Lednice UNESCO Heritage site

Having picked up the car yesterday we were already to kick off our adventure in Southern Moravia. Our first destination was Lednice about an hour's drive south of Brno. The Lichtenstein family who are the crown princes and princesses of Lichtenstein ancestral homeland was in Southern Moravia which had once been part of the Austrian Hungarian empire. The Lichtenstein family had played their cards very well since the 1600s. During the 30 year war they had converted to Catholicism and supported the Habsburgs. When the Habsburgs came out on top they had granted huge land rights to the Lichtenstein family of land seized from none supporters. Their summer palace at Lednice which had several reiterations over the years was absolutely over the top. It was last rebuilt in 1865 and was absolutely magnificent both on the outside and on the inside. They had a large English garden by the house and a large estate surrounding an artificial lake stretching 1.5 km from the Chateau. At the end of the lake there was a minaret. It was really over the top. We toured through the inside. It was a Czech tour but they gave us an English version to read. Beautiful woodwork on the inside. Large vaulted ceilings and large windows. It was all quite spectacularly beautiful. The closest I have ever come to this would be either Blenheim palace or Howard castle but this was more impressive. They had a huge Palm greenhouse made from a cast iron construction-think the greenhouse at Kew garden. After our tour we enjoyed drinks at the Chateau cafe looking out onto the estate. For 30 minutes as I sat there, I felt like a Lichtenstein prince.

It was getting on to almost 2 o'clock and the temp was up to 30 degrees. My prairie girls all wilt above 28 degrees so we headed back to Brno for a swim at a different outdoor pool.Read more