Orlické hory - introduction

Introduction

O r l i c k é h o r y - the Eagle Mountains - are an indivisible part of the mountain fortifications that form a natural border of the Czech basin. They belong to the Sudeten system - Orlický hřbet (Eagle Ridge), which is about a thousand metres above sea level, is the highest part of the Central Sudetenland. It is narrow, compact ridge with deep-cut valleys of the Divoká (Wild) and Tichá (Quiet) Orlice rivers to the south-east.

The highest mountain of the range is Velká Deštná (Rain Mountain) - 1,115 metres above sea level.

Map of Czech Republic

Dreamy melancholy of deep summer forests
and ghostlike foggy autumn mountain edges,
Sparkling white of first snowdrop and snowflake florets on Bukačka
Dozy lazy days of highland villages and hamlets in the summer fall
Mysterious beauty of craggy valleys
Coloury contort silhouettes of aged beech trees when a smell of August is felt on hayfields
Mouldering trunks under Komár
Abandoned stone in a meadow, presentient long past life in the place where a house, a village used to stay
Lonesome fruit tree by the roadside
Eternal, moss-grown saint's statue in a hillside
Incomprehensible and ungraspable genius loci of that place......

That is how I was granted to perceive and cognize the Land of Orlické Mountains.

Getting inspired to come and see? Just do it. It's up to you....

Thanks to

Radka Holendová, for lending a lot of materials about Orlické hory, which were a valuable source for me. Mr. Holenda, for lending old postcards from Orlické hory.

Special thanks to Mrs. Mátlová for translation to English.

Postcards

Major part of old postcards is from the collection of Mr. Holenda from Rokytnice. They are marked (H).

Postcard marked (Z) are from the collection of Mr. Richard Zakopal. A part of this collection is accessible on web - Monochrome magic of old postcards.