Telč

Telč was the first time this trip I didn't couch surf. I reserved a place at the Penzion Patricia for two nights while I was still back in Třebíč. A penzion is kind of a mix between a bed and breakfast and couch surfing. It's kind of like commercial couch surfing. It was nice having my own room and bath and everything, and Patricia still gave me lots of helpful info about Telč, but it strained our friendship that I had to pay her. I'm not saying there shouldn't be hotels or penzions, I'm just saying I don't think I'll ever look at them the same.

Anyway, about Telč. Again, the nice town square and plague column (although here it is for gratitude that they didn't get hit by the plague, not as penance to get the plague to leave), but here the square has been done in Italian Renaissance style, as was the taste of the ruling lord. If you look carefully in the picture above, you can see how they've marked the road through the square with the coloring and orientation of the pavement stones. I thought that was pretty clever. Because Telč was never a huge military target, the "castle" was built right on the square. It's really more of a chateau, but it's quite impressive. The interior has some really fascinating decoration, a lot of it in the graffiti style, where you scratch off the outer layer of plaster to reveal a different colored material beneath. Some really detailed, impressive stuff. Also a lot of woodcarvings on the ceilings that are impressive too. I keep using that word, impressive. That's probably in part due to my pathetic vocabulary, but kind of because that's the impression I get from these small Czech towns. Not huge and grand and massive like in Germany or Austria, but still very impressive. I like it.