Hrad Karlštejn

Last Sunday, we took the train to nearby Karlštejn Castle, about 50 km outside of Prague.  On the way we noticed that our train was really crowded with people, and when they all seemed to get off at Karlštejn, we just thought the place must be popular.  As it turned out, there was a wine festival going on at the castle that weekend.  There were many stands selling cups or bottles of burčák ("young wine").  We're not sure how burčák is made exactly, but it seems to show up every year around this time - I guess around grape harvest time.  It's very sweet and a little tart and usually appears to be homemade (judging by the 1.5L plastic soda bottles they're sold in, often with the old labels still on).  We got one cup each of red and white burčák.  It was a really lovely fall day, and as we walked up toward the castle with the rest of the throng, all around us there were live music and festivities going on.