Tony and I took a two-day trip to Cesky Krumlov, riding the train to Ceske Budejovice (where they make the “real” Budweiser) and then catching a little commuter train the rest of the way.  These train cars are far from luxurious but they make up for it with terrific scenery and a very non-touristy feel.

Even after riding the “locals” train, however, once in Krumlov it was easy to tell that we were from out of town – the tourists are the ones with their mouths hanging open at every turn.  This place has the look of a fairy tale village and I took more pictures than anyone will ever want to look at, so I’ll share only a few here.

The town’s centerpiece is the castle and its tower, and we climbed the stairs to the top where the view was just as wonderful. 

The Vltava river winds through Krumlov in sort of an s-shape, and you can see here where it curls around the base of the old town center.

Our first evening there, we ate dinner at Krcma v Satlavske, where they grill the meats over an open fire.  The bald guy in this picture ordered the pork knuckle, which was HUGE, and every time we saw him and his wife afterward (you know how you sometimes see the same people over and over again when you’re on vacation?), we simply referred to them as “the pork knuckle people.”

Tony had the Carnivore Special (I think they called it a mixed grill), with sausages, pork loin, beef, and turkey, and a potato pancake. I had the best grilled pork loin I’ve ever eaten and we both left the restaurant well-stuffed and barely able to waddle back to our hotel room.

The castle tour was wonderful (no interior pictures allowed, unfortunately) and a nice Japanese lady took our picture from one of the upper walkways outdoors.  (Notice the little white building on top of the hill behind us, directly above my head and to the right of the church spire.)

That little white building is a church situated on a hill above the town, so we hiked up to give it a look.  The walk up was tiring but the view was worth it, even with a bit of drizzle.

We had the place to ourselves and when we left the church grounds, we decided to take a different route back down, using a back road that was little more than two graveled ruts in the hillside.  The spell was broken, however, when a pizza delivery van came chugging past us on its way to the church.  Welcome back to the 21^st century…