INTO THE CZECH REPUBLIC

We crossed into the wine producing area of the Czech Republic.  Here large estates used to be owned by the Liechtenstein family but their property was confiscated by the communist authorities in 1945 (they are currently seeking compensation from the Czech Government) and their palaces and grounds have been largely restored and opened to the public, though some smaller lodges are privately owned and occupied.  With its palaces, a minaret, a temple …

… and a number of other buildings built in fanciful Greek or Roman styles, the whole area is rather like a much larger version of Stourhead!  The Palace in Lednice, which is now a popular venue for weddings …

… has a large greenhouse full of tropical plants.

We rather liked St John’s Castle - a house built to look like a partly ruined castle.

It would appear that the Lednice Palace was used mainly for entertaining visiting dignitaries while the family preferred Valtice, a few kilometres away and joined to Ledice by a long straight avenue.

We had hoped to visit Mikalov but were unable to go in without paying an entry fee as the whole centre had been taken over for a wine festival.  We did however see the rather imposing castle.

From there we continued to Telč (pronounced Telch) where the old town and castle are surrounded by fish ponds providing not only food for the inhabitants but extra defence against invasion.

At first glance the Town/Market Squares of the many old towns and cities seem very similar – Burghers’ houses round the edge, a church or two and a Town Hall.  However they all have their own characters and differences of detail.  The town square at Telč is not actually a square or even a rectangle but a sort of drawn out triangle.

Arcading runs along the front of the Burghers’ Houses at ground level and some of them are decorated in very distinctive styles.

The courtyards inside the castle, which is separated from the town by strong walls, now provide lovely peaceful communal areas.

We decided that Telč is a very pleasant town, catering for tourists but not overdone.