• Places in Czech Republic

    Metal art in Bezdružice

    To change the topics dealing with castles and nature reserves for a while, I’ve searched my archives and found a few older photos I’d like to share. A castle plays a role here but not the lead one. I have to go back, to August 2008, when my husband was too busy at work and I spent my holiday going on daily trips with our children. One of the outings headed for the castle in Bezdružice, a city which I found a bit lost and dull at the time. I parked the car and we went up to the castle. It’s quite a nice building… and when we reached the…

  • Places in Czech Republic

    Kladská

    As I’ve already written, some time ago we were looking for an interesting destination of our weekend trip and while browsing the Internet, our eyes fell on a description of a nature trail “Kladská”. We liked the description and went there. The nature trail starts as well as ends in Kladská. Kladská is a village where you can find just a few buildings but their history – although not very long – is quite interesting. In 1873, the prince Otto Friedrich Schönburg-Waldenburg bought a woody area in this region and liked it so much that he started to build a village – a hunting castle with outbuildings, gamekeeper’s lodge, revenue…

  • Places in Czech Republic

    Kynžvart castle – Part 2 – Park

    Last time, after I introduced Kynžvart castle to you, I promised to take you into the castle’s park so let’s get off. When we approached the castle, we noticed a direction sign heading for a wood chapel. We followed it and came to a wonderful place hidden in the park. The chapel which is situated there consists of roofed wooden church benches and an altar in front of them, an altar through which you can see the trees and sky behind. As for the history of the chapel, it comes from 1692 when a chapel was built in a place worshipped by pagans. The chapel was guarded by Benedictines, reputedly…

  • Places in Czech Republic

    Kynžvart castle – Part 1

    When we were looking for an interesting destination of our weekend trip a few weeks ago, our eyes fell on a description of the nature trail “Kladská” which we found on the Internet. The trail looked great but as it’s not that long and it’s situated about 100 kilometres from our home we wanted to add one more stop to make the trip perfect. Well, just a few kilometres away from the trail there is a town Kynžvart and its castle, so we went for it. I can tell you now how much I was surprised (once again) what a remarkable place it is. I wish I could see the…

  • Places in Czech Republic

    Lilac genre scenery

    When we were approaching our car at the end of our outing to Žinkovy, I spotted out of the corner of my eye violet lilac bushes. I asked my husband to take care of our tired children and wait for me for a few minutes and went to explore the place. We were parking by an old church and when I turned a corner to come and see the lilacs, I found a beautiful scenery. The lilacs made the scene complete as without their colour the place wouldn’t look that prominent. Unfortunately, the church and its surroundings look somewhat dilapidated and it’s the same old story about first lack of…

  • Places in Czech Republic

    Chateau Žinkovy

    My husband’s relatives visited us last weekend and we took them out for a dinner. On our way to the restaurant we were passing by a pond, at whose end we could see a chateau together with its shiny reflection. What a beautiful view… I knew the chateau as I had already been there before and I decided to come back there as soon as possible to check on its present condition and perhaps take a few photos. I did as I had decided and yesterday we (i.e. I and my family) spent 3 interesting hours enriched with a few surprises in the area. When we arrived at the pond, sky…

  • Places in Czech Republic

    ZOO seen a bit differently

    Two years ago I visited the zoo in Dvůr Králové. This zoo has always been known as the only one with safari in the Czech Republic as part of it is available only by busses with open decks which are going among animals that are moving freely around. Some changes have been made lately regarding the safari to attract more visitors. There are cottages prepared for photographs who can rent them and I think that you can also enter the area in your own car now. Nevertheless, the safari is not that big and inhabited, it seems to me that a lot needs to be done yet. The zoo itself…

  • Places in Czech Republic

    Zbiroh castle

    A few weeks ago, I wrote about an exhibition we visited in the Zbiroh castle and this time I’d like to draw attention to the castle itself. When we arrived there, I was quite surprised to see how big it was and what a large park it was surrounded by. I looked up some information about the castle’s history for you and here are the most interesting pieces: The castle was built at the end of 12th century by a nobleman not by a king, which happened in Bohemia for the first time. The castle went through several architectural styles (Romanic, Gothic, Renaissance, New-renaissance) and the history of the castle…

  • Places in Czech Republic

    Autumnal colours

    What makes autumn so interesting to me are its colours and atmosphere. Fog and sunny rays are not afraid of one another and they share many autumn days. Light is softly changed in this period and colours are deeper, haze on the horizon makes the scenery somewhat sentimental. And even many places that wouldn’t catch my attention during another season become poetic and memorable. Don’t you think so? Just have a look at the pool…

  • Places in Czech Republic

    Doors

    When you are entering a building with a beautiful, prominent or impressive entrance door, you may find yourself full of expectations what will be shown to you behind that door. What marvels of architecture or refined taste you will see. Well, the door may or may not hide anything special but still, it brings something special itself or helps to create a great scene. Here is a door captured in the courtyard of the castle situated in the town Nové Město nad Metují, a door in a place of pilgrimage called “Mountain of Mother of God” situated above the town Králíky, and a door in the courtyard of the castle situated…