August 15…Visiting the Rock Castles

That morning, Pam and I went for a walk while Rod and Miles and Priscilla went into Harrachov… .Rod and Miles to play tennis and Priscilla to shop for gifts. Bill, our official tour guide, stayed at the house, probably researching different things to do on our upcoming travels. When everyone got back to the cabin, we headed south to visit the ancient Frydstejn Castle. We had a bit of trouble finding the location and I've included a series of four photos of Bill’s encounter with a local woman, asking for directions to the Castle….be sure and read the captions. We all got a good laugh out of watching all this.

The ruins of the Frydstejn castle, one of three castles in the Liberec Region, lies on the upper end of a long sandstone rock ridge, dominating the nearby Jizera river valley below. The exact date it was constructed is not known but, it’s mentioned for the first time in a church source from 1385 The dominant feature of the castle is a large tower, built on the highest rock, that is 15 meters high with a diameter of 9 meters and walls that are 2 meters thick . When we finally arrived at the area beneath Frydstejn castle, we found a small chapel that was built in 1825. This is the only remarkable religious structure in the village that was present in the middle of the 19^th century. We proceeded to hike up the wooded trail, peering up at the looming tower, only to find that it was closed on Mondays. We were disappointed but, at least, we were able to see the somewhat foreboding tower up close.

Next, we drove on to Mala Skala, a charming little village along the Jizera river, in search of the barrier fort Vranov, also called Pantheon. We stopped for lunch at a lovely little restaurant, and watched all the activity on the river while eating another delicious meal and drinking a cold beer. It was a beautiful, sunny day and I’m surprised that we were able to keep Miles out of the water. After lunch, we hiked up the long trail to the entrance of the castle which was, fortunately, open.

Founded as a fort around 1425, Vranov is situated on a narrow and steep sandstone cliff above the right bank of the Jizera river and high above the village, offering spectacular views of Mala Skala and Jizera valley below . The castle is almost 400 meters long and is considered to be the longest, and most complicated rock castle in the Czech Republic. After spending some time exploring the ruins of the castle and marveling at how it could possibly have been created, we headed back down the long path to drive to our next destination.

Pavel had made reservations for us at an historic tavern, located in another small village about an hour away from Mala Skala, that offered a medieval dinner show. When we arrived and entered the restaurant, it took a while for our eyes to adjust to the candle lit interior and to see the medieval artifacts that covered the walls. We sat at a large wooden table and ordered our drinks and made our hardy meal choices that were served by wenches and waiters dressed in full medieval attire.

The show began with musicians playing ancient instruments accompanied by belly dancers who all roamed through the cavernous restaurant stopping to interact with the audience. Then another group came out and jousted with each other then, at one point, captured a young maiden, one of the guests from the audience, and put her in a huge iron cage, that hung from the ceiling, and proceeded to hoist her up.  Next, a monk appeared and he and one of the other characters acted out some sort of confrontation using swords and fire and a lot of dramatic comedy.  Although we couldn’t understand a word of it, whatever they were saying seemed to delight the audience as there was much hooting and laughter.

With full bellies and memories of exotic rock castles, we headed back to Horni Polubny and to our cozy beds in our mountain cabin.