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Cesky Krumlov

Cesky Krumlov is yet another UNESCO World Heritage site in the Czech Republic.  It's a picture postcard town set in a valley with a winding river and draws many tourists who come to admire the buildings, particularly the castle perched high above the town.


The medieval town centre has the usual array of small cobblestone streets and laneways running at all sorts of odd angles.  Plenty of restaurants and tourist shops can be found down every lane and around each corner.

One thing that sets Cesky Krumlov apart from other similar medieval towns is the way it's laid out around the river Vltava.  The river curls around and through the town, with buildings built right up to the edge of the water.  Rafting companies offer tours along the river for the tourists with the highlight being a run down the short manmade rapids where the river drops several meters as it twists past the town.  As we only had one day (and it was raining) we didn't go for the raft trip but it was interesting watching different craft come down the river.

Above the town was the amazing castle with rooms built high above the ground on a kind of bridge.  The bridge separated the main body of the castle from a high spur above the town where one could find the castles formal gardens.  We climbed up to the gardens and admired the landscapes before crossing the bridge and wandering through the castle.





By now rain had arrived so we found some indoor activities - first a mirror maze (tourist trap) followed by a hearty lunch at a cavernous pub that was half underground.  The slow lunch allowed time for the rain to drift away and we walked slowly home along the river admiring more of the town.

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