Czech Republic: Telc: July 19

Here is the very cute town of Telc (pronounced Telch) It's a Unesco World Heritage Site and is one of the best examples of a medieval town. Many of the facades of the buildings are original.

There are some great details.

The town sits right next to a river. We walked across the bridge to a park for a picnic.

Gio fed the ducks and the huge carp after lunch.

Posing for the paparazzi.

This is what the view is on the road. The countryside here is very beautiful and picturesque. There just aren't any turnouts to take pictures from!

Isn't it beautiful?!

Czech Republic: July 18: Jindrichuv Hradec Town and Castle

The very cute town of Jindrichuv Hradec is only about a half hour from where we're staying. We had no idea how cute it would it would be. They just have a big a grocery store where we could load up. It also happens to have one of the castles we've been excited to see. 

More of the cute town square. We ate at the pizzeria on the right. There's a lot of surprisingly good pizza in this region of the world. There are a lot of wood fired pizza places. 

We took the back way to get the castle, accidentally. We were trying to find the entrance, but it's so big, we couldn't find it. 

At least we got to walk by this pretty little river. I think it used to be part of the moat system.

It does connect to the lake that sits right next to the town square.

The outside view of the famous Rondel. More on that later.

Map of the castle.

The inside courtyard.

The boys pouring gravel over their heads. They're boys.

Nice interior, with antlers.

Love these pendant lights!

We toured the Renaissance wing which is quite well preserved. 

These are the shields of the Hradec family which built and owned the castle. They began building it in the 12th century and just kept adding to it. Only 2 other families owned it before it became part of the Communist government. 

This is a table in the music room.

The grand piano seen here is one that was played by Mozart. One of the people who once owned this castle took lessons from him in Vienna.

Napoleon slept in this bed.

Boys playing in the courtyard.

Each of these stairs is a single piece of wood.

This is the Rondel. It's a concert hall with perfect acoustics. Below it is where the orchestra played so as not to disturb the high class people partying in the Rondel itself. There's a hole in the floor that they put a vase on top of so the music would come through the hole and amplify. The room itself is super Rococco. It's totally over the top decorated. I wasn't able to take a photo, they don't allow it.

More moat.

Czech Republic: Castle Tour: July 17: South Moravia: Lednice and Mikulov

This is the Lednice Chateau. It was built in the mid 1800s by the Lichtenstein family. 

The gardens were quite impressive. 

The castle playhouse.

The boys enjoying a little cello music to accompany their gravel play.

That big tube thing in the background is the greenhouse. Yes, the greenhouse.

A better view of the gargantuan greenhouse.

This area is actually a rooftop. Below is a cellar. We think it might be for wine storage. This whole region is a wine making area.

Inside one of the glass rooftops.

Inside the greenhouse.

The entrance of the greenhouse.

Eamon enjoying the last of his ice cream cone.

Just a knight going from Lednice castle to Valtice castle.

His friend.

The beautiful countryside on the way to Mikulov.

The town square in Mikulov. This town used to be the home of a very prominent and important Rabbi. People from all over would come to Mikulov to meet him and learn from him.

The boys enjoying the view.

The Mikulov castle. It was built originally in the 12th century and then made up nice in the Renaissance. Then the Germans burned it down in WW2. It's been rebuilt to the exact specifications.

A field of poppies on the way to the town we're staying in, Stare Mesto Pod Landstejnem.

This is it. We're staying in the yellow building in the center. It's a dinky town. Very quiet. The people are very nice and welcoming. We haven't seen or met any other Americans since we were in Beckov. The only tourists are Slovak or Czech. 

The tower in the town square.