Cesky Krumlov

25th July 2010

We checked out of the hotel and waited out the front for our private shuttle van to come and collect us. Finally, half an hour late, some hippy in a pretty beat up courier van arrived and shoved us in. We were the only passengers! The journey from Linz took just over an hour, through some stunning countryside (I only saw bits as I managed to have a snooze). I am however surprised that we made it alive; the driver was a complete maniac. Single lane, mountain roads, bordered by either giant cliffs or massive trees, and he was absolutely flying. I would've hated to see what would've happened if another car came towards us. The border control between Austria and Czech Rep. was completely deserted; not a single person in sight. They must've all been off at church.

We got dropped off in the main square, and after quickly finding an ATM we forked over our 800 koruna (Only about 30 Euros). It was a quick walk, right through the main town to our very cute and very cosy hostel; Krumlov House.

We dumped our bags and set off to explore this UNESCO heritage listed city. It's built around an 'S' shaped river, and dominated by an impressive, but strangely decorated castle. The city itself is beautiful, cobblestone roads, colourful but old buildings, and thousands of ignorant tourists. We spent the entire afternoon just strolling around, through the castle gardens and around the river. We had lunch at a traditional Bohemian (Apparently the region that we're in) restaurant. It's all about meat, meat and more meat. Dan had some pork that was incased a potato omelet, while I had a sirloin steak with was filled with pork and cheese, served with potato and cabbage. It was delicious, but very filling, and it just sat in our stomachs! Everything is so cheap. Our massive lunch, with a beer for Dan and a coke for me (Which is more expensive than the beer - but I still can't touch it after our Munich episode) cost us about 10 Euros - about $15Aus

After our afternoon of wandering, I'd gotten cold, so we headed back to our hostel for a little rest. This ended up in me snuggling up in bed for a bit of a nap, and Dan reading all about Melbourne's big win over Sydney (He was a happy boy - there was even talk about finals!!)

We decided that we couldn't eat another big plate of meat again, so we sought out an Italian restaurant and had a pizza for dinner. Cheap and yummy.

After dinner we just had a bit more of a wander through the streets -they were much less crowded and much more enjoyable, before calling it a night.