Český Krumlov

This week all the schools in our part of the Czech Republic were on a spring break, which means that Jeremy and I also got a break too :) We where thinking about going to Germany to visit some friends or maybe go to Poland, because we haven't been there yet, but we don't know German or Polish.... Also, this is a beautiful country and sadly we haven't seen too much of it yet. Anyway, we have been told since we have gotten here that Český Krumlov is the most beautiful town in the the country. So we decided to go there, and it definatly was great. It took us 8.5 hours to get there (which is crazy considering we only went 360 km or 223 miles) and we stayed in this great little place called Krumlov House. It snowed everyday, so the town looked like a fair tale land or a cute snow globe city that was constantly being shooken up.


Cesky Krumlov is built on the land that is produced when a river meanders in a valley or through the flats of a delta. I am racking my brain for the geological term that is used to classify such a land formation, but it eludes me. Pretty much, it looks like a horseshoe. Often times, these are depicted when one speaks about the Mississippi: it is so slow moving that when it gets into the plains, it wiggles back and forth like a snake, and at each wiggle, there is a little circular piece of land that takes shape. Imagine a puzzle piece; the jutting peg (the male end) represents the earth formation.

Due to the lack of space, the center of the city is built in a circle. However, when they laid towns in the middle-ages, they took no account for order and rationality; the church sits on the highest hill, while the houses and businesses surround and sprawl from there. It leads to some beautiful alleyways and very picturesque look-outs.

Above the lazily flowing Vltava River is the castle. The ramparts of the building are built right into the hill side, as Krumlov is located in a valley that is surrounded by undulating hills. It is worth the short hike up to the castle, because from there you can get fantastic sight lines (Mt.Washington in Pittsburgh, anyone!?), which explains the birds-eye view of Krumlov in one of our pictures on this post.

The city sat behind the Iron Curtain for many years, but once the Velvet Revolution occurred in 1989, this little treasure was opened up to the world at large. Since then, Krumlov has garnered the reputation as being the Czech Republic’s most beautiful city, even more enchanting than Prague. You can see the effects of the tourist industry upon arriving: there are about 1,000,000 pensions, which are often times owned and operated by Czech families, and about 10 hostels, which are run by Americans, Canadians and Australians. In a cheap, touristy way, the city has painted all of its buildings to look like they are brick or stone, which struck me as being really quite tacky, but it didn’t take too much away from the authentic charm of the place.

Jamie and I stayed at a hostel called the “Krumlov House,” which is managed by an Australian couple, Emma and Cameron. We had a wonderful week speaking English, sharing stories, cooking some curry and learning about each others’ countries.