Tábor

Tabor is located about 90km from Prague. It takes One hour and 34 minutes to get there by Train. A fairly easy trip and today was beautiful for the trip down.

The town was established in 1420 and was given a Biblical name - Tabor. The foundation of Tábor is connected with the name of Jan Hus, a great reformer of the Catholic Church. In 1437 after the Hussites were defeated, the town of Tabor was granted a royal charter by the Holy Roman Emperor and Czech King Sigismund of Luxembourg.

The River Luznice runs around the town and the town has its own Lake. Lake Jordán was built in 1492 as a potable water reservoir for the town. Today it is used mostly for recreation and one can see many row boats lying along its banks, just ready to be used as the warmer weather arrives.

Žižka Square is on the hill top and has a large Renaissance fountain and a monument to Jan Žižka of Trocnov. The Gothic Dean Church is the main focal point in the square and is visible from quite a distance since it is situated on the highest point of the town. The square also has an impressive late-Gothic Town-Hall which is perpendicular to the church.

Interestingly, there is an ingenious labyrinth of tunnels under the houses and streets in the centre. At the beginning of the 16th century people dug cellars under their houses and these were subsequently interconnected; a section of the tunnel system is even open to the public and can be entered from the Town Hall.

What I enjoyed most were the myriad of small cobblestone lanes leading in every direction of Zizkov square and original houses from the period when this was the only place to live.