The town of Nový Bydžov is located about 27 km west of Hradec Králové in the district of Hradec Králové. The town consists of eight local parts – Nový Bydžov, Chudonice, Stará Skřeněř, Nová Skřeněř, Skochovice, Vysočany, Zábědov, Žantov. Approximately 6,900 inhabitants live here. Originally a royal town mentioned in sources in 1305, it was founded on a regular geometric outline and became an important centre of Pocidlině.

Town and port, 13 thousand inhabitants, 36 km northwest of Pula. Rovinj is a very popular resort, which forms the center of a larger hotel agglomeration that grows to the north and south of Rovinj. Due to its typical Mediterranean ancient appearance, Rovinj is one of the most picturesque towns not only in Istria, but also on the entire Adriatic coast. It is also considered to be the city that has most clearly preserved its Venetian character.

The old, extremely picturesque original part of the city is located on a small peninsula (originally it was an island, which was only connected to the mainland by an embankment in the 18th century), the new part is growing on the mainland in all directions.

Two ports, the inner one is small, completely protected. To the north is the bay of Valdibora, to the south is Južna luka and Veštar. Rovinj stands out for its extremely rich subtropical vegetation and nice forest (pine). There are many small islands in front of the coast, only some of them are inhabited.

The local agriculture is focused on viticulture. The prized variety Malvazija is mainly grown. Fishing takes advantage of the local good fishing grounds, there is also a fish processing plant in the area. Beverage production and tobacco processing.

Zvolen is a Slovak district town in the Banská Bystrica Region, 18 km south of Bánská Bystrica in the south of the Zvolen Basin at the confluence of the Hron and Slatina rivers. In 2017, over 42,600 inhabitants lived here, making Zvolen the 12th largest Slovak city.

Trenčín is a regional and district city in the west of Slovakia on the Váh River, 110 km northeast of Bratislava, 12 km from the border with the Czech Republic. In 2015, it had a population of around 55,700 and was the 9th largest city in Slovakia. It is one of the oldest Slovak cities

The history of the former royal town of Uherské Hradiště is rich and dates back to the distant past. Mild climatic conditions and fertile soil in the floodplain of the Morava River predestined these places for early settlement, which is documented here as early as the Early Stone Age. At the crossroads of trade routes leading from north to south and from west to east, an ingenious island fortress system was built in the 8th and 9th centuries. Three originally deserted islands on the Morava River were inhabited by Slavic people at the beginning of the 9th century, with the key role played by the so-called St. George’s Island. St. George’s Island, named after the Chapel of St. George. George, which stood on it. The settlement area in the area of today’s Old Town, Uherské Hradiště and Sady undoubtedly belonged to the centres of Great Moravia. The administration of power, craft production and trade, as well as the religious and cultural sphere were concentrated here. After the demise of the Great Moravian Empire, the importance of this centre disappeared.

In the 13th century, southeastern Moravia became the target of frequent enemy raids. Enemy troops penetrated the border paths and fords and plundered the fertile Moravian land. At that time, the strategic importance of the island in the Morava River increased again. Not only the population suffered from enemy raids, but also the Velehrad monastery, founded at the beginning of the 13th century by the Cistercian order. Abbot Hartlib therefore turned to the monarch through the Bishop of Olomouc with a request to ensure protection. The royal councillors, together with the Bishop of Olomouc Bruno, chose the island on which the already mentioned Chapel of St. George stood as the most suitable place to establish the fortress. George and several fishermen’s huts. A charter of King Přemysl Otakar II from October 15, 1257 testifies that the town was founded on island land belonging to the Velehrad monastery in order to protect not only the convent, but especially the nearby land border.

The inhabitants of the new town were settlers from the nearby market villages, the royal Kunovice and the monastery Veligrad (Old Town). This double settlement predetermined the appearance of the town, in which two market settlements were established in the immediate vicinity, each with a square. The basic plan of the town probably followed the original Slavic settlement, in its core the characteristic medieval geometrism was observed, at the edges the streets were adapted to the city fortifications. Both squares were built on a rectangular ground plan, and each corner of the square also opened at the right angle of the street. The exception was today’s Prostřední Street, which connected the two squares. The plot located in the middle of this street was chosen in 1296 for the construction of the first town hall building.

The newly founded town did not have a fixed name at the beginning, it was not named in the founding charter. In the second charter, issued in 1258, it is called Nový Velehrad. However, this name was abandoned at the end of the 13th century. In 1294, it was named Hradiště for the first time. Period sources often distorted the name in dialect, e.g. Hradisst, Hradisscze, the Latin and German Radisch developed from the Czech name. The adjective “Hungarian” first appeared in 1587, but it was used more often at the end of the 17th and in the 18th century.

