dux (duchcov), sudetes, CZ

what an interesting (it means not really nice, you see?) break in duchcov (dux) on the way to erzgebirge (saxony). well, we've planned to stop in the nearby spa teplice, but we were already to hungry + needed a break + have seen a sign on the road about a castle in dux, so we changed our minds and stopped here ... 

well, dux as well as the whole sudetes (sudeten/sudety) region, especially in the northwest czech republic, have seen their best days long time ago, if you asked me ... there was not much built-up after the germans were expelled at the end of WWII and the downfall is omnipresent everywhere. even the originally nice castle + church need thoroughgoing restauration or at least a fairly paint from outside ... anyway, the small city center was easy to reach, with free parking at the town hall square (maybe because it was sunday), the castle and the most restaurants were closed, but we have found a bistro ... i've ordered 'svickova', what in my opinion shoud be a piece of beef like a steak in some cream sauce, but it was a mincemeat (hackfleisch) instead ... it somehow fits to the overall downfall of the region, doesnt it?

as we stayed in saxony at the german-czech border 1 week, we later came twice to the hunter restaurant hubert in mikulov (niklasberg) from the czech side of the ore mountains (erzgebirge, krusne hory) and enjoyed the food, friendly personnel and the tasty gambrinus beer from pilsen (since 1869).

let's enjoy few camera impressions 😊

dux castle - schloss dux - zamek duchcov. closed.

cafe casanova? yes, giacomo casanova stayed few days in dux.

town hall's square

museum. closed.

+

= the idea how we came here meets dux's beautiful coat of arms😆

restaurant. closed.

some old nice stuff aka palace from outside. closed.

some old nice stuff aka palace from inside. closed.

the 2nd church at a small lake, but no houses around => ???

private houses? nice.

castle's park from behind the castle #1

castle's park from behind the castle #2 => arts?

castle's park from behind the castle #3 => so decayed, so sad 😭

what a nice building! what a nice clouds!

ruins in the northwestern czech republic

back to the market square

town hall (left) + todays administration office (right)

what a nice facade ... hey, you!😃

one of the many industrial ruins in the northwestern czech republic

lets jump over the ore mountains (erzgebirge, krusne hory) back to germany

pension + restaurant hubert in mikulov (niklasberg)

the alkaline (basic) beer gambrinus, named by the king of beers🍺

btw, is gambrinus the brother of bacchus (dionysus), the god of wines?🍷

good-bye, hubert 🍻

when in the border area, then it is interesting to study some history abt the nations in the region => here the nations in czechoslovakia 1921. source: wikipedia.DE

germans in czechoslovakia. the dark red + blue areas contain german population of over 70%. the black ones in slovakia where my parents were born even 90%-100%. yes, the germans lived nice with and among all other nations from 13th century till 1945 => so sad ... source: wikipedia.DE

germans in CZ, 1930. hmmm, prague (prag, praha) below 20%? source: wikipedia.DE

industry in the northwestern czech republic (CZ)

brown coal, open pit district, chomutov (komotau) - most (brüx), CZ

litvinov (oberleutensdorf), chemical industry in the northwestern CZ

just very few more pictures here.

freiberg, erzgebirge, saxony, DE

we have divided our trip from munich DE to lodz PL approximately by two. huh? what does it mean? and what was the result? easy! a nice stop over in brand-erbisdorf + freiberg in the UNESCO heritage region of erzgebirge (ore mountains), saxony. in addition, we've visited my cousin + his family who live in freiberg for many years. mathematics is so useful in every day life, you see? 

my cousin's family like freiberg and erzgebirge a lot. probably because the erzgebirge is the same kind of mountains as our native slovakian ore mountains (slovenske rudohorie) in eastern slovakia. okay, the slovakian ore mountains are more than 200m higher than the german-czech ore mountains (erzgebirge DE aka krusne hory CZ). just look, the highest mountain called keilberg (klinovec) is 1243m in CZ vs. stolica 1476m in SK. on top, even the old mining tradition here and there is almost identical. the traditional black miners uniforms look same same too, if you asked me. is there anything completely different? yes, the erzgebirge is famous for its funny rotating christmas pyramids and luminous christmas stars 💥, which we do not have in slovakia. of course, except the home version of the pyramids which we've had during xmas on our kitchen table. btw, the heat of candles was the source of energy which forced our pyramid to rotate 😄

town hall and the (electrically) rotating christmas pyramid in freiberg, saxonia

few more insights? let's focus on time passing by, should i?

