Prague to Cesky Krumlov by way of Trebon

 We left Prague this morning with no problems. We aimed the GPS at Cesky Krumlov and took off. No problems getting out of town and we figured it would take about 2.5 hours. Then we remembered that everything is closed on Monday, so we regrouped.

Michael had read about Trebon. It's a Medieval town in the middle of a group of lakes that were created in the 16th century from a swamp. It's supposed to have the best fish in the country so we thought we would stop there for lunch. The promised rain did not materialize, but it was COLD and windy - wind chill of 45. By this time we had also realized that the GPS was taking us on a different route than we had expected, but it looked like Trebon would not be a problem, so I reprogrammed it. Hah. We found ourselves on some pretty secondary roads. I still don't know why, when it looked like we could take main roads all the way. The Czech countryside was very pretty. Lot of farm land, but also some nice vistas. As you can see, narrow roads with few places to stop for pictures. Towns were Quite different from the towns in Hungary and Romania. No front gardens; few people outside chatting; no cows in the street and few bicyclists. No carts and horses, either. Better roads.

Anyway, we got there. There is a modern town built around the old one. GPS did not have any addresses, but we found the Information depot on the main square and he gave us a map and directions to the restaurant. We each had a bowl of fish soup and we split the pike-perch on garlic and spinach. Quite nice.

Off to Chesky Krumlov - only 25 miles away and the GPS got us within spitting distance of the front door of the hotel. Very cool room with unfinished pine furniture and a huge tub and a view of the river. The river that runs through Krumlov is the Vltava - the same one that runs through Prague. Much smaller here. In warmer weather we would try one of the kayaks.




We wandered around town. Krumlov has a nice castle so we walked up there. One of the features of the buildings in this part of the Czech Republic is the fascinating trompe l'oiel  plaster work. The stucco or plaster is painted, then some of it is carved away. It looks like the stone has been carved, but it is almost flat. In some cases, all the work is paint. Here is an example from one of the castle courtyards - all of that decoration is paint. And those walls are flat. Not stacked blocks.

We did get to the castle in time to climb the tower. First pic is of the castle from the town. Second is a view from the top of the tower. Only 162 steps. Great views.

 

 

We had dinner in a restaurant next door that is built into a "barbican" in the old fortress. Those of you who have been to Carcasonne know all about barbicans. The rest of you will have to look it up. :-) This is the group of 10 Germans sitting next to us. Honey cake for dessert was yum.