27 Sep 2022
We went on this private excursion to Bohemian Paradise NP with Michal while in Prague the first week of September. This tour took us to a unique place that most visitors to Prague never see and it was one of the most enjoyable days of our entire time in the Czech Republic. Michal is extremely knowledgeable about the area, describing everything we saw and answering all of our questions in very fluent English. We saw all of the attractions listed, stopping first at the ancient Trosky castle ruins then continuing by car into the park. The hike is about 8 Km with moderate elevation changes along the way through a small section of Bohemian Paradise Park, a geological wonder with beautiful rock formations everywhere you look. Amidst that are the lovely Valdstejn Castle and the Hruba Skala Chateau where we enjoyed a delicious Czech lunch that Michal included in the tour. On the return trip we made two stops. The first was a special request of ours, visiting the Granat Museum in Turnov, where the history of Czech garnet mining and jewelry making was presented. The tour was only available in Czech but Michal interpreted the presentation and communicated our questions wonderfully. This is where the jewelry seen in the many Prague Granat stores come from so it was extra special for my wife to purchase a ring directly from the source. The second stop was at the Skoda car museum as described here in the listing, although we arrived a little too late for the tour, we were still able to photograph some of the displayed vehicles. With the beautiful weather we had, Michal’s outgoing personality and the beautiful sights he showed us It was the perfect day. To anyone who loves the outdoors and is considering visiting the park, I would strongly recommend going on this trip with Michal to experience this beautiful area of the Czech Republic.