WOW oh WOW

Mini bus from Vienna with a brief stop along the way, across the  order into the Czech Republic, onto Cesky Krumlov. Cesky Krumlov is a tourist town in the hills close enough for day tripper tourists from Vienna, Salzburg and Prague .. they come in droves.   The town is crowded during the day but quiets down in the evening which is good for we who are staying in town. 

Much of the old town is as it was in the 1500s which includes the cobblestone roads. Fortunately they are regularly maintained and so are in good condition.  One way to ensure this is to ban vehicles over a certain weight, including ours, so we lugged our own cases the short distance to the hotel. No problem, just noisy for the wheeled cases.

Weather still glorious, and as we heard that it was going to change overnight back to wintry conditions we made the most of it fitting in a bike ride into town from nearby hills (got a lift uphill). It was great to be back on two wheels, albeit briefly, rolling downhill with marvellous views coming into the township. Quick beer, freshen up and we had a walk around with Olly,  a local tour guide. Olly won us over immediately as she showed us all sorts of things, recommended eating and shopping places with a couple of gentle warnings about possible ripoff.  On top of all that she was delightful,  with good jokes.

Dinner right by the riverside with local beer and food and jolly good time had by all before heading back to the quirkiest hotel I've seen in a while. Our room is up the top, via a couple of doorways to a staircase all our own. Heavy beams are fortunately not quite head threatening, but we need to be mindful of them anyway.  For a 400 year old place it has enough power points in the room to charge up all our gear. I love it.

There is a castle overlooking the town which is the longest I have ever seen, in life or print. It goes on forever.  I took about a million photos of it while the sun shone, but I won't post them all.  There is a great view of it of course wherever you go. Must go there tomorrow.

The street art in the photo below is a reference to tourists who walk around town with a screen in front of themselves. Most of the "street art" in town are frescoes from the 1500s or 1600s. They are holding up well. There is such an emphasis on authenticity that those in the castle courtyards are left as is, that is they are not touched up or restored but left as they are. This is apparently an ongoing debate.. authenticity versus preservation. An ongoing debate .....