"The "Secret" Castle of Charles IV -... " a Karlstejn Travel Page by yooperprof

Travel accidents do happen. Unless you are on one of those package tours where absolutely everything is planned for you, there will times when you take the wrong bus, wear the wrong clothes to a restaurant or concert, make a wrong turn on the highway, leave your umbrella in a cafe, forget the name of that beautiful blonde you met at the bar last night. . . My day at Karlstejn Castle was the result of one of those travel accidents. I hadn't planned on going there at all - I was all set on taking a day trip out to Kutna Hora, the silver mining town to the east of Prague. I went out to the Prague's rail station, Hlavni Nadrazi, and I saw that there was a direct train that left from Platform 1. I boarded a train on Platform 1 - but it wasn't going to Kutna Hora. And it took me almost an hour to realize that I was heading southward. (No agent came by to check my ticket, and I was in a carriage with Czech speakers - my Czech language skills being non-existant.) It wasn't until the train made a stop at Karlstejn station that I knew for certain that I had made a real travel accident. I had known about the medieval Castle at Karlstejn; it had simply been a lower priority to me. But sometimes when you're traveling you just have to go with the flow. Who was that wise man who said, "Wherever you go, there you are"? Well, I was in Karlstejn, and so it was obviously meant to be my destination that day.

There are three things that are important when deciding where to build an impenetrable fortress to house your crown jewels: location, location, and location. Karlstejn is accessible to Prague, but in a hidden nook high in the hills and invisible from the river below. The path to the castle winds past steep hills, allowing those manning the ramparts to see from a distance all who approach. It's immediately clear why Charles IV found this to be such a ideal place to establish his castle.

Karlstejn is only 30 kilometers - 18 miles - southwest of Prague, but it feels much further. If you go to the Castle, you should spend a little time investigating the village that lies along the river. It's a quiet place which reminded me of similarly located places in western Pennsylvania or West Virginia. And it was good to get away from the throngs of tourists!