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
Oparno
Oparno Castle was probably built by the lords of Vchynice (later Kinští) around 1344. The report from this year proves that Smil of Vchynice built "rooms to live in", and ten years later he was already based in Opary.
The castle remained in the possession of Smil's descendants until 1472, but soon after the estate was divided. The relatively small castle, now even divided into several parts, ceased to suit the lords who left it at the beginning of the 16th century. Oparno Castle is explicitly mentioned as desolate in 1530. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, there was a wooden restaurant in the castle.
The shape of the narrow, steep ridge became distinct for the appearance of the castle. The road leading along the western slope first passes through the now completely nonexistent fortification, behind which stands a core structure in the shape of a rectangle with rounded corners. It was divided by a transverse wall into a northern, apparently purely defensive, and southern, main part. The core is - though not very typical - an example of a castle with a mantle wall, to the inner sides of which buildings adjoined; the reminiscence of them can still be seen. The inner face of the mantle wall still has imprints of interior structures and, particularly interesting are partially buried vaulted basement. Behind the core, but at a lower level, there used to be another courtyard with a large building. How and whether this area was fortified at all cannot be said with certainty today.
Newspaper article
The history of the castle, founded before 1344 by the lords of Vchynice and abandoned before 1530, was not dramatic in any way. Then again, a small castle on a long ridge above the picturesque Oparno valley was not designed as a military fortress. Today, however, its easily accessible ruins, consisting of a massive mantle walls, a small courtyard and semi-infested cellars, are a popular tourist destination. Access from: Oparno (blue tourist rout)
To visit Oparno and the valley of the same name or Ostrý, you can also use the cycle bus to the nearby Kletečná, which departs from Litoměřice and Roudnice nad Labem. To return, we recommend the Elbe Trail, to which you can connect after passing through the shady Oparenské Valley and the Malá Žernoseky - Lovosice cycle path using the Lovosice ferry (Osmička - Píšťany Park).
Photo gallery
Galerie - Oparno
