Tajemné stezky - Cestou necestou za tajemstvím Hrubého Jeseníku – Kobza Miroslav (2015)

This Czech-language book explores Hrubý Jeseník, a remarkable mountain range on the border of Moravia and Silesia. These are proper mountains: high, rugged and sombre, yet beautiful and inviting. The landscape is both wild and enchanting, stretching from mountain meadows and deep forests to valleys with silvery streams. It includes quiet peat bogs and forbidding rocky crags shrouded in legends of witches and devils, as well as a region threaded with human history: old mining settlements, villages and towns that remember busy trade, beautiful châteaux, crumbling castles once occupied by robber governors, and places of pilgrimage where people sought salvation for themselves and their loved ones. Yet these mountains have also, to some extent, lost their memory. Few families have regarded the Jeseníky mountains as home for more than two generations, and many local people are still searching for their relationship with the landscape. Wandering through Hrubý Jeseník is easy, but truly getting to know it is reserved for those willing to endure hardship. They may be soaked to the skin, sink into deep snow, face winds full of icy needles, endure the summer sun and suffer from thirst. They must keep their eyes open and use all their senses to perceive what our ancestors left behind. Then perhaps the mighty Praděd will allow the misty curtain to part, revealing what the mountains conceal. That is what this book is about: not a tourist guide, but an invitation to discover a mysterious and beautiful region.