Znojmo

 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 Czech. The room is fine, but I haven’t slept in such a narrow bed for years!

As soon as I arrived, I ventured out to the main square close by, where there was a festival for primary and secondary school children, so it was very enjoyable watching them dance whilst sheltering from some of the first rain I’ve had. Everything looked a bit drab and I was thinking that maybe I had made a mistake booking two days at Znojmo. Fortunately I had lots of trains and buses to book, so my first afternoon was far from wasted, and in the evening I had a delicious Czech meal at a cosy little restaurant nearby, with very friendly, smiley staff.

Znojmo has turned out to be incredible and with a car or bike, you could easily spend a week here.

It may not have the number of towers Prague has, but those it has are like something out of Disneyland! This Town Hall tower, a simple of the city’s rich past, looks new but is in fact nearly 600 years old. It narrowly escaped being bombed in the Second World War, when a bomb slithered down the roof , rebounding on to the town hall, which was destroyed, it was the most important watchtower in the city, watching over the entire fortification system of Znojmo.

My next view, minutes away from the tower, was totally unexpected and reminded me of the wow feeling I had when looking over the gorges at Madera in Italy for the first time. The view from just outside Znojmo Castle is breathtaking. The city stands on a huge rock high above the winding Dyje River, and from this lookout I was looking over Cow Mountain and the Bohemian- Moravian highlands, covered in dense forest. Not far from here, I’m told there are spectacular National Parks.

The view from the Castle forecourt is equally stunning, over the St Nicolas Deanery Church and St Wenceslas Chapel, the former being one of the first buildings I saw from the train as we approached the city. 

Looking down from Wenceslas chancery, which seems to hang on to the cliff above the city wall, was this weird statue in someone’s garden. I’m not sure I would have wanted it on my fence!

What a view from the Chancery down to the Dyje and the dam

In all directions.

I just had to get down to that river. There were many different routes and I quickly found myself down there. Gorgeous. Look at these quirky sculptures adorning this chimney!

It was a slice of heaven, sitting in the shade, sipping ice cold lemon, and watching a group of kayakers making their way along the lovely, slow moving River Dyje. Some of the Kayakers were great, but others spent some time mastering the skill of going straight rather than in circles! It was very amusing.

I took quite a steep road down, which can be seen in the photo below as the houses are on a very steep incline. They varied in stages of restoration. I had the feeling that in not many years to come, Znojmo, like Matera, will become the European City of Culture. Certainly there is still a lot to do and billions to spend to return some of the more dilapidated buildings into the magnificent buildings they used to be.

After I got back to the city centre, I ventured into the Catacombs of Znojmo, probably just about the limit of my comfort zone, spending one hour in chilly tunnels, ten metres under the city. Actually, we only walked about 750 metres of the passages, but the narrow staircases, low arches and at times slippery floors made it a little tricky at times. And we were doing the easy tour. They have three further ‘adrenaline’ tours. This was enough adrenaline for me, 

Apparently, this huge labyrinth was built during 14 and 15 centuries providing interconnecting personal cellars for every house and palace in the city. A bit like in LaGuardia. This provided the families with a safe haven in times of war. They had chimneys and ventilation shafts, plus deep wells and a drainage system.

If the enemy did get into the tunnels, they were met with plenty of obstacles. I’m not sure if the torture chambers truly existed or just made an interesting story for the tour. We did get sent into an area of the tunnels which was a true labyrinth, made rather scary by the lights being turned off a few times.

One very interesting thing I noticed in Znojmo was that I never saw a clock with the correct time. It was about 4.30 pm when I took this photo. The funny part is that the clock in the front was outside a shop selling watches and clocks. Not such a great recommendation I felt!

Anyway, it was a really fantastic day and once again I was so lucky that the rain stopped yesterday and I had a perfect day today.

Off to Trebic tomorrow. Only for the night.