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  The Czech Republic 2008 - Bohemian Paradise

 

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THE CZECH REPUBLIC - Bohemian Paradise

This is a rather grand name for an area of wooded and rocky hills, rock formations, castles and a few towns situated about 50 km to the north east of Prague. We found a pleasant small campsite at a pension in the village of Keznice on the main road from Jicin to Turnov where we stayed a couple of nights. 
One of the main attractions was the Rock City at Prachovské skaly, a wooded area with waymarked footpaths often through very narrow crevices between the many rock pinnacles, popular with rock climbers. There is a small admission charge and additional parking fee (double for motorhomes). It took us some time to walk around due to the crowds squeezing through the gaps. 

Prachovské skaly - narrow paths and crowds     Prachovské skaly - narrow crevice path
        Prachovské skaly - narrow paths
Prachovské skaly - Rock City
Prachovské skaly - Rock City
 Prachovské skaly - climbers raising the Czech flag 
Prachovské skaly - climbers raising the Czech flag
Prachovské skaly - abseiling
Prachovské skaly - abseiling


We drove from there through woods and meadows to the small town of Sobotka where everything was closed on a Saturday afternoon apart from a Vietnamese shoe shop and a couple of bars. Overlooking the town square with its ubiquitous Skoda cars of all vintages was the amazing Humprecht hunting lodge with its conical roof. After a long detour due to misreading the road signs and confusing village names we followed a bus through the narrow lanes through the woods and were surprised when several walkers alighted followed by four more with mountain bikes - presumably there was space inside to store them! We eventually returned to the campsite passing the twin Trosky castle towers on their hill. The next day we drove the short distance to Jicin where being a Sunday the attractive colonnaded town square was virtually deserted but there were some interesting old buildings including the imposing Valdice Gate with a gallery at the top of the tower and some old-fashioned shops. 

 Jicin old tobaccanist shop front   Jicin old-fashioned ladies clothes shop window
                           Jicin old shop fronts

Sobotka with hunting lodge in woods
Sobotka with Humprecht hunting lodge in woods

Jicin main square
Jicin main square

Jicin - Valdice Gate
Jicin - Valdice Gate  

We turned south on empty main roads and after passing through the large industrial town of Kolín (which according to the Rough Guide has a medieval old centre), arrived at Kutna Hora, famous for its Gothic cathedral and the amazing monastery and Ossuary on the outskirts at Sedlec. We drove around the ring road bypassing the old town and spotted a sign to the small basic campsite of Santa Barbora which was usefully situated to the north of the town only a short walk to the old centre.


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