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This is the Plague column and main town square. It's a very hot open
spot, but all the buildings are quite beautiful with sgraffito facades
and many galleries. |
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This is the other side of the square. The main building here
is the Town Hall, now including a very impressive information center (and
gift shop). The gallery is very typical of Southern Bohemian buildings. |
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Here is the view from a lookout in town. The old castle and tower
are done over in Renaissance colors. Before it is the steeple of
an old Hussite church. The many red roofs add to the fairy tale essence
of the town. |
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The River Vltava snakes through the town almost on top of itself.
The town preserves the space very well and creates lovely places like this. |
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Up beyond the main castle is a road that leads to the royal gardens.
Here, Michelle poses with the city beneath her. There are many great
views from this road. |
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The royal gardens include a large carp pond. I'm posing by a
it along the tree-lined path surrounding the pond. It was a good
place to take a break and relax. |
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Michelle relaxes on the bench near the pond. The gardens were
set up and landscaped in the 18th century and still keep their original
form. |
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We went up on the Renaissance tower(old castle, really) This
view looks down on the church and river and many buildings. |
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Again, from the tower, here is a view of the proper castle. It
is wonderful and quite large. There are rooms preserved to reflect
the many different time periods the castle has seen. |
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Michelle poses for another view from the tower. |
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The river can be seen here twisting through the town. |
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The family that kept the castle (the Rosembergs) traced it's
lineage back to the Italian Orsino family. Since that meant "bear", they
began to keep bears in their castles. The castles still keep this
tradition. |
