Domazlice

The Chods were villagers of eleven settlements around Domazlice granted the duty of guarding the Bohemian border with Bavaria and, with it, privileges - freedom from serfdom, their own courts, the right to bear arms - held from the medieval period. When the Lomikar family tried to abolish them in the seventeenth century the Chods went to law and then to revolt; their leader Jan Sladky Kozina was hanged in 1695 and became a national figure through Alois Jirasek's novel Psohlavci. The Chod tradition of bagpipes, painted eggs, embroidery and dialect is still alive and the Chod festival each August is one of the larger folk events in the country. The town has a long arcaded square, a round church tower of the thirteenth century that leans noticeably and is climbable, and a castle holding the Chod museum.

What you actually see

• A leaning round tower - thirteenth-century, climbable, over the arcaded square.
• The Chod tradition - bagpipes, embroidery and dialect still in use.
• The August Chod festival - one of the larger folk gatherings in the country.
• The Chod museum - in the castle, on the privileges and the revolt.

When to go

May to September; August for the festival. A day.

Honest expectations

Festival weekend fills the town and accommodation. The tower closes in bad weather. Museums shut on Mondays. Outside the festival the folk tradition is in the museum rather than the street.

Nearby

Cesky les is west; Horsovsky Tyn is north.