• our hotel brandner hof next to the town hall in brand-erbisdorf used to be city's traditional and only hotel. it is an indian restaurant and indian operated accomodation today
• the mining university in freiberg was established in 1765 and is the oldest still operating technical mining university in the world. nevertheless, the old mining university in slovakia in the silver city and UNESCO heritage banska stiavnica / schemnitz was established in 1735 and is 30 years older. even older are the mining schools in potosi (bolivia) and kongsberg (norway). well, all of them are not active any more ... don't worry! on the other hand, the neighbor city of schemnitz in SK is the gold city kremnitz. they've the oldest still operating mint in the world (established 1328, like the currently most popukar brewery augustiner 🍺 in munich). even if the mint in freiberg was most likely established in 1156–1190 and is almost 200 years older, it is not active any more. that's what i call corrective justice between regions 😊. in order to respect history, we cannot say corrective justice between nations in this case, because the slovak & czech ore mountains were settled by germans for many hundred centuries as well, you know? anyway, my grandfather father's side was born in kremnitz (kremnica) and his sister worked at the old mint in kremnitz for many years till her retirement.
• freiberg's castle freudenstein (rock of happiness) accommodates an open air ice skating ring in winter time today
• the nikolai church has a beautiful coat of arms at the main entrance since 1752. not with the regular 3 towers, but with 5 of them 💃
• should i mention the timber-framed castle-like schwanenschlößchen (little swan castle) here? there is a picture below, so you can decide, my dears ...

anything else about this beautiful region?

• schwarzenberg, erzgebirge, DE
• komotau, erzgebirge, CZ  ... you'll find also 1 picture about marienberg, DE there
• bad schandau + bautzen + dresden + castle pillnitz + radeberg + chemnitz. why mentioned here? it's just to cover half of saxony and to create my private saxon link library, my dears 😇
• btw, i've been skiing at the highest mountain of the erzgebirge keilberg (klinovec), 1243m, CZ, many years ago when visiting karlsbad (karlovy vary). unfortunately, i've no blogs from that time and thus cannot share any personal insights with you. the same is true for the city of wurzen south of leipzig, where i've had a summer job in a huge foodstuff factory in 1986 or 1987 during the cold war + socialist block times. yes, it was allowed for czechoslovak people to visit eastern germany (DDR) without any restrictions and even to work as students for few weeks in the school holidays months. what was my job there? as my german was almost the same then as today after 30 years in munich, i was choosen to be the interpreter for all 3-4 slovak students groups there. it was a wonderful time for us 16-18 years old students in the DDR. the axle bearing factory in pößneck (thuringia) a year before was fine as well. especially because i've found my first girlfriend, heike 💖. i liked especially the city of leipzig and its völkerschlachtdenkmal monument which reminds people about how deadly a war is. just imagine, approximately 600,000 soldiers from more then a dozen nations fought only 4 days 16.-19. october 1813 (main battles on 16th and 19th) with or against napoleon in probably world's single biggest battle till that time => 92,000 dead or wounded. i do not understand, why puts wikipedia the death and wounded numbers together, for me are that two completely different states of a human life. in any case, many killed men out there in the fields around leipzig, you understand? unfortunately, the western block and its small dirty north atlantic terror organization (NATO) forgot what war is and tries to stoke up WW3 in ukraine by delivering sheer endless military equipment, money + intelligence services to ukraine in that proxy war between usa and russia. so sad 😕. anyway, i've never managed to visit leipzig again.

=> lessons learned? if possible, visit both, the german-czech ore mountains + the slovak ore mountains (they were called hungarian ore mountains (ungarisches erzgebirge) in german before WWI as slovakia was part of hungary then) + enjoy interesting mining cities / hills / museums.

enjoy few of my pictures from saxony:

 (our) hotel brandner hof, brand-erbisdorf, erzgebirge, saxony

crazy! left is a miner in front of the town hall in brand-erbisdorf, DE. 

right is a praying miner in front of the mining museum in göllnitz, SK.

town hall (rathaus) in brand-erbisdorf

train station in brand-erbisdorf

brand-erbisdorf then and now

good bye, brand-erbisdorf (you see the miner statue on the left side?)

entering freiberg, erzgebirge, saxony

castle freudenstein, freiberg, erzgebirge, saxony

they've found two elements of the periodic system at the mining university

(indium and germanium)

all silver mined was supposed to be delivered to the local mint (münze)

town hall (rathaus) + the xmas pyramid, freiberg, erzgebirge, saxony

freiberg's coat of arms at the nikolaikirche since 1752

schwanenschlößchen, freiberg, erzgebirge, saxony, DE

good-bye freiberg 🍀

source: the wikipedia page about freiberg, erzgebirge, saxony, DE

bautzen, saxony

more pictures here.