Cesky Krumlov

Map of the city of Cesky Krumlov

Rosenberg Castle on the Vltava River

Today was a great day.  We docked in Deggendorf and, once the crew figured out how to set the exit ramps, we boarded the bus for a 2 hour drive to Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic.  On the way our bus guide, Peter,  talked about the history of the area and his impression of the area as he grew up in Salzburg, Austria.   We made a pit stop at a very nice McDonalds about a hour up the road. 


Cesky Krumlov is a beautiful medieval town and a UNESCO world heritage site.  It has scars from the Communist era, but they have been working on restorations and doing a good job of it.  We had an excellent guide in the city, named Sharka.  She walked us through the city at a reasonable pace, explaining the history of the city and it's structures.   The most prominent feature on the city is the castle, built by the Rosenberg family, who lived there from 1302 until the 17th century.

After the tour Sharka recommended several restaurants where we could get lunch.  Along with 3 others from our group we choose a cafeteria style place that she said had good food at a good price.  She was right.  Ray and I had a nice lunch for under 7 Euros and the couple we were with got their lunch for under 5 Euros.  Although they use their own currency in the Czech Republic, this area gets a lot of tourists, so all the stores accept the Euro.  Everywhere we went, prices were easily half what we saw in other countries.  The Czech Republic economy is still not up to where it should be, but, according to our bus guide,  it has made significant progress in the past 10-20 years.

At lunch I tried the local dark beer and it was quite good.  It seems that the Czechs love their beer just as much, if not more than the Germans.  It is cheaper than water or soda and, despite the fact that some of their beer has up to 8% alcohol, the people do not consider beer alcohol.   If asked if they drink alcohol, they may answer, no, only beer.   By the way, the most popular beer in the area is Bud.  There is a town nearby named Budweis, which the American beer was named after.

One of Several Cafes Advertising Bud

 After lunch we visited the Catholic church, St Vitus, to see the interior art.  It was lovely, as promised.  This church is still active but only 20% of the population still consider themselves Catholic and even fewer attend church.  This is said to be the most atheist country in Europe.   However, when we passed the church earlier, there were a bride and groom being photographed on the stairs to the church.

Bride & Groom at St Vitus

After the church we wandered around, doing a little shopping and taking in the sights. On the Vltava River, which flows in a U shape around the town, people were rafting.  Some obviously had some of the local beer.  The photo below shows a group of 6 rafters we watched go under a bridge.  Shortly after coming out the other side of the bridge they had to make a turn and the guy you see in the back lying on his stomach slid off the raft and into the cold water.  (It was shallow and he was unharmed.) They just pulled over to the side where 2 of them went to a restaurant on the shore and came out with a couple of coolers to load into the rafts.

Local Sport

Our return bus trip was great too.  Since our ship was still catching up, we left it in Germany this morning and met it in Englehatzell, Austria tonight.  The ride through rural Czech Republic and Austria was beautiful - rolling hills, the Bohemian lake, forests and green fields.   I can understand why so many people from this area choose to settle in the northeast when they came to the USA.  The landscape reminded me of New York and Pennsylvania.  Normally most of the bus would have been asleep on the way back from a day trip like this, but no one wanted to miss the view on this trip.

Our ship is now back on schedule.  We will dock in Melk tomorrow as in the original itinerary.