TRAVEL INSPIRATION

A generation of young Czech chefs reached back past Communism to the nineteenth-century cookbooks of Magdalena Dobromila Rettigová and Marie B. Svobodová, rediscovering flavors their great-great-grandparents had known. They call the movement nová česká — Nouvelle Czech — and it is producing some of the most exciting dining in Europe.

There is a moment somewhere between Bingen and Koblenz — as the cliffs rise and the river narrows — when you understand why this valley has been inspiring poets, painters, and travelers for centuries. A castle appears on a hilltop. Then another. Then a steep slope of vines, glowing amber in the late afternoon light.