To Nákří, Vodňany, and Bavorov

One of our members grew up in Vodňany, half an hour away. We happened to visit on the same day when the famous Vodňany stork (Čáp Vodňan) returned from its winter in Saudi Arabia. We did not actually see these birds, whose success in Europe depends on proper management of hayfield mowing and protection of nests.  But here’s a video where you can see a rehabilitated stork fly again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YELHTfHtC4U

We know that South Bohemia, where we live, is on a major European migration route.  We seldom go out to the dozens of national parks and reserves, but they are all around us, in every direction.  Of course it is easier to photograph buildings than the beauties of the fields, woods and ponds on every side.   It is so refreshing whenever we have the opportunity to drive missionaries to visit distant members — or even to drive to work each morning. This is a blessed land.

Here is the main square at Vodňany:

Vodňany dates back to 1336 and currently has about 7,000 inhabitants. The town square is impressively large, although these days it is primarily a parking lot. We liked a beautiful clothing shop called Gandalf:

Then we admired a building whose signs proclaimed that the famous poet Otakar Mokry had lived and died there:

We explored the beautiful Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary and ate lunch across the street.  

We went to the information center in city hall to get a postcard.   I was not surprised to spot a cabinet displaying photos of new babies, the precious future of this village.  Because every woman works, here in Europe, it is necessary to provide generous maternity benefits, to keep the population from declining.  New mothers receive a monthly stipend which allows them to stay home for three years with their babies.  A typical Czech family has two children; a devout Catholic or Mormon family here has several more, at great sacrifice.  When the mamas return to work, the grandmas are completely involved in getting children to and from school.

On the way to Vodňany we had noticed a large church between the fishponds in the very small hamlet of Nákří. “We’ll never be this way again,” I begged, so Elder Z took the short detour to see the Church of Peter and Paul, which dates to the 14th century:

This is just a small farming community, but it still has its own town hall (photo by  Jitka Erbenová) :

We saw the pilgrimage Church of the Assumption at Bavorov on the way home. This is a very fine monastery church for a small town of 1,400 people, dating back to the 15^th century.

These last two photos above illustrate the typical caged entrance.  The church door is open, so you can see the interior, but not come all the way inside.  We look up through the cage to the organ in the choir loft, and then up to the leaded glass window above the door.  A great amount of public money from the EU and from the Czech Republic goes into restoring the old churches, symbols of national pride, even though few people actually attend services.  We are glad to be able to see these magnificent testaments to the faith of the fathers.

Take a look at the details of this fence… I could spend all day photographing fences, doorways, roadside shrines, decorative downspouts, windows, gardens, fish ponds.  It’s one lovely detail after the next. 

All this high holy beauty in a village of 1,400 people!  Click on the smaller photos to see the buildings around the typical square:  from the left, a tobacco/news shop flanked by two locally- owned mini markets; a Coop grocery store (the other common grocery chain in small towns is called Flop); an impressive town hall with bus stop in front and train station in the next block; a vista down toward the hills of the Sumava to the south; the colorful recycle bins, post office, several cafes and penzions.

We are thankful every day for the opportunity to serve here in the land of Elder Z’s ancestors, photographing the records of births, marriages, deaths, and land cultivation in the Trebon archive.  We are thankful for the intelligent good people who attend our intermediate English class each Tuesday in Ceske Budejovice, with whom we have such interesting conversations in English and Czech.  We are delighted to enjoy the members, missionaries and investigators of the church each Friday evening at game night.  And we are happy every Sunday to attend church in our little chapel, with members who love the Lord and want to live good Christian lives…  These regular activities do not photograph well, though they take up most of our time.  As you see, we end up blogging about what we do on Saturday afternoons…