As this year's worldschooling retreat was canceled - 8 of the families from Prague and Brno took the initiative to meet anyway and to arrange an alternative worldschooling week instead. We went to a remote part of Moravia in the Eastern Czech Republic near the Bílé Karpaty mountain range and spent almost a whole week there with them. It was quite special to arrange a gathering in these uncertain Corona times, but we were happy that it happened and that it became a success.
Resort Dešná
We had no special plan other than just to meet up at the same campsite and make plans as we went along with those that wanted to. We had heard that
Resort Dešná in Moravia was good but none of us had been there. It was close to the zoo in Zlín, which is an industrial city known for its shoe manufacturing there. The campsite itself was rural, near a village in a mountainous area with a lot of forests. This would be a kid-friendly and cheap option where there would be a heated pool as well - it sounded promising!
We arrived the day before the worldschooling-week was going to begin. A couple of families had already checked in. There were cottages with different kinds of standards to choose from and a camp ground. We had two smaller tents with us but one broke so we bought a large one instead, that had two "rooms" in it. The total cost for staying at the camp ground was not much so compared to moving to a cabin we could get a new tent for the difference.
The campsite was almost completely empty so we had almost the whole area to ourselves. In the restaurant there was a cheap daily menu with food that was cooked there with normal ingredients. We had a camping kitchen with us, but because it was cheap and tasty, we ate mostly in the restaurant. It was also easy to be with the toddlers there as there were several play corners. The daily dishes were advertised on the blackboard such as schnitzel, goulash, sausages and soups. It was possible to change the accessories so it could be converted to low carb versions. In addition, the staff in the restaurant were really nice and helpful. Just adjacent to the restaurant,Adjacent to the restaurant, there was also a tennis court, stage and playground.
There were several opportunities to be part of the game "werewolf" at the tables right next to the restaurant where we could have today's dishes and drinks afterwards. The children could play next to us, which was good as this game could both take time and the little ones rarely had the patience.
It rained a bit but it was also sunny or less rainy occasions when we could swim. It was convenient to have access to a pool in the same place that we stayed in.
There was very much unschooling thinking and very little structure during this camping week. The children moved freely and did things they wanted, played chess in our tent, had nerf-and-water-wars, swam and did whatever they came up with.
Some brought their jobs with them - like processing orders and serving customers from a bench or the small table we had in our tent. The boys also had math lessons in the tent on zoom with their teacher that was in South Africa. We had paid extra to get a long extension lead to our tent so that we could plug in our electronics. In the forest in the picture above, we could see fireflies flying around and flashing their lights at night.
Last year on the big worldschooling retreat, the swedish game "kubb" was an appreciated activity and it surely was this year as well.
A flock of goat wandered around freely in the whole camping resort. At night one could sometimes hear them grazing right next to the tents - feeling like they were chomping away right next to ones ear. They also laid in front of the toilet door so that the ones that wanted to go to the toilet had to jump over them or move them.
For some strange but entertaining reason it seemed the campsite had a ghost theme. Here and there you could see the "ghosts" in the woods, at the playgrounds, or sitting on benches. The picture above shows a ghost maze.
This home-made playground was also haunted.
The ghosts by the pool area.
Hrad Lukov and an unexpected hike
We made a longer day trip together to Lukov Castle which was about 25 minute drive away from the campsite. When we got closer to our final destination, we discovered that google maps wanted us to drive on a road that you were not allowed to drive on. There was a parking lot so we parked our cars and thought we could walk the last kilometers.
The view of the mountains and rolling hills was stunning. Its not as dramatic in the picture as it was in reality.
A butterfly also wanted to be part of this selfie.
The long hike, which wasnt planned for at all, went partly along a path along a clear-cut area and forests lined with wild strawberries and greenery. The wild strawberries that were found were given directly to the hungry children.
The Czech Republic, which is probably the world's most atheist country has, after all, much to show that Christianity has been important there such as small crosses and chapels, even in the forests.
Our hike was long but it was nice to walk in a real forest.
View of the Bílé Karpaty mountain range - which continues as the Carpathians in Slovakia and Poland and then extends south in Eastern Europe. Here it is quite small mountains where the highest peaks are about 700 m but in the Carpathians they reach over 2000 m. Despite that, it felt magical. The mountains were steep and the view was amazing.
Along some of the path we found mushrooms like this one which is eaten in both Sweden and Czech republic.
Along the official hiking trails on
mapy.cz, there are often information boards - like this one where you can learn what the trees are called in Czech.
Eventually we arrived at the castle and then we were very hungry because we expected to just be there for a while, without hiking, and have lunch immediately afterwards.
There should have been a small restaurant but it was closed. However, there was self-service - a shelf with shutters with soft drinks, beers and some chocolate cakes inside. It was necessary to give the chocolate cakes as a temporary lunch to the children until we had found real food. You paid by putting money in a box. The entrance to the castle worked in the same way - that those who ran the castle expected people to be honest and pay for themselves.
To get to the castle itself, you had to cross a bridge.
Once at the other side, there were large areas to explore, as well as a museum and hidden nooks and crannies. It was almost completely empty except for our group, which was probably mostly due to Corona restrictions. The next day the castle would be open "as usual" - for being corona times.
The view was breathtaking at the top of the castle as well. The walk down the mountain went very quick as we were all really hungry at this point. On the way back we found several opportunities to eat at restaurants with access to playgrounds that were nearby. Some went back and some went with us to a pizzeria with a playground.
Some of our group also went to the Zoo in Zlin, which they said was really nice, or went for walks in the local area. Several families brought their work with them and some of the children that didnt know each other before connected. It was really sweet to see Henry and Aryon get along so well. Hope they can meet each other soon! It was also fun for the families to meet like-minded people and be able to discuss freedom and other relevant topics. It was sad to break up at the end of the week but still nice to get back to Prague. We could not be away from our vegetable allotment for too long right now. We will plan to arrange a similar event for next year and surely visit the Brno-families within a not too distant future.
Olomouc
On the way back, our family made a stop in Olomouc, which is a medium sized city that has a historic center, botanical garden and an astronomical communist clock amongst other things. Unfortunately, the communist clock was being repaired so we couldnt see it, but we had lunch, an ice cream in the square and wandered around the city for a while.
We had lunch in Plan B close to where we parked the car and walked towards the center. There were fountains, and a very nice chapel in the middle of the square.
Because the
communist clock, for which the city is known for, was renovated, there was a model of the city next to it instead.
We found passages and alleys to walk through. It was good with a longer walk because the rest of the car journey came to take a very long time due to the many road works between Brno and Prague.
There seemed to be a lot to see in Olomouc. However, we were happy to just stroll around.
Next to the historic center I found a small passage that led down to the botanical garden.
There was a river and several playgrounds. There were also some instruments.
While the children played on the playground and I was ordered to spin them faster than was comfortable for me, Paul was processing orders and answering customer emails on a mushroom.
It was time to leave Olomouc for the long drive. Almost the entire rest of the road would be rebuilt into a multi-lane highway. It was a very nice stop in Olomouc though. We came home in the evening, pleased with how the worldschooling week went and we will look forward to another one next year.
