Cesky Krumlov

-


Cesky Krumlov for me is a pearl in the south of the Czech Republic.  Two friends, Angel and Florence, bombed the idea of a 'must-visit' place.  After I have been there, I certainly recommend that it worth a few hours journey from Prague to there.  It's a big delight to be there for a day.

Our adventure started with a challenge to find our hotel.  It's dark and cold inside.  The wall was about a feet thick. Heating was on at high summer, July. Middle ages heating, furniture and key told definitely that they were antique.  The good thing is it's located next to the Monastery and with a stone's throw distance to  the castle.



We started the visit with the castle tower.  On the way is a brown bear which attracted crowds.  Ticket prices to various spots of the castle were quite expensive and visit by time slot was not guaranteed.   The tower is colourful.  I can't recall I have seen anything similar in Europe.  






The museum near the ticket box is quite small.  It displayed the internal set up of the castle.  Furniture, decorations are the key items.
 

The panoramic view from the castle tower is gorgeous.  A river flows round the old town.  It is itself a beautiful painting. 


 

 

 

 

The castle theatre is in Baroque style but renovated with modern stage equipment. Changing scenes, lightning and special sound were demonstrated during the tour.  We were escorted to the basement to see the mechanics for the special effects, manual but open eyes to the ancient intelligence. Considered the precious nature of the theatre, performance there is rare nowadays. Other Baroque theatre still preserved is in Sweden, Drottningholm Palace Theatre.


Take a stroll around the town, the river, up and down is a pleasure.  Well preserved and colourful houses left a good memory.  A very nice day. 




 
 
 
 




Given the short time we stayed in Cesky Krumlov, we could not manage to visit Egon Schiele Museum but passed by the Museum in the evening. 

Location: Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Croatia Trip - Split - Baptistery & Mt. Marjan

-
Image
In the 5th morning we visited the temple of Jupita (Baptistery), Meštrović museum and hiked up to Mt Marjan.  The baptistery is for total immersion.  It is beautifully crafted.  Next to it is a statue of Saint John the Baptist.  Meštrović museum is detailed in another section.  Please refer to Day 5 Split - Ivan Mestrovic We started the climb of Mt. Marjan around midday.  The sun was high.  The ascend was quite steep.  But the view over the town was spendid.  The path was barren.  We hardly saw any people, perhaps one workman who was on duty.  There were some Romanesque churches along the way.  The first one looked bright white under the sun.  It's beautiful.   Continued on the white 'sandy' path, second and third churches came into view.  Hu hu, destination reached!  For a while the sky turned cloudy.  It did not rain, fortunately.  We went to a public swimming place to immerse into the water after the sweating walk.  Yeah yeah we did not know previously
Read more

Kbal Spean

-
Image
Kbal Spean is a unique archaeological site situated 50km from the Siem Reap.   Religious stone cravings sit on the river banks and bed, 150m stretch of the Stung Kbal Spean River.     Kbal Spean is commonly known as the "Valley of a 1000 Lingas " or "The River of a Thousand Lingas". Lingas are phallic representations sacred to Brahmanism.   It is a symbol of fertility.   Hundreds of them are carved into the rock of the river.   Other carvings include gods such as Vishnu , Shiva , Brahma and animals. To appreciate the beautiful carvings in the nature, one has to climb a trek for around 30 minutes.   Exhausted but worthwhile. Reclining Vishnu is often the theme of carvings.   Others include Shiva and Uma mounted on the bull, Brahma on a lotus petal and still others which I can't figure out exactly. Animals, lingas, yoni dot here and there.            Downdream is a waterfall. On the way is another spot with carving
Read more

Marshal Zen Garden Beitou 北投少帥禪園

-
Image
Marshal Zen Garden was built during the Japanese-colonised period of the 1920's.  It was renowned for the hot spring and was used as the entertainment hub of the Japanese pilots during the end of the World War II. In the 1960's, it was used to confine Marshal Chang Xue-liang and his wife Zhao Di. We checked in in our hotel Double Inn and was driven there.  The environment is very soothing with a lot of green, flowers and typical Japanese set up. We first enjoyed our afternoon tea after travelling straight from Alishan to Chiayi to Taipei. You can visit the Zen Garden if you hold a booking of  the tour, hot spring or restaurant. It was very nice to enjoy the afternoon in its tea house  小六茶舖. It's cosy and the food was superb, good value for the money. NTD900 for two. Marshal Chang and his wife were detained at the Zen Garden for decades.  Though it was years ago, the exhibition of his room, photos and his life made me feel the loss of
Read more