The Road to Budapest - Day 4

24/03/09
Today we left Vienna and took a train and a taxi to my favourite place of the trip – Cesky Krumlov - it is like something out of a fairytale . The landscape along the way was a mixture of green fields, bare winter woods and snow covered villages. Cecky Krumlov is a colourful town built along the bends of the Vlatva River; there is a Castle with a brilliantly colourful tower that overlooks the town; beyond the town are rolling hills covered in dense forest – it is a magical place. The streets are cobblestoned and go in every direction, the buildings are of every colour - many have frescos painted on the outsides.
Our accommodation there was very cute - we had to climbed narrow stairways to our rooms. There were thick wooden doors to our rooms, a stone walled hall leading to the bathroom, then down some steps to another wooden door to the room. The room was decorating with a wooden robe, duchess, settee and beds. I loved it. Soon after we got there we changed over some money (one of the many currencies of this trip) and then went for a walk through the town. We stopped at the Eggenberg Brewery for lunch, and yet again I stuck with traditional food and drink – I had beef goulash with dumplings and my second beer of the trip – the local Eggenberg Beer. The atmosphere in the brewery was very welcoming and relaxing, so we spent most of the afternoon there chatting, enjoying a few drinks and just absorbing the ambience of the town and its people.
Later that afternoon it started to get very cold, so we added some more layers of clothing before heading out to take a walking tour lead by a friendly local guide. The tour guide was fun and full of interesting stories of the history of the town. She had some quirky ghost-like stories and some other fables to tell along the way which really added to the fairytale like feel of the town. Because the town hasn’t been damaged by war, fire or natural disaster, there are buildings that date back to as far as the 13th century. Most of the buildings were originally decorated in beautiful frescos, but were covered over during the communist era. They have started to restore the buildings back to their former glory and it wonderful to see the original art on the quaint buildings. Some of the buildings are from the Renaissance period and have patterns like a stencil on the outsides of the buildings, each one being a little different to the other. The tower of the castle is a breathtaking piece of architecture that has been restored to show some of the original frescos and use of colour that make it so wonderful. Underneath one of the bridges that lead out of the castle, a family of bears have lived there since the 16th century – the Bears Moat (I never saw the bears, but I am told that they are there). Another interesting story was from the times of the Rosenburg Family – a statue of Rosenburg on his horse was erected in the main alter of the church. Later, in the 1700’s, they removed it and built a new altar – as they found it strange to come to church and to pray looking at him and a horse! Because of this, the church is a mixture of architecture – the gothic exterior and main interior of the church with a baroque altar. The symbol of the rose – for Rosenburg, is prevalent throughout the town – on the town crest, and on the plumbing covers in the road. We visited some great vantage points and were able to enjoy different views of the town, which became even more magical as twilight came upon us. From the heights of the castle, we were able to look back down upon the river and the town as the sun went down and the lights of houses, paths and steeples came alive – it was an exquisite view.
For dinner that night we went to the ‘cave restaurant’, and enjoyed some open wood-fired cooking and then went to the Cocktail bar near our accommodation. The cocktail bar is on a corner and part of the building is under street level – there is a window where you can just see legs & feet as people walk past – it was quite strange. While we were there, it started to snow – I was very excited and hoped it would continue over night.