Česky Krumlov

Me Jen and I had been looking very much forward to visiting Česky Krumlov. On our last visit, because of the flooding on the Danube, we had to bypass a couple of stops and Česky was one of them.

Česky Krumlov… or just Krum as the locals call it is a 2 hour bus journey from the river stop of Passau over the boarder to Czech Republic.

This was our view to start our day and for most of our bus trip…

But once we got over the boarder, it started to lift. It was a beautiful drive through green fields, and trees and lakes.

Because Czech was a communist country, the people weren’t allowed to leave the country, so they travelled within their own country and a lot of people came to these lakes for the summer.

For the history enthusiasts, this southern area of Czech Rep was also full of bunkers which were full of weapons and ammunition. The story goes that Hitler said he wanted that little bit of their country and the Czechs, not being one bit interested in a war, they said ok, so he moved on it, taking possession of all the bunkers and their contents…. then continued taking over the country.

Now, some of the bunkers are privately owned, some have been made into museums with military exhibits, some are just empty. Our guide used to play in them as a child.

Weirdly Krum was never bombed and has never had a fire – which doesn’t sound as if if could be true, but apparently it is.

What probably helped them is learning from another town who stored all their ammunition within the city walls… here (pic below) they stored there’s just outside.

We met our guide and took a leisurely stroll to the entrance…

Our ‘gentle walker’ group didn’t make the climb to the castle at the top of the hill.

We started walking through the arch way at the bottom.

The coloured part at the top is a corridor that they built between two sections of the castle… they were clearly sick of walking all the way down and all the way up again to get to the dining room.

And here’s the castle from the inside of the wall…

Any thoughts on what those random little windows at the bottom were for?

This one is the original palace…

And this newer looking blue building is the mint. Back in the day there were rumours that this area was full of silver and so they built this building with the plan to make their own silver coins… but there was no silver. They still have the coin press in the museum – I guess unused!

Now here’s a lovely story that’s not creepy… much.

This little chap here was meant to be a warning to children to stay away from the water, so the tale was that this person/creature [I can’t remember his name, but Vodnik (water goblin) seems to feature heavily in all Czech and Slavic fairytales] lived in the water and used to hang beautiful ribbons on the tree branches hanging over the water to lure the ladies/children(?)… when they inevitably tried reaching for the ribbons, he would rise up out of the water and ‘marry’ them.

Not only is this ew. It’s highly illegal and most would argue… immoral.

This red building is the biggest in the town… it was owned by the chap depicted on the left. He was a hobby ‘herbalist’. This story goes…

The lord of the town desperately wanted a son and heir. He had just married his 3rd wife and needed help, so he went to the herbalist. The herbalist said of course he would assist, but it wouldn’t be cheap. The lord was desperate and money was no object.

The herbalist made up potions and charged like a wounded bull and was able to build/buy the biggest house in the town.

The lord died from taking the potions and a year later, the herbalist was moved into the tower prison for murder.

Surely there’s a lesson in there somewhere?

Because all these buildings are original, they have been continuously decorated in different styles over centuries… Apparently if you scratch the surface you can find all sorts of treasures…

The chap on the left is Saint Florian, the patron saint of firefighters and protector of fire. He’s seen here pouring water over the church on fire… so he is said to watch over the city and protect it.

Krumlov in Czech means ‘crooked meadow’ which makes sense when you see all the curved streets…

Except the town square… that was indeed square.

On our way up to the palace, we crossed this bridge. Apparently this chap is there every day when the weather is fine, so if he’s out there on the bridge, you know Spring has started and winter is not ready to start. A bit like the groundhog.

Just a bit of door spam… they do a good door here in Krum.

On the way up to the old castle, through a couple of arch ways…

At this point our guide started talking about bears. I thought she meant years ago, back in the day when kings kept bears as pets and maybe she was talking about a bear statue… but no.

There are 3 real life bears that live here in the bear moat. Our guide assured us that they were rescued, but further reading tells me that they were acquired. They do have a dedicated bearkeeper to look after them.

Around town…

Cute signs; tissue holders shaped like couches; Good King Wencesles and mushrooms in a church garden shaped like a heart.

Here’s a map of the town…

And a view from one of highest points…

Then our massive day was nearly over… just need to catch the bus into our third country of the day to meet the ship in Linz – Austria.

To a lovely view from our ship…

What a day!