Saturday, 20 SEPTEMBER 2014
[More views of Český Krumlov and cursory walk-through of the castle.
Trip to Hluboká Castle/Chateau. Return to Praha]
There's nothing much to mention except that I started out early, before 7am, and enjoyed over 2 hours of a slow walk through the lovely cobbled streets of the town, specifically from my lodgings at Dlouhá street to the Church of Saint Vitus and along the banks of the meandering section of the Vltava towards the castle. Walked past many boutique hotels, some shops and a few pubs and restaurants. Some of the buildings had Renaissance era facades similar to those at Telč's main square. The crowds were not there until about 10am. And the skies looked somewhat ominous with rain clouds hovering about.
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| Church of Saint Vitus |
At about 9:30am, the tour of the Český Krumlov castle complex (second largest in the Czech Republic) commenced. It wasn't a comprehensive one, simply a walk-through of all 5 courtyards and a climb up the tower for an aerial view of the town. We started at the castle's garden in the Western part of the castle as guide Nina, taking into account my feet condition, reckoned the walk downhill would be far less taxing on the feet than going uphill from the Eastern entrance (i.e.red gate). The castle garden has an unusual rotating audience-platform which is used from time to time during music or arts festivals in the warmer months. We didn't head there to have a look at the platform as it was in the opposite direction from the castle and it wasn't being used at the time so nothing much to look at.
The Český Krumlov castle was built by the Lords of Krumlov around the mid 13th century. They were a branch of one of the oldest aristocratic families in South Bohemia, the Vítkovci (Witigonen). After the last of the Lords of Krumlov passed on, the Renaissance style castle changed ownership several times before being finally taken over by the Government in the 20th century. In chronological order, the castle was owned by the Lords of Krumlov (1253-1302), the Rosenbergs (1302-1602), the Eggenbergs (1602-1719) and the Schwarzenbergs (1719- 1947). The Lords of Krumlov and Rosenbergs were related and both had the 5-petalled rose in their coat-of-arms, but with different coloured rose (green and red respectively).
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| Cascade fountain in the garden |
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| Cloaked bridge linking the garden to the castle complex giving a faster and covered access from one to the other |
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| Western entrance with Schwazenberg coat-of-arms (not clear in photo) leading into the fifth courtyard |
By 10am, certain sections of the castle were packed with visitors.
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| View of town from the castle's fifth courtyard |
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| Schwanzenberg coat-of-arms (1760s) at end of the passageway from fourth courtyard to the cloak bridge |
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| In fourth courtyard - Oldest coats-of-arms in the castle (early 16th century) |
In the passageway between the fourth and third courtyards, is a store selling souvenirs, books and brochures on the castle. Bought the usual fridge magnets, postcards and a comprehensive brochure on the baroque theatre. Also found an informative book giving a pictorial guide of the key attractions in Praha (Prague Castle, Church of Saint Nicholas, Old Town Hall and dozens of others).
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| Third courtyard |
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| Quite steep passageway connecting the third and second courtyards |
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| Second courtyard |
In the second courtyard, decided to have something to eat at the café there. However, as it was too early, only drinks were available. In one corner of the second courtyard, are stairs to the Little Castle i.e. the rectangular building with the Renaissance facade and tower. Here, it took a little while for me to locate the office to obtain a ticket for entry to the tower. The ticket cost 50 Czk.
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| View of the first courtyard |
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| View of second courtyard and castle complex to the west |
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| Houses/buildings on the opposite are those on the oval-ish piece of land surrounded on 3 sides by the Vltava |
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| Renaissance facade of Little Castle. Glimpse of how aristocrats were dressed in the late 16th century |
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| Entrance to second courtyard. The bear moat is right here - did not see either of the bears although food/fruit had been laid out for them. There are several coat-of-arms visible: the one in white stone is of the Eggenbergs (at left) and Brandenburgs (right); the terracotta lions are holding shields of Schwarzenbergs and Lichtensteins (left and right respectively) |
The first courtyard is quite large but I have almost no photos of it. There should be some buildings of interest here but I did not have a look around as there were still other places to go. I should mention that there are post boxes outside one of the buildings housing a café (if I recall correctly the yellow building with many covered tables outside). Mailed 5 postcards all of which have been received - just don't send oversized postcards, they will likely be crumpled and creased. Upon exiting the first courtyard through the red gate with the Schwazenberg coat-of-arms, we thus completed the tour of Český Krumlov castle (without visiting the interiors).
