Sobotka used to be a market village. It is first mentioned in 1287. It acquired the status of town on August 24, 1498. The town is dominated by a Gothic-Renaissance Church of St. Mary Magdalene from 1590-96. In the square, notice the Townhall which was originally Renaissance and later adapted in the Empire style and the native house of the poet Frana Sramek. In the town, there are several timbered houses in the urban style from the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. The well-known Solc's farm houses a gallery.

Our trip leads from the Sobotka square along the Boleslavska Street and follows the red trail. Pass the Townhall behind which there is a contemporary sculpture in the municipal park, called House under a Half-Moon by Claudius Permiggaini (1991).

The trail continues following the red trail to Osek. At the church of the Virgin Mary from the beginning of the 18th century, there is an interesting wooden six-sided belfry dating from 1601. Turn left behind Osek and follow the narrow road leading to Strehom which is a conservation zone of timbered folk architecture. You can find timbered one-storey houses here with carved gables and an old mill with a timbered first floor.

Continue past the Komornik pond along the red and blue tourist trails to the Rasovec hamlet. When you reach the Roubenka spring think of the Sobotka native, poet Frana Sramek, who liked sitting here. Behind the spring, the blue trail turns into a secondary rocky valley which is called Vesecky Plakanek.

On the right above you, there used to be on a rocky promontory a prehistoric fortified settlement called Poran. People lived there from the beginning of the Iron Age ( 7th-5th centuries BC) to the 13th century. The fortified settlement comprised a tomb burial site which is above the Roubenka spring on the left.

Our trip continues along the red trail through the picturesque Plakanek valley which is sometimes called Kostelecky mine. The name Plakanek originated in the 17th century when the Plakanek family burnt wooden coal here. The canyon-like valley of the Klenice brook cut into sandstone rock was declared a nature heritage in 1990.

Walk past the former gamekeeper's lodge and the Obora pond till you reach, at the end of the valley, a unique monument of Bohemian castle architecture - the Kost castle. Dating back to the 14th century, the Kost (Bone) castle is one of the best preserved Gothic castles in Bohemia. Its position is interesting - it lies on a rock where three valleys meet. Three ponds were incorporated into its defence system. The original appearance of the castle was changed, in particular, by the Renaissance reconstruction.

The castle was owned in succession by the Zajic family of Hazemburk, by the Selmberks, Bibersteins, Lobkovics, Cernins and today it belongs to the Kinsky family. Ramparts, the big tower, living quarters, the chapel and agricultural buildings have been preserved. The castle is accessible with a guide. The owners keep enlarging their castle collections. The original agricultural buildings house an exhibition of precious stones. In the surroundings rocks, there are remnants of rock dwellings and a cemetery for dogs.

Our trail continues from the marked roadfork on the bank of the White Pond along the red trail to the picturesque Prokopske Valley. We recommend to walk through the valley along the dirt road in the middle of the grassy mead behind the brook. The part of the red trail behind the brook and the rocks is often difficult to walk along under wet conditions.

Walk through the Prokopske valley till you reach the village of Libosovice with the Church of St Procopius which used to be late Gothic style. It was reconstructed in 1610 and in 1847, when a Neo-Gothic tower was added to it. Continue from the marked roadfork in front of the Cesky raj hotel (refreshments) following the blue trail along the road past the railway station in Libosovice till you reach the crossroads to Neprivec. Your attention will be caught by the new Ort hotel and the originally Gothic church of St. Cross, which was adapted in the Baroque style, with a Baroque eight-sided belfry. A biking trail marked in white turns to Neprivec. Our trail follows the blue one along the road.

The blue trail turns right to Vesec at the cross-roads behind the railway crossing. Vesec was declared a conservation folk architecture reserve in 1995. A unique complex of timbered houses of the Jizera region type has been preserved around the circular village square. There is a unique sculpture of St. Starosta (Burgermeister) in the village square. Scenes of a few well-known films were shot in Vesec. Notice the protected Semtin lime tree above Vesec near the road to Kost. It is one of the best-known protected trees in Bohemia. The circumference of its trunk is 760 cm, it height is 38 m and its age is approximately 300 years.

Our basic trail leads from the cross-roads behind the railway crossing to the left, along an unmarked road in the direction of Sobotka. The main point of orientation will be the beautiful Humprecht mansion. It can be reached along the yellow trail which you will come across before the entrance to the Sobotka swimming-pool. Humprecht is a Baroque mansion built in 1666-72 for Humprecht Jan Cernin of Chudenice. It was to remind people of the Constantinople Galatea Tower. The mansion was reconstructed and enlarged after a fire in 1678. Inside there is an interesting oval hall with an echo. It is accessible with a guide. The mansion houses an exhibition of the noble Cernin family and the Sobotka Museum.

We recommend you to continue along the yellow trail on the left along the cemetery wall with a beautiful view of the town. Before you walk back along the pavement to Sobotka, we recommend you to visit the Sobotka cemetery. Opposite the main entrance, on the far side of the cemetery, is buried the well-known Sobotka native - writer, poet and playwright Frana Sramek (1877-1952), in the memory of whom the Festival of Literature and the Spoken Word, called Sramek's Sobotka, has been held there since 1956 at the beginning of June. The grave of another native - the poet Vaclav Solc (1838-71) can be found opposite the corner of the upper wall in the Sobotka cemetery. Return to the Sobotka square following the yellow tourist trail.