Day 7 - Žleby and the fountain

Saturday morning and we finally had a lie in. Which here means getting up at 8 instead of 7 - aka still shattered!

Castle Žleby 

After a speedy breakfast - still bread, cheese and ham, sometimes with a yoghurt and one time even cereal! - we got on the coach that would take us to a castle with maybe the best name: Žleby (pronounced j from jam + lebby: jlebby. Hours of fun.)
The castle of Žleby is in a very small village about an hour's drive from Poděbrady and doesn't contain much aside from it's pretty castle on the hill. In, my mind the castle is very fairytale-esc, with lots of towers and archways and beautiful views. 

One of the many archways

One tower in particular has to be the place where Repunzel was set, it's just too good to be true! You can imagine her prince at the bottom shouting to her, and her hair tumbling out of the tiny window... 
The castle has been rebuilt and rebuilt many times over the years, so features many architectural styles, as each generation came and added to it. Originally it was built as a Gothic fortress before1289, then was rebuilt by after the Hussite war in the 15th Century. The final reconstruction was in the mid 1800s when it was developed to be used as a very fancy and glorified hunting lodge. 

GIANT BIRD

Around Žleby castle is the white deer park and falconry, which holds lots of massive birds of prey and beautiful white deer - both of which were very posy and happy for you to take their photo!

Such trendy deer

We got back from Žleby in the late afternoon and had a rest before heading out to dinner. Looking at rooms filled with armour and swords can really take it out of you... 
After dinner we all fancied a walk so went towards park in Poděbrady for a twilight stroll. 
In the centre of the park we found that the big fountain was all lit up and about to do some sort of fancy firework display, so we sat down with our cameras and watch as more and more lit up water was thrown into the air. Sounds lame but it was very cool!

The fountain at Žleby