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| Red Gate, entrance to the castle |
Directly opposite the castle entrance was a store selling perník or gingerbread (and other goods). The gingerbread came in so many designs it was hard to choose.
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| Shop directly opposite the castle's Red Gate entrance |
From here we went south, crossing the bridge and heading to the main square and then heading east towards in front of Hotel Růže where there is a good viewpoint of the castle.
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| Latran street. |
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| Corner building on the main square, the coats-of arms of the aristocrats are all over town |
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| Building near main square with Rosenberg rose emblem |
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| Hotel Růže |
Hotel Růže, one of the recommended hotels in Český Krumlov, is in a 16th century building, a former monastery, and looks beautiful with its Renaissance facade. From photos, the interior is just as good and it appears that the hotel rooms have pseudo-medieval decor and furniture. It seems you can also rent medieval era clothes - good for a night of make believe you are living in that era.
With a final look at the castle from across Hotel Růže, it was time to make a detour to another destination, Hluboká nad Vltavou with its key attraction of the Windsor-style chateau. Guide Nina promised that the interior of this chateau would be astounding.
But a quick reprise on Český Krumlov, it certainly has a beautifully preserved historic town centre that has retained its late medieval to Baroque architecture and overall atmosphere. I would certainly like to return for a longer stay, some day.
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| Final view of the town |
The drive from Český Krumlov to Hluboká would have taken about 35 minutes, passing through České Budějovice. However, we made a bonus detour to a historic village called Holašovice, which lies 25 minutes west of České Budějovice.
This village is unique in that it combines a central European village with Baroque architecture - and named South Bohemian Folk Baroque! The village first appears on documents from the late 13th century but the buildings seen were mostly rebuilt in the second half of the 19th century. It has never had many inhabitants (and probably a few hundred today?) and its occupants from early 16th century until independence in 1918, were predominantly ethnic German. There are 23 farmhouses, apparently complete with barn/stables and all face the town square which has a pond, a chapel and a few residences. What struck me most was that each of the farm houses I looked at were impeccably maintained, almost perfect paintwork on the facades and the entire place so clean. Of course it helps that the village is a UNESCO world heritage site (since 1992) and each of these farmhouses are protected buildings.
Folk festivals are held here during a few days in summer, I assume that during the rest of the year the place remains a quiet village. It was raining, so I decided not to linger more than 10 minutes.
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| 1 of the 23 farmhouses in Holašovice village |
From the village, we made our way (20 minute journey) to Hluboká nad Vltavou a South Bohemian town with a population of about 5,000 people. The town was set up in medieval times with a lookout castle built in the 13th century. The highly popular Hluboká chateau now occupies the location of that original castle, which by the way was modified or rebuilt numerous times.
From the area leading to the castle, it was a rather steep uphill climb with traffic restricted to only selected vehicles. Nonetheless, David got us to near the entrance of the chateau.
On the chateau: As can be seen in the pictures, it is reminiscent of the English Windsor Castle. The chateau was indeed rebuilt in the image of the English castle as the owners at the time Prince Jan Adolf II of Schwarzenberg and wife Eleonora had been captivated by said castle after a visit there in 1839. And so for the next 30 years, the couple commissioned the complete reconstruction of the chateau to what we see today.
I took a one-hour guided tour in English and all I can say is was simply stunned by the beauty (albeit highly opulent) of each room visited.
The rooms have intricate wood carvings on the ceilings and walls. Every room visited had a large chandelier, each with a different design. The rooms were adorned with tapestries and paintings. One of the rooms even had a massive ceiling-high stone fireplace that weighed many tonnes! I also liked the small collection of weapons and armour. Too bad no photos were allowed of the interior. This is surely one of the most opulently decorated and furnished chateaus in the Czech Republic, and quite possibly in this part of Europe.
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| Front of the chateau |
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| In one of the courtyards |
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| Door handle of bird pecking a Turk in the eye, on Schwarzenberg coat-of-arms |
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| Back segment of chateau |
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| Many visitors were on the chateau grounds - it is a popular tourist destination. There are also art exhibitions here |
Before touring the chateau, I did not think much of it but having visited and viewing just 7 to 8 of its wonderfully opulent rooms, I consider this one of the top 15 highlights of my trip to the Czech Republic.
The return journey to Praha took about 2 hours. On arrival, I bade farewell to my guide
Nina and David, whose services were especially crucial for my trips outside of Praha and also for the introduction to the city.
NEXT: Day 23, Final Day of the tour - all good things come to an end
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