Tisá Rocks: Yes it does

Up in the Czech north, a few kilometres west of Děčín, is a little-celebrated scenic delight. Tisá Rocks (Tiské Stěny) is a collection of dark brown sandstone pillars whose grotesquely weathered shapes make the area a bizarre sculpture park.

It’s easy and cheap to get to Tisá from Děčín by bus – as usual, the IDOS app has the info at your fingertips (432 bus from outside the tourist info in town, then a 452 from Libouchec; 45min). The final leg winds up the hillside to Tisá village, where there are two entrances to the rocks. One is up the steps from the village centre, the other a kilometre or so east up the main road at the top of a hill. Entrance from either is 50czk.

It’s best to go clockwise from the village entrance, and anti-clockwise from the eastern entrance, because that way you finish with a grand ridgetop walk giving great views back down over the plains your bus struggled up earlier.

There are two circular walks, the longer taking about an hour. It’s worth dawdling though to read the info boards... if you can read Czech, that is. If not, you’ll have to download the guide – the QR code is on the boards.

There are various fantastic shapes to imagine in the rocks – birds, giants, alien cities. Walking between the pillars and stacks is fun.

But the most graphic 'sculpture' is probably the drinking elephant near the village entrance hut.

Tisá village has a couple of places to eat and drink, and the place to stay is definitely Hotel Ostrov 4km away, a tranquil and very affordable place with lake, woods and birdsong.

It’s walkable or cyclable from Tisá – I had a bike of course. And indeed there was a bunch of Czech guys winding down post-ride with a beer prior to enjoying the hotel’s wellness pool, tubs and sauna.

What a good idea, I thought.

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