Jizerka

Jizerka is a scatter of about twenty houses at around eight hundred and fifty metres on the Jizera Mountains plateau, one of the highest and most isolated settlements in Bohemia. It was founded in the eighteenth century by glassmakers - the Riedel family among them - who came for the wood and the quartz, and glass was made here until the industry moved. The stream that runs through it, the Jizerka, was panned for gemstones: sapphires, zircons and other minerals weathered out of a basalt vent at Bukovec above the village, and Jizerka sapphires reached collections across Europe, with the workings documented from the seventeenth century. The village has a small museum in the Panske house on the glass and mineral history. Around it lie peat bogs, the Bukovec basalt cone, and one of the largest raised bogs in the range, crossed by boardwalk.

What you actually see

• About twenty houses at 850 metres - one of the highest settlements in Bohemia.
• A glassmakers' foundation - Riedel and others working here from the 1700s.
• Sapphire panning ground - gemstones weathered from the Bukovec basalt vent.
• Peat bogs and boardwalks - among the largest raised bogs in the Jizera range.

When to go

June to September, or for cross-country skiing. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Access is limited - the road is restricted in parts and there is little parking. The village has almost no services. Weather changes fast on the plateau. The museum keeps short seasonal hours.

Nearby

The Jizera Mountains bogs and Smrk are around; Harrachov is east.