After our initial attempt to visit the Czech Republic in the May school holidays had a last-minute adjustment (and resulting cancellation), we made our plans for our summer holiday there in July/August with a camping holiday.
Our booking was at a camping site in Janův Důl, located in the north of Czechia – a nice large pitch to cater for the tent-trailer as well as a separate tent for Luc, and located at the end of the campsite itself. We had all sorts of plans to fill our holiday with: one or more visits to Prague; visits to the various National Parks in northern Bohemia; and a tour of the Skoda factory in Mlada Boleslav.
The location was wonderful – surrounded by forested areas; and to the east a view of the highest mountain in the surrounding area, the Ještěd. All very picturesque. However, this summer holiday will go down in the books as the least successful …! A couple of days after arrival Luc was feeling a little under the weather, and only because he was feeling warm to the touch, we got him to do a Covid-19 self-test. Result: positive …! 😳
Gulp …!
Two days later the same exercise was repeated with Mayra, and another positive Covid-19 self-test.
We tried to make the best of it, but were pretty much restricted to our pitch. We were limited in what we could do – the self-isolation rules in Czechia were more limiting than the Dutch rules, so our plans to play the tourist were rejigged for what would essentially be our second week. Thankfully, the symptoms of both children weren’t too bad after a couple of days, so the forecast wasn’t too gloomy.
We started considering plans to get out and about and managed to do some driving around, locally seeing Liberec, Lázně Kundratice & Stráž pod Ralskem for various shopping and restaurant visits; we also had a very scenic drive to the east of Liberec, taking in Frýdlant, Hejnice & Desná. We managed to visit Lesopark Horka (a quirky attraction park), did a mountain bike tour, and some walking around the campsite. We were also treated to numerous fantastic sunsets thanks to large-scale forest fires in Germany.
But then, 2 days after Mayra’s result, Ellen got hit (and hard!) – full-blown symptoms, and of course the third positive Covid-19 self-test … 😕
With Nick still testing negative we threw in the towel, and after 8 days in Czechia we returned home … 😥
📷 A photo gallery with more photo’s is available here.