Cesky Krumlov Sept 24

Sept 24

Everything went smoothly this morning. We left the apartment, and took the Metro to a bus station to get our bus to Cesky Krumlov. The ticket agency was kind enough to store our big bags, until we return to Prague on Saturday; thus we could travel light.

The bus was quite nice, a lot better than the Aer Lingus flight to Budapest. The seats are more comfortable, more leg room, there is an electric outlet, an entertainment unit, WiFi on the road, even free coffee served by an attractive attendant. She smiled at me...my heart is aflutter.

We arrived in Cesky Krumlov, one of the most picturesque places I have visited. The old town consists of buildings from the 14th to the 17th century, and the town is situated inside a horseshoe formed by the Vitava River, the same river that goes through Prague. The old town is quite small, only about 5 blocks square, but very charming. On the other side of the river is a steep cliff, on the top of which is a large castle from the 13th century. The tower is quite unique.

One of the tourist attractions is a boat ride, using inflatable canoes, down the river. The company drives you, and your boat, to a spot 30 or so kilometres up-stream, and then you paddle back down to Cesky Krumlov. It is customary to stop at several of the beer gardens along the way, so by the time they get to the town many are quite inebriated. To make things interesting there is a small set of rapids, in town, and when I saw it, more than half dumped, and floated the last few metres.

The temperature today was a high of 14, so there were no canoeists.

After settling in our Pension, we walked around the old town. It is truly like a Disney World, only the real thing. Most of the buildings are either pensions, hotels, restaurants or boutiques. During the day there are a lot of tourist buses, here for a day visit. In the evening it is much quieter.

There are a lot of oriental tourists, more than any other group.

After dinner we came across a group of about 25 orientals, all dresses in medieval costumes. Quite a sight, they seemed to be having a lot of fun

Photo 1 one of the restaurants in Cesky Krumlov

Photo 2 a view of the castle and tower, and the town

Photo 3 the main square

Photo 4 Multiculturalism in action