Today was one of my favorite days of the trip looking back on it. We left early in the morning to get to our connecting route. We had to arrive at the city of Cesky Bedujovice and the remainder of the trip needed to go by bus today. We were able to tour the city for a short period of time, and see some of the basic churches and state buildings in the area. The city itself allowed us a short time to tour connecting to our next train, which brought us to a small stop where we ran into an issue with the bus line.
The train from Prague was about 2 hours, but the stop here was to connect on the bus line, which was the only way to the city at the time. This was due to construction at the train station, and though we eventually got there, we along with the entire fleet of passengers got in a fight with the bus driver, as he tried to charge us for the drive from the train terminal to the city, which was supposed to be part of our Eurotrip rail package. Fortunately he didn’t administer any penalty to us or anyone else since he knew we were right. Either way, this caused a little bit of confusion and delay, but we were able to eventually get into the city.
The city of Cesky Krumlov is one of the most unique surprises in Europe this trip. I knew it would be charming and essential European town that I wanted to see, but little did I realize how beautiful the gardens and castle would be, along with he river which wraps around the landscape below where the city was built. This was a great surprise walking in, as the train station, which was arrived by bus once again, is about half a mile from the city. We are staying in this town for the night so our first goal was to check in and not lug our back packs around unnecessarily. This walk into the city descends with and overlook of the city, and landscape giving you a feeling you have reach a town let in history, and has been untouched to a short degree by modern times. Even upon entering I could see blacksmiths with their fire pits, and coal pits working in the Medieval way, and it was remarkable to watch.
We arrived at the base of the city walkway, which delivered us to the downtown area of the town. Getting into the city requires walking downhill through a sort of retail area, which is still itself built into historical buildings, which give you a taste of great architecture and buildings to come. Eventually the road leads into the central part of the city which is located across the river. This is where we decided to stop and have lunch, as the route to our hotel, though close to this position, was still shut for the check in time. With that in mind we had lunch at a place along the river, as you can see below called Monalisa, and this was a spectacular view from our table to have this in the afternoon of a workday and be around the castle in the middle of a new beautiful European Village…. very nostalgic.
Now it was time to check in, and with that we headed to the Oension Tiffany, checked into a nice BandB and left our things in the room. It was now time to explore this little town. Our goal was to see the downtown, then the riverside and bridges, then finish the day with a walking tour of the famous castle.
The cathedral of Cesky wasn’t the most impressive or largest we saw this trip, but having a small church in this town was of course necessary knowing how old this city was in Europe. From this point we explored many vendor shops in the downtown square, which was a very small gathering place compared to the square in Prague the day before. This was nice since it allowed us to see the entire place without using too much time. That is one thing I appreciate about small European towns, is the fact one can see and learn allot in a very short span of time with foot travel.
It was time to head down to the water which as only about 50 feet from us, and explore the park across the other side of the bridge. This gave us a great outward perspective of the city, and allowed us to relax by sitting down and enjoying the outdoor weather. There were people kayaking, and swimming in the man made watering holes fed by the river.
We had spent about 2 hours of the day at this point in the city, and though we weren’t disappointed, we almost had seen all the primary attractions from a walking tour side, with the exception of exploring the castle. This was one of the few tours we actually paid for, and it was well worth it. The castle towers of cesky felt like a shepherd watching over its sheep, and the interior of this could rival almost any castle in Europe, for such a small place. This was resided and built by the Vitkovci Family in the 12th Century during the summer.
The castle itself featured ornate halls, a theater, gardens, and its walled in protection with secret walkways for escaping during an attack. This tour was especially enjoyable outside when we did visit the gardens, which were not as amazing versailles, but they were spectacular to enjoy. The tour lasted about 2 hours and allowed us to expend our energy properly by the end of the day.
From this point it was time to find dinner, and with that we went to the east side of the city, where we had not explored that much, and found a an outside local brewery on the east side of the city, which where we discovered the blacksmiths working late into the afternoon/ evening. We were both fascinated by this. We ended up enjoying a couple beers here, and then went to the restaurant for dinner. It was time to call it a night, and we were ready to rest up for an early departure tomorrow… to head to Salzburg!
Walking Route:
Train station
Cesky Krumlov castle
Plastovy most
Barbers bridge
Klastery Cesky Krumlov
Kostel svateho Vita
The Castle Garden
Girls Stone
Klet
HOTEL: july 26 Pension tiffany (60.32) 148016976140 CONFIRMED
Leave for salzburg on the 27th at
7:02pm on RE 8112 cesky Krumlov to CEske Budejovice
change to EXP 1547 to Linz 20:08
Linz 22:32 to Salzburg 23:48 RJ 840
EXPENSES
48.90 breakfast coffee train station
20 hotel checkout taxes
17.80 EU food
480 croner for castle
25 gingerbread
50 ice cream
30 water
70 beer
170 drinks
80 beer
508 dinner
Total – 103.50 (194.69 + 21= 215.69)