AI image generators were first introduced a couple of years ago, enabling people to create pictures of incredible things and places that don’t exist in real life. However, I’ve never needed AI tools to capture such images. How is that possible, you may wonder? I spend long hours searching for these bizarre locations, then I take a train and travel to document them on my website,Off the Beaten Track, a project dedicated to exploring unusual places. These include various decorated gardens, sites classified as art environments, and other strange, eye-catching sights.
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It’s unbelievable how the saddest things can be turned into something beautiful. Moreover, the mix of beauty and sorrow creates such an amazing combination that they can be easily called a masterpiece. A perfect example is a cute stone sculpture of a house that made me stop for a while and take a few shots. Seeing it, you are barely able to think about anything sad, and only the nicest thing would come to your mind if not for the fact that it’s situated in a graveyard.
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Sometimes, the bus arrives directly at the primary destination of the trip. In Němčovice, a charming town in the Czech Republic, there exists a bus stop so extraordinary that it undeniably merits a visit in and of itself. This particular bus stop transports you into the enchanting world of the Czechoslovakian children’s television series “Pohádky z mechu a kapradí” (English: “The Tales of Moss and Fern”), featuring its beloved main characters, Křemílek and Vochomůrka, two forest-dwelling individuals.
You’d never complain about a bus being delayed if you waited for it at the bus stop in Slatiňany, a small town in the Czech Republic. Why? Because waiting there feels as cozy as being at home. Tables, chairs, books, cups, and a colorful interior – this bus stop has everything to ensure waiting is as pleasant as possible.
If you’re uncertain about what to place in your backyard, consider an unconventional choice: a fighter plane! In a small village somewhere in Poland, an inhabitant has come up with an extraordinary idea—to position a military aircraft in his yard, to be more specific, a Mig 21-PF. The presence of such a plane in this location is so unusual that it will undoubtedly catch your attention.
There is a spectacular sight somewhere in Poland—a huge, decaying strawberry left in the fields. Its once vibrant red body has changed so much that it looks rotten, and the previously vivid green leaves now seem dry. Seeing this gives the impression that decay wanted something sweet and decided that a huge fruit was the best choice.
A tram full of weird passengers that seem to be frozen in time. Creepy gazes create an impression as if their heads were full of thoughts and not necessarily peaceful ones which turns the mannequins inside into horrific creatures.
Do you like open-air concerts? If so, what about attending one where you wouldn’t even feel the ground under your feet? There was a performance in Vilnius, Lithuania, that brought a concert to a completely different level – it wasn’t just an open-air concert, but literally ‘an air concert’.
The next stop: the rooftop! An old tram in Jihlava (Czech Republic) has found itself in a truly unusual place. The idea to place the vehicle on the rooftop of the garage came from a local association dedicated to preserving historic trolleybuses and buses. By acquiring the T3 SUCS tram, the association aimed to pay tribute to one of the most successful T3 trams. The unconventional location was selected to provide better visibility for people to appreciate the tram. Undoubtedly, it proved to be the best choice.
Would you like a cozy little place to read books for hours? The inhabitants of a small village in the Pelhřimov district of the Czech Republic are lucky to have just such a place. The Neighborhood Library, or ‘Sousedská knihovna’ in Czech, is a spot where everyone can borrow and exchange books and, most amazingly, stay there to read them.
When you stroll down one of the streets in the center of Budapest, Hungary, you might stumble upon a peculiar sight behind a fence. There’s a large group gathered in the backyard, with its members engaged in lively conversation and expressive gestures. At first glance, you might think it’s just a regular gathering, but upon closer inspection, it’s truly unusual – these aren’t people but sculptures, there are too many of them in one place to be mere decoration, and they are completely naked.
What would you like to find the most during a long hiking trip? How about a pub in the middle of the forest? You might think it’s impossible because nobody would work that far from civilization. But no problem—this can be a self-service pub like ‘The Forest Pub’ (Lesní bar in Czech) near the village of Lipová-lázně in the Czech Republic.
What might one find growing on a tree? Apples? Pears? How about bras? Such an unconventional and eye-catching sight can be found in Malá Úpa, a municipality in the Czech Republic.
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The wonderland really exists. Sounds unbelievable, doesn’t it? No matter how incredible it may seem, there is a garden in Líšnice (Czech Republic) which will make you feel as if you’re in a fairytale.
What would the world without religion look like? It’s unlikely that God will abandon the place that was created soon, but you can have a quick glimpse of that in paradoxically one of the most Catholic countries in Europe.
Once cute dolls left for years in the forest which, due to constantly changing weather conditions, have turned into something creepy.
Ripanj is a small, ordinary town in Serbia, but as you walk its streets, you’ll encounter something that will make you stop: a huge, multi-story building with a dome on top. What is it? A church? A castle? Seeing such a bizarre building will definitely make you curious to hear its story.
