WINTER: Mom and Dad I would like to go there on holiday?

Adults should not hold children hostage during winter and spring vacations. I mean, that the planning of that special week should be completely subordinated to the children, their world, their wishes. In other words – take the kids there, where they will really enjoy it, somewhere, from where they will return excited and aware, that they will never forget these spring boys.

Bohemian Switzerland, at the eighth stop, The Lusatian Mountains – a perfect trio dedicated to a quiet holiday without crowds and with activities and places to top it all off, which children will appreciate, where they will definitely not be bored. It is, of course, fundamentally important, where the family sets up base camp. The Bohemian Cottage guesthouse is sought after all year round for its breathtaking tranquility, a wonderful environment as well as a friendly and natural background. Getting a place here is not easy, the interest is really great. But because the family Kubica are, above all, family, the holiday period is mainly dedicated to parents with children.

From Kamenná Horka in Krásná Lípa, you can easily reach most of the most attractive places in all three mentioned regions. Let’s go on foot, by bus, by train, by car or perhaps on snowshoes, and literally in any direction, your children will be delighted. Why? So let’s discuss it…

Sparkling snow, the sun is not warm, but paints the sky azure, the air is like a saw and the snow drift is more perfect than the best bobsleigh track. Just sit on the sled, or slap yourself on a plastic bob and rush down and scream and yell beautifully and uninhibitedly. It doesn’t matter at all, how old are you…

Or completely ordinary walks, which are always extraordinary here. There are dozens of forest paths in the immediate vicinity of the Bohemian Cottage, that will take you to places, where you won’t meet a living soul, except perhaps a few dog walkers or a falconer, who trains his predators here. Maškův vrch is one of them. Driving in the snow is so different, beautiful and alluring. And if perhaps the walk became ordinary for the children, just make a single inconspicuous ball… and start an uncompromising ball game.

Is evident, that no one will guarantee you, that there will be snow – you can’t be sure of that even in the Alps. Charles výšina, but she is stunning, whatever the weather or season. The rock wall hidden in the forest offers views into the depths of the Czech Netherlands and is another easily accessible destination.

Not even when nature starts to take shape, that spring vacations belong to spring after all and there is no sign of snow, forest paths will take you to incredible places. And because there are no tourist signs leading to many of them, it can happen to you, that you will turn onto an inconspicuous country road and out of nowhere a fairy-tale horizon will open up in front of you and you will gaze in amazement at the whole of Bohemian and Saxon Switzerland and in the distance Queen Milešovka herself will rise majestically in front of you.

That the walk must have some promising and consequently stunning goal? Well then, head down the Vlčí potok valley from Brtník to the famous icefalls. These do not arise depending on severe frosts, on the contrary, they often form surprisingly even in mild winter, because the water from the melting snow runs down the edge of the rocks and slowly freezes, creating icicles and ice cascades of incredible sizes and colors. And if you take the children to the cave behind the ice curtain and leave the sun, to conquer behind you, it will be simply unforgettable.

But let’s be optimistic, winter includes snow, endless plains and clear horizons. Who has never worn snowshoes and walked through a snowy meadow, he did not experience the miracle of walking on water. In this breathtaking place, on the meadows stretching to the saddle between Studenec and Lipnický vrch, where it is almost certain to see a huge herd of fallow deer with a few hefty stags, Czech Switzerland meets the Lusatian Mountains, and in this borderland you won’t find anyone… not even ghosts.

at the eighth stop? No, so you will be really surprised, until the elder of the ghosts here rises up out of nowhere in front of you, Hejkal himself. In the year, you are in the land of legends and fairy tales, and there is absolutely nothing to stop a child’s imagination. And if you accept children’s invitations to a world of wonderful improbabilities, you will be surprised, that it is actually still your world.

And now we’re going to kick things off a bit – we’ll have a Krásnolipský children’s triathlon. This jack is tried and tested, just go after it. It starts at Vlčí Hora, in the former school, where the company’s visitor center is located today Nobilis Tilia, which produces natural cosmetics in the adjacent factory. Here, in a charming shop full of fragrances, moms can smell and smell and try and sample in peace, daddies to sit and watch chirping – and children?

The local fairies will take care of them here, which will introduce them to the realm of scents and their meanings. At a very special dressing table, children can make their own and original perfume here. And don’t think, that only girls enjoy it! Boys usually take it as a scientific discipline. Everyone is guaranteed to enjoy a bottle containing a fragrance just for them.

Full of fragrant experiences, we will now move to the square in Krásná Lípa, where he winks kindly at us Mana chocolate shop. Buy that delicious hot chocolate or some chocolate treat, everyone can do that. In addition to the store, Mana also offers a chocolate workshop, and we’ll head for it. Here, children can try working with chocolate and make a chocolate souvenir – for example a lollipop or a chocolate souvenir with the motif of one of the tourist destinations.

