Nice walk through a beautiful forested park, and visit to ruins of hilltop fortress overlooking the Elbe River. William told us of history of the area over past 600 years. And we dined on a tasty lunch of local Czech foods at a charming restaurant in the park.

The German govt canned our whole itinerary an hour into our trip in account of fires that were 30 km away, so the guides had to make up a totally new, totally Czech itinerary on the spot. They managed to fill the day with decently satisfying activities, and A+ for effort, but I'd still hoped for a whole day in the mountains. Direct that -1 star totally toward the excessively cautious German govt.

Well, I started the day when a driver came to pick me up from Dresden to meet with the rest of the group (we were total of 3 guys.) as I was the only one arriving from Dresden. (quite nice of the guide to allow that, as just this would cost more than what I paid.) We started with seeing the Bastei, a real marvel of both nature and man made bridge - I did not expect enjoying this much from it, but I did. Jan, our guide and the owner of the company did everything he can to help us enjoy the experience, including lots of jokes, and offering to take our pictures whenever we want. Next, we went to see what I was most expecting, the great Pravčická Archway, another wonder of nature, and the biggest one in Europe. absolutely lovely. the walk up is not easy, but not hard as well, and quite beautiful so not boring. we had a drink in a nice place right below the archway and continued down. From there, we continued to eat. 5\5 and then, the Gorge, which is beautiful to walk through.