UNESCO World Heritage Site #6 on this tour
Some destinations are meant to be savoured on your own (Mount Athos comes to mind); others are meant to be shared with your significant other. It's not that you can't go to a place like Telc as a single, but being surrounded by its tranquil beauty and history, and the fact that every tourist you occasionally see are in amorous pairs, I would feel out of place without my wife, you know?
The Sights:
Telc is a sleepy little town in southern Czech Republic, inscribed in the United Nation's World Heritage list for its remarkable Renaissance-era square, but not yet discovered (and thus ruined) by mass tourism. Simply, there are no crowds, just a few sporadic tourists, and yourself. Organized tours pass by to take photos and to keep the restaurants and souvenir shops alive, but none seem to stay for the night. Shops close at 17:00, and by 20:00 even most restaurants are done. Apart from the sound of the occasional car leaving the square, the only thing you hear at night is the thrashing of the carps in the lakes. This is the kind of quietude that Telc offers, and as you gaze upon the 16th century houses, time stands still.
The town square and its houses were designed by craftsmen hired from Italy when the town was burned down nearly 500 years ago, and has mostly been unchanged ever since. Most of the houses are still private residences, with the ground level functioning as souvenir shops, eateries or general stores. Some have recently restored exteriors and look sharper, but still visually coherent as a square.
At the middle of the square stand the typical features of any Central European square -- a plague column and a fountain. There is also an old manual pump for drawing water from the town well. I tried a few pumps, but didn't persist long enough to verify whether it still worked.
The north end of the square is dominated by a baroque chateau, originally built in Gothic style in the 15th century but received many facelifts over the years. We went into the courtyard to take a few photos, but passed over the tour in favor of more time for shopping the souvenir shops on the square.
The long corridor under the square's facade was a great place for discounted souvenir hunting, as all the typical Czech souvenirs could be found there -- wooden toys and puppets, ceramics, jewelery, and of course, Bohemian crystals. We bought some crystal jewelery here, where the price turned out to be a lot cheaper than in Prague.
The town's other famous attraction, besides the square and the chateau, is the ring of man-made lakes encircling the town. Many centuries ago the fields surrounding the town were deliberately flooded as a defense against invasion, and have since been serving both as a moat and as fish ponds.
Nowadays the footpaths along the edges of the lakes have become the perfect date-spot, where lovers can promenade beneath the sweeping willow branches and enjoy the mirror-reflection of the town's historical beauty on the lake surface. Seriously, every visitor I saw came in pairs. And most importantly, the peace and romance of the lakes has not yet been spoiled by stampeding tourists.
There are two main lakes, one located on the eastern side of the square and the other on the west. We found the western one to offer better scenery, as well as a nice footpath with a bridge leading across the centre of the lake and providing a great place for camera tripods.
The most amazing sight in Telc, IMHO, was the town square at night. After 21:00, there were no tourist remaining, no restaurants still open, and of course no bars or any signs of modern night life -- you'd have to walk farther outside the square to even find an old-fashioned Czech pub. Now the entire square is yours. Aside from the few parked cars and the dim yellow street lamps, the town had slipped back into the 16th century. It's one of the rare places in the world with the atmosphere to transport a visitor to another era in time.
The Food:
Hotel Cerny Orel
Telc, nam. Zacharise z Hradce 7
http://www.hotelcernyorel.cz
In my mind, the most representative Czech dish is the Veprove Koleno, or pork knee. In fact I had 5 pork knees during my 5-night-stay in the Czech Republic. It was really that good, and it all got started in Telc.
Beautiful isn't it. It really was a meat-eater's dream, with mouthfuls of juicy, succulent meat in a generous wrapping of slightly charred skin and fat. The marinade was a little bland which was why horseradish and mustard was always provided with pork knees. And this wasn't even close to being the best pork knee of the trip.
