On to Telc - June 2

We started the day visiting Vranov nad Dyje where we toured the spectacular Vranov Castle built high on a cliff overlooking the town and the Dyje River. For the life of me I do not remember much about this tour.  It was pretty cool, they're closed on Mondays so we had our own private tour guide.  He would speak in Czech and Alena would translate.  That has to be tiring.
One detail that did stick is that this castle was attacked by the Swedes.  Swedes!  Who knew they had imperial aspirations?

This is a detail from the ceiling in the hall of ancestors.  It's not a peaceful painting.

This is part of the heating system.  Wood was burned elsewhere and hot air would come into these things.  It was still pretty cold in the castle.

Here we have a WWII relic.  It's a gun emplacement, pointing toward the Austrian frontier.  You see a lot of them in the fields.  They're fortified concrete and they're difficult to remove, so they just left them.

This was the end of the ride, the locals call it Little Telc.  It's not a UNESCO site, so it's not as well preserved as regular Telc.  It's also not as full of tourists.

And thus ends the second riding day.