Quote of the week
"Some old-fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat."
–Laura Ingalls Wilder
Hello,
Back home again, rather exhausted. It was around 30 degrees C (87F) during our last days and it was stuffy. Not the best weather for city sightseeing. On June 14, we took the ferry from Sweden to Świnoujście in Poland, and drove south. We were expected in Krakow around June 21, to watch our son Hannes play padel in the European games 2023 for Austria. As we had some days to spare we stopped here and there along the way. Not so much to see that interested us, until we came to the south of the country, towards the border to Czechia. Hilly areas and very beautiful. We drove over the border and stayed three days there in various campings. A few memories from these days.
Adršpach-Teplice National Park
Is this the best kept secret of Czechia? Maybe so, at least for foreigners. None of us had ever heard about it, and it is one of the most spectacular places we have seen. It almost started with a fiasco. We arrived in the morning to find a parking and visit the park from the main entrance. It turned out to be no parking spaces available and the tickets to the park was sold out. You have to order everything in advance, on line. You can imagine our disappointment. However, someone told us we could enter the park from the other side, at Teplice nad Metují, actually closer to the camping where we hade stayed over night. The car was turned around, we found a parking and could enter the park.
There are two distinct formations of the rocks; one easy accessible from the main entrance, and one from ‘our’ entrance. We started the hike and walked through beautiful paths, with trees partly protecting us from the sun and going towards the rock forest. There are amazing formations, rocks that looks like something you would recognise. They have named some of them like; Mayor and Mayoress, Eagle’s Nest, the Tooth and Devil’s Bridge, Caterpillar, Butcher’s Axe and the Guard Tower. Your own imagination is as good as anybody else’s. You walk over imaginable ‘squares’, into caves, through narrow passage ways and crevasses, into another world.
Going back we were advice to take a more scenic route to come to the other side of the park. It turned out to be quite a challenge. The path led up to the top of the hills and we hade to more or less climb at certain parts. Over stones and roots, high steps dug out in the earth, squeeze yourself through crevisses to come out on the other side. There was a point when I thought I will not make it, but a little bit of rest and some water kept me going. The scenery was amazing, light sunny patches, mixed with darker, undervegetation areas made this walk quite a surprise.
At the other end we enjoyed a different kind of rock forest and what we think was the gate which occurs in Narnia. It was partly filmed here. Just have to watch it again to see if we recognise anything. All in all the whole tour was only about 10 km, but it took us five hours. And … the car was parked at the other end of the park. Martin had offered to pick it up and I would wait. However, none of us had imagined that it would take such a long time to walk over the area. We chose the easy way out and took the train back to where we parked the car. Once there we changed into croc’s, walked over to one of the restaurants and had a meal.
The European Games 2023
I must admit I was not aware about these games before Hannes was going to attend. This year is the 3rd time they are organised, and they took place in Kraków. It is an international multi-sport event and it provides qualification opportunities for the participants, for the Olympic summer games that will be held in Paris, France in 2024. For the first time the padel sport is part of the games, although the sport as such will, probably, only be participating in the summer olympic in 2028 in Los Angeles.
It was a great challenge and opportunity for Hannes to participate in such games. The Austrian two teams was not very lucky with the draws, and both teams ended up meeting Portugal in their first matches. They were too good, but Hannes and his team mate played very well and it was a great, and fun, match to watch. We are so proud of him. Below a warming up video.
That’s all for this week, but more to come from our trip. Sightseeing in the beautiful city of Kraków with some exciting museums, coffee houses and restaurants.
On my blog this week
An excellent nonfiction by Florian Illies, connecting history in Europe in the 30s through a set of real life love stories:
Love in a Time of Hate: Art and Passion in the Shadow of War, 1929-39