A series of posts following David and Gail as they walk 480 kilometers from Prague to Vienna in 2014.
September 26, 2014
How fortunate that Znojmo should be a brief 11 kilometre walk from last night’s rest stop in Šatov. Set on a hilltop, small stone houses and steep streets cling to its edges, rising from the same Dyje River we have been following for the past two days. Crowning the hill are churches and their steeples, the requisite chateau and town hall tower. A picturesque heap of medieval fortress town. At its core lie a couple of pleasant squares, one of which was our palatial home for the night, Penzion U Císaře Zikmunda.
We had only the afternoon to tour the town and fortunately again Znojmo has excellent guides for the visitor, architecturally oriented and arranged into several special-interest walking tours. Having done the chateau thing, we chose a tour of Unknown Znojmo, taking us outside the usual visitor zone of the old city to see some of the town’s twentieth century architecture. All was fine with this new stuff according to the guidebook text. Until the last stop, back in the old town, in one of the town’s old historic squares, where our anonymous writer heaps venom on the poor Soviet-style Dyje Deparment Store, a 1973 Constructivist and/or Brutalist mass occupying one full side of the square. It must be my North American new world attitude but it seemed to work. Rightness aside, this building offers a great view over the square from the Panorama Cafe.
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