During our little weekend jaunt to Linz, Austria, we decided to have a bit of a rural road trip north into the Czech Republic. Looking at the map, we decided to head up to the old Bohemian town of Cesky Krumlov, after stopping for a visit to the village of Rozmberk.
Note to literary perfectionists: After all these years, WordPress is still terrible with certain accent marks. Therefore, I’ve left those out of the town names here. I’m trying to live with it – so can you. 🙂
Set upon the Vlatava River in the South Bohemia region of the Czech Republic, the historic center of Cesky Krumlov is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that dates back to the 13th century. Old school.
The castle itself is one of the largest castle complexes in the entire country, second only to the big boss up in Prague. The town only has around 14,000 people, but gets a lot of tourists due to its UNESCO status, charming architecture, and a seemingly endless amount of kayakers and canoeists who run through town on the Vlatava during the summer season.
We drove instead of paddling, popping into town for a midday walk around the historic center. Of course, we stopped at a restaurant for some delicious (and reasonably priced) Bohemian fare that made us feel a bit royal. Lamb shank and a vista over the town square, good sir? Why, certainly.
While we had no idea just how many tourists from across the globe we’d be dodging, we still had quite an enjoyable visit to this quant-ish town and highly recommend it if you’re ever in the area. After a few hours of walking and gorging, we headed south out of town and back across the Austrian border. And so it was.
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Have you ever been to Cesky Krumlov or South Bohemia? If so, what’d you think? If not, what say ye? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Have heard nothing but nice things about that-town-I-can’t-pronounce. Looks niiiiice! Prague didn’t thrill me, and I wished we’d had more time to go elsewhere.
It’s really, really nice. Somewhat touristy and packed with tourists, but I somehow wasn’t really bothered by that. I’m sorry to hear you weren’t thrilled by Prague. Why do you think that was? Weather? The places you went? General feeling of being overrun?
I loved Prague both times I was there, but the last time was 7 years ago. I’ve heard it’s even more overrun now and has lost most of it’s je ne sais quoi. But, then I hear from others about how much they like it. I’d love to hear why you think it didn’t do ‘it’ for you.
I don’t know what it was – we had been in Budapest right before, which we loved, and then we were met with bad weather. I didn’t feel like the city had much sentía – just a whole bunch of sites and tourists and overpriced restaurants, like of like the center of Lisbon.
Yeah then it’s either super-overrun now, or you didn’t go to the right places. I guess the latter can happen if you’re short on time. I’ll need to revisit with Ang and see what’s really going on. 🙂 If it’s really entirely like that now, it’s sad. I get why, but that doesn’t make it any less sad. I still want to visit some of the smaller cities in CZ as well; I’ve heard those are pretty nice.
It’s also gotta be a bit hard after going to Budapest since they say that’s the “new Prague,” which will be Bucharest instead of Budapest soon enough.
Great trip report and shots, as always, guys! Ah, the *real* Budweiser! I remember that from a trip Lisa and I made to Bechyn?, also in South Bohemia in the Czech Republic, years ago. Technically it was a trip to the “Czech and Slovak Federated Republic” during the very short period the CSFR existed, post-communist-Czechoslovkia, pre-separation.
PS ctrl-shift-u011b for ? in Linux. ? for the hat thing then the letter you want it over. Not sure what the “He’s being a PITA” unicode is, LOL.
Thanks, Mark! It’s sold worldwide now, usually under the name Czechvar or Budvar. I looked up Bechnye, looks like it’s north of where we were.
I’ve got all the codes covered…none of them seem to work when I try to rock out some Eastern European languages haha. I tried them all back when we were writing about the Balkans. Same thing happened this go around, even though I’d hoped they’d updated WP for it since then. ‘Cause you know…advancements and global blah blah blah. So much for that. It usually goes through the first time, but as soon as you edit, it all changes to question marks. Ah well.
Ooh your character set in WP doesn’t like that. OK, Bechyne, and I’ll stop being a wisenheimer!
Nice post again, guys. I’m really enjoying your photos; that last one is really cool!
Thank you sir!
We haven’t been there yet and I have to admit that Czech Republic is somewhere I’d love to go. I’m not sure how we would cope with food, but there always are pretty much options for vegans right?
Lovely post! I would love to go here, but it seems like the secret is definitely out. The lamb shank with a view of the square sounds pretty excellent.
Also, I’m with you on WordPress and accent marks. So frustrating!
Hey! It’s worth going, even if the secret is out. Of this, I can assure you. 🙂
Great pics. Cesky Krumlov was one of our favorite places when we were in the Czech Republic. We stayed at a place called the Hotel Adalbert and our friends stayed at a place called the Hotel Barbakan, both were great values for the rooms. It is a great walking city, and the old town square is a great place to just hang out. If you find yourself in that part of the world again, check out Hallstatt in Austria, touristy yes, but one of the most scenic places on the planet. It looks like we have been to some of the same places. I have also been to Jerome, AZ and to Scenic, South Dakota. Ghost towns are much more common in the Dakotas, I have thousands of pictures of abandoned places out there. Nice blog! And the photos are great.
Despite the tourists in Cesky Krumlov, we quite enjoyed ourselves and we’re pretty well-trained in ignoring all of that by now haha. I was in Hallstatt back in 1998, one of the most beautiful places I think my feet have ever landed. Ang hasn’t been there, so I think we should most certainly go back. Glad you like our blog, thanks for stopping by, John!