Author: Ricky

Babylon and Pasecnice

The railway station in the village of Babylon © Ricky Yates

We spent the final long weekend of our October holiday in the far west of Bohemia, close to the German border, staying in the little village with the somewhat surprising name of Babylon. To get there from Slavonice, we spent a good part of Friday 8th October driving, firstly through parts of northern Austria before passing back into the Czech Republic. Our journey then took us through Šumava, a highly attractive area of mountains, forests and lakes, parallel to the German border. Having now driven through Šumava, this area has been added to my ‘must re-visit and explore more’ list of places in the Czech Republic.

Babylon is where Jack, an Irish member of our St. Clement’s congregation, has a house that dates from the first decade of the twentieth century, which he has spent the last few years, restoring to its former glory. We have visited and stayed with Jack in Babylon on a couple of previous occasions and enjoyed his hospitality. On this occasion, he gave us a wonderful meal on our arrival on the Friday evening but then set out for Prague by train on Saturday morning, leaving us alone to enjoy the peace and tranquillity of his house and the beautiful rolling hills and woods of the surrounding countryside.

The village of Pasecnice with the Church spire (top left) and the lake (bottom right). © Ricky Yates

Just after Jack left, we decided we should make the most of the fine, sunny autumnal weather and set out to walk, through the woods beyond the railway station, to the neighbouring village of Pasecnice. The village has a very picturesque setting with a small lake in the centre. On the hillside beyond the lake is the village Church which we were delighted to find open as an older man and two older ladies were busy sweeping the Church forecourt and arranging flowers.

The Church of St. Francis of Assisi, Pasecnice © Ricky Yates

The Church is quite new having only been consecrated in 2003. It is dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi whose feast day is 4th October, the previous Monday. Our Czech was sufficient to be able to read the notice on the door saying that on the following day, Sunday 10th October at 11am, there would be a mass to celebrate their patronal festival. This was the obvious reason for all the cleaning and flower arranging that was going on.

The gentleman had a little German and was very pleased to show us the interior of the Church. It was decorated in typical Roman Catholic fashion with various pictures and statues of saints. As well as a statue of St. Francis, there was also one of St. James or ‘Santiago’ as the gentleman said as he pointed it out. We both then told him that we had made the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela and he proudly told us that he had done so too, beginning his journey at Leon.

On Sunday morning, we once more walked through the woods from Babylon to Pasecnice, in order to attend the mass and see how the village celebrated its patronal festival. We were not disappointed! The Church was already nearly full when we arrived about twenty minutes before the service was to begin. We stood at the back of the Church which continued to fill up so that by 11am, there were also many people standing outside on the Church forecourt. Fortunately, the day was fine and sunny so the Church doors could be left open.

Chod people in traditional dress. The lady on the the left is the one who gave us the cake © Ricky Yates

This border area of the Czech Republic is known as the Chodsko Region and the local people, the Chods, have customs and traditions which are a blend of Bavarian and Bohemian. For this special occasion, many of the women, both old and young, wore their traditional costume with brightly coloured floral dresses and orangey-red stockings. Two of the men, including the one we had met the previous day, were also dressed in their traditional costume which includes yellow breeches and long white socks.

Father Antonio (left) & the Parish Priest (right). The man in traditional costume behind Father Antonio is the one who showed us around the Church the previous day © Ricky Yates

The parish priest, who is based in the nearby town of Domažlice, introduced the Spanish visiting preacher and celebrant for the mass, Father Antonio. As Father Antonio was a foreigner who has learned to speak Czech, he spoke Czech much more clearly and distinctly than many a native Czech speaker. As a result, Sybille and I understood far more of what he was saying than we normally do listening a native Czech speaker going at full speed!

Chod dudy (bagpipes) being played © Ricky Yates

After the mass was over, the whole congregation processed to the neighbouring nursery school which had recently been renovated and extended, for the building to be dedicated. These proceedings were accompanied by a man, dressed in traditional costume, playing the Chod dudy (bagpipes). His daughter, realising we were not native Czechs, asked if we spoke English or German to which of course we replied ‘both’! She told us that her father had been to Scotland a few years previously, to attend a festival of bagpipers which he had very much enjoyed.

