Český Krumlov Orientation Day

An early morning walk was today's plan to avoid the tourist crowds. We started by climbing up to the Cloak Bridge, which is beside the Český Krumlov Castle. We can see part of it from our small kitchen window.

The approach from underneath is certainly impressive. The climb up was not too hard, meandering our way along the walkway from behind the section we could initially see. The bridge derives its name from the fortifications that once protected the western side of the castle. More info on its history can be read here: Cloak Bridge

The views of Český Krumlov from the bridge and from the terrace by the 5th Courtyard are excellent, and access is completely free. Tomorrow we intend to pay to visit the museum and the tower, and we’re considering whether we should also pay to go inside the castle. They are separate tickets.

Crossing the bridge takes you into further castle courtyards, where there is one small balcony that looks out over the town below. We saw people standing there yesterday. It’s a cool-looking window in a massive structure. Our walk continued to the location of the museum entrance. Both the museum and the castle open at 9 a.m., so at 8 a.m. there were only a handful of people around.

As you exit this area—likely the main entrance most visitors would arrive at—there is a moat. The moat doesn’t have water in it, other than a small pond, and is home to four bears, two of which we could see today. It doesn’t look like a very happy environment for them, and it makes us quite sad to see them here. Bears have been kept here since the 16th century, but the practice is due to stop in 2030. The current bears will then be rehoused in a proper zoo or wildlife sanctuary.

We continued our walk by revisiting the street we arrived on yesterday so we could see what we now know is the Budweiser Gate. Budweiser beer was first brewed in nearby Český Budějovice, the capital of Southern Bohemia, in 1265—well before the American version was founded. The Budweiser Gate was built between 1598 and 1602 and was one of nine gates around the town, but it is the only one remaining.

We exited the town through this gate and then walked beside the river through a lovely park, which has a disc golf course. We were intending to visit the Revolving Auditorium but eventually realised it was back up on top of the hill near the Cloak Bridge. We therefore looped back and continued walking around the river oxbows, our new planned destination being Městský Park—a city park with lovely trees. You’d probably need to check a map to understand the layout here, with the oxbows separating parts of the town. At certain points along the river there are bridges back into the town centre. Eventually we ended up at one of these after passing the Egon Schiele Atelier, an old building with terraced gardens.

It was about time for a morning coffee, and since we weren’t too far from the apartment, we headed back to boil the jug. We might have stopped en route to grab a donut. 😉

After a rest, we went back out to continue our orientation circuit. This started by crossing the central square, which houses the fountain and the plague column. The plague column is topped with the statue of the Virgin Mary and eight saints—the patron saints of the town and protectors against plague.

Next stop was the Church of St Vitus, which you can enter for free. That ticks our price box, so we went in to check it out. You’re even allowed to take photos and video, which some churches don’t allow. By now, tour crowds were starting to form in the square, so we no longer had places to ourselves—but it still wasn’t too crowded.

On exiting the church, we found ourselves on the road we had taken to the supermarket yesterday, so we decided to follow the same route to the main town bridge and cross over to the other oxbow. We then walked along the river’s edge there, but there were no other major landmarks but there were great river views and some quirky seats and sculptures. There was also a large brewery called Port 1560 Český Krumlov, but that wasn’t on our radar.

We eventually ended up back where we started at the main town bridge, Lazebnický most. Enough walking for today—time for lunch.

The afternoon slipped away as it often does on this trip, with reading, sleeping, and watching TV. We didn’t have much for dinner, so we popped over to the Co-op store for some unusual sausages. We already had capsicum and packet noodles to go with them. We added a non-alcoholic mango and citrus drink to try something different. The sausages and noodles were both spicy, so we were feeling the heat afterwards. 🥵