ARTISTS AND ROCKS

Litomyšl was the birthplace of the composer Smetana whose house is still there.  He is commemorated in the annual International Music Festival and by a statue in the Market Square – Smetana Square – which also has the obligatory restored Burghers’ houses.

There is also a castle and several churches as well as some other interesting and curious buildings.  The High School has unusual decorations around the roof …

… and a house in Vachal Lane (named after the local artist Josef Vachal) is decorated with copies of some of his wood-cuts from a murder story written in 1924.

In Smetana Square there is a temporary building made of highly polished stainless steel.

It is called the “Invisible Tower” presumably because the reflections in its surface make it seem to merge into its surroundings.  It is designed as a three storey building which could be used as anything from a garden shed to a holiday home.

Sculptures by another local artist – Olbram Zoubek pop up all over the place as well as in a permanent exhibition in the castle.  Adam and Eve, for example, are to be found on the front of a house in Smetana Square.

From Litomyšl we headed north to an extraordinary area of sandstone rock formations at Teplice and Adrspach. 

In these areas, once under the sea, the rock has been eroded into dramatic towers and pinnacles very popular with climbers from many countries.  If you look carefully you’ll see two climbers on and near the top of this rock …

… while this one was attempting an overhang that he was finding rather difficult.  He eventually fell off and we last saw him swinging on the end of his rope!

Some of the formations have been given names inspired by their shape.  Here are the elephant and the owl.

We were able to climb stairs and ladders to the top of one pinnacle where there used to be a wooden fort.

Both Teplice and Adrspach have been very popular with ‘earth-bound’ visitors as well as climbers since the 18^th century, among them the poet Goethe who visited them in 1790.  To accommodate them trails have been constructed through the sometimes very narrow gorges between the formations

And at Adrspach a very pretty lake now occupies a former sandpit.

And that was really the end of our visit to Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.  We had a superb time with, mostly, lovely weather and a great welcome from the local people.  We didn’t have time to visit as many places, especially in the Czech Republic, as we had hoped but we can always go back another day.  We will be in UK until after Christmas when we head off again to “fresh fields and pastures new”.  Do join us.