Sybille also managed to speak in Spanish with Father Antonio, (much to his surprise!), to find out what a Spanish priest was doing in the West Bohemian countryside. The answer was that he is a member of the Augustinian order based in central Prague at Sv. Tomáš, where along with his colleague Father Juan, they celebrate mass in Spanish. Another of their colleagues is the American Father William Faix who celebrates mass in English and whom I know well.  The Augustinians own a Church and monastery in Domažlice but no longer have a community living there. However, they maintain their connection with the parish by coming to help out in the various Churches a few times each year.

The amazing cake which was given to us, together with 4 small cakes © Ricky Yates

Our amazing morning had one final instalment. One of the two ladies we had met the previous day, insisted that we walk back with her to a house just the other side of the Church. There she proceeded to present us with a large cake, together four little cakes, all in a box to enable us to carry it safely back to Babylon. What we had done to deserve this gift we did not know. But her broad smile seemed to say that she just wanted to thank two foreigners who had effectively gatecrashed their village celebration!

Chod young lady in traditional costume © Ricky Yates

There are many people who will tell you that Czech people are not welcoming or hospitable. This has never really been our experience and the warmth of the welcome given to us by the villagers of Pasecnice on Sunday 10th October 2010 will remain long in our memories.

Tree with fascinating colours between Babylon & Pasecnice © Ricky Yates

Slavonice

Besídka Restaurant & Hotel, Slavonice © Ricky Yates

Less than 30 km south of Telc lies the little town of Slavonice. On the morning of Thursday 7th October, we drove from Telc to Slavonice, stopping off to briefly explore the intervening town of Decice en-route.

Slavonice has some of the best examples of buildings with sgraffito decoration in the whole of the Czech Republic. The reason that so many of these architectural gems have survived is because of the town’s somewhat unfortunate history. A prosperous town in the latter part of the sixteenth century from which period, many of the town’s historic buildings date, it lost much of its prosperity during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) and suffered a further economic downturn when the main road between Prague and Vienna was re-routed in the eighteenth century.

In the twentieth century, two further events had a dramatic effect on Slavonice. At the end of the Second World War in 1945, most of the minority German-speaking population of Czechoslovakia, the Sudeten Deutsche, were expelled. This included the majority of the population of Slavonice. Less than three years later, following the coup that brought the Communist Party to power in February 1948, because the town lies less than 2 km from the Austrian border, it was made part of a restricted zone which was off limits for most of the Czechoslovak population, for fear that they might try to escape from their Communist ‘paradise’.

It is ironic that, a combination of economic degradation followed by a period of social isolation, has maintained so much of Slavonice’s architectural heritage. Fortunately, since the Velvet Revolution of 1989, a considerable effort has been made to both restore and preserve it.

One of the many restored buildings with sgraffito decoration is now the Bar-Restaurant Besídka. We ate lunch here soon after our arrival and enjoyed the English version of the menu which has several humorous items on it and a total absence of Czenglish. Clearly it had been translated by someone who had a very good understanding of the English language rather than using ‘Google translate’.  The food was very good too! The interior walls are used to display a fascinating collection of pictures and other artwork and it is worth stepping inside Besídka just to see these.

Sgraffito decorated buildings in Slavonice. Ubytování Eva Giordanová is the building on the far right of the picture © Ricky Yates

A few doors along from Besídka, we saw a sign on the large wooden doors of Ubytování Eva Giordanová declaring Zimmer frei. So we went in, climbed the stairs to the first floor office and enquired about their rooms. We were shown a very attractive room with simple kitchen facilities adjacent, all for a very reasonable price. I was also able to move the car from the main square and park it securely in the yard at the rear of the building.

Not only does Ubytování Eva Giordanová have accommodation, it also houses a museum of old agricultural and household machines and implements. And on the first floor, adjacent to our room, is a former Lutheran prayer room, with the walls decorated with sixteenth century frescoes, illustrating scenes from the Book of Revelation. They date from the time when there was a strong Protestant community in Slavonice before the re-imposition of Roman Catholicism at the end of the Thirty Years War. I was not allowed to take any photos of the frescoes but there are pictures of them on their website, together with some very interesting Czenglish descriptions!

