More Czech Please

Here's a map of the places we visited in Czech in case you're like me and had no idea where they were before this trip:

Marianske Lazne is cool, but not easy to get in/out of. Getting to Trebic involved a 1.5 hr bus ride, then a 5+ hr train ride. When we got on the train, the conductor came by and said a bunch of stuff in Czech. I naively thought he said he was going to tell us before our stop came up, but Ashok was worried because he heard the word “bus”. He was right. About 1 hr into the train ride, the conductor came by and told us we had to get off and get on a bus to go to a different train station that turned out to be in a city about an hour away. Apparently this is the season for track maintenance - lucky us. On the brighter side, the Czech countryside is very pretty, with gently rolling hills that's alternately green and gold (barley? wheat? it doesn't matter) so it was a scenic ride.

Trebic is a very small town (even smaller than ML) and is known for one of the best preserved Jewish settlements in Europe (a UNESCO World Heritage site).

Even though it's restored now and looks nice in the picture, it's actually not a pretty history... the Jewish town is wedged in between the river and the rocky hill and therefore everything is squeezed into the small area, and the Christian town is across the river. It's not there anymore, but there used to be a gate that is locked up on weekends and holidays. Sadly, during WWII less than 5% of the Jews survived, and even though it has been restored Jews don't live there any more. We decided to stay overnight in the Jewish quarter to experience what it was like (small quarters, low ceilings). It's so small that we pretty much walked around the area in a couple of hours.

The next day we took the bus to Telc (an hour away), another UNESCO World Heritage Site. This time it's because of the beautiful Romanesque building facades in the main square. Lonely Planet claimed it was the most beautiful square in Czech and I would have to agree.

It's again a very small town and there's not much more than the main square with a chateau on one end, but it's so pretty that it is nice just to stroll around or sit in one of the cafes and relax. In hind sight we should have stayed overnight in Telc and taken a day trip to Trebic but either way glad we got to see both.

Even though there were more places on our list, after a week and a half, we both feel it's time to leave Czech and see some other countries.