By Ricky, on November 5th, 2012
Liberec Town Hall © Ricky Yates
The city of Liberec is situated 110 km north-east of Prague, quite close to the border of the Czech Republic with both Germany and Poland. Known in German as Reichenberg, it lies within the former Sudetenland and had a majority German-speaking population until the vast majority were expelled in 1945-6, at the end of the Second World War.
We paid our first visit to Liberec on my day-off four weeks ago, Monday 8th October. The chief reason for our trip was to visit Liberec Zoo, which is home to a pair of rare White Bengal Tigers, who earlier this year, successfully produced three tiger cubs.
Liberec Zoo is located in a leafy suburb east of the city centre. It has the distinction of being the oldest zoo in the Czech Republic, having been founded in 1919, well . . . → Read More: Liberec
By Ricky, on August 21st, 2012
Sv Jakuba / Church of St James, Brno © Ricky Yates
As I explained in my previous post, we spent the last weekend of our recent holiday, in Brno, the second-largest city in the Czech Republic. Brno is just over 200 kilometres south-east of Prague and is situated at the confluence of the Svratka and Svitava rivers. With a population of about 400,000, the city is about one third of the size of the Czech capital.
Within the historic centre of Brno, there are a whole variety of different Churches. The one pictured on the left here, is dedicated to Sv Jakuba / St. James and is a fine example of baroque architecture. According to my ‘Brno City Guide’, the top of the spire is 92 metres high.
We were pleased to be able to walk around the interior of the Church and observe the . . . → Read More: A weekend in Brno
By Ricky, on August 4th, 2012
The Cathedral Church of St. Barbara, Kutná Hora © Ricky Yates
The historic small city of Kutná Hora lies about 70 kilometres east of Prague and it took us around an hour and twenty minutes to drive there on Tuesday 24th July. It is a popular place to visit on a day trip from Prague and of all the places we visited during our recent ‘staycation’, it was the one where we saw greatest number of other tourists.
The west end of the Cathedral Church of St. Barbara, Kutná Hora © Ricky Yates
During early mediaeval times, Kutná Hora was as significant a settlement as Prague, its wealth coming from the mining of silver in the surrounding hills. It was here that silver groschen were minted which was the hard currency of Central Europe during that time. However, a combination of the silver . . . → Read More: Kutná Hora
By Ricky, on July 22nd, 2012
Krivoklát Castle © Ricky Yates
About 50 kilometres west of Prague, in the beautiful wooded valley of the Berounka River, lies the village of Krivoklát with its historic 12th century castle. Whilst it is slightly further away from Prague and somewhat less accessible than the much better-known Karlštejn Castle, I was still surprised at the relatively small number of other visitors there were when we visited on Thursday 19th July.
The original castle was completed in 1109, just over 900 years ago. As with so many castles, over the following centuries it has been altered, extended and re-built after being badly damaged by fire. Once through the main gate, there is a large courtyard surrounded by buildings of different architectural styles. These house various artistic exhibitions and shops as well as providing some residential accommodation, presumably for staff who help maintain and run the castle . . . → Read More: Krivoklát Castle
By Ricky, on June 21st, 2012
The Zámek/Chateau at Prohonice © Ricky Yates
Monday each week, is meant to be my ‘day-off’. But when I live on-the-job with the office next door to my bedroom, it is very difficult to have a proper day-off unless I get completely away from the Chaplaincy Flat. So I’m determined during these coming summer weeks, to take a proper day-off and get out and about to see more of Prague and the surrounding Czech countryside.
Therefore last Monday 18th June, Sybille and I made a start in making that determination a reality. We went out for the day to visit a place that has been on our ‘to visit list’ for quite some time – Pruhonice Park.
Pruhonice Park lies south-east of Prague, a little beyond the city boundary in the Central Bohemia Region. It . . . → Read More: Pruhonice Park
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