Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Eastern Europe: Znojmo to Mikulov, CZ

We get views of Znojmo as we leave town, putting the place in a different perspective.  Photo on right below by Patrice Van Vleet.DSCN0419 Leaving Z 2

Today is our penultimate riding day and the last day and night in the Czech Republic.  It’s been a great ride.  Mikulov is an important border town on the ancient “Amber Road” from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic.  When the Austrian Kings expelled Jews from Austria in the early 1400’s, they settled here  on the border, gradually making up half of the town’s population and forming the largest Jewish population in the Czech Republic outside of Prague.

We are staying in the Jewish quarter.  The restaurant menu has a puzzling title “Jewish Menue or what used to be eaten in this house”. Ok, I now know what that means: Brenda learned there are no longer any Jews living in Mikulov.  We visited the Synagogue:

DSCN0424  DSCN0423  DSCN0425

Mikulov is in the center of Moravia which means its in the center of Czech wine.  Before lunch we were briefly on a busy road.  All busy roads are very smooth.  There were big farm trucks on the road; they gave us wide berth when passing so we were never frightened.

After lunch, and almost all afternoon, we were on a single lane road through the farms.  We saw cabbage, clover, corn, mustard, orchards, peppers, pumpkin, tomatoes, a tree farm (olive trees?), vineyards and wheat. Photo on right below by John Harvey.

DSCN0421  J&B

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