Gateway into Slavonice © Ricky Yates

Gateway into Slavonice © Ricky Yates

Here are two of the gateways that lead into the historic centre of Slavonice, one of which also features sgraffito decoration.

More sgraffito decorated buildings in Slavonice. The one on the left features scenes from the Old Testament © Ricky Yates
Sgraffito illustration of the story of 'Jacob's ladder' © Ricky Yates

One building that particularly fascinated me was the one on the left in the picture above. It is covered with scenes from stories recorded in the Old Testament, together with the associated biblical reference.

It was still fairly grey and cloudy when we walked around the town in the afternoon which meant the light was not so good for taking detailed pictures of the individual illustrations. However, I was pleased with this one on the left, which illustrates the story of Jacob’s dream at Bethel, recorded in Genesis chapter 28, where he saw a ladder or stairway between earth and heaven with angels ascending and descending.

Slavonice was a place that Sybille & I very much enjoyed. Whilst is has visitors, it is a little more off the tourist track than Telc. Being so close to the Austrian border, German is often spoken and understood – a great help with our relatively limited Czech! However, it doesn’t suffer from the blight that affects so many towns and villages in the Czech Republic that border Austria or Germany – a proliferation of casinos and gambling places together with associated prostitution that I have described previously in this blog. There is just one Herna Bar, (bar with slot machines), and even that wasn’t open all the time.

The surrounding countryside consists of rolling wooded hills with many waymarked walking routes and cycleways. Certainly a place we plan to re-visit at some future date.

Sgraffito decorated house in Slavonice © Ricky Yates

Sgraffito decorated house in Slavonice © Ricky Yates

Telc

Arcaded building with sgraffito decoration in Telc © Ricky Yates

Leaving behind the Bata Canal and the valley of the Morava River, we drove westwards some 200 km to the little town of Telc, situated around 500 metres above sea level in the rolling hills of the far south-west of Moravia. Telc had been on my list of places to visit ever since I first read about it soon after arriving in the Czech Republic in September 2008.

The historic centre of Telc is surrounded on three sides by medieval fish ponds and access to it is via a narrow bridge and/or a gateway through the town wall. Inside the wall is the cobbled town square námestí Zachariáše z Hradce, which is surrounded by arcaded houses with beautifully decorated facades. These all date from the 16th century when the town was rebuilt by Italian masons in the Renaissance style, following a disastrous fire in 1530. There has been little alteration or additions since then.

Late in the afternoon of Tuesday 5th October, we parked the car near the narrow bridge across the fishponds, walked over the bridge, through the gateway and into the square. The view that greeted us did not disappoint, despite the poor light and the drizzle that was falling.

Cobbled town square - námestí Zachariáše z Hradce, in Telc © Ricky Yates

Walking around the square, we found Penzion a hospada U zeleného Žížaly on the southern side and enquired about accommodation. The proprietor had no English but did speak German, not surprising as the Austrian border is less than 30 km away to the south. She showed us a very pleasant room on the first floor, with access to a well equipped kitchen, which was within our price range. We gladly accepted the offer, especially as we were promptly given a parking permit for the car, allowing us to park in the historic square, directly outside the Penzion. Then, deciding that there was plenty to see the next day, we booked in for two nights.

At one end of the town square is Telc’s Renaissance Water Chateau. Originally belonging to a branch of the Liechtenstein family, it is now in the care of the Czech government. The following morning, we took a tour of the interior of the chateau. There were only four of us for the tour which was given entirely in Czech, though we were given laminated cards with quite a bit of information in English, which helped us understand more of what we were looking at. Some of the decorated ceilings were quite incredible but, as is often the case these days, no interior photography was allowed.

From l. to r: Spire of the Church of St. James the Apostle, former Jesuit monastery and the twin spires of the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus, Telc © Ricky Yates

Adjacent to the chateau are two Churches, one dedicated to St. James the Apostle and one to the Holy Name of Jesus. And in between, a former Jesuit monastery which is now used as a branch of Masaryk University in Brno. Here they can all be seen from the far side of one of the fishponds.

