Friday, September 26, wasonly my third full day in the Czech Republic, and I already felt I was full ofthe beauty of the country, having only been sightseeing around Prague. This day,we finally headed out of the city on the two-and-a-half-hour bus ride to ČeskýKrumlov.

With a population of 13,000,Český Krumlov is located in the southwest corner of the Czech Republic. Most ofthe buildings in Old Town, as well as those of the Castle, date from the 13ththru 17th centuries and are built in the Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque styles.

The Vltava River winds its way around the town. The Castle Complex is on the north side of the river, while the historic Inner Town is within one of the horseshoe curves of the water flow.  

But my goodness, otherthan that information I gleaned off of Wikipedia, I’m not sure what else tosay. It’s a beautiful town straight out of the tales of kings and knights inshining armor and damsels in distress, and of course, a wizard. Only saw all ofthose characters in my imagination. But just look at the pictures and your mindwill take off as well.  

One unique thing about thecastle is that instead of water, there are bears in the moat. The rulers of thecastle wanted to be associated with the powerful Orsini family – whose name isa pun on the Italian word for bear - orso. So they built the moat for bears,which still live there, one male and two females. 

The large brown bear once lived throughout the region but were hunted to extinction in the wild in the area of present-day Czech Republic in the 17th and 18th centuries. A few still live in the wild in Slovakia. There is controversy about these bears living in the moat, and there is talk about moving them to an animal sanctuary where they can live a bear life instead of pacing within these cement walls.

But let’s get back to cheerful, fanciful buildings.

And the last of the summer flowers