Kroměříž
For the first days here in Praha (Prague in Czech) I stayed with two really good friends, Kuba and Anna. Two weekends ago we went to Kroměříž (est. 1260) towards the east, close to Slovakia. By the way, this business of pronouncing Czech is not easy at all. The accent marks are not so bad, but things do get complicated with words that don't even have vowels. Try this tong-twister to see what I mean (č is pronounced "ch" as in "cheap")
Kroměříž [ˈkromɲɛr̝iːʃ] is Kuba's hometown. It started as a market village in the early 1200's, then became a Constitutive Imperial Congress in the 1800's.
The region around is hilly and very green. The town is quite, the architecture is very old, and the streets in the downtown area are curvey and made of stone, and there is a nice central plaza for community events. In the back there are the old communist style apartment buildings. They used to be gray, now they are painted in different colors.
When we first arrived, there was live music and then an old Czech movie from the 60's (the golden film era in CZ), and stands with food, beer and souveniers. There was also a lady selling Bohemian pastries and sweets. She was very excited telling us how she had found very old recipies, including one from the Roman times of a sweet pastry that the Roman soldiers used to eat a lot because of the sugar it provided'em with.
The Chateau
Close to the plaza there is the Kroměříž Archbishop's Palace and the Flower Garden, two of the most interesting places I have ever seen. The Chateau is very big, has original forniture from centuries ago, and there is a very nice garden in the back. I particularly liked the paintings hanging on the walls and the frescos on the ceilings. The tour can only be done with a guide, who speaks only in Czech, and gives reading material in English. It was not easy, but the palace is very interesting to see.
A maze made of flowers
The Flower Garden, also known as Libosad, is of great significance for its unique gardening style in the world. It started as a garden for fruits and vegetables in the 14th century, and then was turned into a Baroque shape garden in the 17th century.
During this time of the year is wedding season. So, there were a few couples inside the garden taking pictures. One of them jumped in a horse carriage, and behind there were the photographers driving an old syle red car at full speed. It was very interesing to see as a matter of fact.
The garden is beautiful inside, and has four mazes made of grass and flowers. There is also a Rotunda with sculptures and frescos of mythological creatures. In the middle of the building there is a Foucault pendulum, which movement is believed to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth. It is simply amazing! I pushed it and it made eliptical shapes on the sand, going from long to short and in multiple directions, all of them converging in a middle point. Awesome experiment!
I like the town a lot and see it as a good destination for a different and very local experience in the Czech Republic outside of Prague. Plus, visiting pubs with lots of Czech friends the entire night, singing "Tres Tristes Tigres Tragan Trigo Tras Tres Trigales" medieval style, then climbing the scaffold attached to a Gothic style church all the way to the top of one of the towers, where the pigeons live, for a fine view of town and the mountains very early in the morning when there is no one around on a Sunday morning.... a great experience!
Getting there is part of the adventure. We took one of those old European trains like in the movies, with the "policie" chasing Bourne and all that. The windows open from top to bottom, and it is very relaxing to stand on the hallway looking outside and feeling the air. The scenery is flat land as far as the eye can see at first, then hilly, then large wheat fields, then towns, then back to flat land, and so on. Very nice.
Hermelín
One thing is to visit Praha and enjoy cheap and good quality beer at a pub or beer garden with your buddies. Another one is to drink beer while eating Hermelín. This is one of the best "tapas" I have ever had. It is made of a cheese similar to Brie, cut in half, stuffed with garlic, spices, peppers, onions, and whatever else you can find over the counter, then marinated in oil for at least three days and served with Rye bread. This is "Dee" good Czech stuff, people!
I also had Gulasch, a traditional beef stew dish from the Czech Republic. Kuba's mom made it and was delicious! The entire weekend I was eating every day every hour everything. Later in the evening we had a BBQ at the new house, and told jokes. And this is true, that humor is difficult to translate into different languages. Still, we managed to go from Spanish to English to Czech and vice-versa, and had a good meal with jokes, tong-twisters and misunderstood phrases.
Photo album
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