Golden Trail over the Land of Castles
The "Golden Trail over the Land of Castles" with a total length of 89 km from Budyně nad Ohří to Úštěk connects most of the important castle monuments in the area of the Central Bohemian Uplands.
The Central Bohemian Uplands are surely a region with a unique atmosphere of beautiful nature, high basalt mounds and - above all - the land of castle ruins that crown these magnificant peaks. And those wonderful views of the region… you will love them! You will not see anything similar in the Czech lands. Moreover, few people realize that the Central Bohemian Uplands is the place where the oldest Czech legends take place and that it is also the only region where the invincible Czech military leader Jan Žižka from Trocnov imprinted his strategic genius on his own castle - Kalich.
Stops
Chlum
Blešenský vrch is a dominant igneous mound (520 m above sea level), which rises 2.5 kilometres north-north-east of Třebívlice. The remains of the castle, of which no written records have survived, are still visible on its summit; even its name is uncertain.
The village of Blešno, which lies at the western foot of the castle hill, may have been mentioned in the charter of Přemysl Otakar I from 1226, but later - unknown when - it disappeared and was not re-founded until 1725. It is not clear whether it could have been part of the unknown castle at all. Some light on the origin and history of the castle is shed by the ongoing research into its appearance, which clearly points to its foundation during the Hussite Wars; the findings of pottery fragments are consistent with this conclusion. The questions of the founder and the circumstances of the demise of what was undoubtedly only a short-lived building remain open.
The conditions for the construction of the castle on the solitary and steep Blešensko Hill are almost ideal. Access to the top was provided by a single road that climbs gently from the southeast up the steep eastern slope to the northwest, into the small castle courtyard. The road was blocked by at least two gates and was controlled for a considerable length by a projecting earthwork which occupied the south-eastern end of the long and very narrow ridge. The main structures of the castle were probably the large building at the north end of the courtyard and perhaps the tower-like structure that rose on top of the cliff on the opposite side. In spite of the high proportion of timber and clay constructions and a certain economy of the building, it is necessary to highlight the highly sophisticated fortification system, whose design makes the castle on Blešenský vrch partly similar to one of the finest contemporary fortified buildings - Žižek's Kalich Castle.