The destination of our trip is the historical town of Osek, with a large and dominating Cistercian monastery built in 1196. The originally Romanesque monastery was rebuilt to its present Baroque look between 1712 and 1718. This reconstruction created a three-aisled basilica with rich stucco decorations, frescoes, beautiful paintings and sculptures that complete the magnificent interior. The monumental complex of the monastery includes three-level terrace gardens equipped with swimming pools, gargoyles, fountains with mythological female figures and vases with reliefs and with salla terrena near the wall. All decorations and the complex with decorative trees form a remarkable landscape. During a one-hour guided tour, we may admire the high historical value of this construction project.
The picturesque historic town centre located around the town square offers historic buildings but also pleasant places to relax and ponder over a cup of coffee. If you had to calm your children during the tour of the monastery and keep promising delicious ice creams, then this is where you can fulfil your promises and satisfy their insatiable sweet tooth. From the Osek - town square, monastery we will follow the red sign and the blue sign towards "Osek"- the upper railway/bus station. At the end of the village near the railway station we will come to a Monument to the Nelson Catastrophe, which was pronounced a national cultural heritage monument. The 1st educational trail information board (hereinafter ET only) will tell us that the monument was built to commemorate the 144 mine disaster victims who died in the Nelson III mine on 3 January 1934. From the monument we will follow the signs on the educational trail called "Through the nature and history of Osek". For a while we will be coming back on the same road until we reach the turn towards the natural swimming pool near the Osek Pond. The mobile home campsite and the Horal guesthouse offer recreational and sport activities and various cultural events during the summer. A natural swimming pool and sport facilities including children's playground inside the campsite will come in handy after we complete our trip. The second stop of the ET is the factory in Osek. In 1697 Benedict Littwerich - the abbot of the Osek Monastery founded the first stocking workshop in the Czech Republic inside the historical multi-story Baroque building. After we leave the edge of the town then suddenly, just like waving a magic wand, we appear in the Osek Forest. Here we will encounter an experimental field focusing on the protection of forest ants (3rd stop on the educational trail). The information board explains to us and to our children as well, the important role of these successors of the popular cartoon character "Ferda the Ant" - from the Formica ant family which protect the forest from harmful insects. Our destination is the protected natural monument Salesiova výšina (Salesiva Height) (4th stop on the ET). It is a geological and paleontological oddity. In the remarkable quartz rock town our children can feel like they are in the movie "Journey to the Beginning of Time". They may try to find fossils of freshwater clam shells here. The uniqueness of this locale is further enhanced by old oaks, which thanks to growing on the tops of the stone blocks, often have bizarre shapes. After careful exploration of all corners and labyrinths of the rock town we shall slowly return. Now, we are following the yellow sign for a change, which we have already crossed several times. We will come out of the woods and go around the Osek Pond surrounded by fishermen, until we reach the natural swimming pool and mobile home campsite. We can now relax by the water and call our adventurous trip complete. Total length 6 km.
