Cesky Krumlov

Bell tower in the castle walls.
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The day we left to Český Krumlov, Erin was feeling a little hungover, and we both needed to make a maccas stop on the way to the bus station. We were told we could arrive about 30 minutes before the departure and be able to buy a ticket but when we arrived 30 minutes before the next bus we could only buy tickets for the one after and that was in another hour and a half. So we sat around at the bus station, which was a pretty shitty bus station.

The bus was pretty old but the seats weren’t too bad, Erin managed to sleep a little. At least we got a seat, the last four people on the bus had no seats. There were two Aussie guys that had to stand and they weren’t impressed. We were the same in France when we had no seats. You just don’t expect it, oh well it’s just the way it is over here. After about 4 hours (Bus got stuck on highway, so we arrived late) we found ourselves in the lush countryside of Bohemia in a little town called Český Krumlov.

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This town seems to have been created for tourists. The old centre of town is boarded by water from the river Vltava and every painted building is a restaurant, hotel or souvenir shop. The little cobbled lanes are a maze of tourists, all with their cameras around their necks. The mornings were lovely, the streets nearly empty the sun out and the green hilly backdrop made it all a delight.

Our hostel was the cutest we have ever stayed in. It was right next to the river, 3 stories tall and each level had it’s own bathroom and kitchen. We were on the third level, in the roof space. It had a very cosy feel. There were four bedrooms, each occupying 2 people, a bathroom, toilet and little kitchenette. It was lovely and warm up there but a tad small. Luckily the weather was nice so we spent most of the time outside. Our room was tiny, our bed was made up of two mattresses on top of a plank of chipboard. Luckily we could store our bags underneath because there was little floor space. We had some shelves and little mirror. We had a lovely view from our roof window but there were no curtains so we woke up early everyday.

Our hostel, our window is the top left (in the roof).
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Our first full day there we woke up early, probably about 8am. Erin walked up to the supermarket to buy some groceries for breakfast. It was probably only about 5 degrees but the sun was bright and took the chill out of the air. Fortunately Erin had the camera with her so was able to take some photos with the sky clear and blue. After breakfast we made our way to the Castle. The castle was built in the 13^th century and was passed down to many noble families. There was always a brewery in Český owned by the family that had the castle and it seemed that every new family moved the brewery to make it bigger. Inside the castle walls there is a beautiful bell tower building and for 35 Ck approximately $2 Australian (cheaper with a student card) you can climb to the top. It was a beautiful view from up there. That night we cooked our own dinner, chicken stir-fry. It was yummy, even though we made it totally different than the instructions said. It was too hard, long and stupid process so we just added the packets mix to our stuff. That night we also met a lovely Aussie couple from Sydney.

Walking down the stairs of the bell tower.
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The next morning it was John’s turn to head up to the supermarket and he brought home with him some goodies. We had eggs, mushrooms and tomatoes. John scrambled it all up and it was fantastic. After our big breakfast we decided to enquire about a brewery tour and also how to make our way to Vienna. We bought some tickets to the tour, they cost 200Ck each and included a tour of all the brewery, some Český history and a beer at the end. Belinda and Hayden, the Aussie couple from our hostel also went on it. After that we decided to go rafting. It was cheaper to split it in halves. The route took about an hour and cost altogether 550 Ck. It was a lot of fun, probably would have liked some more rapids but in all it was enjoyable. After we all went out for a bite to eat and a few beers.

Erin by a bell tower window.
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The next day we had to make our way to Vienna. We had to first catch a local bus from Český Krumlov to Česke Budejovice, which took about 40 minutes and was about 2 bucks each. It was a really busy bus and the locals weren’t happy that all the tourists had heaps of luggage. Oh well nothing that could have been done. Then it was a train from Česke Budejovice to Linz and then another train to Vienna. In all took us 6.5 hours but that was all forgotten when we found Jo waiting for us at the train station.

A view of Cesky.
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Lots of love Erin and John XO