Day Trip to Jihlava & Telč

Since arriving in Prague three weeks ago we have mainly been occupying ourselves with the inevitable admin of moving to a new country, along with (in my case) desperately trying to avoid this European heatwave that is lingering longer here than at home.

However, two Sundays ago (a bank holiday weekend in the Czech Republic) we decided to take a trip to see some friends in Jihlava. For those who don't know, Jihlava is situated in the middle of the country, straddling the border between Moravia and Bohemia.



Jihlava

We left Prague in the morning and took the cheap and impressive Student Agency bus to Jihlava, enjoying better on board service than most budget airlines. On arrival we went through Jihlava's old centre, consisting of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque buildings.

Jihlava, traditionally a silver mining town, has experienced a quite turbulent history. For the most part it was a very German city, with German spoken there.

After brief visits from the Swedes and Prussians, Jihava remained something of a 'Germanic island' until the end of the Second World War, when following the Beneš Decrees all the Germans were evicted and the city was repopulated with Czechs. Many of the expelled Germans died on arduous trek to Austria, marking a dark point in Jihlava's varied history.

We had a great time wandering round Jihlava, and if you get chance to visit yourself, things worth a visit include Masarykovo náměstí, the main town square, kostel svatého Jakuba, a church with excellent views over the town and brána Matky Boží, the gate in the picture to the right. Also in the town square you should look out for two fountains, named Neptunova kašna and kašna Amfitrité.

Fans of classical music might be interested to know that the composer Gustav Mahler spent most of his childhood in Jihlava and gave his  first public performance at the town theatre. You can visit the house in which he grew up and the Jewish cemetery where both his parents were buried.


Telč

Telč is a much smaller town situated 30km to the south of Jihlava, and is a popular tourist destination in particular for Dutch and Germans. It is not hard to see why it receives so many visitors when you step into the main square (náměstí Zachariáše z Hradce), beautifully surrounded by quaint 16th century houses. Since 1992 the iconic town square has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Also worth a visit is the 17th century Renaissance chateau (or 'castle', there seems to be a perpetual argument between me and the Czechs I meet as to what constitutes a 'castle'). The chateau was originally built in the Gothic style in the 14th century and further fortified in the 15th. 

It was in the 16th century that more changes were made to bring it in line with the Renaissance style of the time, and is probably when it went from being a 'castle' (hrad) to a 'chateau' (zámek). There is also an English style park in the castle grounds with some very old trees and a classicist style greenhouse. 

For more information about both of these towns, you can visit their respective websites http://www.jihlava.cz/ and http://www.telc.eu/. Both are certainly worth visiting, and would be a convenient stop off on the way to Brno.