The Ruins of Boskovice Castle

In yesterday's post, we showed a picture of a what looked like a castle way in the distance. So we figured out how to hike to the castle and we set off around 10:00am.

It was a beautiful sunny day with a clear blue sky! Our route first took us by the estate property of Chateau Boskovice.

Chateau Boskovice, built around 1830.

A nice view of Boskovice from the Chateau.

We wandered around the estate property, but decided against paying the 90 korunas ($4.50) each to see the interior. We carried on uphill and onto a path leading up to the castle. We paid the 35 korunas ($1.75) each entrance fee, and we were given some self guided tour sheets in English.

Our first view of the castle ruins.

Boskovice Castle isn't mentioned in any historical documents until the year 1312, but they believe it was built in the 12th century. It was inhabited until 1729 when it was left to decay.

Of course a castle has to have it's own brewery!

Ruins.

You can actually climb quite high up into the observation towers. Of course some of it has been restored for safety, but the ruins are essentially left as they are naturally. It's one of the best castle ruins we've ever visited!

Looking east from the castle tower.

Ruth and the ruins.

Ruth, looking north towards Boskovice.

And looking west. They had a good view to see if there were any invaders coming!

This is a picture of a picture to give you an idea of how the castle looks from the air. It's amazing!

We carried on, taking a path through the forest and hills surrounding the castle, When we made it to the bottom of the hill, we stopped to check our map. As we were doing that, a lady came by walking her dog and obviously saw us looking at the map. She said a whole bunch of words that we didn't understand and we were quick to tell her that we spoke no Czech. She laughed, and then continued talking! It was too funny, and we just stood there shrugging our shoulders and smiling. And she kept on talking. I guess she just liked to talk!

We came to a nice little pond.

And there was a cute little gnome on a raft in the pond!

Hiking back to town, the well marked trail went onto a section that was obviously not used very often. It was quite overgrown, but we trudged on through it. As we were hiking along, we heard some noise, definitely human, sort of a wailing sound. Rounded a bend, and saw a young man with long straggly hair and a beard, and he was lying up against a rock, stoned out of his mind. Coherent enough to know to hold a bag of whatever it was to his face so that he could continue to be stoned. Very strange stuff. He had four or five small canisters of something lying on the ground, and the trail was very narrow at this point, but we had to get by. I nodded at him and said hello (in Czech) and he mumbled something and we just carried on. Weird, and kinda scary!

We continued on, and made it back to town. Stopped in to buy four eggs. It was just in a small fruit and vegetable store, and we can now count to five (!) so we pointed at the eggs and asked for four of them. Cost was equivalent to 40 cents. Eggs are not refrigerated here, it is really only in Canada and the U.S. where eggs are kept in a fridge. Went back to the flat, and made some lunch. We had been up so late the night before that I decided to lie down and had a nap for an hour or so!

Vanda and Andrew came and picked us up at 6:30pm or so, and we went back out to their campsite and Ruth made a stir fry for everybody for dinner. Andrew likes to cook as well, so he made the rice and a salad, and Ruth made the chicken stir fry.

Andrew and Ruth making dinner in the sausage trailer!

Our couchsurfing hosts Vanda and Andrew, and their dog Caraya.

They and some friends have a nice little campground setup! If we had Sherman here, we would easily spend a couple of weeks boondocking here!

Their friends George and Kathy have a little rental motorhome set up here. I had a look at it, it's an awfully large motorhome for a small chassis. It only has 15" wheels and only single wheels on the back. And it's front wheel drive! George says it is not very stable to drive and not a good design!

Ruth, Kevin, George, Kathy, their daughter (sorry, can't remember her name!), Vanda, and Andrew.

We have had a great visit to Boskovice, and we would like to stay longer but we have plans to be in the city of Olomouc today, and for the next four days. Also, we have two other couchsurfer hosts who have offered us accommodation in the foothills of the mountains close to the Slovakia border after our visit to Olomouc. There is simply too much to see!