16 August 2013
Day 7: Prague to Cesky
We had an early start in Prague where we caught the metro to the bus terminal. The bus (or coach) that we caught was amazing, it had big comfy chairs, interactive screens in the back of the chairs and a toilet on the bus although I hear it was pretty tiny. I managed to watch two movies on the trip; Project X and Cop Out but other than that, it was uneventful.
Walking tour
We only had one day to see and do everything so we were straight into a walking tour of the old town. As it normally goes, we were shown around and told some of the history of the town. We saw some of the markets, the bears in the castle moat (I feel sorry of these guys), a church and some of the strange painting techniques they use of the buildings.
Castle
The walking tour finished right in front of the castle tower so my beer buddy and I climbed the precariously steep stairs to the top and enjoyed the great views out over the city in all directions.
Lunch
As a first attempt we walked into one restaurant but no one payed us any attention so screw them! The second attempt was another restaurant right across the street where they were much nicer and I ordered a spicy chicken and mash potato dish. The chicken wasn't spicy but the mash potato was really good, I think it contained cabbage, onions and some other magical ingredients. It doesn't sound like much but after living off ham and cheese sandwiches for a while, it becomes a lot better.
Bike ride
The next activity in our busy day was a downhill bike ride. It's not the extreme downhill you might be thinking, just the lazy drive-you-to-the-top-and-you-roll-down type of downhill. Apparently they expected us to take 2hrs but we did it in just over half that and we didn't even realise we were being timed (give me another go :P). We had some nice views from the top of the hill and the rest was cruising through a forest. We all made it to the bottom in one piece, which is better than another person they told us about who only a few days previously was stung by a bee on the way down and went off the road into the trees.
Rafting
The last activity in the day was a raft trip from up in the hills back into the town. It certainly wasn't extreme or white water but the water was still moving enough that you could sit back and just take in the sights as you quietly drifted downstream. I may or may not have started a water fight, which didn't impress some people in the other boat but hey, I'm like the big brother they never wanted I guess. We saw some cool things on the way down like a small dog riding on the front of a canoe, a crazy guy who jumped into the cold water, some big camp settlements on the river banks and we even had some locals give us some rum. They have a cool trick for keeping the rum (or any drink) cold where they tie the bottle to the back of the canoe and drag it in the river, I liked it.
Trdelnik
Yes I spelled it correctly and this funny sounding thing was our reward for a hard day's work. It's a piece of dough cooked in a spiral shape, coated with sugar and covered with Nutella on the inside; in short, amazing! They're a bit interesting to eat without getting it everywhere but it's worth the effort.
Dinner
We went to a restaurant down by the river for dinner where they claim to serve traditional Czech food. We started off with drinks where ordered a dark Eggenberg beer, that actually turned out to be a dark beer and not just something with a stronger alcohol content, and a warm Bohemian mead that smelled strange but tasted better than it smelled. It wasn't a taste that I'm used to so I couldn't finish it but it was good to try. On the food side we ordered a feast plate that was basically a plate full of various animals. Again, there were some interesting flavours in there but it was a great feed.
Thoughts on Cesky Krumlov
Day 7: Prague to Cesky
We had an early start in Prague where we caught the metro to the bus terminal. The bus (or coach) that we caught was amazing, it had big comfy chairs, interactive screens in the back of the chairs and a toilet on the bus although I hear it was pretty tiny. I managed to watch two movies on the trip; Project X and Cop Out but other than that, it was uneventful.
Walking tour
We only had one day to see and do everything so we were straight into a walking tour of the old town. As it normally goes, we were shown around and told some of the history of the town. We saw some of the markets, the bears in the castle moat (I feel sorry of these guys), a church and some of the strange painting techniques they use of the buildings.
Castle
The walking tour finished right in front of the castle tower so my beer buddy and I climbed the precariously steep stairs to the top and enjoyed the great views out over the city in all directions.
Lunch
As a first attempt we walked into one restaurant but no one payed us any attention so screw them! The second attempt was another restaurant right across the street where they were much nicer and I ordered a spicy chicken and mash potato dish. The chicken wasn't spicy but the mash potato was really good, I think it contained cabbage, onions and some other magical ingredients. It doesn't sound like much but after living off ham and cheese sandwiches for a while, it becomes a lot better.
Bike ride
The next activity in our busy day was a downhill bike ride. It's not the extreme downhill you might be thinking, just the lazy drive-you-to-the-top-and-you-roll-down type of downhill. Apparently they expected us to take 2hrs but we did it in just over half that and we didn't even realise we were being timed (give me another go :P). We had some nice views from the top of the hill and the rest was cruising through a forest. We all made it to the bottom in one piece, which is better than another person they told us about who only a few days previously was stung by a bee on the way down and went off the road into the trees.
Rafting
The last activity in the day was a raft trip from up in the hills back into the town. It certainly wasn't extreme or white water but the water was still moving enough that you could sit back and just take in the sights as you quietly drifted downstream. I may or may not have started a water fight, which didn't impress some people in the other boat but hey, I'm like the big brother they never wanted I guess. We saw some cool things on the way down like a small dog riding on the front of a canoe, a crazy guy who jumped into the cold water, some big camp settlements on the river banks and we even had some locals give us some rum. They have a cool trick for keeping the rum (or any drink) cold where they tie the bottle to the back of the canoe and drag it in the river, I liked it.
Trdelnik
Yes I spelled it correctly and this funny sounding thing was our reward for a hard day's work. It's a piece of dough cooked in a spiral shape, coated with sugar and covered with Nutella on the inside; in short, amazing! They're a bit interesting to eat without getting it everywhere but it's worth the effort.
Dinner
We went to a restaurant down by the river for dinner where they claim to serve traditional Czech food. We started off with drinks where ordered a dark Eggenberg beer, that actually turned out to be a dark beer and not just something with a stronger alcohol content, and a warm Bohemian mead that smelled strange but tasted better than it smelled. It wasn't a taste that I'm used to so I couldn't finish it but it was good to try. On the food side we ordered a feast plate that was basically a plate full of various animals. Again, there were some interesting flavours in there but it was a great feed.
Thoughts on Cesky Krumlov
- It's a nice little town but I probably won't come back because I feel like I've seen all it has to offer
- The bear moat sounded cool before I got there but once I saw it, I'd rather they didn't have it. The bears don't look that happy or well looked after.
- It's quite touristy but I don't mind that sort of thing
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| The dog in charge of the canoe |
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| One example of the cool painting technique, the wall is actually flat. |
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| Another decorative wall |
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| Yet another cool wall. This one is also flat and apparently they do it by painting it and ripping part of the paint off to expose the darker under layer. |
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| A bench from a local artist who loves fingers and feet |
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| One of the bears in the moat |
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| In the castle tower looking out over part of the old town |
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| Enjoying the lazy river ride. I even put that paddle in the water some of the time too |
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| At the top of the hill before starting the decent back to town |
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| Straight off the bus and already enjoying nice views of the city |
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| Panorama of the old town and castle |
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| The infamous Trdelnik |
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| The feast plate |
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