Bears, beers and almost too much to bare!

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Cesky Krumlov is a cute little place that sits nestled in the bends of the Vltava River in a valley in Bohemia. Overrun with package tourists by day, in the evening its quiet apart from the Cathedral bells which chime the hour, and has a nice laid back charm to it.

The huge castle which dominates the cliff above town is awesome. From its tower you have perfect views over the old town and into the hills beyond. The castle itself is a series of ornate courtyards and some elaborate gardens which you can walk through without paying a cent. We chose to pay and took Tour Number 1 through some of the most impressive rooms of the castle. We saw the dining and bedrooms of the different eras and ruling families as well as the quaint St George Chapel and the Masquerade hall. The decoration is amazing with frescoes on every wall and beautiful furniture adorns every room. The Masquerade Hall is painted with over 100 figures which brings the room to life. It really is worth paying for the tour (especially if you can get a student discount!).

The highlight for me though were the Castle bears who live in the moat. They are cute and fluffy and I just want to hug them! We've been back each day to visit them, wish I could take one home!

We spent one afternoon canoeing down the river and it was one hell of an adventure. The canoe we got was a big of a dunger; heavy as anything and unable to keep its course. We had a wee bit of a capsize early on which left us a bit bruised and battered but from then on we managed without too much trouble and the scenery was well worth our aches and pains (just, I am still aching days later). You drift through Bohemian forests, lush and green and sunny meadows full of wildflowers. I would have loved to take pictures but after the capsize I was a bit scared to get the camera out of its protective bucket!

Spent our last morning climbing up Mt Vlet, which was another wonderful wander through the Boehmian forest. The views from the top were pretty good, but it wasnt quite clear enough to see all the way to the Austrian Alps. Sadly the pub that normally sits up the top was closed and so we had to return through the forest and farmland to town for lunch.

Other highlights have included our many visits to the pub at the Eggenberg Brewery. Corb has tried all their beers and pronounces them quite good, but not great. Theyre the cheapest we've seen by a long way though which is part of the reason for our repeated visits. The other is the price and portion size of the food. Good hearty Czech fare at local prices. Brilliant. Other culinary finds included a cute french cafe which did good sandwiches and the fantastic La Boheme which does amazing hot chocolates and pretty good mojitos too. Might head back there one last time before we leave!

Also checked out a National Geographic Exhibition which had some amazing photos, not least was an exhibition of photos of Cesky Krumlov itself. Definitely inspired me to get out with the camera. I think we'll save up for a newer model for the next trip!

But for now there is a long line of people waiting for the internet, and a hungry bear named Corb is waiting for me to start the dinner. Tomorrow we are off to Ceske Budejovice for one last brewery before we leave the Czech Republic.

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