Relaxing in Rusava

After the wedding we headed to Dita's family cottage.  It was built by her grandfather, which is very common for that era, since travel to non-communist countries was limited.  The cottage is super cozy, and we were surrounded by beautiful green lush hillsides. 

Dinner out with Standa and Dita close to their cottage in Rusava.



hanging out at the cottage

After relaxing on Sunday, Standa and Dita took us to Ruznov, a reconstruction of a Moravian town circa the 1600s from some original buildings that were moved to the town and some that were built in the original style. 



The church in Ruznov, everything was made of wood

We met Dita's sister, Ivona and family and another friend for lunch and went to check out the home their friends are building (pictured on the far right with their son). 

Here is the whole gang



 Then we drove up to top of the hill and hiked up to see the Radegast, a mythical figure that protected this region against invaders.


Jon with the Radegast.



Standa giving little Petr a ride (Ivona's son)



The gorgeous forests of moravia in the background

 
After hiking around, we headed back to cabin for our last night in Moravia.  We cooked up some delicious food and went to bed full and happy. Standa and Dita are such great hosts and were so generous to let us stay with them.  As we have experienced before on this trip, being able to stay with people who know the area so nice, we never would have discovered Ruznov on our own. 

Jon and Standa grilling up some mushroms, chicken and camembert...yum!

On Tuesday morning we woke up early and hit the road finding our way south all the way to Northern Italy, where we spent the night with Jon's cousin and her husband in Vicenza.  Today we are going to check out Venice and then head to the Alps, then back to Prague on Thursday.  Much more to come...