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
Prachovské skaly - Rock City
Prachovské skaly - climbers raising the Czech flag
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 shop fronts
Sobotka with Humprecht hunting lodge in woods
Jicin main square
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.