Friday 1 July: Today we planned a casual exploration of Český Krumlov, as we’d had an intensive tour yesterday. We took an alternative route to the castle to have a better look as we only saw part of it yesterday.There is a covered walkway that travels the length of the palace to the garden, sometimes up to three levels. This meant that selected people could travel to different sections of the palace unseen – for whatever purpose.
The castle/palace garden is around a kilometre long which has both French and English features.
You have to imagine a garden the size of Hyde Park contained with the walls of a palace for the private use of its inhabitants. The first part is designed in a French style and the rear section is more like an open forest, and there is a huge pond in the rear section. Around the centre, there is a building that was used for private meetings.It apparently included a section where the dining table could be lowered, during celebrations or long periods of discussion, replenished and raised back into position with inconveniencing the guests. Unfortunately it was closed for restoration.
While there we noticed a couple of people hunting for mushrooms, so we had a look too, and found a variety. Most looked inedible, but you never know.
In the centre is a controversial rotating amphitheatre built during the communist era. It is immensely popular with locals, but completely different to any other elements within the garden and hated by the purists. Interestingly the fish farmed were carp, the same fish which is such a pest in Australian rivers. It is traditionally eaten at Christmas, and is usually bought live and kept in a bath for a few days to remove some of the muddy river taste. Apparently also long enough for children to consider it a pet before it is then killed and eaten.
Here are some more photos within the castle/palace. During its re-modelling during the Renaissance period, many frescoes were painted on the internal and external walls. They are a little faded now from exposure, but almost all of the inward facing walls have been covered.
The Český Krumlov castle/palace is a massive drawcard for the city. It dominates the skyline, and provides fantastic views over the city.
While at the castle today, we were fortunate to see one of the three bears that inhabit the moat – they usually stay out of sight under the approach bridge. Some hundreds of years ago the moat was drained, and bears were installed instead as a deterrent. It seems like a bit of a sad existence, but the moat is quite large and forested, so hopefully not too bad.
This is a ginger shop, selling all things ginger, as well as spirits and mead which Frances had to try.
The shop also had large glass vessels, similar to those in the Restaurant Konvice, but this time with better labels.They call them brandies, but essentially are distilled alcohol (Slivovice), either made with different fruits, or with added fruit flavours – pear, cherry, plum, etc.
The family crest of the Eggenbergs (one of the three former city owners) features a raven pecking out the eye of the decapitated head of a Turkish soldier.Apparently the family member was so impressed by seeing this on the battlefield he incorporated it into the coat of arms. However this family crest does not appear on the beer.
The family runs the Eggenberg brewery and restaurant. It occupies quite a large piece of land in the city, so presumably they still have some wealth. The restaurant had an interesting menu, including the local carp.
We found an outlet shop for KOH-I-NOOR Hardmuth pencils and drawing materials, which was founded by Josef Hardtmuth in 1790 in Vienna; however, the production of graphite leads was relocated to České Budějovice (just down the road and also the origin of Budweiser beer) in 1848. Apparently it is a world class manufacturer of not just pencils, but a whole range of artists’ materials. The best bit was the finger motif that dominated the shop.
There’s no shortage of things to spend money on here, from tourist trinkets to ceramics to clothes.
These cute characters are carafes – they each have a spout moulded into the front and a hole at the back for filling with wine or other liquids. We could have taken home the Elephant with the toucan on its.
One thing we’ve been impressed by in Central Europe is the ceramics – some really innovative designs for display or practical daily use. Particularly countries like Poland and Czech Republic which had a flourishing creamic industry, we’ve noticed restaurants with their name on the plates like at Bakowo Zomylina – haven’t seen that for a long time in Australia.
Just in case we may have given you the impression that all the meals are great here, I thought I’d include the dinner we had last night. It was our final day in Czech Republic, and we needed to spend our Czech Crowns, but we did not want to change extra Euros so were on a bit of a tight budget.We selected Suambersky Dum restaurant - near the main square, but away from the high-priced restaurants. They had a nice terrace out the back and the menu looked good and reasonably priced. We started by ordering Eggenberg beers to try it out. Nothing special really compared to some of the other Czech beers we had been drinking.
Frances ordered Crispy Roast Duck with Two Types of Dumplings Svamberk Style, Potatoes and Sour Cabbage. I ordered Beef Sirloin in Cream Sauce with Cranberries and Dumplings Svamberk Style. Well…..the duck had been roasted within an inch of its life so that all the fat and moisture had been cooked out, and was quite dry. The dumplings were about as appetising as they look, but Frances liked the cabbage.
The beef sirloin was a slice of roast beef (not too bad actually) swimming in a lemon-cream sauce with caraway seeds which tried hard, but was lumpy and had a flavour that discouraged me from having too much. It was topped with a slice of lemon, cranberries and whipped cream. The dumplings Svamberk style tasted a bit like a sour bread pudding, were filling and tasted OK but a bit flavourless.We were both desperate for some fresh vegetables. Overall the meal tasted about as interesting as it looks in the photos, memorable as one we’d rather forget. Two Stars.
Late addition - the riverside where Frances went for a dip yesterday.Today we travel to Passau on the German-Austrian border about 2 hours away by shuttle – the easiest way to get there.
From there we start our 14-day cruise on the Danube to the Black Sea and back. Apparently internet on the boat is expensive and intermittent, so the posts may be less frequent for a while.
By the way, Český Krumlov is the first place we’ve been to with two manhole covers!