Karlstejn
Two weeks ago Sue came out again for the weekend. We decided to get out of the city on Sunday and headed by train for Karlstejn and its castle. We ended up leaving Prague late in the morning so we decided to get lunch before sightseeing. The station at Karlstejn is in the valley across the river from the castle and village.

There was a promising-looking bar just before we crossed the river (named after the Good Soldier Swejk) so we went there. The food was good and the prices were an absolute bargain, roughly a third of what we might pay in central Prague, and cheaper than the prices we are used to paying in the non-touristy parts of the city. The bar was popular with Czech cyclists and walkers, too.

After lunch we walked up the hill through the village to the castle. We decided not to pay for a guided tour of the interior as apparently it is quite bare inside, and photographs are forbidden. Instead we went for a walk hoping to get views of the castle from the other side. We didn't have a map but we followed some tracks and almost managed a circular walk. We could see our starting point, but it was about 200 feet below with a nasty looking steep drop. We decided to be safe and retrace.

We felt we deserved more refreshment so we stopped at another bar (again out of the village and popular with walkers and cyclists) for ice cream and cold drinks. We then made our way back through the village to the station for the train back to Prague.