CESKY KRUMLOV – Czech Republic (Mon 20 July)

Today started out a little grey but at least it isn’t raining. Our destination today was Cesky Krumlov, across the border into the Czech Republic, only about 150 kms away. First we had to head back towards Linz, but this time we decided to take the back roads, which for the first part of the journey took us along the bank of the Danube.

When it came time to cross the river, we crossed what appeared to be a hydro dam, but to quote Justine, “It can’t be a dam, this is the Danube, they can’t dam the Danube.” But indeed they had. And alongside the dam was a lock for the barges. So we stopped and watched for a while. The last boat through that we saw was two barges tied two abreast and pushed by a single tug-like craft. These barges are big boys and they only just fitted through. It showed that these skippers have been doing it for a while, as it slid through with no more than six inches to spare on either side. The only fenders they used was a single block of 4x4 wood hanging over the side at both front corners. Very impressive. From the time of sliding in, to sliding out the other end, 8-9 meters lower was about 15 minutes.

The rest of the journey was interesting as GPS Jenny decided to go AWOL on us. According to her we were driving across farmland, forests and non existent lakes. We have learnt not to rely entirely on her and use our discretion at times, much to her chagrin. None the less we pressed on through the areas of open farmland looking like patchwork, with squares of freshly cut hay, wheat, sunflowers, and woodland coming right down to the road edge. If we were at home these areas of woodland would be called bush, but this definitely isn’t bush. These are areas of trees standing tall in well organized rows, growing in a way that each tree respects the personal space of those around it. The ground cover and scrub that we are used to, just doesn’t exist.

We had our passports and papers at the ready as we had heard that the Czech border guards were particularly stringent, but when we got there, there was no one there and we just drove straight through. We’re still not quite used to these land based borders where neither country cares whether you come or go. They have laws that say that you can only holiday in any one country for a maximum of 90 days, but it makes you wonder how they enforce it when they have no idea who is in the country.

Into the Czech we went. According to the guidebooks, the Czechs have been invaded by the Habsburgs, the Nazis, the Soviets, and now by tour groups, so I feel that we have a treat in store. The landscape didn’t change much from what we had left on the other side of the border, but the architecture of the small towns that we went through, definitely did. You immediately had the feel of communist functionality over form.

Then we arrived in Cesky Krumlov … Wow! What a cool little town. We are staying in a small place in the old part of town that has private facilities, common kitchen, dining and garden to enjoy the evening sun. But aside from all that, the town just has a very cool medieval feel to it. We went for a bit of a wander which included a visit to the St Vitus Cathedral. From across town the cathedral is very impressive with its tall steeple. But once inside, we were disappointed. Perhaps this was because of the pervasive old and musty smell, the fact that every thing was covered in dust and needed a good clean. But perhaps it was suffering from the Abbey that we had seen less than 24 hours previous. Outside of the Cathedral, this is a very impressive town, one that we are going to enjoy exploring over the next few days. It definitely has that bohemian feel.