21 BACK TO THE FUTURE
A mountaintop near the northern border of the Czech Republic is the unlikely location for a fast-forward to the future, or at least a 1960s Eastern Bloc vision of it. Looking like a giant, silver spinning top and with interiors that suggest an intergalactic cruise-liner, Hotel Ještěd perches 1,012 metres high, linked to the city of Liberec below by a cableway (from £70; jested.cz). Head into the city to the iQLANDIA centre (iqlandia.cz), with its interactive science displays – don’t forget that the word ‘robot’ is a Czech invention, courtesy of 1920s sci-f writer Karel Čapek.

Ještěd Tower, home to Hotel Ještěd, near Liberec in the Czech Republic
PHOTOGRAPHS: WALTER BIBIKOW/AWL IMAGES, CASTKA JIRI/CTK/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO, MAURIZIO RELLINI/SIME/4CORNERS