Familiarization Trip

As I mentioned in the previous post, following our conference in Ostrava, we went on some FAM trips (Familiarization of the area) - and they were awesome! They took us out into the countryside of the Jesiniky mountains to hike, bike, eat and drink. It was wonderful.

The first stop was at an old castle called Sovenic, which was built in the 14th century of gun shooting, fencing matches and sword fighting. There is a lot of food cooking on grills, and you can even hold the resident birds-of-prey!

After lunch we headed to a dam and went paddle boating in the resovoir, which I always thought was kind of a silly activity but it is a nice way to spend an afternoon. The quiet moments were perfect after the busy weeks we’d had. From the dam, they brought us to a beautiful ski resort and hotel to have dinner and sleep. In the summer this resort converts the ski hill into bike trails and an adventure park. You can go downhill biking, ride four wheelers down the mountain, rock climb and a lot more.

The next morning we went for a dip in the pool before heading out to ride the downhill trails. It was awesome, Mark and I have done some downhill biking back in Canada before, so it was great to get back on the bikes.

We cleaned up and after lunch went on a long hike up another mountain, called Billa Opava. It is a beautiful hike that has bridges that switchback over a clear steam, so clean you can drink from it! Further up the trail, you have to climb ladders and scale some rocks which although was a bit of a challenge, was still quite easy to conquer.

At the top of the hike we arrived at an old radio tower, which has been converted into a hotel and restaurant. Thankfully, they got a driver to bring all of our bags up to the top so we didn’t have to haul them up the hike! It was a very unique and interesting place to spend the night.

The sunset from this place was absolutely beautiful, and we celebrated the hard day with some bubbles and a great sleep. The next day we went out to yet another mountain. We took a ski lift up the hill then a shuttle the rest of the way to the summit where there were beautiful, and quite interesting views in all directions. They blasted entire peak of this mountain to build a reservoir for the nearby hydro-electric facility.

On the way down, we grabbed some scooters and helmets and rode down the 17km road down. These things went so fast, it was incredible, two people fell off and got road rash. Aside from those two injuries, it was an exciting ride!

A very fast couple of days filled with adventure, it was time to head back to Ostrava, and then catch a train to Prague.