Burg Karlstein

Today we visited the most famous castle in Bohemia: Burg Karlstein.

But before we went to the castle, we took a 10-kilometer hike.

From the train station, we first walked along the railroad tracks and then went to the riverbank.

Here, the path became narrow and led through tall nettles.

The ground was quite slippery, so we had to be careful not to fall, especially because the path was very narrow and ran right next to the river.

However, it didn't take long for the path to widen again and we could walk comfortably to the village of Sbrsko.

After a short break, we headed back towards Karlstein - this time not along the riverbank, but through meadows and forests that were slightly higher.

The road was temporarily blocked by a flock of sheep and goats, which were accompanied by their shepherd and sheepdog. At first, the animals were hesitant to pass us. However, they were driven in the right direction by the dog, commanded by the shepherd.

Finally, we reached the fortress named after Charles IV.

It was built to securely store the Imperial Regalia, the Bohemian Crown Jewels, and a number of precious relics.

Despite its fame, Karlstein was not as crowded as we expected. We even managed to get two tickets for an English guided tour without any problems, which started ten minutes later.

With a small, manageable international group (usually we had the pleasure of visiting castles with about 50 others), we followed our guide through some of Charles IV's rooms.

Afterwards, we strolled around the castle and looked down from the battlements.

Then we walked down to the village of Karlstein and back to our motorhome.