I was on the balcony, stage left and almost above the orchestra, in Baroque Castle Theatre, savoring an opera last heard and seen over 200 years ago, performed by a company whose voices are as exemplary as its stage presence. The faces of the actors were powdered white, their eyes and lips highlighted by dark traces of liners and lipstick. Their voices filled the hall, enhanced by an ensemble equally resplendent in wigs and period costumes. Violins, cellos, a harpsichord and other instruments accompanied the singers under the disciplined promptings of a conductor’s baton. 

I clung to every note and every pronounced gesticulation of the players while sophisticated music lovers in the audience listened with their eyes closed or followed the melodies in provided musical scores. The words were in Italian as most opera are, but I thought I grasped the meaning and essence of the plot line. 

It was a feast for the ears and eyes, a repast for the soul. It was simply magical. 

Fantasy in the air

The magic continued even after the opera had ended, as I stepped outside the theatre to the courtyard of a castle that overlooked the town of Cesky Krumlov. Before me, the UNESCO Heritage Site (about two hours by car from Prague) basked in the afterglow of the final amber streaks from a dying afternoon and ignited old street lamps heralding the coming of night. 

Consider a castle on a hill looming above a charming settlement in a natural peninsula wrapped within a snaking river with rolling hills and meadows as backdrops. Cesky Krumlov’s picturesque idyll is perfect for “happy-ever-after-ing” a la Camelot. The castle is the centerpiece, evolving constantly since its construction in the 13th century, incorporating gothic, renaissance and baroque elements with the passage of time. A small central European medieval town still caught in the past despite the influx of droves and the advent of modernity.