The other representative Czech dish on the menu was my wife's favorite -- the roast duck -- which turned out to be half a duck. I don't think she had ever finished half a duck by herself, but then I had never finished a 1 kg chunk of pork in one sitting prior to that meal. I guess we had already adapted to vacation-sized meals at that point. Those dumplings though were out of the question.
Of course, what's a proper Czech meal without a pint of the famous Czech beer? As an introduction the Czech beer, we ordered a Staropramen to compare against something we're familiar with -- the Stella Artois. Not as rich as the Belgian stuff, but easier to drink for my wife and still nice and flavorful.
Somehow we still found room for dessert -- an apple strudel, which we somehow missed during our stay in Austria. The entire bill including service cost around CZK470 (CAD$26), pretty amazing to us for a meal of this size.
A whole tour of Japanese tourists arrived (as scheduled?) during our meal and were served...salad and soup and some sort of pork chops? The tour company was depriving them of the best stuff!
Transportation:
Telc is served by trains and long distance buses, though its fringe location on the rail network necessitates a lot of exchanges if you try to get there from places like Prague or Cesky Krumlov by train. The reliable long distance bus system is probably more convenient for most tourists, with direct buses to Ceske Budejovice, Brno, and Prague. Search for train and bus schedules at the IDOS site listed in the Links below.
However, Telc is not on the most popular tourist routes (which is also the main cause for its unspoiled beauty). This means if you're starting from places without direct buses to Telc (eg. Oloumouc, Trebon, Znojmo) chances are nobody can tell you how to get there. It happened to us, which is why I wrote an article on "Czech Long-Distance Bus How-to" Hopefully you'll have better preparation (or luck).
Accommodation:
Pension Steidler
Telc, nam. Zacharise z Hradce 52
http://www.telc-accommodation.eu/
We stayed in a wonderful bed-and-breakfast, situated inside a UNESCO-protected 16th century Renaissance-style house on the town square (the green building in the foreground). We can't say enough good things about this B&B -- a very clean room, clean modern bathroom, a shared social room with a mini-kitchen. Excellent value for CZK800 (CAD$45) without breakfast for a double.
And the best part was the view of the lake from our bedroom window -- the peaceful lakeside scenery that Telc is famous for.
The backyard garden has a long corridor of blooming plants leading to a flight of stairs to a lower level garden. And there, right at the edge of the garden, was the lake. I can't think of a better location in this town to spend a night and be surrounded by the beauty of Telc.
You can find links to other B&B's and the few hotels in the Links section below. But I think the coziness of a B&B is the way to go in this quiet Moravian town.
Miscellaneous Comments:
This is a little story about the friendliness of the Czech people, and about the town's historical heritage.
Just when we were about to go for a walk around the lakes, we passed through our pension's corridor and caught Mr. Steidler opening a small, heavy wooden door into a dark underground vault. Seeing the inquisitive look on our faces, the owner invited us in for a tour of a hidden historical remnant of his town. The small stone arch opened into a large, long chamber, seemingly built out of rock. It had been fitted with dim, old electric bulbs and now served as storage for the owner's old bicycles and hardware tools. At the end of the chamber lied an old water well, surprising to us but practical if you consider the original anti-siege purpose of the surrounding lakes. "Namesti!" Mr. Steidler pointed up as he explained in excitement. The Czech word for "town square" was one of the few I understood -- the chamber stretched so long that we were actually standing underneath the square. The other was "Historisches!", a German word which I fully agreed and appreciated.
Links:
Official Site - http://www.telc-etc.cz/
Telc Chateau - http://www.zamek-telc.cz/
IDOS (train/bus timetables) - http://idos.cz/ConnForm.asp?tt=X&cl=E5
http://www.accommodation-telc.com/
http://www.telc-accommodation.eu/
http://www.volny.cz/privat.nika/gb/ubytovani.html
http://www.kotrbam.eu/menugb/index.htm
http://www.pantof.com/pictures.htm
http://www.penzionvacek.cz
http://www.hoteltelc.cz/
http://www.hotelcelerin.cz/
http://www.hotelcernyorel.cz
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