Decorated building in Telc © Ricky Yates

Visiting Telc in early October, well out of the main tourist season, had both its advantages and disadvantages. The main disadvantage was that we could not gain access to the interiors of any of the Churches. In particular, we both would have loved to have seen inside the Church of St. James. But that is only open regularly between the beginning of June and the end of August. Otherwise you can only get inside when mass is being celebrated and mass times didn’t coincide with our time in Telc.

The main advantage was the absence of other tourists, especially during the two evenings we were there. During the day, there was the occasional group of tourists, particularly Japanese or Koreans. It would appear that some coach tours of Central Europe stop off at Telc for an hour or so, to break the journey between Vienna and Prague. But by late afternoon, all of these had departed and we could walk around the town square with only a few local residents for company.

Writing this post has once again highlighted my constant problem of most web browsers being unable to cope with diacritics which are an essential part of writing Czech correctly. There should be a hácek, (a little hook) above the ‘c’ at the end of Telc. But if I were to put one in, most readers of this blog would see ‘Tel?’ There should also be a hácek above the ‘c’ in ‘hácek’, but if I put one in, that would likewise appear as ‘há?ek’!!!!

Arcaded houses in Telc © Ricky Yates
The town square - námestí Zachariáše z Hradce, Telc © Ricky Yates

Uherské Hradište and the Bata Canal

Advert in the style of Alphonse Mucha for the Morava Restaurace a Disco in Uherský Ostroh © Ricky Yates

After the disappointment of the Wallachian Open-Air Museum being closed on Mondays, we left Rožnov pod Radhoštem and headed south, having lunch in and spending a couple of hours walking around the streets of the small spa town of Luhacovice, before arriving in the late afternoon, in the town of Uherské Hradište. Struggling continually trying to pronounce ‘Uherské Hradište’ correctly, we soon resorted to referring to it as ‘U.H.’!

As Professor Michal Novenko, our St. Clement’s Church organist had told me a few months previously, ‘Uherské Hradište’ means ‘the fortified place of the Hungarians’ – ‘Hrad’ being the Czech word for ‘castle’. The name is a reminder of past history when borders and peoples were not as they are now. I’m not sure how many Hungarians are left living in Uherské Hradište but in nearby neighbouring Slovakia, about 10% of the population are Hungarian and their treatment has again recently been a source of tension between the Slovak and Hungarian governments.

After various fruitless accommodation enquiries which were all beyond our budget, we spotted the newly built Penzion Na Stavidle, adjacent to the main railway station. This offered a very spacious double room with en-suite facilities, together with access to kitchen facilities, for a very reasonable 800 Kc for the night. The kitchen had coffee and tea available, together with the equipment to make breakfast or cook a bigger meal should that be desired.

Unfortunately, by the time we got our accommodation sorted, the light had gone so I have no photos. But we enjoyed exploring the two large cobbled squares, surrounded by numerous attractive historic buildings, that make up the centre of Uherské Hradište.

Restored Chateau/Zámek at Uherský Ostroh © Ricky Yates

As I have blogged previously, those who have known me for a long time will know that I have a life-long interest in canals and inland waterways. I was therefore very keen to explore parts of the nearby Bata Canal the following day.

The Bata Canal was built between 1934-1938, in order to transport lignite (brown coal) from a mine near Rohatec, to a power plant at Otrokovice, a distance of over 50 km. Both the mine and the power plant were owned by the Bata family of Bata Shoes fame. They paid for most of the construction costs together with some government support, as the canal also helped with flood control in the valley of the Morava River. The canal is part artificial channel, and part, a making navigable of sections of the Morava River.

The canal infrastructure was damaged during World War Two but was partially restored in 1949. By the 1960s, it ceased to be used for commercial traffic and was officially abandoned in the early 1970s. In the past 15 years, with the recognition of the tourist potential of a restored waterway based on the growth of pleasure boat traffic on the British and French Canals, the waterway has been restored. As well as being extended further south along the Morava River to Hodonín, there are plans to also extend it to Skalica just over the border into Slovakia, and northwards along the Morava River, from Otrokovice to Kromeríž.

