The Great Wall On Tour

Today's selection is from around the streets of Cesky Krumlov. 

First off we have two shots of a pair of buskers. I was going to call the post The Ace of Spades because of the tattoo on the guitarists leg but I picked the alternate title when I decided to include the other two pictures of the groups of tourists.

I can't remember the tunes these guys were playing but they were pretty good and in the narrow cobbled streets the sound carried really well.

Now what you may notice is that virtually everyone else in these  pictures is Chinese. Almost everywhere we went on our roadtrip we were amazed at the vast number of Chinese people. Even in sleepy little towns all of a sudden a coach load of tourists would arrive and then they would rush around, in and out of shops and local attractions and then back onto the bus to be whisked off somewhere else. 

The group in the third picture are all listening to audio descriptions as they're on a walking tour, it struck me as I watched them that although they were listening intently they were not actually taking much notice of what was around them, instead they had found a spot in the shade to listen to the message before heading off to the next point on the tour.

In the final image though the small group were exploring on their own. I did wonder what they made of this bohemian town.

The Old Republic

 I  was torn between a musical reference (Bohemian Rhapsody) or a Star Wars reference for the title of today's post. In the end as you can see Star Wars won, the reason being that these photos of old Bohemia are a fine example of the historic legacy of the Czech Republic.

We have spent a couple of days in Prague and have been totally impressed by the beauty of the city with it's fine architecture and rich character. We didn't see half of what is there but time is short and other places wait for us on our road trip. A friend from the Czech Republic told me that there are many beautiful towns away from Prague and she suggested Český Krumlov in Southern Bohemia as a fine example. I had made a point of avoiding the motorways and trying to see as much of the country as possible even though we are really just passing through and it really paid off because the scenery in places is absolutely stunning as you can see from the panoramic shot at the top of the page. I am not entirely sure if this is a lake or a stretch of the Vltava river. Whatever, it is a beautiful spot. There were several great crested grebes swimming and hundreds of fish rising,  at one point further along several local fishermen were hauling in a big net which promised a good catch.

Then onto Český Krumlov which as I was promised was a real gem. We didn't really have long enough to take everything in but the medieval architecture, narrow cobbled streets and the castle at the top of the hill made the diversion well worth it. Sitting for a few moments in a quiet courtyard near the church we learned that the prelate in charge of the region was authorised to brew beer and that in this town they brew a famous smoked beer.

After our all too brief visit we set off again, this time our destination was Vienna. The Czech Republic gave way to Austria and on our drive to the city we were treated to yet more stunning scenery as we again avoided the motorways and lost ourselves among some of the mountain villages en route. 

So starts our second week. This really has been a wonderful trip so far, we're missing family and friends at home and frequently think we wish you were here but we are also glad that we could get away to enjoy some of the best that Europe has to offer.