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Published: October 13th 2017
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Yesterday we sadly left Prague, heading for mountain country, in the Bohemian Paradise National Park. The park lies around one hour and half north east of Prague, which made for an easy drive along freeway for the majority of the journey.
Bohemian Paradise National Park (Czech:
Český ráj) was declared in 1955 as the first nature reserve in the Czech Republic. At first it was 95 square klms in area, whereas today it is almost 182 square klms. One of the most recognizable elements of the Bohemian Paradise is the sandstone rock which many of the surrounding towns are constructed of. There are many rocks in the park which have been shaped by wind, water, frost, erosion, and humans into unique and curious shapes.
There are two significant castles, Trosky and Kost in the area. Within the actual Bohemian Paradise N.P. there are more eg: Sychrov Castle, Hrubý Rohozec Castle, Hrubá Skála Castle, and Humprecht Castle. There are also many ruins, such as Frydstein Castle and Valdstejn Castle.
Arriving around lunch time, we checked into the very impressive Hotel Stekl. Hotel Štekl took its name from its founder Karel Štekl, who built
this building on a sandstone massif next to the Hrubá Skála Chateau in 1895. Karel Štekl, originally a brewer, the son of an innkeeper in Slaný near Prague, married a daughter of the innkeeper Pitra from Hrubá Skála. Štekl built this hotel most likely according to the model of Miramare Fort near Trieste, which also towers on a rock massif.
The peaceful environment of the Bohemian Paradise was visited by many prominent guests. The famous Czech writer, Karel Čapek, visited this hotel, the professor and member of the Academy of Sciences, Dr. Vladimír Knichal, and some Czech writers and painters spent the entire summer here.
After checking in, we set out for a drive to Trosky Castle, one of the most famous Czech castles, which sits on the summits of two basalt volcanic plugs. Looking out across the valley, we can see Trosky Castle from our third floor window. On the lower peak, 47 metres, is the two-storey structure called
Baba (Old Woman), and on the higher outcrop, 57 metres, is the four-sided structure known as
Panna (Virgin). The castle was established by Cenek of Vartenberk in the second half of the 14th century.
Two towers were constructed, one on top of each rock, and various residential buildings and outhouses erected between them. Three rings of fortified walls protected the complex.
Finding the castle only opens on weekends during October, we walked around the walls and took photos, before heading back to our accommodation for a well earned rest.
Today we enjoyed a sumptuous breakfast, including home baked GF bread for Kim, before heading out on a five hour hike through the N.P. This included stopping for many photo opportunities at lookouts, in valleys and at castle ruins. The rock formations in Bohemian Paradise are pretty spectacular, and we really enjoyed the quiet walk through the leafy forest. We didn’t see any bears or deer though. Kim was fascinated by the many different types and colours of mushrooms in the forest. Not sure by the colours whether they are edible though. Could be magic mushrooms.
We again enjoyed dinner in the Hotel Stekl restaurant, a fine upmarket restaurant, where the food and service is of a very high quality.
Tomorrow we are off to Poland.
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