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The tradition of tying ties to the bridge began in 2015. The creators of this idea are artist Julius Žėkas and several locals who aim to promote living in a beautiful way - instead of destroying things, make something nice and amusing. There are now several dozen ties on the bridge, and the number continues to grow as people add new ones.
When you’re passing through Rváčov (Czech Republic), you’ll definitely see a strange house at the end of the village. The first thing that attracts your attention is a huge tree with plenty of dolls hanging on its branches. Going further you’ll see a house with, again, hundreds of dolls and other toys in front of it. Most of them are old and dirty, covered with dust, and many are naked, with some parts like legs or hands missing.
What can you do with a phone that is no longer working? Throw it away? How about hanging it on a tree instead? The owner of a local leisure business, Relax Group Panevėžys in Panevėžys (Lithuania), has a truly extraordinary decoration on the company’s premises—a pear tree adorned with numerous phones, ranging from traditional models to modern smartphones.
It does not happen too often to see a place like this. An oasis of magic and surreality in the desert of ordinariness—that’s probably the best way to describe this weird site, stopping everyone who for some reason passes through the area where it’s situated. Unusual decorations on the fence as well as some strange details visible behind it wake up the curiosity and invite them to enter the gate.
What can you expect to see following the streets of the big city? I guess anything apart from something that doesn’t fit a typical metropolis landscape at all—a colorful and joyful house situated at the foot of a huge rock. This accidental find on one rainy day forced me to go one more time to a slightly remote part of Prague where it was located and see it again—this time painted with the sunlight.
What would you expect to find in the former firehouse? No matter what the answer is, you’d for sure be surprised to see there is so much art. Situated in a small village in the Czech Republic, this old building is definitely the most vivid one in the area. Its walls are covered with lots of paintings and unusual details which, taken together, turn this place into something surrealistic, making it difficult to take one’s eyes off of it.
There’s an incredible place somewhere in Katowice (Poland)—a yard full of toys that look a bit creepy because of being left outside for a long time.
One sunny May morning I went to Mažonys (Lithuania), a village which is so small that even a bus driver didn’t know where exactly it is situated. Just another settlement far from big cities, and at first sight seems that there’s nothing extraordinary about it. However, one of the houses there is so unusual that I simply couldn’t resist going there.
Some places require specific weather conditions to fully experience their atmosphere. One such location is a fairytale site nestled in the woods of Březina Municipality, Czech Republic. A misty morning provided the perfect ambiance to explore the surroundings of the stream, adorned with quaint watermills and charming decorations.
I didn’t expect much from that place. I heard that it’s not as impressive as it used to be, but also the truth is that in such case, its condition most likely won’t improve in the future. Therefore, I didn’t hesitate to go there and see at least the leftovers of the weird exterior of the small house near the road somewhere in Germany. However, what I saw there exceeded my expectations.
I didn’t expect much from this place, but finally, I ended up visiting it 3 times in one week. A decaying model of the village situated in a ‘real’ village in the Czech Republic was something that I had never seen before. Due to their small size, the houses would be suitable only for the Lilliputians and one only had to take a few steps in order to move from one side of the settlement to another. Nevertheless, the buildings had so many details and taken all together created such an incredible place that I spent hours exploring it.
Have you ever needed to climb on a chair? If you wanted to sit on this one you would definitely have to do that. This chair is not only higher than any ordinary furniture but also many buildings.
Giraffes, lions, zebras, musicians, and more. A wide variety of vividly painted concrete sculptures inhabiting a garden in Biskupice, a village in the Czech Republic, are sure to catch your attention. Also called ‘Biskupické safari’ (Safari in Biskupice), these are the artworks of Františka Blechová, who used to live there.
You can never know what you’ll find on the way to well-known places. Sometimes these findings may stick in my mind for an even longer time than the final destination of the trip.
The time between the moment I got to know where this place was and the moment I went there was around one hour. Knowing about this weird site, it was simply impossible not to be in a hurry to see it. A small garden full of stuffed toys is something that definitely doesn’t happen every day.
When you walk along one of the streets of Kamienna Góra (Poland) and look around carefully, you can find an extraordinary and a bit creepy garden near one of the houses surrounding the street. The thing that catches your attention passing through this place is its ‘inhabitants’—old garden sculptures and toys, including a few ducks, once bright-colored gnomes, a sad Teddy bear, and the creepiest one—a doll with a piece of wood instead of the body.
Have you ever seen an art gallery that is open 24/7, no matter what the weather or the season of the year? You can find it in Svídnice (Czech Republic)—one of the houses there is decorated with lots of pictures and is definitely a nice surprise for any art lover who for some reason visits this village. Below is a quick tour on this open-air exhibition.
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