or as we like to say "nowhere, Czech"
Benesov is a great little out of the way place in the middle of the Czech Republic. No one here speaks English. We were excited when they spoke German! We went here on recommendations from a friend (thanks Inga!) thinking it was merely a B&B that we could relax in for a day or so. It was that, but also a horse riding stable. Surprise, we went horseback riding! Although very fun, I had an "incident" and after one hour both of our butts hurt so bad we could not even think of getting back on. But we did meet some interesting people......
Here's me, all dressed up on my horse Monty. Monty really liked to go, is what I found out later. Jen's horse, always bringing up the rear, was named Amor.
The name of the place we stayed was called Czesky Dvur (means Czech courtyard). The lady that runs it is so nice, and spoke excellent German. Thankfully! We would have been so lost without it. She put this very strange American guy in our group because he spoke no German. Oh, he made everything much more pleasant :)
When
we weren't riding horses, we decided to take a tour (in English) of the nearby
castle. Called Konopiste (pronounced ker-no-peascht-a), it has been around for
700 years. We took the part of the tour with all the weapons. There were complete
iron costumes for the Jousters, even the horses! The best part about the castle
was the Falconer standing outside with about 20 birds. He had Eagles, Buzzards,
Owls, and other birds of prey. He actually spoke English, and I suppose was
glad I did because I got a 20 minute disertation on the birds. Interesting,
and here are some photos to prove it.
One of the most amusing things about Czech is the language. It is impossible for us Westerners to pronounce. Our mouths are just not trained for saying words with no vowels! However, we did find this sign readable, and it happened to be the name of the "town" that the Czesky Dvur was stationed. At least it wasn't Hod Poji.
