Friday, April 16, 2010

Little Prague - Cesky Krumlov

Cesky Krumlov is mostly a day trip for visitors to Prague. But, stories of Bohemian fairytale castles, and the idea of a laid back halt, possible a day or 2 of cycling made this a longer stop for us. Cesky Krumlov is a part of the greenways project – a project to create and maintain trails between Southern Bohemia and Vienna for hikers and cyclists to explore the region. I was fascinated and I would have loved to spend a week or so, moving between towns and checking out a few castles. In the end, we decided to base in Cesky and do day trips.

Town of Cesky Krumlov



We hadn’t made any specific plans for our activities here and sadly, the tourist info center wasn’t the most helpful on trails around the place. But then we ran into an outfitter shop and Yana here was most helpful. We bonded over travel stories and she selected a wonderful trail for us for cycling. Canoeing on the second day was an experience too – R is terrified of water and in the first half hour we struggled to navigate on the river. And not to mention R’s hysterics at one juncture where we thought the canoe may topple and she thought she may drown. The depth of the river would have come up to our torso only – something we found out later. All in all a great day!

A sculptor at work on the streets



The best times to be in Cesky is in the early mornings, where you can get a quiet breakfast watching the castle spires, as you see the small town stir to life. And then after 5, when you can walk through the fairy tale like alleys, admire the endless but tastefully done tourist knick knack shops (they are clichéd but still have a lure to them) and have some of our best dinners in some really classy restaurants by the river. In the end, we never did properly see the Cesky castle.

Of the many shop fronts



Ideas for inspiration
Cold war legacy: peaceful hiking in Bohemia
Bohemia: where fairytales may be true

Where we stayed in Cesky – Town Theatre in Cesky Krumlov
There is a small pension in the attic of the Town Theatre- the place was very comfortable, right at the start of the town. The lady here however doesn’t speak English and reservations have to be done through the tourist information center. In the evenings, we saw some performances happening in the theatre, something you could pencil in. Despite being a smaller town, room rates were not very different from Prague.

Sports outfitters- I can’t recollect their name, but run by Jana and Peter, they are by the bridge in Cesky. Very helpful, if not the cheapest.

7 comments:

Nisha said...

Wow !!

I have just come back from my solo backpacking trip and must admit, I so much want to go to this place now.

Btw, in previous post, who is in the last picture ? You or R ?

Ms.N said...

Hey welcome back. like i said on your blog, seems like u jest left. :)
And as always, happy to get to get othr people itching to go some place.

And, it was me in the previous picture.

Abhi said...

Great post and pics! :)

Anu Karthik said...

i admire how most of your travels seem to be more like natives than as tourists :)

Trotter said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Trotter said...

Hi Ms. N! Prague is a wonderful town! And your «Little Prague» also seems to be quite charming... ;)

Blogtrotter Two has a French party for you in Turkey... ;) Enjoy and have a great weekend!!

neha said...

Amazing photos! I love shop fronts, these make me want to head back to the Czech Republic!