Orlík Water Reservoir
Orlík Water Reservoir, the largest reservoir by volume of retained water in the Czech Republic, is one of the stages in the Vltava Cascade water management system. The water surface is spanned by the Podolský and Žďákovský bridges and it is 2.732 hectars large.
The reservoir gets its name from the Renaissance Orlík Chateau, the confluence of the Vltava and Otava is guarded by royal Zvíkov Castle.
Orlík Water Reservoir provides the ideal surroundings for summer recreation, water sports and fishing. It's also a big favourite with divers, who can set out in search of the flooded church of the former village of Těchnice, which lies about 60 m below the water surface.
Zvíkov Castle
Hrad Zvíkov, often called "the king of Czech castles", is a castle at the junction of the Vltava and Otava rivers, some 15 kilometres north of Písek, in the South Bohemian Region, Czech Republic, next to the village of Zvíkovské Podhradí. Castle Zvíkov was most probably established by Přemysl Otakar I. in the 13th century. The castle is one of the most important early-Gothic castles in Czech lands.
It stands on a difficult-to-access and steep promontory above the confluence of the Vltava and Otava rivers and therefore using the water access is one of the possible ways how to get to the castle. View of the castle above the Orlík Resorvoir is truly astonishing and this romantic experience is definetely worth of a trip.
The castle is open to public all year long. From April to October, visitors got a change to see kings palaces. Visitors got a chance to see archelogical exposition, visit castle vault, a chapel with beautiful wall paintings and they can ascend to the most famous tower of the castle, Hlízova Tower, from which spectacular view of Orlík Resoirvoir and its surroundings can be seen.
According to an old legend there is a lmp (also know as "Zvikovsky Rarasek") who is meant to haunt those visitors who decide to stay at the campus over the night.
City of Písek - oldest stone bridge
In the city of Písek, you can find the oldest stone bridge in the Czech Republic which crosses river Otava. Most probably, it is the oldest stone bridge in middle Europe however it hasn't been confirmed officially yet. There is only one more bridge which is older than the stone bridge at Písek and it is located in the city of Regensburg, Germany. However, this bridge was completely destroyed by flood and was rebuilt from scratch.
According to one legend, it was agreed during the construction of the bridge that it will be named after the first pedestrian who would cross the bridge. Instead of a pedestrian a deer came to a river from nearby forest and became the first one who crossed the bridge. For that reason, the bridge was called Deer Bridge for long period of time.
A a lot of replica of very valued sculpures can be found on the bridge, original are placed at Prácheňské museum.