My Travel Adventures

Given the absence of travel, my amusements have been quite provincial lately. Every now and then, I will take a long walk and end up above Svatý Jan, and on truly special days, I get to visit the capital. I must not indulge myself too frequently though, for my atrophied, provincial mind feels overwhelmed by such visits, and I feel exhausted for days.

I wrote about my visit to Křivoklát Castle in October, but what I neglected to mention is that the castle is at the heart of an eponymous protected landscape area nestled between the D5 and the D6 highways, which lead from Prague to Pilsen and Karlovy Vary, respectively.

I made plans to meet an old friend at the Hvězda Game Reserve, a popular park near the edge of Prague, which takes the name Hvězda (meaning “star”) after the star-shaped summer palace at its centre. I proposed the venue since I had never been to Hvězda before, despite the fact that the walls of the summer palace are a very familiar sight to anyone who commutes to Prague from the west.