My 3rd day in Czech Republic, I decided to take a day trip to Cesky Krumlov. Cesky Krumlov is about 3 hrs outside of Prague and is a designated UN Heritage Site. I hopped on a bus and headed out of town. It was such a beautiful drive; outside of Prague there are lots of green hills with villages located in the valleys. Often, the bus would chug up a lush green mountain and as we hit the peak, I would look down into the valley.and see the most beautiful villages-- houses with orange roofs all nestled together, usually beside a winding river. Along the way the bus stopped at the village that was the original home to Budweiser; strangely, I didn't see any signs or anything denoting that fact.
3 hrs later, we pulled in to the bus stop at Cesky Krumlov. At this point, so many people had gotten on the bus that people were forced to stand in the aisles while we made our way through the countryside. We all piled off the bus and I began the short walk to the town. Coming up to the entrance to the town literally took my breath away; here was the quaint medieval looking town nestled by a huge winding river, surrounded by beautifully lush mountains. The town had cobblestone streets and the narrow homes you'd expect to see in a typical medieval town. I spent most of the day wandering through the streets, eating and investigating many of the shops and sights of Cesky Krumlov. The town is also built up a hill on one side of the river, so I crossed over and hiked to the top of the hill to Cesky Krumlov Castle. As I walked into the courtyard, I had a start-- across the courtyard I saw a Canadian flag. A Canadian flag in Czech Republic, in a historic site in Cesky Krumlov? I was really curious, so I walked up and took a look. There was a sign posted on a door announcing that Dalhousie University was conducting a summer course there-- a university from my home province in CR! I tried to get in to talk to someone, but the door remained locked and I couldn't get anyone to understand what I was asking.
I turned away and decided to hike up the tower and see Cesky Krumlov from its highest point. The walk up the tower was a bit tough as it had wooden staircases and was open on one side; being afraid of heights, it made me very nervous though I was proud of the fact that I didn't freak out and turn and yell at the person behind me to back off like I did when I took the stairs down La Familia Segrada in Barcelona. I think that lady in Barcelona is still reeling from my freaking out at her. Mind you, the woman was running up on my heels and trying to push me to go faster which freaked me out all the more. Anyhow, the hike up Cesky Krumlov tower was worth it-- the view was amazing. I had a 360o view of the town-- I could see the visitors walking across the wooden bridge over the river, people inner tubing down the river, people hiking up the hilly part of Cesky Krumlov, etc. I stayed up there for a while and just enjoyed the view.
After I came down from the tower, I headed in to the castle. I had a wonderful tour of the Castle, although the English tour guide was awfully hard to understand-- being a Czech girl she had a bit of a funny lilt to her voice which made it hard to figure out what she was saying. We were unable to take any photos of the inside of the palace but it was quite awesome for a small town castle.
I spent the rest of the day finding some good food and meandering down the alleyways of the town. Around dinnertime I decided to catch the bus back in to Prague. My Czech being nonexistant, I just guessed and hopped on the bus; wrong decision. Somehow I managed to get on the milk run-- the bus that stopped in every town along the way. On the one hand, it was great b/c I got to see lots of towns and villages however, I was really tired and wanted to get back so I could eat and sleep so I didn't necessarily appreciate the 4 hrs it took to get back to town.
Here are my photos from Cesky Krumlov:
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