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Trebic - only 1 night

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 I really enjoyed my two days in Znojmo, and as luck would have it, I had brilliant weather yesterday and woke to rain this morning. It wouldn’t have seemed anywhere near as dramatic and stunning in the rain! On arrival I had seen this little green and yellow train at the station. It really looked like something out of a children’s book, but no, it’s a perfectly good and very comfortable train. It took me to an unpronounceable station, where I had a one hour wait for the connection. On every train there is a conductor and on this train we stopped at every tiny station, where amazingly there was always a little man or woman in uniform, with a red cap, whose sole job it seems, is to wave to the conductor whilst he blows his whistle. The conductor at least has to run to the door to blow his whistle, but the stationmaster only moves the bare minimum! Considering how empty the train was, I can’t imagine they make a profit, especially as it’s so cheap. Somehow I lost the photo of the mid...
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Znojmo

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 Travelling by train and bus is remarkably cheap, and would be easy with the language. Anyway, I really enjoyed the comfort of the little train taking me to Znojmo, the third most historic city in Moravia. The trip today was through an agricultural area where towns and villages were few and far between. People got off the train at stops which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, I was hoping mine might be different. It was an overcast day with light drizzle, so the scenery wasn’t too exciting, but I did see some white herons or egrets and several deer in one of the fields, so that was fun.  I used all the Czech I knew today and certainly got great reactions from otherwise somewhat unfriendly people. I was pleased to find public transport in Znojmo was free for seniors and there’s a good system linking train and city. Well, I have learned here never to rely on first impressions! All okay with accommodation, although the check in wasn’t easy with a receptionist who only spoke ...
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Mikulov, close to the Austrian border.

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 Wow, what a beautiful, luckily not  so well known gem. Only kilometres from the Austrian border, surrounded by vineyards, bio tops and hills, Mikulov is the perfect place to get your breath back after four intensive days of languages! I arrived in light drizzle, very refreshing after the searing heat of the previous week. Of course the picturesque, colourful , Renaissance style houses didn’t have the same brightness they had the next day. It’s the perfect place to savouring a glass or two of local wines, whilst watching locals, cyclists and a few tourists meandering across the gorgeous pedestrian main square. It was as if life had suddenly stood still a moment, after the bustle of Madrid and Brno. However, on the down side, I missed the laughter, the huge smiles from young and old and the feeling that people were enjoying one another’s company. Maybe it’s after the years of repression. One lady I chatted to a little in English told me during communism she couldn’t even go to ...
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