Ledec, a small village of about 60 inhabitants almost hidden in a little
valley where I lived from my 2 to 19 years of age, and where my family
still lives. Ledec means an Icy Place. The name apparently comes from
the fact that inside that little valley the snow and ice always stays a few
days longer in the spring than everywhere else in the vicinity.
View from the front window of my mother's house in Ledec
on a (recently renovated) ranger station. Long time ago it used
to be a small flour mill powered by water from a large pond
that used to be just behind the present ranger station.
(Not long after this picture was taken, my brother turned the
meadow in the forefront into a fish pond that extends more than half way
to the ranger station.)
The remains of a medieval fort of lower nobility in the neighbouring
village of Svojsice. Such forts used to be in many villages. This
one was relatively large and was destroyed during the thirty-year war
(1618-1648) and never rebuilt again. Its owners were Protestants
and had to leave the country when recatholization started after
Protestant nobles lost an important battle in 1620. According to
a legend the people from this fort had to leave in a hurry and
they left behind a treasure hidden
in one of the walls of the fort. Later on, during the thirty-year war
when Swedish army briefly occupied the area, a member of that
family who served as an officer with the Swedish army was able
to recover the treasure. Legend also has it that there used to be
an underground tunnel connecting this fort with another castle
about 3 km away, shown in the next picture.
The bust on the top of the column on the right is that of the
wife of the famous Czech nationalist writer Karel Havlicek Borovsky
of the 19th century. She was born in Svojsice.
The castle of Choltice, the largest structure in a small town
of less then 2000 people where I attended the elementary school.
When I was in grade two or three, we had classes in this castle
because of the lack of classrooms in the school building.
The view of the same castle from the other side showing a part
of the nice park surrounding the castle. Note that the pond is frozen
over but there is no snow on the ground. Such perfect conditions
for outdoor skating do occur there on many winters. On that
particular day, the ice was not yet thick enough for skating, though.
