Czech Paradise Hike – Saturday, May 30th, Turnov, CZ
On Friday, May 29th we were transported from our new host family homes in Liberec to a nearby historic resort town called Turnov. “Pack a bag for two nights Group Study Exchange team, we’re going away for the weekend” we were informed. To an aptly named place called Česky ráj or “Czech Paradice”. No really, that’s how everyone refers to it.
RC of Liberic and a nearby German Rotary Club get together annually for high-activity weekends including mountain hiking and long-distance biking. A very large commemorative trophy (think Stanley Cup) goes back and forth between the two clubs each time.
Saturday morning GSE Team 7390 donned our district t-shirts and opted for the ~12km hike. Being typical Americans, we figured there was some competition for the cup and hoped to assist our Czech hosts in winning the cup. Nope. Just a lovely albeit SLOW walk in the woods and up a volcano top to a castle ruins with pre-packed snacks and a traditional Czech lunch in a restaurant along the way. Snack bags were packed by the kind people at sheltered workshop supported by RC of Liberec. (See previous Liberec post)
Snacks for Czech hikers.
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En masse with about 35 Rotarians and families, we drove to the trail head. We parked and set out from the Hrubá Skála Chateau. The original castle here was rebuilt into a chateau in more recent history.
Early in our hike, the first attraction was a view of the Hruboskalsko rock formations.
We took the red trails from Libošovice to the Žehrovka River valley and walked upstream to the Podsemínský mlýn Mill and on to Nebákov (a pond and a restaurant). The local mill was built in the Baroque style but the original structure dates back to at least the 15th century.
We then took a rocky road and climbed up to a plateau above which the two peaks of the Trosky castle ruins loomed. 
After a group lunch of traditional Czech food we plodded on toward the castle ruins. Meeting and chatting with new friends from both Czech Republic and Germany as our group slowly made our way onward and upward.
The vistas from the tower ruins is nearly indescribable. Much better to show you in photos. We were able to see the Turnov area and the Ještěď mountain area where we dined two nights prior.
The weather turned colder and as temperatures dropped we hiked our way quickly back to our cars. Back to the hotel for a joint Rotary meeting after and impactful day.
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Night of Churches in Turnov area
Friday, May 29th
After dinner adventuring in Turnov included checking out a late night church open house for “night of churches”.
After an eery drive on unpaved paths through the dark forrest at night, we made our way into a sculpture protected Baroque St Anna chapel and The Three Kings convent, Mnichovo Hradiste.
Inside we were treated to a visual as well as an acoustic audio treat. Five acoustic singers were performing a concert of very old-time, almost Gregorian sounding music. Accompanied by a guy on a manual bellows organ, four women singers delivered a great concert. Sadly the song descriptions were all in Czech and do we got very little detail about the songs, composers, or even era of the music. I am attaching two video samples.
A random boxer dog was in the church so I sat by him in a pew. Very regal and upright fellow. But eventually he too gave way to the late hour of the day and started leaning up against me. Ultimately he ended up splayed across my lap, snoring peacefully. Can’t deny being a bit envious as we’re always GSE tired. Offically adding this to the list of random events in this GSE exchange.
GSE Sidebar:
Sometimes you arrive at a new host family’s home and just never want to leave. Liberec was such a case for me.
Dr. Vojtéch Pražma’s family shield
Vojtéch’s brother, University of North Carolina ENT professor Dr. Jiri Pražma took up painting in his retirement. Where can we buy his paintings? Lovely addition to this recently restored Art Deco era home.
rotarygse7390to2240 