Again, after a half year we made trip to the mountains Jeseníky. Again with the same people, but this time with a little bit less slivovice (it doesn’t mean we didn’t have any).

Again fortress…

This time, there was a pleasant surprise from mister Grafik who brought us original sport packages of slivovice. This was really funny. The caps were untouched, so it really looked like he actually bought the ampuls. But slivovice was his. We really haven’t figured out how did he do it. But the shot in the morning helped, specially me since I slept just 2 hours that night. And the another shot helped as well, but to keep me warm later during the day.

Dája doesn’t fear anything. Not even -5 degrees.

Žira with Shám.

On the way to the ruine of the Branná castle.

Branná is a small village. Now almost without any life. in the past, it was a part of Sudety, area around the country borders where lived Germans. This area had to be quite rich with lot of industry. You can see that in some places. There are big houses even in the small villages. However, after WW2 Germans were withdrawn from the country, and they left villages mostly without life. Now this part is the poorest one in the whole country.

Door handle of the castle

View from the Branná castle

Church in Branná

On the way…

The forrest during the winter is beautiful.

Frozen forest

After half year, we stopped in one very small fortress again. And what a surprise! One window for gun was almost destroyed. And the work was very professional. It looked like somebody was repairing some other fortress, and he wanted some window in better condition, so he removed this one. But I really don’t know, because on the other side, only enthusiasts repair these fortresses, and I don’t believe they would destroy another one.

Beer inside one fortress.

However, because Sham sent us invitation email with title: Beer in the fortress, we had to drink one. [-;

Gun window in fortress

Drinking tea infront of one fortress

Tea with slivovice

As usually, here in Morava, we drink slivovice everywhere. Not only in ampules like at the beginning, but also on the way. You know, it was very cold, and tea was warm, and also slivovice gave us a small kick to keep us alive.

Fog

In the forest

Clear sky

At the end we came to see the cementery in Ostružná. I think that the idea to make the similar trip we did in the summer, but in the winter was a really great idea.

Cementery, again

This Jesus on the cross was really fascinating. All frozen, but really pieceful. We saw one more in Branná, and it was the same frozen, but this one is more poetic.

Jesus on the cross

At some tombs, you can feel the old spirit of such cementeries. At the ancient times, they were doing tombs with love, nicely decorated, with imagination. One example is this nice hearth.

Tomb with hearth

On the way home, we missed two trains. The first one in Ostružná, and the second one in Zábřeh. So we spent also a lot of time in the pub, specially in Hanušovice (where I was looking for the beer I had to leave in the summer at the train station because of train).

Rail track

Fortress on the side of the field

The second day of our trip to Jeseníky, we went to see the old border fortresses from the years 1937-1938. They were build to protect the republic from outside, and were supposed to be build at the whole borders of the former Czechoslovakia. However the fortresses line has never been finished, and now they are basically abandoned objects. However if you want, army sells some of them, and you can have really nice weekend house which can be quite safe, and stand some heavy bombarding… Good thing to have. Just repair one, build swimming pool on the roof, add barbed wire around, and that’s it!

Old cementery

The first big fortress

Small fortress in the forest

View to Šerák

Hanušovice

The top of one fortress

We could get into small fortresses. They are almost always open, but sadly all the big fortresses were closed. However, we found the way to one of them, so I can report that there is nothing interesting inside anymore. However, inside one fortress was also a museum, and I looked thru the gunport, and shot some pictures.

Inside one fortress was also a museum, and we looked thru gunport

Gunport

Warning, water drinkable only after boiling

View thru gunport

View thru gunport 2

Train to Ramzová

Jeseníky are the mountains about 50 kilometres on the north of Olomouc. I went there to small trip for three day with my friends. As you might imagine in the mountains it means hiking, lot of slivovice, and lot of fun. The first day we came we stopped by at the brewery in Hanušovice. That was such a good idea. Only poor driver… [-; We took some bottle with Šerák beer with us, and it was really worth. If you go around, step by!

Panorama on the top of Šerák

In the afternoon we went to hike to the mountain Keprník and Šerák (notice the similarity with the name of beer, and yes, we got that beer in the cottage on the top of the mountain).

Žira, Dája a Šáma with beers on the top of Šerák

On the top there was still snow, although outside of mountains it was around 30. And good time for snow battle. Who can do this in the middle of summer?! [-;

Dája throwing snow ball

Frozen grass

On the way to Keprník

Cat at the Šerák cottage

In the evening we were baking some sausages, and drinking slivovice. The second day we went to see some old border fortresses.

Looks like slivovice… [-;