In early August we made a relatively short trip to Europe. Our first stop was Barcelona, which was the return leg of our round trip booking home to Calgary that started in Barcelona last August. Sometimes it’s much cheaper to do it this way….
We stayed in a lovely small hotel very close to the Plaça de Catalunya. It was super convenient to the airport bus stop and after a quick stop at McDonald’s, Ellie wanted to hit the rooftop pool in the warm summer afternoon.
In the background you can see the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia that we’ll wander over to and have a look so we don’t pass out due to jet lag.
It’s really amazing. I’d totally go in again for the sunset hour to see the light streaming through the stained glass but I thought of it too late this time, so we stuck to outside.
Then back to the hotel for a fancy drink and dinner.
And ice cream around the corner – Ellie approved!
That was pretty much it for our short stay in Barcelona. The next morning we were back at the airport right after breakfast and on board a flight to Prague. We stayed the next 10 days with our Czech family.
The highlight of our time in Czech was a weekend trip to Krkonoše National Park (the Giant Mountains) that was organized by Martin and Maruška. It was a really fun weekend. You can take a cable car all the way to the top of Sněžka, the highest mountain in the Czech Republic. But we took the cable car half way up and then hiked the rest of the way. It was nice to get above the forested lower slopes very quickly so the far reaching views opened up before long. The paths are a lot different here than in our mountains at home – look at the stone pathways and steps!
This is the summit of Sněžka. The peak is right on the border of Poland and Czechia, and it’s always packed with people on a nice day like today. As you can see, it’s possible to drive right to the top by 4×4 from the Polish side (only official vehicles). Behind Ellie is an observatory, weather station and restaurant building on the Polish side.
Ellie is standing right on the border marker between the two countries. Behind her is St Lawrence’s Chapel, a still active ~350 year old church on the Polish side.
This is looking south in the forested valleys on the south (Czech side).
And looking West along the spine of the mountains. If you look closely, in the left center of the photo you can see a dark spot in the alpine meadow – this is where we will stay for the night.
Poland stretches out to the North behind Ellie.
We’re looking back at the summit of the mountain which is now east of us. The yellow building at left is Dom Śląski Karpacz, a chalet on the Polish side of the ridge where we stopped for ice cream on the terrace.
The subalpine terrain up here on the plateau REALLY reminded me of growing up in the Yukon. Completely unexpected for the heart of Europe.
They don’t have these in the Yukon though – a full service chalet that you can hike to. It was so awesome to do an overnight hike where all we had to bring was a change of clothes, some light snacks and water for the way in a small backpack.
The chalet mascot, a very friendly St. Bernard named Bogusz, rests outside while kids come by to pet him.
The food was really good in the restaurant on site. This is Czech goulash with a nice glass of Czech white wine. This chalet even has a brewery on site with their own beer!
The chicken schnitzel was a big portion for this little hiker. I gladly finished up the leftovers.
We hiked out for sunset down another gorgeous path west of Luční bouda.
And then after a restful night – NOT in a tent – we got up early for sunrise. We picked the wrong viewing spot but the sky was still very pretty.
After breakfast when the kids got up we hiked up to hike down – had to regain the ridge on our loop back to the car down in town.
Very close to the town of Pec pod Snezkou is Chata Milire. This is a special place for the kids, as it is where all three of them (at different years) spent a week long field trip during their final years of kindergarten!
With that, we were finished a lovely weekend in the mountains of Czechia.
Ellie's Adventures 