I
took two Australian friends for a short walking tour of Czech
Paradise in May and I have been meaning to blog about it ever since
Czech
Paradise (Cesky Raj in Czech) is a brilliant place for walking. It's
actually a brilliant place full stop –
one
of my favourites in the Czech Republic. I arrived a few days earlier
than my friends because I had some walks to check and research. The
weather wasn't great until my friends brought sunshine from
Australia.
We really only had two days for our
walks.
The first took us via Trosky castle –
a
stunning ruin perched on the cores of two extinct volcanoes. Castles
with two towers,
at either end,
are a familiar form in the Czech Republic, but few if any dominate
the landscape the way Trosky does. Indeed the two towers are symbols
of the area. Visible from all directions, they create a landmark for the traveller, be they arriving on foot,
in a car or by train. The castle's position results in commanding
views - it's claimed that these views
extend as far as Prague and you can certainle see
as far as the Giant Mountains as well as
large parts of Czech Paradise and the
surrounding area.
The
two towers are called Baba - the crone - and Panna - the maiden. But
don't be deceived by the names:
both are equally old (14th
century). Between the two towers is the palace area. The downside of
the incredible location was the climb we had to make from the train
station on the first hot day of the year. But there is a pub next to
the entrance of the castle, which was a welcome sight and where I
introduced my friends to the Czech soft drink Kofola.
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