WORLD HERITAGE SITES MAKE GREAT TARGETS for road trips, even if the sites themselves are sometimes disappointing. It’s the journey, after all, not the destination, that counts. Searching them out is a wonderful way to discover the country that we have come to visit, to see the countryside and drive through villages most travelers never see.
It's the journey, not the destination
While the palace at Olomouc and Litomysl Church were disappointing, the drive to Zelena Hora was spectacular and the brooding weather just added to the charm of the pilgrimage site. The palace of Kromeriz was also a bit of a bust but the self-guided World Heritage walk through town was interesting. Closer to home, we walked from the Birdsnest in Brno to Villa Tugendhat, a Bauhaus-style building that would make Walter Gropius proud.
Litomysl Church Olomouc
Kromeriz Villa Tugendhat
Perhaps the most interesting was the Jewish Quarter and cemetery at Tribec, our last stop on the way back to Prague. Most of Quarter’s buildings are from the 1700s but the Synagogue dates to the 16th Century. Tribec’s Jews, sadly, met the same fate as other European Jews under the Nazi onslaught.
Tribec Jewish Cemetery
All in all there is something very charming about the Czech Republic, an “old world” feeling often missing in Western Europe. Sure, the large cities are much the same wherever you go but once afield things are more authentic. Our main criticism is that Czech is such an inscrutable language and so little is written in English. You should Czech it out if you get a chance.
