Cechy (Czech Republic)

My trip to visit my family and friends was much too short and hectic. I brought back few photographs.

• Praha
• Old attic treasures
• Blanik

Praha was struck by the worst flood in some 500 years just a week before my arrival. Even though the water had receded and a clean up had already been well on the way, the damage to the Prague subway system and a pending static evaluation of some of the bridges prevented the city from going back to its usual business. It would take months and months before all of the subway service would be restored. Someone failed to close watertight seals in time, and other seals just failed under the pressure after the water got in. Despite the fact much of the city was not affected at all, I did not have time to exploit its great photographic potential. Some other time.

Post-flood postcard	Door

Old stable window	Lock	Light switch	Old documents	Russian textbook	Cobweb reflections
Window	Table	Light

My favorite hike from Vlasim has to be to Blanik, a small mountain some 10km by trail from the southern outskirts of the town. A legend has it that an army dating back to St Wenceslaus sleeps inside Blanik. When the Czech nation is in the worst of trouble, the army will come out to save it. We have been through quite tough times and they are still sleeping. Apparently, things can still get worse. According to the legend, there is a secret passage to the inside that opens once a year on the Good Friday. Whoever enters finds that days fly like years there.

The trail from Vlasim passes through some nice countryside before entering a forest of the Blanik protected area. A good bit of Blanik is covered by a beech forest, which makes for nice colors especially in the fall, and it is a welcome change from mostly monocultural spruce forests found elsewhere in the area. There is a watch tower rising above the forest on the top (elevation 638m), and stony remnants of a long gone settlement.

Straziste	Dawn	Morning mist	Calm	Misty silhouettes	Sluice gate
Rural no more	It is all about light	Shingles	Watchtower on Blanik	Old tree	Slug