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| Marg driving us out of Germany into Czechia |
With time running out before we flew home
to New Zealand, we left Nuremberg in Bavaria Germany, and drove over the border
into Bohemia in the Czech Republic (Czechia).
We
were taking our motorhome, Vanni to her winter resting place in České
Budějovice, Southern Bohemia.
On the way to the border, we passed through some beautiful old German towns
with lovely architecture and impressive buildings.
They have so much character and history yet they are not major tourist attractions – they are simply charming, everyday places where people live, and where they work on the land. We wished we had more time to stop and explore them properly.
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| The Peace Square and Lower Gate in Domažlice, Czechia |
After
crossing the border, we drove to Domažlice our first stop in Czechia. This
attractive town has a long main square flanked by colourful arcades, and
historic burgher houses. At the end of the square is the Lower Gate, a reminder
of the town’s Gothic fortifications.
The
town dates back to the 10th century, and several ruins of the fortifications
have been preserved, and can be seen around the town.
The
local church in the main square, has a 56 m high white tower that has an
interesting lean on it, adding character to a town already full of character.
Driving on, our next stop was Klatovy.
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| The Town Hall, Black Tower and Jesuit Church, Klatovy, Czechia |
Klatovy,
like Domažlice, is in the Southern Bohemia area of Czechia. This pretty town,
founded in the early 13th century, has several historic buildings in its old
centre, including the artistically painted Town Hall with its imposing Black
Tower, and the Jesuit and Archdeacon’s churches.
The
white Jesuit Church in particular stands out, sitting at one end of the lovely town
square. Built around 1653 as a monastery, the church now sits over catacombs in
which the monks living in the monastery were buried.
The 17th century Black Tower with its astronomical clock is over 80 metres high, apparently black because of a fire many years ago.
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| Strakonice Castle,
Southern Bohemia, Czechia |
We drove through several other lovely
small Czech towns, then arrived in Strakonice.
The town is located at the junction of the Volyňka and Otava Rivers, and as we entered
the town, we could see an interesting castle on the Otava riverside.
The town was settled in around the 12th century and the castle built at the beginning of the 13th century. From the castle, we looked back across the river to the smallish old town, with its church turrets and colourful houses.
But there was not much else to see, so with little there to hold our interest we moved on to our next stop, which was Vodňany.
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| Autumn colours around one of Vodňany’s many ponds |
Driving to and through Vodňany, we
couldn’t help but notice how beautiful the area looked in autumn with the large
number of colourful trees ringing the various ponds and lakes in the area.
This Southern Bohemia region is apparently famous for the huge number of ponds; more than 7000 of them. Vodňany is surrounded by ponds and it was a wonderful drive through the area.
Vodňany is a small village with a large central square. Dominating the square is the Church of St Mary’s. Nearby is the pink Town Gallery, and a fountain known as the statue of Liberty.
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| The historic village of Holašovice (UNESCO), Czechia |
The street layout of the houses dates back to the middle ages, with gables facing a central
village green, that has a fish pond and chapel. It is considered to be a
typical Bohemian village.
Leaving this bucolic setting, we soon
arrived at friend Klara’s house in České Budějovice, grateful that she will
look after our motorhome Vanni, for the winter.
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| Burgher houses in the square at České Budějovice, Czechia |
This town is also known as Budweis because the original Budweis beer has been brewed here since 1245.
Back at Klara’s later, we packed, then parked Vanni and prepared her
for winter storage for the next 6 months when we will return.
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| Prague's Art Nouveau Municipal House Theatre at night |
The next afternoon after saying our goodbyes to Klara and her family, we caught a train to Prague. We had just one night there, and made the most of it, walking around the city and seeing as much as possible. We’d seen much of day-time Prague on previous trips but we just loved the night views.
Next minute, we were at the airport for our long flight
home to New Zealand.
This 6-month trip around Western Europe has been
interesting, great fun, educational, and absolutely fascinating. We have really enjoyed it.
On the way home, we have planned two weeks in Coolangatta, Australia, followed by a week in Melbourne, Australia to say hello to family and friends there. It’s been a fantastic 6-months and we are looking forward to returning to Europe next year for another 6 months in Vanni.
This blog describes part of our 6-month campervan trip around western Europe, which began in Prague in April.