The regional view
From the top the whole of Bohemian Paradise with its rock towns is visible.
Zdeněk Fiedler — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Gerd Eichmann — CC BY 4.0 · Gerd Eichmann — CC BY 4.0 · Gerd Eichmann — CC BY 4.0
By car it is about an hour and a quarter north-east of Prague, which is the practical way. By public transport it is a train to Turnov or Jičín, then an infrequent local bus, then an uphill walk. Treat it as part of a Bohemian Paradise day rather than a trip on its own.
The Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), which devastated central Europe. Trosky was a stronghold that changed hands between armies, was burned in the middle of the seventeenth century and abandoned afterwards. Many Bohemian castles ended the same way in that war.
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The ruins of a fourteenth-century castle on two adjacent volcanic peaks in the heart of Bohemian Paradise, the region's defining image and an unofficial symbol of Bohemia. What makes it singular is its site: it was built on the eroded plugs of an old volcano, so a tall narrow tower rises on the higher peak and a broader one on the lower. For centuries people have called them the Maiden and the Crone — the slender and the stout — and the two names are better known than the castle's own. The castle was destroyed in the wars of the seventeenth century and never rebuilt, so what remains is stone ruin on two rocks. That is in fact the reason for its beauty: the two towers are visible from tens of kilometres away above plain and forest. The climb to the ruins is an uphill walk then narrow stairs, and the view from the top covers the whole of Bohemian Paradise. Hours are seasonal and the castle closes in winter.
From the top the whole of Bohemian Paradise with its rock towns is visible.
Destroyed in the seventeenth century and never rebuilt — the reason for its beauty.
The region's best-known image, used as an unofficial emblem for the whole area.
Bohemian Paradise, about ninety kilometres north-east of Prague