Friday, July 26, 2013
There is a place in Pilsen near the zoo where you can take
your empty water bottles (or any bottles for that matter) and fill them with
wine! You enter an old bulding
that actually houses offices for the zoo, pass several pictures and posters of
animals, and enter an old office.
There a very nice man will advise you about the latest wines he has in,
but we knew what we wanted. We had
been drinking the Sauvignon, and it was quite good, so we ordered four
liters. I think we paid $12
dollars. From there, we took our
receipt and went down to a cellar.
It looked like the cellar from La Giraudiere, quite unkept and a little
scary, but a guy was there to meet us and took our order. We looked around at many big plastic containers
of various wines, many empty or almost so, and many just scattered around. Reginald said that the people working
there looked more sober than the wine merchants in France! We got our wine and left for our day’s
adventure.
Horsovsky Tyn is,
according to the brochure, “situated in the valley of the river Radbuza in the
southwest of the Pilsner region.”
The place is very old, a
residence of many Prague bishops in the past. It played a role in the Hussite Wars, where the town (being
Catholic) withstood repeated attacks of Hussite troops. I had to look up the Hussite Wars and
found this on the internet: “Hussite Wars, series of
conflicts in the 15th cent., caused by the rise of the Hussites
in Bohemia and Moravia. It was a religious struggle between Hussites and the
Roman Catholic Church, a national struggle between Czechs and Germans, and a
social struggle between the landed and peasant classes.”
(Read more: Hussite Wars | Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/hussite-wars.html#ixzz2aK4sV2PC)
The town and its castle were owned by aristocratic families
from the 16th to the 20th century. I noted that the last family, the Trouttmanndorfs. They left in 1945 (no one said why, but
I can guess), and the castle reverted to the state.
A never-ending theme in the many sites we have visited in
Europe is war and fire. Every
castle documents the wars that took place there and the buildings that were
rebuilt “after the great fire of …(fill in the blank).” It was the same with this castle, which
started out as a medieval castle but was rebuilt as a Renaissance castle after
the fire. It was furnished with
period furniture and assessories and it housed an incredible library of
leather-bound books; it contains 15,000 volumes.
The town itself was setting up for a festival to honor St.
Anne, whose feast day is this weekend.
It was very picturesque and the houses were a lovely baroque style of
many colors were eye-catching.
Houses in Horsovsky
Tyn
After visiting this area, we drove to another area for
lunch, seeing the Czech countryside from the comfort of Gabi’s air-conditioned
car!
Lunch at Chodska Challupa
There is an area of Bohemia near the German border called
Chodenland.
When the lords of ancient times settled in the area, they
also established villages whose main function was to protect the border. The area protects its folkloric customs
and its history. We ate at a
restaurant near the monument of J.S. Kozina, who tried to seek more power for the
common folk and was, of course, executed.
This was in 1695, but he is still remembered with a big monument. The view from the restaurant was
beautiful, and the waiters in costumes.
I could not take their pictures, but I have an example of a folkloric
costume. Jari, Gabi’s friend who
was with us, remembers her grandmother wearing dress similar to this.
We had a typical Czech meal: pork, cabbage and dumplings for
Reginald, potato pancakes for Jari, and Svickova,, a typical Czech dish and one
of the most popular Czech
meals. It is a sirloin served with
houskové knedlíky (bread dumplings). After visiting
for a bit, we then headed for Jari’s home town of Domazlice .
Folkloric dress from
the Chodenland area
Trip to Domazlice
Domazlice is another historic town near the Czech-German
border. There is evidence of
merchant activity here as early as 993, and this town was founded in 1265 by
Czech King Premysl Otakar II. A
tower in the square is the landmark for this town, and la watch tower later
incorporated into the church. Also
located in the town is Chodsky Castle.
Originally a Gothic castle founded in the 1260s, it was visited by several
kings. After the (guess
what?) fire of 1592, it way in
ruins until the 18th century.
It is now home to the Chodsko museum. There you find artifacts of those who lived here all those
centuries with replicas of their homes and dress.
Our lovely guide told us all about this. No, wait, we had no guide, just
information in English. Who was
that person?
Our lovely, and not so
knowledgeable guide
After walking around, visiting the museum, and having a drink
at a local café, we returned to Pilsen.
For dinner, we ate outside again, having a lovely chef’s
salad, cheese, and chodsky kolac, a dessert specialty from the Domazlice. All in all, a very informative day!
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