The new town, which was to fulfil economic and military goals, was granted a number of privileges by the ruler, including the right to hold two weekly markets and one annual market (from the middle of the 14th century, a second annual market was added to it, which made Hradiště one of the towns with the most developed market regime in the kingdom). The holding of markets was of considerable economic importance for craftsmen who moved to the town from Kunovice and the Old Town. Other privileges were the mile right, prohibiting taverns in the vicinity of the town, the right to mint coins (which, however, probably remained unused), and in the field of justice, the so-called Brno law. The town was given three landed villages and allowed the use of municipal land in Kunovice and the Old Town.

The long-distance road leading to Hungary was relocated so that it passed through the city. After the bridge over the Morava River, it passed through the Old Town Gate through both marketplaces and continued through the Kunovice Gate. In order for the city to be able to fulfill its strategic – military mission, it had to be fortified. The oldest fortification was wooden, it consisted of a rampart with a palisade. To improve the defense system, the rulers provided the city with tax reliefs and contributions in the 1st half of the 14th century. From the middle of the 14th century, the construction of stone walls began, the appearance of which evolved. In the 15th century, the town was surrounded by a wreath of stone fortifications, which were substantially rebuilt after the end of the Czech-Hungarian wars at the end of the 15th century. Also in the following period, especially in the 17th century, during the Thirty Years’ War, work on the construction and improvement of the walls continued. In its final form, the fortification system of the town consisted of an internal stone wall with seven towers (three had a circular floor plan, four rectangular), a moat and an outer stone wall with bastions.

In the Middle Ages, a total of three gates led to the town, two of which were located on the already mentioned long-distance road from Hungary. In archival materials, both gates are first mentioned in 1362 in connection with the collection of tolls and bridge fees. Only the third gate, formerly called the Back, Burnt (after the fire of 1609) and sometimes the Royal Gate, which we now know as Matthias’s, has survived to this day.

Over the centuries, Uherské Hradiště has undergone a long and complex historical development, disrupted by constant raids and fights with the enemies of the Czech state. In the 16th century, it resisted the onslaught of the Cuman hordes, in the 17th century it resisted military clashes during the Thirty Years’ War, at the turn of the following century it resisted Turkish invasions and in the 1st half of the 18th century it was the hardships associated with the Prussian campaign. In its entire history, the town was conquered only once. It happened in 1742 by Prussian troops. It ceased to fulfil the function of a fortress four decades later, but it remained within the original walls for a long time. The gradual growth of the city outside the walls began at the end of the 1st half of the 19th century, and more significant changes occurred in the 1970s, when new construction was aimed at expanding the ground plan of the town.

In the 90s of the 19th century, a number of important buildings were built, e.g. the Palace of Justice, the New Town Hall, and F. Palacký Square. In the first decade of the 20th century, construction activity was focused on the construction of several industrial enterprises and the completion of the units that had begun. The favourable development was interrupted only by the First World War. In the interwar period, the town recorded a significant increase in construction activity. It responded favourably to the suggestions of the architectural avant-garde of the time, represented by important architects (Vladimír Zákrejs, Bohumil Fuchs). Both of them made a significant contribution to the architectural appearance of the city by drawing up conceptual development plans.

The town is rich in cultural traditions, with textile, stonemasonry and engineering industries, and lies at the southern foot of Hořický Chlum in the picturesque landscape of the Giant Mountains.

It was thanks to the stonemasonry tradition and the rich sandstone reserves in the area that the well-known sculpture and stonemasonry school was founded in Hořice in 1884, whose professors and pupils decorated the town with many statues and monuments. Sculptors Mořic Černil, Quido Kocián, Ladislav Šaloun, Josef Wágner and many others worked in Hořice. On the top of Gothard, where there is a monumental cemetery portal and the first statue of Jan Žižka of Trocnov in Bohemia by the sculptor Pavel Jiříček, we can find a collection of Baroque and modern art in the open air from the so-called sculpture symposia held since 1966.
  
The dominant feature of the town is the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary by the famous Baroque architect Kilián Ignác Dientzenhofer and the neighboring pseudo-Gothic town hall, in the vicinity of which the Baroque Marian Column was restored in 2005. Sandstone lookout tower visible from afar

Other sights include the building of the Municipal Museum, the Gallery of Sculptures, the Smetana Gardens with a unique collection of sculptures by famous sculptors, the popular and frequently visited natural swimming pool Dachovy in the summer season with its First Republic architecture and the sun spa with a sandy beach and playground. 

