The word dollar comes from this small town in the Ore Mountains. In the early sixteenth century, the silver mines of Jáchymov, then called Joachimsthal, were among the richest in Europe, and the coins minted here were called Joachimsthaler, shortened to thaler, which became daler and eventually dollar. The town grew rapidly, with thousands of miners, and it is now one component of the World Heritage inscription for the Erzgebirge mining region, shared between the Czech Republic and Germany. Its later history is darker and stranger.
The mines also produced pitchblende, a mineral that Marie Curie used to isolate radium and polonium. In 1906, Jáchymov opened the world's first radon spa, where patients bathe in radioactive water, and it still operates today. After the Second World War, the communist regime used political prisoners to mine uranium for the Soviet nuclear programme, in brutal labour camps around the town. The Red Tower of Death, a building near Ostrov where ore was processed, is a memorial to those who suffered, and a trail through the forest leads past the remains of the camps.
The riding in the Ore Mountains is excellent. The road from Ostrov climbs through Jáchymov to Boží Dar and the border with Germany, with curves, forests and views, and Klínovec, the highest peak in the Czech side of the range, at over twelve hundred metres, has a ski area and a lookout tower. Across the border, Oberwiesenthal and the Fichtelberg are close. The tarmac is decent on the whole, and traffic is light except in the ski season. Weather in the mountains is cool and changeable, with fog, rain and snow from autumn to spring.
Jáchymov has fuel, shops and restaurants, and Ostrov, about seven kilometres away, is larger. Czech food is hearty: roast pork with dumplings and cabbage, goulash, svíčková, beef in cream sauce, and excellent beer. The spa hotels in Jáchymov have restaurants. Visit the town, walk to the mining museum in the old mint, and then follow the trail to the camp remains; the contrast between the beauty of the mountains and the history of suffering is striking, and it stays with you.