Czechmatediary

The Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape is a lesser known part of the Czech UNESCO heritage, which is spread over the vast area of a beautiful Southern part of Moravia. It contains a romantic château (Lednice), a picturesque village (Valtice) and the largest park in the country. ‘Since Lednice was first passed into the hands of the House of Liechtenstein in the mid-13th century, its fortunes had been tied inseparably to those of that noble family.’  The current area of Lednice is laid out in a beautiful English garden style, covering almost 300 kilometers squared. Not only can visitors encounter unique types of trees and flowers but the park is also filled with serene ponds, luscious meadows, fancy sculptures and even replicas of ancient Greece ruins. (more…)

Pope Benedict XVI. is getting ready to visit the Czech Republic. The trip is scheduled for Sept. 26 – 28th and it is to include the visit of Prague, as well as Brno and Stara Boleslav, where he will participate in celebrations commemorating the national patron, St. Wenceslaus. Although the Czech Republic is only 27% Catholic there will be other nationalities present, such as the Polish, Hungarians and the Slovaks, to help fill in the potentially embarrassingly small crowd.

You can read more about his visit right here (click here).

CZ: Papez Benedikt XVI. se chysta do Cech. Navsteva je planovana na posledni tyden v zari a papez ma behem te doby navstivit Prahu, Brno a Mladou Boleslav. Chce tak s ceskymi katoliky (pouze 27% cele ceske populace) oslavit den Svateho Vaclava. Vetsinu casu ale ztravi na Morave, kde je – jak je dobre znamo -  vice vericich nez v Cechach. Fandicim ceskym katolikum prijdou na pomoc take polsti, slovensti  a Madarsti katolici, takze v Cechach bude pekne rusno

Vice is o papezove navsteve muzete precist  zde (kliknete zde).

I found a really nice report about Brno, written by this guy who is originally from there and recently came back to Brno for a short visit as a tourist. The article is short, sweet and entertaining (read the article right here). Now, all of you Moravians out there, tell me if you agree with him!

CZ: Nasla jsem vam moc hezkou reportaz o Brne, napsanou clovekem, ktery v tomto meste vyrostl a po dlouhe dobe se do nej  vratil na par dni jako turista (clanek si prectete zde). Ted mi, vsici Moravaci, musite rict, jestli s nim souhlasite!

I don’t know if you have felt the presence of Masopust (meaning “Goodbye to meet”) but it is officially over. Maspust is a Czech-style Carnival, which is surprisingly celebrated differently by almost every single country in the world. A lot of the countries like Italy or Brazil  have a huge colorful dress-up party during this season (Brazilian carnival in Rio De Janeiro is the biggest one, Americans celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans…), whereas some states keep to the Roman-Catholic tradition, meaning that one has the last opportunity to celebrate and eat rich foods such as meat, diary, fat and sugar before the start of the 40-day Lent period. The Czech Masopust takes place from Epiphany (The Three Kings day; January 6th) until Ash Wednesday. (more…)