May 11 & May 12 - Driving Thru Poland to Glass towns and finally Jablonec nad Nisou.

We woke up to start the day off with breakfast at Hades Hotel. Except we found out that they close breakfast at 9am and I was 6 minutes late. They were kind enough to make us something to eat. Then off we drove to get thru Poland today.

 

Polish Money- it just looks so pretty.

 Lovely country Czech Republic, we started driving along narrow mountainous roads and through valleys with cows and farm animals sprinkled throughout, and passing through little villages with Czech sounding names. Very quaint. Very rural.

Lovely countryside. 

Finally we arrived in a small town called Piecovice with an old glassworks named Julia. They offered tours which we took of the glass hut, etching and painting rooms and of course the gift shop. Very beautiful glass production using colored glass.

 These are the historical pieces the have to show us.

And this is what they are making in production.

J-ME is drawing the line onto a glass, it will later be etched.

Continuing the drive to Czech Republic we drove through Sklareska Poreba, another glass town, also very picturesque, which was 6 kilometers from the Czech border and Harrechov, which is also a glass town, in Czech Republic.

 Driving thru the Polish border.

               We arrived in Zasada at our pension which was a button glass pressing hut in another life. The owner remodeled it in 1996. At its height as a button factory it accommodated over 100 pressers.

We settled in, then drove into Jablonec nad Nisou for dinner at our favorite Turkish Imbiss, or Kabob house.

May 12- In the morning our host Adolf prepared breakfast for us and off we went shopping for beads and filigree castings before our tour which begins tomorrow. It was fun to see old sights, and then some new sights as roads, buildings and other things have been torn down, rebuilt or remodeled in the year we've been away. It feels like we have come home. We love this area of Europe.