The valuable Jewish cemetery with the oldest tombstones from the 18th century testifies to the local once large Jewish community. The nearby Baroque Jewish synagogue today serves the liturgical purposes of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church.

The city of Hořice became famous at home and abroad for baking the highly sought-after Hořice tubes, the patent for which the local original production is under the protection of UNESCO, as well as the textile production of handkerchiefs or the motorcycle competition “300 Turns of Gustav Havel” and the veteran race “Czech Tourist Trophy”.

The musical tradition of Hořice is reflected not only in the activities of several local music associations, but also in the organization of a series of regular summer concerts, the so-called Hořice Music Festival or autumn jazz meetings “Jazz Nights”, usually with international participation.

The picturesque and varied surroundings of Hořice are interwoven with a dense network of hiking and cycling trails, the local newly built sports facility offers year-round swimming in an indoor pool, squash, sauna with massages and skittles. Tourists or visitors can enjoy a varied network of accommodation and traditional restaurants and hospitality. Come and hang out!

Náchod Castle is a large building complex with five courtyards located on the border between the Czech Republic and Poland. From a Gothic castle, founded in the middle of the 13th century, it was rebuilt into a Renaissance chateau at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. It acquired its present architectural appearance during  reconstructions and interior modifications in the 17th and 18th centuries.  Among the most important owners of Náchod were the Smiřický family of Smiřice, the Italian family of Piccolomini, the Curonian family and the German princely family of Schaumburg-Lipp

Between Karlovy Vary and Sokolov lies the town of Chodov, whose roots date back to the 12th century. In the Sokolov region, it is one of the places with the oldest historically documented beginnings. The great prosperity of Chodov falls into the period when the town was part of the land property of the Cistercian monastery in Waldsassen. This monastery significantly participated in the organization of German colonization, which during the 12th and 13th centuries laid the foundations of the centuries-long stabilized ethnic composition of the local settlement.

In the middle of the 14th century, Chodov passed into the possession of the nobility. In the process of fragmentation of feudal ownership, the once unified administration of the Chodov estate was divided into two parts and separate localities of Lower and Upper Chodov were created. These, together with their owners and residents, became parts of the complex feudal system of Loket Castle, which lasted until the Thirty Years’ War.

At that time, the divided Chodov in the property of the Plankenheimfamily was temporarily united. The vast majority of architectural and historical monuments have been preserved from their period , among which the Baroque Church of St. Lawrence, built in the years 1725-1733, stands out.
The original agricultural character of Chodov was significantly changed in the process of industrialization, using rich mineral deposits, especially coal and ceramic clays, in the vicinity of Chodov. From the end of the 18th century, brown coal mining developed here and in 1811 porcelain production began, which has survived to this day. Engineering, construction production and glassmaking also contributed to the further development of the town.

The economic development of the entire area was the impulse for the transformation of Chodov into an industrial town. It was preceded in April 1869 by the administrative merger of the villages of Dolní and Horní Chodov into one unit and the proclamation of the new village as a township. By the decision of Emperor Franz Joseph I of September 30 , 1894, Chodov was promoted to a town. Soon after, Emperor Franz Joseph I granted the town the coat of arms of the town as a symbol. By the beginning of the 20th century , Chodov had grown into an economic centre of the industrial area between Sokolov and Karlovy Vary with a rich social and cultural life.

The consequences of the Second World War brought changes in the composition of the population of Chodov. People of Czech, Slovak and other nationalities came here to replace the evicted majority of the German inhabitants to participate in the development of the foundations of a modern city. The face of the town was significantly changed by prefabricated construction, which in the 1950s and 1960s was a quick solution to the need for housing for the influx of workers into the newly established Chodos engineering plant and the Vřesová Fuel Combine.

This rapid growth of the city has brought not only conditions for its development, but also a number of problems that the democratic leadership of the city has been gradually solving . Since the first free municipal elections in 1990, the results have already been evident, including the construction of a new town hall building (1997), small-sized apartments in Železný dvůr (2001), the reconstruction of Staroměstská Street (2002), an apartment building in Nerudova Street (2003) and the construction of a modern sports hall (2012). School buildings and school facilities are also gradually undergoing reconstruction or overhaul, and the city is also investing in social, health and sports facilities.

Today’s Chodov, with 14,500 inhabitants , has all the prerequisites to build on its historical successes and traditions, it is not only an important transport crossroads, but also a dynamic city with plans in which it remembers the city’s inhabitants and visitors.