It’s a bit of alchemy, but above all fun. Even the biggest slobbers will fall into serious creative concentration here. Finally, the finished work needs to be saved, so that it can harden. And wait. what? Wait? Children hate that! No worries – just a few tens of meters away, the waiting room is a sight to behold!

You cannot miss the House of Czech Switzerland. A playful and interactive exhibition awaits you on its ground floor and basement, where it is possible to learn a lot, but above all, the children literally have a blast here – and the chocolate can harden in peace. I would like to see the observation deck under the roof?

You can research here, examine, discover…

…as well as chasing a badger into its mysterious burrow. So far, the chocolate has solidified into a perfect shape, and excited children proudly holding their products logically get a taste for something good, which desire can be satisfied immediately in the neighboring house called U Frinda, where the cozy cafe offers delicious soups as well as cakes and desserts. Half the day flew by like water – but there were really a lot of experiences.

If you feel like going on a trip to more distant places, another round is a possibility. For example, Print Walls, that’s a guaranteed adventure. You can find anything you want here – rocky streets and squares, rocks of the strangest shapes and even stranger names, path along the very edge of the rock wall, ladders and endless staircases. And watch out for sprites! They are just teeming here, and how sneaky they are! They will put stray spices in your pocket and you won’t be able to get off the rocks!

But if you untangle yourself from the Velké Tiské walls, the Little ones are still waiting for you. They start with a climb to one of the most beautiful viewpoints in the region. No, try to beat this one! Below is a labyrinth of smaller rocks and crags, where in truth there is nowhere to fall, and so the children run around enthusiastically, without any danger to them.

When the dignified Mushroom says goodbye to us for all the rock creatures and monsters, It is clear, that this trip was worth it. It takes about an hour to get here from the guesthouse, and you won’t find anything like it far and wide.

A completely different experience awaits children, on the other hand, literally around the corner, in picturesque Doubica. Here, on the vast space behind the Old Inn, wooden sculptures spread out in all directions, mysterious castles, slides and climbing frames, so it’s really all-you-can-eat more for hardened adults, but children don’t solve these things – they either enjoy something or they don’t. And this Obludarium will not bore them to the concrete.

A trip to Doubice – if you manage to get the children out of the previous attraction – can continue to very unusual places. Specifically, to the Narrow Stairs, which truly live up to their name. More corpulent people also have a problem here, on the other hand, the children climb the rock crevice on ladders like squirrels. which simply cannot be described otherwise, if there is a meter of snow and it is freezing cold, it is not advisable to attempt this path through the rocks, but in milder weather it’s a sensational idea.

It is surprising for many inland people, how obvious it is to find yourself here, often unexpectedly, in neighboring Saxony and Upper Lusatia. And going here with a clear goal is an even better idea. There is so much to experience. For example, a thoroughly adventurous journey by steam train in historic wagons to Oybin station.

The path leads upwards from the station, to the romantic and mysterious ruins of the castle and monastery. Find yourself in a Gothic cathedral, whose ceiling is the sky itself… How often do you experience something like this?

The path leads upwards from the station, to the romantic and mysterious ruins of the castle and monastery. Find yourself in a Gothic cathedral, whose ceiling is the sky itself… How often do you experience something like this?

But let’s go back to Bohemian Switzerland. There is a place between Jetřichovice and Rynartice, which is simply mandatory when traveling with children. The famous Dwarf Rock with the rock elves and the poor widow, which the pidimen saved, when she got stuck in a rock gap, is an attraction almost two hundred years old. It was carved by a local chronicler, typist and also a bit of an entrepreneur Eduard Vater. Of course he would be happy, if he could hear the high pitch of today’s children, because the search for and especially the finding of more and more men does not take place in silence.

To be in Jetřichovice and not climb Falkenštejn, that wouldn’t make sense. The famous Jetřichovick viewpoints can be quite difficult to access in a snowy winter (if there is no snow – hooray for them!), on the other hand, you can reach the remains of Falkenstein castle at any time. Raven rock is simply impressive from here and you will never get tired of looking at it.

From Jetřichovice to the river Kamenice, this is another almost mandatory trip. A silent river shrouded in snow ghosts is so different from a singing whimsical summer stream, that it is definitely worth walking around the breathtaking Jetřichovická Běla to its mouth in Kamenice and a little further, because that’s about it, what is hiding behind a massive rock, You simply cannot deprive your children of that.

Dolský mill. The most fabulous place in the country. However, fairy tales have already been filmed here. As it seems, that a few of those devils simply had to stay here somewhere and play cards with Kamenický waterman after evenings in the mill.

