Telč is a small town south of the D1 between Prague and Brno and is well worth a visit – probably no more than one night though you could use Telč as a base for hiking or biking trips to South Moravia.
While there are buildings outside of the main square, they are not of great interest and are a marked contrast to the great beauty of the buildings inside the main square.
Wonderfully ornate baroque facades. A little over the top perhaps?The view looking up the square. Thankfully this part of the square has not been ruined by being turned into a car park.At the southern end of the square there is a large church (1667) and a chateau built in the late Fourteenth Century. Despite a couple of fires, the chateau is still standing and is now open to the public.The East side of the Square with the prominent plague tower almost in the middle. These are a common feature across the Czech Republic, built by the survivors of the plague to thank God for sparing them.After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, many of the historical buildings across the Czech (and Slovak) Republics were in a terrible state. It is amazing that in just twenty years, the vast majority have been restored – while the country was undergoing the change from communism to capitalism. ‘Chapeau’ to the Czechs. Or perhaps that should be ‘Chateau’.The church at night showing the subtle lighting used in the town, in fact in many towns across the country – far more romantic than the neon glare found in many Western European countries.After huge fires in the Fourteenth Century, much of the town had to be rebuilt and some artificial ponds were built on either side of the old town. This was done for the benefit of photographers who like mirror image photographs. As the lake was frozen when I took this picture, the mirror part didn’t work very well.There is life outside the main square! Ice hockey is one of the most popular sports in the country. For a country of 10 million people to produce an Olympic winning team (Nagano 1998) is quite an achievement. Chapeau to the Czechs again.
Practical Information for Telč The town has a good website in Czech, English, German and French.
I stayed at U Seniglu which is a pleasant little pension on the main square. Czech public transport website in English. It is very easy to use and suggests both bus and train options.
