the charm of small towns

Telc is a brilliant town to visit for a short period of time. Barely any new buildings have been built for 400years, and the town centre was remodeled, back in the day, by the local lord who had had a magnificent castle built and was annoyed that the town didn't match it. Really. The effect of a totally architecturally consistent town square is quite unreal and dreamlike. The sense of having wandered onto a film set is abetted by the limited number of tourists who were around that day, and by the decorative gables on every house, which bear no resemblance to the shape of the roof befind and therefore look just like false-frontages.

another bird, znojmo

I'd cycled 85km by the time I arrived and felt more energetic than I had in days. I decided it was time to increase my daily mileage allowance. 70km per day, minimum. Therefore tomorrow I would reach Znojmo, not far from the Austrian border. This was achieved with ease, following the 'main' inter-regional highway, which may as well have been a huge cycle path for all the other traffic I saw. Znojmo was shut by the time I arrived, at 2pm on a Saturday, as the girl in the tourist office explained

child playing on tower, znojmo

-this is not so big a city.

Indeed it isn't.

I found a private room in a guest house for the same price as my dorm bed in Prague and wandered into town. The sights in Znojmo include a 13th century tower, the two-level church of St. Wenceslas, a typical Czech church- interior decorated to (some might think) excess in (possibly) Baroque style. On the whole the town was quiet but charming, and the views into the valley from the church and the castle were spectacular.

easier to photo birds like this (znojmo)

i'm guessing another plague tower

OK one more bird, znojmo

old tower. Znojmo

one of the houses on Telc square

railway bridge, znojmo

st wenceslas church, znojmo

st. barbes cathedral again

st. W's and church b/w

st. W's on left, bigger church on right, znojmo

street in Znojmo

Telc main square again

Telc town centre

Telc town square

thats probably enough birds, znojmo

window of church next door to St. Ws, znojmo

witty graffiti, znojmo

znojmo

Znojmo view