What do you say? That I should give the devil a break, those that make you want warmth? So let’s warm up! Literally a few steps from the boarding house, children will roll their eyes at a live blacksmith in a real forge. Kovář Míla will be happy to show them, how the hearth is lit, how they hammer with a sledgehammer and a blacksmith’s hammer, and you and the children in the adjacent Barn will marvel at the gallery of magical angels, candlesticks, birds, fish and other triumphs of human creativity.

Where else could it be so warm and at the same time extraordinary things could be experienced there… Well, in the glassworks after all. And that there are! How about going to Kunratic near Cvikov to Jiří Pačinek’s glass factory? Why? Maybe because of the magical garden, which is in full bloom even in winter, because the glass does not deteriorate even in the coldest weather.

In the heat, even in the heat of the glassworks, children can try something from the art of master glassmakers. Who could resist…

Just a little further, in Lindava, the longest village in the world (at least that’s how it always seemed to me), under the mysterious hill of Ortel, you will also find the Ajeto glassworks with a glassmaking pub and a glassmaking operation, which can be viewed from the observation deck. Of course, it is necessary to drive here in the morning, during, when do glassmakers work?.

You’ll see things here too, over which your mind will stand. Children are usually amazed by it immediately, what glassmakers can do with hot glass, how the most fragile of fragile beauties are born under their hands.

A few kilometers further, in Nové Bor, in the Novotný glass factory, in addition to the gallery and shop, a very decent restaurant awaits you, but whose greatest advantage does not lie in the mind of the cooks, but in that, that while you are debunking tenderloin, you are looking through a giant glass wall directly at the glass furnaces.

Quiet strength. Order. Championship. Imaginativeness. One would look at that endlessly, because if someone can do something perfectly, it’s captivating and addicting.

Only, you know it. An adult could stand watching the clock for hours, but children must be constantly excited, change, something new, something else… Just no boredom! So let’s go out again, for example to the longest avenue in the Czech Netherlands leading from Krásná Lípa to the defunct village of Skřivánčí pole.

Maybe we’ll be lucky for a robin or a buzzard here, ravens, dates… (Photo by Václav Sojko)

… or even a herd of roe deer, a frightened badger or a fox looking for something to eat in the meadows. This is unlikely to happen to children in a city park – and here it is almost a common thing.

If you are surprised, how varied the offer is, what to interest and entertain children during their spring break, save the surprise for later, because now we will go to the tops of the hills and climb the stairs to the observation decks of countless lookouts. This is one of the most beautiful, stone lookout tower on the third highest peak of the Lusatian Mountains, Jedlová .

Admit it yourself – she’s not a beauty? And next to it, a pleasant restaurant operates year-round. Now you might be thinking – and it’s worth clawing your way up to? So watch…

I think, that it is totally worth it.

For all lookouts, how many are around, let’s look at two more. But you can also go to Děčínský Sněžník, Smoker, Dancers, Weifberg… and it opens a few more viewpoints until the summer season. The country looked around, just. So first Wolf Mountain.

She is beautiful, whether there is snow or not.

It is the oldest in the region and the ascent to it is not difficult at all, one short sharp climb – and you’re there. And the view?

No comment.

We were already hanging around Studenec. So why not go all the way to the top and climb the spiral stairs of the observation tower leading to the next view, which penetrates the soul and excites even cynical creatures, what children are like, let alone adults and teenagers. (Photo by Václav Sojko)

And carefully when descending! Spotting a herd of chamois on the stony seas of Studene is nothing extraordinary – after all, there are already two hundred and fifty individuals living here. (photo by Václav Sojka)

To recommend the Way of the Cross… well, that is perhaps even unnecessary. After all, we are already on this path

The scapulars graduated once. Only in the summer. And winter is a great graphic artist and painter.

Walk all the way to Tolštejn, it’s a double experience. Firstly, from the beautiful journey itself, and then – the terraces built in the ruined castle, it’s not exactly a lookout point, but the views from here are spectacular.

Although the list is far from complete, it’s time to take a last walk through the snowy forest.

The sun is slowly getting stronger, but the evenings are still hungry and come earlier, than one would wish. But the evenings here… hmm, it tends to be a bewitching adventure of light and dark, fog and shadows, earthiness and that, which is beyond us. (photo by Václav Sojka)

So come. Make a call, write, book a spring holiday stay and offer your children things, which they may not even have dreamed of. Because… how long will they be kids? you say, much shorter time, than we and they would like. A, if you will allow one personal experience, there is nothing stronger in human life, more beautiful and meaningful, than when your grown child tells you one day: “I had a beautiful childhood. Thank you.”

For an idyll, friendly welcome and hill experiences, Irena and Aleš Kubic. And it is, believe, very solid warranty.

Wrote: Rostislav Skrivánek