterness and aroma. Finally, it was down to the cellars, at 6°C, to see the traditional open fermentation and lagering processes. The tour stopped at one of the lagering barrels, full of traditionally made Pilsner Urquell (unfiltered and unpasteurised) where we were able to sample the delicious amber liquid. It was as magnificent as ever.

Our final stop on the road trip was a traditional Slovak restaurant on the outskirts of Prague. Stano and I both wanted to introduce Aisha and Caroline to Bryndzové Halušky, a traditional Slovak meal. It is made of sheep's cheese melted through potato dumplings and sprinkled with fried bacon. Both of them seemed to liked it (well, they ate it). And the road trip was over.

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