Our last destination before leaving the Czech Republic was the small town of Český Krumlov.

We had seen pictures of it a few years ago and thought it seemed like a small, magical, historic town. Well, it is small (in the Old Town at least) and it’s historic, and it’s even magical. But, the longer we were there, the more it started to feel a little too magical, kind of like a Disneyland. To us, it almost has a contrived feel like Leavenworth, Washington or Solvang, California. It feels like Walt Disney did an excellent job with it, as he was so good at doing.

The hotel on the left is where we stayed for the night.
From the castle and the castle’s tower, we had excellent views of the entire village.
The views from up there were captivating.

Don’t get us wrong, it’s a beautiful town and the setting with a river running around it and through it with the forested hillsides in the distance makes for a photogenic location. We were glad we visited and equally glad that we only allotted one night to stay here. It was just right for walking the quaint cobble stone streets, taking in the colorful architecture, listening to street musicians, and touring the castle.

Street musicians we came across in the village
The castle tower looms above all other structures in town. Also, note the Renaissance trompe l’oeil detailing on the buildings. This is true of building detailing all over the village. What appears to be 3-D structures with statues, stones, and brick was expertly painted on these buildings instead. This isn’t new. This is the way the buildings were constructed at the time.
Windows and views in the village.
Some other views into the village’s architecture.
A view into the countryside from inside the village.
We sat here on this bench under cherry trees behind our hotel taking in the view while playing some cribbage.

If you like walking around Disneyland, shopping, and eating in the park but aren’t particularly fond of the rides, this would be the place for you. There are a few thrills to be had if you want, as the river is plied with people in canoes, kayaks, rafts, inner tubes, etc. and at certain spill points, there is a sluice for these water craft to maneuver into and it shoots them down and out into the next lower placid stretch of river. People were having a lot of fun but it did give an added sensation of being a theme park to us. We felt like we saw as much of it as we needed to appreciate what it had to offer and then we decided to leave, a little bit early.

We had to keep reminding ourselves that this wasn’t a theme park, that the streets really were old, and that the village really was a designed for something other than tourism.
The river falls and sluice.
The castle sits high above the river and is built into the rock there.

On the way back to Prague to stay at an airport hotel for our final night, we felt fortunate to come across more poppy fields and a good place to stop and look at them close up. Friends of ours who are in Berlin right now said they have seen them in their travels, too, and their research found them to be for the production of poppy seed oil.

Even past their full-bloom prime, these poppies were beautiful.

Our visit to the Czech Republic was one that exceeded our expectations. We really enjoyed the scenery, the history, and the country’s people.