We drove first to the small town of Uherský Ostroh, (note once more the Hungarian prefix), several km south of Uherské Hradište, where the helpful lady in the tourist office could speak English but could not provide me with a leaflet about the canal in either English or German, but only in Czech! This was one of several occasions when I really began to wonder whether the Czech authorities actually want foreign tourists!

The above two photos were taken in Uherský Ostroh. The first is of a painting, completed in 1999, (you can just make out the date on the chimney), in the style of the early twentieth century Czech artist, Alphonse Mucha, It advertises the Morava Restaurace a Disco which is located on the ground floor of the same building. Whilst exceedingly attractive, it did also strike me as somewhat incongruous. No twenty-first century couple is going to be going to the restaurant, let alone the disco, wearing that sort of gear!

The second photo is of the nearby chateau or zámek, (to use the correct Czech term), recently restored and an example of the sort of architectural delight that can be found in almost every town and village in this part of the world.

Boats moored at the wharf in Strážnice © Ricky Yates
Canal bridge at Strážnice © Ricky Yates

Further south, in the town of Strážnice, we found this wharf and bridge. According to a small map in my Czech leaflet, there were two locks a short way from the wharf and bridge, so we set out to walk along the towpath to find them.

Flood locks on the Bata Canal at Strážnice © Ricky Yates

Flood locks on the Bata Canal at Strážnice. The Velicka River flows at right-angles across the canal from left to right, between the two locks © Ricky Yates

Here they are! But they are not locks that allow boats to move from one level of the canal to another – they are what are known as flood locks. The two locks are located on either side of the Velicka River as the canal crosses it at right-angles but on the same level. Whilst the water level in the Velicka River is the same as that in the canal, both sets of lock gates can be left open as was the case when we visited. Only if there is heavy rain, causing the river level to rise considerably, are the lock gates closed in order to prevent the canal from overflowing.

Our visit has wetted my appetite for discovering more about this fascinating waterway. Who knows? During the next few years, I may even hire a boat and cruise the full length of the Bata Canal.

More Czenglish and Museums don’t open on Mondays

Do you fancy a pasta salad with a horse called 'Fruity' galloping through it? © Ricky Yates

In a valley between wooded Moravian hills, lies the small town of Rožnov pod Radhoštem which is where we drove to after leaving Ceský Tešín. Rožnov had been recommended to us as a place to visit by several people as it is the home of the Wallachian Open-Air Museum where an amazing variety of historic wooden Moravian buildings have been preserved since the founding of the museum 85 years ago in 1925.

We arrived just before dusk and eventually found a place to stay within our price range in Penzion Becva, which didn’t appear in our guidebook, but which I fortunately spotted as we were about to leave the town to look elsewhere. Having been so well-fed at lunchtime, we then went out that evening looking only for a place to have a drink and a snack.

Not far from the hotel, we found the very pleasant Restaurace U Janíku. We ordered two beers and asked to also see the menu and the waitress gave us their ‘English version’. A few minutes later we were both killing ourselves with laughter upon seeing the description of the last item on the page photographed above. Each of us had visions of a female horse called ‘Fruity’, galloping through 420 grams of Pasta Salad!

It is yet another example of that wonderful language called Czenglish of which I have cited many examples in previous blog posts. Maybe I should actually call this example Czfrenglish. What the menu is trying to say is on offer is ‘Pasta Salad with seafood’. But the compiler of the ‘English Menu’ has instead sought to adapt the French for seafood, fruits de mer, literally ‘fruit of the sea’. He has tried to make the word ‘fruit’ plural but has done it in the Czech manner by the addition of the letter ‘y’. He has then put in the definite article, which doesn’t exist in Czech. Finally for reasons known only to himself, he has converted ‘mer’ to ‘mare’.

After breakfast the next morning, we drove the short distance to the edge of Rožnov, to the ticket office and car park for the Wallachian Open-Air Museum. There were no cars in the car park and the ticket office was shut. Then it dawned on us – like so many art galleries and museums in Prague and elsewhere in the Czech Republic, the Wallachian Open-Air Museum does not open on Mondays! So, despite all the positive recommendations, we didn’t get to make our planned visit and it must wait until we visit Moravia once again sometime in the future.