A Day Trip to the Bohemian Paradise

On Saturday, our group set out on a trip to the Bohemian Paradise. We traveled by bus to Pekarova brána, walked to the El Toro settlement, and continued past Přibyl towards Nebákov. From there, we took a shortcut to Semín, then headed to Věžák, passed through U Vosáků and Krčkovice, and followed the Čertoryje valley. After another shortcut, we reached the viewpoints above Hrubá Skála, crossed Valdštejn Castle, climbed the newly renovated Hlavatice lookout tower, and finally made our way to Turnov railway station.

The hike was joined by Jitka, head of the Droplet Laboratory, and her students Daniela and Simona. We were happy to also bring along our international students — Furkan from Turkey, Hibiki from Japan, and Małgorzata from Poland — as well as our lab friends Vojta and Honza.

We enjoyed the whole day: along the way we cleared fallen trees from the road after a storm, refreshed ourselves with water from natural springs, some even swam in a pond, and we sampled the gifts of nature — plums, pears, apples, and blackberries — before having a hearty meal at a pub near Valdštejn Castle.

We also played an unusual and very entertaining game with clothespins — ask us sometime how it worked!

Many thanks to everyone who joined. We hope our international colleagues got a glimpse of the real Bohemian Paradise, and we look forward to our next adventure together.

P.S. For those of you who play computer games — yes, we did indeed pass through the area featured in Kingdom Come: Deliverance, with Trosky castle ruins in the background.