Mini-Praha

If you like cities like Praha but wish to have less people around, then Cesky Krumlov is for you.

We included Cesky Krumlov in our itinerary, as it was heavily recommended by our guide; it is a world class sight and one of the main towns in the Bohemia region. We will never forget this town but not for those reasons, but for the amazing kayaking surprise we had yesterday (LINK TO POST).

So today we will visit the town.

We go over the main bridge. Although not as congested as Charles Bridge, it seems to be the tourists’ favourite activity. We passed by it last night and it was full of people. Today, Monday, 9.30am, slightly less busy, it  is a bit early for tourists.

When we travelled across Transylvania we found that the place was very different to the image we had in mind; rolling hills, peak pointed roofs, hilltop castles (LINK TO POST). Czech Republic is more like the Transylvania we had imagined. Perhaps, it was here where Hollywood came to film the Dracula films.

Here, there is another torture museum, like in Praha.

Pretty much every historic town we have visited has had a torture museum. These town development autocrats must all go on the same conferences, ‘What your town really needs is a;   torture museum, contemporary art gallery, waxwork museum. That really draws in the tourist.’ Every one of them is the same, and it is quite surprising that so much torture equipment has survived from the middle ages, or perhaps……it is fake. This is what we all really want to see, a good bit of gore and pain. GDR

Some of the refurbishment works undertaken in Cesky Krumlov seems to have consisted of painting rather than amending the original structure. This is slightly disappointing and disingenuous.

It looks like a replica made for a theatre performance.

As usual, we head off to the castle. We want to get there early, it has additional sights inside it, such as various museums, gardens, etc. We may well spend a couple of hours there.

Right at the entrance, we see lots of people looking down the bridge. What is it so worth it? We look down and there they are; a couple of brown bears wandering around, completely unaware of the excitement they are creating.

A brown bear is one of the smallest species, not dangerous to humans. This is the female.

Not sure I would want to come across her in the wild though! This one is going a bit mad in the confines of her small enclosure, repeatedly walking the same circle, very sad. In the wild she would wander hundreds of kilometres, here she has 30m! GDR

Still, bigger than me.

And this is the male. It is at least one third bigger than the female.

The castle is not open today, it is Monday. But we can still go to the top to see the views and wander around the courtyards and the gardens.

It has to be said, the town is lovely. From here, it makes a really nice post-card.

The bears still there, guarding the castle.

The river Vlava, the same river it goes through Praha.

The clock bridge, now full of tourists, like in Praha.

A few walls inside the castle has also been re-painted.

It would have been nice that, for once, the refurb team had kept out of the way and left the wall as they originally were, so we have a better idea of what the castle were really like at the time.

Maybe this is what they were originally like, this is castle building on the cheap! GDR

How much can we squeeze the town into this small frame?

The river is very familiar too us. 24 hours ago, we were paddling down those rapids, banging noses (not ours of course, our kayaks’).

We hesitate to go all the way up to the gardens. ‘Come on, we are only here once’

Quite indulgent, quite perfect, not that practical. How many vegetables could we grow in a garden like this?

Gary enjoyed the frogs spitting water. We like frogs, they are cute and pretty, specially on top of bright green lilies.

This is an overindulgent fountain. Get rid of the sculptures, make the water a bit warmer, introduce some bubbles and you get a perfect spa overviewing your garden. Those aristocrats of the past didn’t know how to do it, really.

The fish pond is a bit further up, so we go and see some fishes.

On the way, we come across a quirky construction; a rotating auditorium, very clever. What is the rotation criteria? Does it move depending on the function performed that day?

Some performances you can have a backdrop of a building, turn it round and you have a background of trees,

keep going and you have a very exhausted cast!. GDR

It has taken 20 minutes to walk to the fish pond but it is worth it. We don’t see that many fishes though, which is not surprising, the pond is overloaded with lilies.

Beautiful but you have to look hard to see them swimming underneath.

We are done with the castle, so time to wander back to Dora but a different way back to see a bit more of the town.

An old mill. This town is all about the river, all about water.

The more we walk around, the more it reminds us of Praha.

Including the tourists. We have been moaning a lot about having lots of tourist around. We have been travelling out of season for so long that we have forgotten what is like in high season.

Some of the buildings have been so perfectly constructed, they bring back memories of our childhood; the princess, looking out  the window, waiting for her blue prince.

See what I mean about superfluous museums, Harry Potter! What has he got to do with here, or a cynical ploy to get kids through the door. GDR

Interestingly, most of the tourists here are Asian. Is it because travel agencies have made arrangements to heavily promote this town? Or are Asian simply fond of it?

Whatever it is, they are so hard to miss them; someone taking a selfie?, 90% of the time an Asian. They have always been obsessed with photographing everything. It seems like, these days, they have changed their focus slightly; rather than photographing buildings, they just photograph themselves.

Lots of tat shops around, like in Praha.

I stop here for a minute. Do you want one? Gary asks slightly worried. No, thanks, it can kill your neck.

We drive off to our last stop in Czech Republic: Brno. Tomorrow it will be another sightseeing day but different to the ones we’ve had recently; tomorrow, it will be about architecture.

SM