Rallye Boží Bojovníci IV
Somehow, spring completely caught me off guard this year, and the Rallye Boží Bojovníci didn’t take place at its traditional early-spring date.
Better late than never…
And so, at the end of September, armed with stickers - an indispensable part of our rally - I set off by train to Tomek’s place, where the Impreza has now taken up residence.
This edition was a return to the roots of the Boží Bojovníci, to the borderlands of Czechia, Poland and Germany, stretching from Teplice nad Metují to Dresden.
We arrive in Adršpach as the first visitors of the day, and not without a good reason: the narrow, winding roads are exactly the sort of thing the Impreza likes best. The early start pays off, and we practically have the place to ourselves. The weather decides to play along too, shifting from ominous mists concealing the spirit of Gelfrad von Stercz to glorious autumn sunshine.
Every time I visit the Czech Republic, I find myself thinking that there is something deeply appealing about that country. At first glance, Poland and the Czech Republic seem very much alike. We are sharing a border, a region, and much of our history. And yet I can’t shake the feeling that our respective fates were shaped by two entirely different currents of history.
In Poland, you can still sense the Soviet imprint - the trace of Russian domination, almost ingrained beneath the surface, the organisation of public space, that deep-rooted mistrust of the East. In Czechia, I don’t feel the same thing. Instead, I sense the legacy of the empire: Habsburg order. It’s as though that Central European character, that bourgeois culture, that continuity of the society developed over centuries within a multinational monarchy, were still there, intact.
You may have your feet up on a bench, soaking up the sun, but you can still feel the empire:
Our next stop was Hřensko and Pravčická brána.
Our adventure came to an end in Dresden, a city that, like few others in this part of Europe, bears the scars of history. And yet, with a stubbornness and no small degree of elegance, strives to preserve its former glory. This was quite a surprise to me, a troglodyte freshly emerged from beneath a rock, in the Subcarpathian backwoods.
Until next time!