Day Seventeen – Old Town Square, Český Krumlov
Flames dance across the town square, keeping beat to the low sounds of the didgeridoo humming and spinning fast enough to daze.
Like a typical town square, most roads through town lead back here eventually, and is therefore where street performers and buskers are likely to be found.
Since Český Krumlov was established in the mid 13th century, the town’s economy has been based around outsiders. Originally with the nobility in the castle, once the Schwarzenbergs left the castle in the late 19th century, the town went into a depression. The fact that it was virtually ignored through power changes in the country, the town was bypassed by the industrial revolution and left to its own devices essentially since it was founded, it has no real exports.
But that overlooking became the town’s draw. Rarely, if anywhere else, can you find a town as well preserved from its original layout and architecture, and now Český Krumlov is one of the best places for sightseers to visit if at all interested in getting a taste of what life was like in the Czech countryside back in the day.
This street performer set up right after dusk, counting on the passing foot traffic of those on their way back from a day of tours to supply an audience. Fumbling his way through a few routines, he kept a mostly consistent flow to his performances. Some might think that a scathing review, but as the man was juggling fire, anything that doesn’t end in a trip to the hospital 15 miles away is nothing to be scoffed at.
The town is a beautiful place to go off the grid and visit for a few days, taking in the combination of Renaissance, Baroque and Gothic architecture, but be prepared to go off the grid – WiFi wasn’t around in the 13th century and the modern updates have only gone so far.
Leave a Reply