Cesky what?

In defence of Cesky Krumlov, it was a refreshing escape from the cityscapes of Europe. Stunning to look at, the town straddles a sweeping S-bend in a river, surrounded by forested hills. One couldn't really ask for a more picturesque lump of civilization. It's a tourist town, no doubt; the restaurants rival the locals in number. The buses roll up during the day, unloading the camera toting horde, but come the evening they're all on their way, presumably to rest before capturing the next beautiful place in hard pixels. Watching them come and go, it's a relief to know that we've got just a little more time under our belts.

My mostly empty sketchbook has been burning a hole in my backpack, so giving in, I take it out to the panoramic terrace that looks out over the village with a spectacular view of the castle. In about half an hour, I have enough pencil scratchings on the paper to thoroughly shame myself, as a misshapen greylead version of the tower takes form. As the morning sun rises higher, the tourists start to arrive, great packs of them. It would seem I've chosen an inopportune place to conduct my self-conscious sketching. Despite my best efforts to back myself into an unassailable corner, I am no match for the elderly Chinese. Clearly the bizarre activity of a scruffy western youth proved too intriguing for at least one lady, who came right up to peer – not over my shoulder, but over the front of the book. With a smile, she returned to the pack. You're welcome.

It only takes fifteen minutes to walk completely out of town, and find yourself surrounded by fields of waist high grass and wildflowers. A little further and you can find a hilltop monastery, all shut up and dark, but surrounded by picturesque forest, with an incredible view out over the valley and town. In true Eastern European style, there is always a powerline in sight. Somehow here it seems a perfectly acceptable feature of the landscape. Apparently there can also be bears here. Bears! For normal people, this news would be received as a warning. For young Australians, it's more of a prospect. Few things could hold as much fascination for us as seeing an actual bear. No doubt that it is more appealing as an idea than as a reality, but during our walks, our senses were all on alert for any sign of ursine activity. For all the wrong reasons.

In the end, the only bears we saw were in the moat of the castle. Yes, you heard me. A moat of bears. Where everyone else was messing around surrounding their castle with water, the Bohemians were getting busy, filling theirs with bear. That might not be historically accurate. It may actually be the case that the disused moats have more recently been converted into zoo exhibits. But who can pass up the fantastic imagery of a medieval fortress, surrounded by a seething pit of fur, muscle and teeth?

In the town of a hundred eateries, self catering wasn't a necessity. Even for us backpacking types, a meal out is well within budget. I shan't bore you with the entire list of consumption, but it would be remiss of me to not mention the meal we treated ourselves to on our second night in Cesky. The name of the place I cannot remember, but its reputation was built on a single foodstuff: meat. With an open fire and 'traditionally' dressed waiting staff, this was a carnivore's delight. You must understand that meat has been somewhat neglected in our diets, especially the red sort. Unable to decide on any one animal, we chose a platter, a veritable menagerie that arrived on a large wooden tray. The salad: purely decorative. It was a feast worthy of kings.

This concludes my summary of Cesky Krumlov, after that it was back on a bus to Prague, if only for a couple of hours. Some fellow Aussies have recommended a hostel in the High Tatras, Slovakia, and throwing our plans to the wind, we're headed into the mountains to check it out.