Strážnice, Czech Republic

Kája and I spent the weekend in Strážnice which is about a two hour train ride from Brno.  

Strážnice is home to 5.400 people and is 65 km (40 miles) from Brno, close to the Slovak border.  While Neolithic pottery has been found here, the it was first written mention of the town was in 1302.  It was one of the most populated towns in Moravia at the start of the 17th century.

The old city gate bastions date back to the 16th century.  They were used to protect the town from Turkish invasions.

Behind these gates is a chapel that was consecrated in 1917.  The story goes that it was built as thanks to the men who returned in good health from WWI.

The stone cross near the gate dates back to 1769.  The baroque monument is one of the oldest in the town and marks one of the places that city executions used take place.

The nearby city cemetery dates back to 1895.

Inside the cemetery is a tombstone dedicated to the Red Army that liberated the city in April 1945.

February isn't the time of year to see storks but here's a stork nest for when the season comes.  I'm told that nearby is one of the last places in Central Europe where a forest colony of White Storks can still be seen.

The shrine at Radějovská street dates back to the first half of the 19th century.

The town hall is a protected cultural monument that dates back to the 17th century.

The Strážnice Castle, is less castle and more chateau, is from the mid-19th century.  The castle is home to the National Institute of Folk Culture and a library with over 13.000 books.

The castle is in the middle of a large park where there's an amphitheatre.  

The Parish Church of St. Martin was a Gothic church in the 15th century but it burnt down several times.  In the 1720s it was renovated in the Baroque style.  

The Strážnice Museum of the Villages of South-East Moravia is an. open-air folk museum that opened in 1981.  

The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was built in 1747.

The synagogue was built in 1804 and renovated in 1879.  It was damaged in 1941 and it was then used as a warehouse.  In 1991 it was returned to the Jewish community.  Today, it is part of the Strážnice Museum.

Next to the synagogue is the Jewish cemetery which was founded in the mid-17th century.  It is 5000m² (1.2 acres) with around 1500 gravestones.

The town is located on the Baťa Canal and it's possible to take boat rides during the summer.

In front of the city museum is a statue of the philosopher and educator Jan Amos Komenský.  He studied here in 1604-1605.

Of course no Czech town is complete without a statue of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia.  Apparently he had studied here.  

Strážnice is also the home of really good potato chips (crisps).  

I hear that the factory is the town's biggest employer.

Here's a short video I found on YouTube showing the factory and how the crisps are made.

©Strážnické brambůrky Hobža

Update:  Every year, Strážnice hosts an international folklore festival.

Ferney-Voltaire, France

During Christmas we all planned to up in Switzerland to visit Natalie.  On Friday night I caught a flight to Geneva.  On Saturday morning Claudia and Tünde arrived and we spent the weekend together.  Yeah for more whānau adventures! 

After picking them up at the airport and breakfast at the hotel we went to France.  Geneva is on the French border and we caught a 10 minute bus to Ferney-Voltaire.

Ferney-Voltaire is in Southeastern France between the Jura Mountains and the Swiss border.  

Back in the 14th century is was Fernex and over the years the name changed to Fernay, Fernaj, and Fernai.  The city is home to around 9.800 people.

The French writer and philosopher François Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire, lived in Geneva for almost two years.  At the time Geneva was a Calvinist city and theatre was forbidden so he moved to Ferney in 1759 where he ended up becoming the city's patriarch.  He lived here from 1759 to 1778 before returning to Paris shortly before his death.  Voltaire built the local church, a theatre, set up potteries and a watchmaking industry which helped increase the city's population to over 1000 people.  In honour of Voltiare's patronage the city changed it's name to Ferney-Voltaire in 1791.

The Church of Our Lady is the largest neoclassical religious building in the region.  It was consecrated in 1826.

The Fountain of Voltaire dates back to 1628.  In 1988 it became a registered historic monument.

The city hall and WWI monument.

WWI Memorial

It's a cute little town and well worth a short day trip.

On Saturdays there is an open market and we spent lots of time walking around and sampling lots of goodies.  

So much incredible cheese, produce, and wine.  Tünde loved the pomegranates we picked up.  

The town cemetery is less than a 10 minute walk from the centre of town.  

The town's main attraction is Voltaire's house.  The château was built from 1758 to 1766 and it is open to visitors from May to September. 

The house is interesting and well worth checking out.  

There's also a garden to stroll around.  I'm sure that it looks better in Spring and Summer.  But you can't go wrong with the view of the Alps. 

We enjoyed our short day trip to France.  After lunch at an Indian restaurant we walked across the border and caught a bus back to Geneva to continue our city break.

Valtice, Czech Republic

Valtice is small Moravian town near the Austrian border.  It is part of the Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Prior to WWI, Valtice was known as Feldsberg and was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  Feldsberg was upgraded from village to town around 1383.  After WWI, Feldsberg became Valtice and became part of Czechoslovakia.  Today the town has a population around 3,600 people. 

The 14th century chateau was built as the main residence of the Dukes of Liechtenstein.

Construction on the Parish Church of the Assumption began in 1631.  It took almost 40 years to complete.  In 1992, two new bells were presented by the bishop to celebrate Valtice's 800th anniversary.

Valtice town hall

The earliest record of the Valtice town hall dates back to 1393.






The town's plague column commemorates the victims of the plague which wiped out about a quarter of the population.


We went to Valtice yesterday for the wine fest.  I really wanted my family to see a traditional Czech vinobraní.  I don't know if it was because of the weather or because we were there too early, or if Valtice's wine festival is always small but I was kind of disappointed.

There were only a few people in traditional costumes and there wasn't too much folk music.  The emphasis here really seemed to be just with the food vendors.  This has to have been one of the smallest, low-key festivals that I've been to in the past +5 years.  I think that it was fine for my parents because they had nothing to compare it to but I wish they would have seen something more.

Sintra, Portugal

Sintra is about 28 km (~17 miles) from Lisbon.  It's a small town with about 33,000 inhabitants.  The historic town is home to numerous palaces and estates which makes it a very popular day trip from the capital.  There is so much to see that's impossible to do Sintra justice in only one day.  In 1995, Sintra was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The National Palace was a royal summer residence and is the best preserved medieval royal palace in Portugal.  It was built in 1839.  In 1910, it became a national monument and it was restored in the 1940s.

The remains of the Moorish Castle sits atop the surrounding hills.  The castle was built around the 8th or 9th century when the Moors occupied the Iberian Peninsula.




The Quinta da Regaleira is a popular estate and park.  Construction began in 1904 and was completed in 1910.



The Seteais Palace was built from 1783 to 1787.  The neoclassical palace was originally built for the Dutch consul.  The palace was eventually acquired by the government in 1946.  In 1954 it became a luxury hotel.

Sintra's highlight is the Pena National Palace which sits on a hill overlooking the town.  The palace was built on the remains of a monastery.

Construction lasted from 1842 to 1854.  The palace was used by the royal family but in 1889 it was purchased by the state.  The palace has an eclectic mix of styles including Neo-Gothic, Neo-Islamic and Neo-Renaissance.

View of Palácio Nacional da Pena

Cabo da Roca is 18 km (11 miles) northwest of Sintra.  It offers a great view of the Atlantic Ocean.  The cape is the westernmost point of continental Europe.