A Little Town…How Cute is Cesky Krumlov!
The real heartbeat of most countries can be found out in the country in the smaller towns and cities that dot the countryside – even in developed countries I find that the people are much more accessible in the smaller cities. Prague is a huge city and I don’t know that I even remotely felt like I got a taste of the Czech culture.
Just a bit south of Prague though is another very touristy Czech city – but this one is small and consumable and interactions with the locals around town is unavoidable if you’re staying for a couple of days…or ten in my case.
Český Krumlov is just cute and charming despite being overrun with tourists throughout the main part of the day because the town center is a UNESCO site for it’s Medieval and Renaissance, and Baroque architecture. A lot of tourists day trip it down from Prague and then head back to the grind. Instead, Helen, her friend Caitlin, and I chose to burrow in and stay for quite a bit of time in an amazing little hostel we found, Hostel Postel – the women running it are as sweet as can be and it was cozy and warm and free wifi and tea didn’t hurt!
Český Krumlov is built up around an ornate tower and castle that sit on the banks of the Vltava river (the same river that runs through Prague and under the famous Charles Bridge). The town is pretty cute and the river makes a Greek Omicron shape around the center of the town: Ω so everywhere you wander you wind up at the banks of the rushing river.
The town is bursting at its seams with stores selling handmade soaps and carved wooden children’s toys and as you wander you catch the scent of brewing coffee and warm blasts of air from the cozy pubs serving up frosty pints of Czech beer. In a word: cute. That’s the best I can do to describe it, it’s just charmingly cute.
Postcards of the town make it look like a snowy wonderland in the winter – so although I hate cold and wouldn’t want to come here myself in the winter, Caitlin actually plans to bring her hubby back here for a little winter getaway vacation (they live in Amsterdam so it’s easy to just pop over here to Czech).
It’s not that there’s a lot to do in Český Krumlov – there’s rafting on the river and exploring the castle. But that’s precisely why I loved it, wandering the small streets was precisely the activity of the day, every day.
The castle tower stands guard over the city and is by far one of the most unique towers I have seen in a while. The Renaissance tower is six-stories tall and a bright shade of marbled pink that just glistens in the sunlight. The view from the top was worth the 30 crown because you can see the green countryside for miles and the vltava river snakes through the city center.
My one compliant about the castle complex – they have bears in residence that just putts around captured in the castle moat-pit.
It’s not that I am totally against zoos and the such; I think that many zoos are great because they work on conservation and protection of endangered species as well as provide valuable education to the masses. But these bears just don’t need to be there. The story goes that two bears have been at the castle entrance since 1707. I just don’t know how I feel about it – they live in a glorified concrete pit.
So, it’s a bit sad to see these bears there.
But the castle grounds are extensive and green and the three of us packed a lunch of cheese and tomato sandwiches and boiled eggs so we feasted in the castle grounds after our little wander and pushed aside the sad plight of the brown bears. Then it was back to the narrow streets to dodge tourists and poke around in the handicraft shops.
A little video from the tower of the town:
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