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Cesky Krumlov and Lake Lipno
THE CZECH REPUBLIC - Cesky
Krumlov and Lake Lipno
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Cesky Krumlov, another UNESCO Heritage site, has an amazing castle and an
interesting old city centre that needs more than one day to see all the
sights. Having had a brief look around the previous evening we drove the
short distance along the main road from the campsite early the next
morning and ignoring the several signs to expensive coach and motorhome
parking found a free place on the side of the wide main road along with
several other cars and campervans (before the parking restrictions signs!)
and a short distance from the path to the city centre.
The first place we
visited was the castle. It is an immense maze of buildings and courtyards
started in the thirteenth century and most of the major alterations and
decorations completed by the 18th century. We investigated the admission
prices to the castle interior, rather more expensive than the guide book
stated and now about £9 each for a guided tour in English (which weren't
very frequent at the time of our visit), but it is probably worth a tour
if you enjoy ornate Renaissance period rooms. The main attraction is the
Rococo style decorated Masquerade Hall. However the outside is freely
accessible so we decided to walk around the courtyards and gardens,
and visit the tower later. Crossing the first entrance bridge where
everyone was leaning over the parapet we discovered there were a family of
brown bears in the (dry!) moat. Whether these days keeping animals on show
in such places is acceptable is debatable (we wouldn't choose to visit
zoos anyway).
The castle at Cesky Krumlov
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The intricate decorations all over the walls of the inner courtyards were
simply stunning and well preserved. Beyond the castle are the formal
gardens with ornamental fountains and an interesting outdoor theatre where
the auditorium rotated much to the pleasure of the parties of school
children watching a performance of the current play - "Robin
Hood" !
Theatre with
revolving auditorium
One of the bears living
in the castle moat
We visited the tower for a small fee and walked up the initially wide then
very narrow spiral staircase of 162 steps to the viewing gallery
commanding a fine view across the red roofs of the old town and into the surrounding
countryside
View from the tower over the old town
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Decorated castle courtyard
The castle tower
one of the many ornately decorated walls
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From the castle precincts it was a short walk down steep lanes to the city
centre almost surrounded by the curving River Vltava,
busy with canoeists and groups of rafts negotiating the weirs, and explored the
attractive streets with mostly gift shops and
restaurants. The old town centre had a laidback, cheerful atmosphere with
the usual mix of restored and semi derelict buildings and is popular with
backpackers.
There are several museums and art galleries, churches and monasteries
that can also be visited. The best times to visit the town are in the
evening and early morning before the coaches arrive as it is deservedly a
popular tourist destination.
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The old town square
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After a trip to the new Tesco supermarket well signposted on the edge of
the town where we treated ourselves to some local food delicacies, the
household and electrical goods were similar prices to the UK, we drove
on the main road to Lake Lipno in the heavily forested Sumava National
Park and found the ACSI listed Camping Frymburk run by another friendly
Dutch family, where we chose a level terraced pitch overlooking the very
large (artificial) lake. It was a short walk along the lakeside foot and
cycle-path to the village with a distinctive church and many signs of an
era of a few decades ago. There was a small vehicle ferry across the
lake to the remote forest and the Austrian border, but after a stroll
around the small town we decided to walk
up the hill almost opposite the campsite entrance to a calvary path
leading to a shrine with fine views across the wooded hills.
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Frymburk on Lake Lipno
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Calvary hill near Frymburk
Car ferry to Austria
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What's on in Horni Plana!
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After a lazy day as we had booked in the
campsite for two nights we drove the short distance to Horni Plana passing
alongside a steam railway that didn't appear to be operating at this time
of the year. According to the guide book this is the main resort on the
lake but despite it being a rather damp Saturday afternoon the place was
virtually deserted and everywhere was closed. Maybe the signs advertising
local events were telling us that this wasn't living up to its image at
least out of season!
We decided to leave The Czech Republic
the next morning and after passing a large modern holiday complex beside
the lake reached the border town of Vyssi Brod with the usual Vietnamese
market stalls all selling the same (unpriced) range of toys, clothes and
garden ornaments.
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After a quick look around and being politely
encouraged to spend some money (honestly we just didn't have room to store
a delightful gnome) we crossed the unmanned border crossing into Austria
and were suddenly travelling through tidy meadows and neat flowery
villages before arriving at Linz on the Danube.
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