Lifestyles Magazine® continues its exploration of the Czech lands…

There was a time, not so very long ago, when people walked from place to place. Hard as it is to imagine, a 15-kilometer jaunt to the nearest market town was not uncommon. Coaches, carts, and even horses were hard to come by, and a world where using feet as recreation rather than out of necessity was unimaginable.

But the village of Sopotnice has decided to revive the walking tradition with its annual Three Castle Walk. Every year in May, thousands of people converge on the small village in the foothills of the Orlice Mountains to walk or bike 15, 30, or 50 kilometer routes to three of the most ancient and interesting castles in the region. But you can take your own Three Castle Walk any day of the year.

Although Sopotnice is the traditional starting point of this walk, it’s just as practical to start in Potštejn, which, frankly, has more to offer the traveler, including two good restaurants, a sweets shop, and two clean and reasonably priced hotels.

Potštejn

The Robber Knight Mikuláš z Potštejna lived in a magnificent castle on a hill above a bend in the Orlice River. He and his father were avid opponents of the parvenu, King John of Luxembourg. But somehow Mikuláš managed to get into the good graces of the king’s son, the Moravian Margrave Charles. That stood him in good stead when Mikuláš killed a merchant from the silver-mining town of Kutná Hora.

Under ordinary circumstances, a noble could expect to get away with a stiff fine for killing a merchant. Unfortunately for Mikuláš, his victim belonged to the class of rich silver merchants whom King John liked to fleece on his rare visits to his kingdom. Thanks to the intercession of the young Margrave Charles, Mikuláš got out of his mess with his head sitting on his neck. But King John recouped his losses by confiscating Mikuláš’s property. This irked the knight. He tore up the eviction papers, moved back into the old homestead, and decided to go into business for himself.

Back then, there were only two ways for landless knights to make good: robbery in times of war and robbery in times ofpeace. Mikuláš chose the latter option and did quite well for several years, lightening the loads of trade caravans en route to Poland.

Eventually, word got back to his royal friend, now King Charles. Irked that his good will was being abused so callously, in 1339 he took up residence in the priory of the nearby village of Sopotnice and besieged the fortress. It took nine months of hard work, mainly because Mikuláš refused to give up.

In the end, Charles, who had spent several years besieging in Italy and was up to date on the latest techniques, had a tunnel dug right up to the battlements and blew up the entire castle.

He never managed to bring Mikuláš to justice, however; the knight is said to have died in the ruins. A few years later, Charles, perhaps recalling that there had been two sides to the Potštejn story, returned much of the property he had confiscated to Mikuláš’s widow and, in 1355, rebuilt the castle to be even grander than it was before.

Of Mikuláš of Potštejn, all that is left is the epithet of “Robber Knight” and the family crest, a bull’s head with a ring through its nose, found on the castle gate and in various places around the town of Potštejn; and legends of a buried treasure, which was why the castle was taken apart, stone by stone, by the Count Hasdrubal de Chamaré, an inveterate gambler.

Today it stands, a magnificent ruin, on an escarpment in a bend of the Orlice River. The charming tiny spa town of Potštejn, unviolated by modern socialist architecture, is a maze of tiny wooden cabins huddled along the hillside, around a 17th century well, watched over by a Baroque St. Florian, the patron saint of firemen; and the ubiquitous bull’s head.

You can reach the town from Sopotnice by following the river downstream, crossing the main road and following the purple bike path around the back of the hill around the Vochtánka summer camp, complete with teepees, a bar, country western music on most summer nights, and even, on rodeo nights, a mechanical bull. Yes, rodeo. The foothills of the Orlice Mountains are full of horse farms – and most of the owners are cowboys at heart.

Stay on the main path, flanked on the right by the burbling Orlice and on the left by an ancient millrace. Eventually it turns into a magnificent alley of ancient sycamores and linden trees that will bring you into the center of Potštejn.

