Hiking in Bohemian Karst Part I: Karlstejn
Details
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Discoverers ahoy!
The hiking season is at its peak so let’s make the most of it! This event will take us to the ‘real’ nature i.e. nature outside of Prague’s boundaries :-) The Bohemian Karst Protected Landscape Area offers one of the best and the most easily accessible hiking grounds in the vicinity of Prague. We've already discovered one interesting place in the northeastearn part of the Karst (https://www.meetup.com/discoveringprague/events/228780248/).
This time we're going to turn our attention to the main landmarks of the area. There is a lot to see and that's why I decided to split this hike into two parts.
For Part One, we will meet on Saturday 30th of July at 9:00 am at Smichovske nadrazi in the ticket hall - see the photo below.
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(The meeting place in the ticket hall of Prague - Smichov Train Station)
Please allow extra time to get there - public transport is less frequent on Saturdays.
The trek combines both marked and unmarked trails – that’s why the map (https://mapy.cz/s/SSPc) is only approximate. It will be about 15 km long hike of medium difficulty (includes some steep ascents)
The starting point of our walk is at Zadni Treban train station. The first highlight will be the panorama of Karlstejn Castle, after about 3 km of walking. I wish the castle was as impressive inside as it is outside. One can’t have everything I suppose.
From Karlstejn we will take an unmarked, yet very pretty path to Morina. Depending on the time and interest we might take a detour and visit abandoned Jewish cemetery in Morina. There are tomb stones from 1700’s to 1930’s and I like the quiet, secluded atmosphere of this place.
We'll then follow the newly marked yellow trail along the complex of quarries called 'Amerika'. Velka Amerika is a well-known place to the resident of Prague and even short-term visitors have already discovered this cool place thanks to the various travel blogs. Many of you have probably swum in it even though it is prohibited. However, we're going to only admire this 70 m deep pit also known as "the Czech Grand Canyon" :-)
Next quarry along the trail will be 'Mexiko', dug by political prisoners in the 50's, which I find even more impressive, see the photo below
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We’ll have a picnic lunch by Mala Amerika quarry. Bring some food to share if you want to. I'm sure it will be appreciated :-) From the picnic place we’ll take an unmarked path across the forest to reach Srbsko train station. We're going to take the train at 4:16 pm to arrive back to Prague - Smichov at 4:58 pm.
The ride back to Prague – Smichov takes about 40 minutes. I’m going to book places in a pub/restaurant for our usual after hike socializing. Probably in the small Indian place near the Smichov train station where Natalia organized a meetup (https://www.meetup.com/discoveringprague/events/230723613/) couple of months ago.
The cost of the trip:
I’ll pay the return train fare for the whole group and later collect 100 CZK from each of you (train tickets + meetup contribution).
I'm looking forward to hiking with you!
Cheers,
Filip
P.S. IMPORTANT INFO
The old "Amerika" quarries near Karlstejn are really cool. However, beware that while visiting them you will need to take extra caution to avoid injury, especially not to climb to the cliff's edges. Please read Discovering Prague Disclaimer (https://www.meetup.com/discoveringprague/pages/20807828/DISCOVERING_PRAGUE_DISCLAIMER/).