LES MONTAGNES SERBES

OD SRPSKIH PLANINA

Family memories

In August 2002 we popped over to the Czech Republic to mate Veca with Taras. Stepanka and Andras received us again cordially. The mating succeeded, but while waiting to repeat it 2 days later, we had the occasion to visit the Czech cities. This time I received a duty from my 90 years old mother, to go to another known thermal spa, in Frantiskove Lazne (in German Franzensbad) and finding there her native house. Mom had a black and white picture and she described me that her house was just across the small Russian church. My grandfather from mother’s side was a doctor balneologist, later Professor of balneology at the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade. He had his house, his practice and his patients in Franzensbad. From eight children that he had with my Russian grandmother, the last six and my mother, next to the last, were born in this house. They remained there until 1920, when they moved to Belgrade.

We easily found the Russian church in Frantiskove Lazne, but the house across, which by its localization it had to be the one that we were seeking for, was not the same as the one on the old picture. Not only the colour of the facade was not the same, but the facade was different. On the old picture, on the side there were large windows with many small panes, the house in front of us had a yellow and white facade, in the place of the windows there were loggias. I photographed this Villa Anna, which currently belonged to the spa institution buildings, from all the angles. I peeped in the splendid park which was behind the house and in which rhododendrons was flowering, and then we visited the railway station and the thermal installations, Casino and others.

Everything was so clean and so calm. It is only when we got back in Belgium, when comparing the new pictures with the old one, that I noticed that the facade of the house was modified and that it was indeed the native house of my mother.

Besides this thermal spa, we walked in Klasterec, the city in which Stepanka has her veterinary cabinet. It is a small city at the edge of the Ohra River. The main square is rather small.

The greatest attraction is the Castle, currently the museum of the chinaware and its park. The park is actually a botanical garden with splendid and sometimes rare species of trees, sometimes several hundreds of years old. Below the Castle, the park goes down towards the river. The collection of the chinaware is very beautiful. It is the tradition of this area, and even when you cross the border with Germany there are also chinaware factories and museums. We visited a store of chinaware near a factory and brought back a souvenir.

At the Polgar family I photographed the young Murko, who was then 5 months as well as a very beautiful litter of Bigor and Lara, 7 weeks old. It concerns Bigor with whom we mated our Seka in 1999, but without success.

On the insistence of the Polgar family, we remained one more day to take part at a barbecue party with many guests, mainly of the world of Sarplaninac.

Also Mr. Sidak came, whom we already met during the previous years, on various exhibitions, with the sister of Murko, called Murka.