You can fortify yourself in either of two restaurants at the crossroad. The chic Hotel Praha has a large, sycamore shaded garden and the remnants of an old wooden promenade, sadly in need of restoration. The more proletarian Slavie serves a garlic soup bound to bring tears to your eyes.

Once you have had your fill of Potštejn, head up the main road back in the direction of Sopotnice, but take a left, following the red marker, toward the tiny village of Brná. Walk back to the Orlice River and then head upstream, through another magnificent valley, this time flanked by ancient fir trees, until you come to the village of Litice.

Litice

This tiny village of no more than 150 inhabitants – all ofwhom seem to be in a friendly “prettiest garden” contest – nestles in the bosom of the fir-covered hills like a corsage. It’s a steep 15-minute hike up to the dramatic castle, which is not much more than a drawbridge and four walls, topped with a handsome new split-shingle roof.

A better time investment is the pub at its foot, which serves Pilsner on tap and pickled cheese worth every step of the walk from Potštejn. The shaggy dog who patrols the quiet street and gravely sniffs newcomers is named Míša.

The town’s hydroelectric plant is over 100 years old, fed by an old channel that runs straight through the hill that the castle stands on (legend has it that it was dug by Turkish prisoners in order to supply the castle with water – which somehow doesn’t mesh historically, but sounds nice, nonetheless). From the channel, the water falls some 100 feet into the well of the hydroelectric plant, turning a huge turbine and generating electricity. If you are technically inclined, ask one of the villagers, who will find the caretaker, or take you there himself.

Further up the road is a pretty railway station. The decision you make here separates the real walkers from the mere amblers. An hourly train will run the less ambitious walkers back to Sopotnice in 10 minutes (the pub has a train schedule).

Another option is to walk to the southern edge of the village and follow the yellow markers back along the other side of the Orlice River. This path runs higher up the mountainside, through tunnels of greenery, punctuated in summer by large patches of violets, wild strawberries, lilies of-the-valley – and of course mushrooms. A brisk 45-minute walk (without strawberry/mushroom stops) will bring you back to Sopotnice.Those who prefer a challenge will continue on an easy 18-kilometer stroll (if you don’t count the first kilometer – a murderous climb out of the Orlice Valley from Litice) through gently rolling meadows, shady forests, and charming villages to the third castle, Žampach.

Žampach

Above: The charming town of Letohrad offers a visual feast of classic Czech architecture

This was the lair of Mikuláš of Potštejn’s ideological follower, Jan of Smojno, also known as Pancíř. In 1355, thanks to various valiant deeds, he was rewarded with a heavy golden chain by Emperor Charles IV.

Unfortunately for him, Pancíř was not the type to not let this kind of thing go to his head. In addition to wearing the chain night and day to remind all and sundry that he was in the Emperor’s good graces, he took up highway robbery.

This time, the siege did not take nine months. The Emperor pulled up to the castle with an army on a Friday, demanding unconditional surrender, and by Sunday, Pancíř, expecting to receive mercy, did so.

He might actually have been pardoned if he hadn’t worn that gold chain around his neck. In a rare display of black humor, the Emperor hung the robber knight on the nearest tree – by the golden chain.

Nothing but a few stone arches hidden among the trees are left of Žampach today. Still, the magnificent view of the Orlice Mountain range is well worth walking the extra 18
kilometers – if you like walking. At this point, traditional Three-Castle walkers turn their heads toward Sopotnice – a question of a mere 20 more kilometers, much of it a long
asphalt roads.

A better option is to continue another five kilometers to thelovely town of Letohrad, which actually boasts two sweets shops on the arcaded Baroque square. The railway station is another two kilometers down the road. If you have any energy left – or if you want to replenish your stores – stop by the large, stone barn on the hill. It is an old farmstead which now houses an excellent Museum of Traditional Handicrafts and – what is of more interest to us at this point – an excellent restaurant.

Trains from Letohrad run back to Sopotnice and Potštejn almost every hour.