The Picturesque Town of Český Krumlov

Český Krumlov is a very picturesque old town built in Baroque, Gothic and Renaissance styles.  Situated about 160km south of Prague, this UNESCO Heritage Site is a 3-hour bus ride away.  There are other means of travelling to Český Krumlov from Prague i.e. via a private shuttle or a combination of bus+train ride.  The former is too expensive and the latter way too troublesome.  A bus ride is by far the most economical and convenient, and the most popular option is via the Student Agency Bus.  Let not the name mislead you, for you most certainly do not need to be a student to board the bus (although students do get to buy discounted tickets).  The bus tickets are decidedly cheap, at 150Kč (about S$10) per person, both ways.  Or you could, like what we did, choose a Sightseeing Tour that comes complete with a tour guide and lunch in a medieval tavern.  It comes at a considerably steeper cost, of course, at 1850Kč (about S$120) per person.  Just take note that the sightseeing tours don’t run every single day but only on certain days.

A tiny confession at this juncture… I was compelled to choose the sightseeing tour instead of taking the Student Agency Bus and winging it upon reaching Český Krumlov because I was way behind time in the trip preparation.  In comparison, I wanted to spend the little time I had planning for our time in Paris and packing for the trip.  Thence, I ‘outsourced’ the planning of our time in Český Krumlov to a trusty third-party.

{One of the assistant guides picked us up at the apartment and walked us to the meeting place of the tour near Wenceslas Square.  The streets were still relatively deserted although it was already close to 9am.}

Clearly, there were many like-minded tourists like myself because our mini tour bus was packed to the brim with about 25-30 of us.  And apart from the 2 of us, there were 3 other Asians (Japanese, to be exact).  For some reason or another, they were mightily glad to see us when we boarded the bus.  I guess they didn’t feel comfortable being the minority race in the group?  Honestly, I was also mightily glad, but for another reason entirely.  I shall elaborate further in a while.

{Typical scenery while on the bus ride to Český Krumlov.}

The first stop we came by was sort of a picture stop right at the top of the hills where we could take in the view of the whole medieval town.  Very pretty indeed.  And along the way, I stopped whenever I thought I could snap a good panoramic view of the town.  As a result, I had several good pictures safely captured on my SD card.  With difficulty, I managed to shortlist 4 as below.

I was constantly lagging behind the group because I’m a slow photographer + like to take many, many shots of the same place at different settings.  You know, as an insurance in case the other pictures don’t turn out well.  The hubby was, as usual, upset with me because if there’s anything exemplary about my husband, it’s his consideration for others: he never likes to be late or inconvenience others.  And my lagging behind was obviously affecting the progress of the group that was walking in the medieval town on foot.  Except that I wasn’t the last in the group!

As I expected, the 3 Japanese girls were lagging even further behind taking even more pictures (of themselves, primarily) than I was.  And this was the reason why I was glad to see them when I boarded the bus.  Heh.  I’m evil, I know…

By and by, the hubby stopped hurrying me because whenever he did that, I just pointed to the Japanese girls who were lagging further and further behind.  He left me alone but kept a lookout for me while hurrying to catch up with the group to listen to the tour guide’s introduction of the town.  He was proceeding rather slowly because he had to repeat the same thing in 3 languages – English, Spanish and… was it Russian?

{The beautiful Castle compound that we could only view through the gates.}

Everyone who knows any bit about Český Krumlov would tell you that no trip to Český Krumlov is complete without a visit to the castle complex.  Very unfortunately, the castle complex was closed the day we visited.  I don’t remember why.  In fact I think I wasn’t even there when the guide explained why.  If I could hazard a guess, I was probably lagging behind taking pictures (while ensuring that the Japanese girls never overtook me).

Because of the closed castle complex, we ended up finishing the first part of the tour earlier than scheduled.  The tour guide then gave us some time to explore the town on our own before we congregate again for lunch.  The hubby and I didn’t want to venture too far out because we were only given 45 minutes.  We explored the main square where there was a mini Christmas market made of up 3 stalls, selected a postcard, bought some souvenirs, a stamp and posted the postcard.  Out of the blue, the hubby turned to me and asked, ‘Tell me again why are we here?’

‘Because it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site!’  I answered, mustering all the zest I could manage.

‘Ya… so?’  The hubby retorted.  Clearly, he wasn’t impressed with Český Krumlov.

‘Urm… urm… it’s supposed to be a very pretty medieval old town.  Very picturesque.  And the castle ground is supposed to be very beautiful!’  I invented along the way as I tried to redeem myself.  He just rolled his eyes.  He could see right through me, that his impressionable wife had made this decision based on some unreliable source on the internet again.  To my defence, he seemed to enjoy exploring old medieval towns and the likes during our past trips.  But I guess the novelty wears off after visiting too many similar ones in the span of 6 years: St-Paul-de-Vence one of the oldest medieval towns on the French Riviera, Peniscola the fortified seaport in Valencia, Cordoba in Andalusia and Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Bavaria.  He obviously wants a change in scenery because he has decided that our next Europe trip would be heading north towards the Scandinavia for the fjords, glaciers and northern lights.

Lunch was served at a popular medieval tavern in Český Krumlov.  There was already a huge group of Korean tourists seated in the tavern as we were filling in the restaurant.  We didn’t quite know what to expect, but thankfully everything that was served, from the soup to the main course and dessert was quite normal.  The main course was like pork chop, with a potato and veggies served on the side.  Rather delicious but too bony for my liking.  We also had a pleasant conversation with the elderly couple seated at the same table because the husband and my husband are both in the aviation industry… so a lot of common topics.

It started snowing the moment we stepped out of the tavern after lunch and the entire town was soon engulfed in a thin layer of white.  A very pretty sight although I cannot decide if I preferred the clear blue sky we saw earlier in the day or the overcast sky when it started snowing.  We were given some time to explore the town on our own again, and we walked up the slopes towards the church.  To our plesant surprise, we discovered a tiny terrace a little further up where we could have a panaromic view of the whole town.  It was a beautiful scene with the snow falling.

And as we were walking back to the bus for our trip back to Prague, we saw this and knew for sure this is an aqueduct.  You mean the Romans were here too?  I’ve underestimated the extent of the Roman Empire, apparently.

I liked Český Krumlov (in spite of the overpriced souvenirs) and I find it very picturesque.  It is somewhat a photographer’s paradise, like Venice.  It is most definitely worth the 6-hour bus ride to and from Prague, if you spend the 3-hour trip back to Prague taking a snooze.  Don’t mind the hubby and his signature cynicism.  He gets bored of things a lot quicker than most people, although he will defend his reputation by claiming that he can have the same food every single meal, every single day for the rest of his life.  I think that’s bull, by the way.

You could see how far behind I was lagging.  This time, I was really the last one because with nothing to shoot, the 3 Japanese girls have gotten ahead to rush to the bus.  The hubby was not rushing me one bit because it was the end of the tour and for sure, the bus would wait for us.  He even good-humouredly posed for a picture!

Hey, but not to worry, because by the time I reached the bus, the 3 girls were busy posing cutish poses and taking pictures with the snow. Always knew that I could count on them to stall time haha…

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