Wednesday 22 August 2012

The town of Dačice

Dačice is (are, in Czech) a town historically in Moravia, but it's near the border; also near the border with Austria. It's a bit out of hand, so going on a trip there was a special occasion; for several reasons.

I fell in love with Dačice, hard. The same way I fell hard for Tartu (which I still owe you photos of). Dačice are a world apart from lots of other places in the Czech Republic.



A fairly typical country railway station. There are two stations in Dačice; this is Dačice - město (Dačice - town). From here, you cross a river and you enter the town just some two blocks below the town square.



A bookshop I did not have the time to enter, but which I would have loved to enter (and leave with books). The old sign above says "Bookshop - records". I don't think they sell vinyl records anymore; probably no records at all. Still, they have that sign.



The town square's busy, but not in a bad way. It looks like the real centre of the life in the town. People sitting on benches and eating ice cream (later, me and my sister sat in a candy shop at this side of the square and had two ice creams each). And the shops seemed like the kind of shops a small town needs.



And they clearly take care of their flowers.



This is the old town hall, with a sundial in front of it.



And flowers.



There's a special world-changing (in a small way) event in the history of Dačice, commemorated with sculptures on several places. I'll get to that later...



A 1909 house - it's written on it, with a name, probably of the architect.



More Art Nouveau. Buildings like this one house expensive boutiques in Prague; here, it's a tea house.



Side of the tower of the St Lawrence church.



And front. The church was founded in 1183; the current building is from 1775-1788, the tower is from 1586-1592. My sister informed me that the tower is in the Mannerism style, and that there are other similar towers in the style scattered over the Czech Republic. So when you see one like this here, you'll know. (From the top of my head, I can remember the town hall in Havlíčkův Brod has the same style of tower.)




And here we come! What happened in 1843?

 

There. Choose your favourite language!



I'd place this house somewhere in the 1920s or 30s; now there's the police in it. But look, painted panel doors!



And once more, on an older house next door.

These sit just across the street from the chateau of Dačice, which was our main destination - more posts to come. Let's go see more of the town for now.





More painted panel doors! Back at the town square.



A look over the town square towards the river side of the town (east).



A single violet.



Once more, the sundial.



The old chateau (in a narrow street, thus difficult to photograph).



The brewery.



And a mysterious tower-like building that would seem to have something to do with the brewery, only it is a bit further away.



The last thing I photographed in Dačice was this apartment building, fairly unique in its own right.



This isn't unique; this is fairly typical. But the lighting was fine.
The Kostelec u Jihlavy railway station, where we changed trains; it seems to be in the middle of nowhere. Just wet meadows on one side and fields on the other.



And a jungle of tansy and raspberry bushes; and wood.

2 comments:

  1. Wow it's so beautiful!! Every time you post a gorgeous town I want badly to come visit Estonia and the Czech Republic. I really do have to get out and about more! :)

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    1. I bet if you posted photos from somewhere around your part of the woods, I'd wish badly to go visit NZ. ;-)

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