Since its foundation in 1265, CESKÉ BUDEJOVICE (Budweis) - just two hours by train from Prague - has been a self-assured place, convinced of its own importance. Its wealth, based on medieval silver mines and its position on the salt route from Linz to Prague, was wiped out in the seventeenth century by war and fire, but the Habsburgs lavishly reconstructed most of Ceské Budejovice in the eighteenth century. Its real renown, however, is for its local brew Budvar, better known... [More]