A weekend trip to Hřensko

 

The clandestine presence of Hřensko, almost in the middle of Europe, caught my attention only a few months back. I was planning to visit Prague and also wanted to visit a village in Czechia. Děčín district in the northern part of Czechia came out as the most suitable destination, as it falls almost midway between Prague and Berlin, with my return flight to Belgium scheduled from the latter. Amongst loads of locations that can be considered as hidden gems within Děčín district, I chose Hřensko for two reasons; for the ease of access via public transport and also to quench my thirst for uncanny voyages. So, what was so special about the journey to Hřensko from Prague? And how was Hřensko as a travel destination?

 As ever I will start with the map.

Hřensko is a small village on the Czech side of river Elbe, on the part of her course where, the river forms a natural boundary between the two countries, Czechia and Germany. From Prague, we reached Schöna, a small town on the German side of river Elbe. Then we took a ferry (40 CK per head) to cross the river which took around 2-3 minutes. And with that we crossed the border to reach Hřensko, in Czechia. I am becoming a fan of crossing country borders in Europe!

Our Airbnb was just a few meters away from the port and the arrangement was absolutely perfect for us, with a river facing patio and a private garden. We had a row house, with all amenities, all for ourselves. We checked in and then went out for a casual walk along the river. As we had long daylight in April, we could also manage to utilize the barbeque facility in the garden before we called it a day.

Next day morning we started our hike up on the sandstone hills. The entire area falls under the national park - Národní park České Švýcarsko.

It was a perfectly bright day to go for a hike. Temp was around 10 deg. C

The main stretch of Hřensko, with around 300 inhabitants, is around the confluence of Elbe and Kamenice rivers. There are various hiking trails starting from here, up to the hills deep inside the national park. The trails are marked on trees and mostly through lighter sections of the national park. The trails have crossed each other on few occasions and so there are potential alternate paths (these do not always turn out to be shortcuts :D) in between the trails as we saw. Exploration further off course is usually not advisable, but if tried, would be at one’s own risk. We took the yellow trail towards Edmundova Soutěska or Edmund's Gorge. It was a pleasant and easy trail along the narrow Kamenice river. I have provided the trail map even at the end of the blog, if you want to refer it at any point of time.

It was a wonderful experience to walk through the romantic pathway along the Kamenice river, surrounded on both sides with overhang of rocks. We came across several tunnels and narrow footbridges along the way. After about half an hour, we reached the Edmundova gorge, from where we had to take a ferry to go forward, to the other side of the trail. It was a bit more crowded than what I had expected (or hoped), probably because it was a Saturday and that too in the Easter holiday break. The sight of ducks playing in the water, somehow cooled off the discomfort of being stalled by a queue (for the ferry) in between the hiking trail. 

Beyond this nice cascade on Kamenice river, we will ride the ferry through the gorge

However, all of our malaises disappeared in thin air as our ferry floated through the narrow gorge. The blue sky and green’ish’ hills provided a stunningly beautiful background to the narrow river flowing through the sandstone rocks. Strange looking statues peeked from both sides. There were occasional chants in Czech by the boatman, which added a mystical element to the whole journey. The ferry ride was for around 15 minutes, and it had a unique blend of both excitement and peace coexisting.

It was a difficult task for me to control my excitement at one point of time, as we went past a place which reminded me of the cover picture of a particular Tintin book.

It looked pretty cool from the boat!

On the other side, was a small café for the tourists, along the river, where we took a break. It had been a very nice walk so far. But time has come to get a bit more adventurous. We weighed our options and saw that we can either continue on the yellow trail with a swarm of people and get back to civilization or we can walk down the river and curve our way through the wilderness.  

Where do we go from here?

Also, there seemed to be a staircase on the right side headed upwards. It started waving its invisible hand towards us. There was a warning sign on a board indicating danger of falling trees. Intriguing.

Stairway to?

We climbed up the winding stairs, but soon met a roadblock at the end of it. There were tree logs all over the place blocking much of the way ahead. It was not impenetrable, but it was that important juncture to decide on whether it would be wise to go ahead on the contorted hiking trail or to go back down and consider either of the previous two options.

Roadblocks ahead!

We stayed on course, and set the theme which we would follow for the rest of the hiking route. Thereafter, we followed quite a wild trail for about half an hour, and had a steep ascent to reach to the top of the hill. It was a medium scale hike through the woods and climbing up the hill, with fallen tree logs creating mazes along the way.

When we reached to the top, the sound of river flowing through the gorge had faded away. There were mild sounds of winds gushing through the tall, almost naked trees and birds chirping. We were momentarily startled by a searing sound through the peaceful ambience. We figured out that it was the sound of cracks, widening through the logs of some of the trees standing around us. The wind was cold and dry. The pungent smell of dry fallen leaves accompanied the fresh air in our breaths, which became heavy after the climb. Age. 10 years ago, I wouldn't even have been bothered a bit with the hike. We searched for a log which would be perfectly placed for us to sit and relax for a while. We found one.

I am super glad to click this picture! (With timer)

After a short pause, we continued on our trail, which now became a comfortable walk through the woods. We walked this part at our own pace, enjoying the change in our surroundings as the woods thickened at places. Half an hour later, we came across some people and realized there was a junction ahead of us.

And then all of a sudden, we came to an edge of the national park, where the woods ended and there was a nice patch of green grassland. The sun shone brightly, toasting up a backdrop which was completely opposite to what we had been seeing in the past hour. It was part of the golf course which shares a natural border with the Národní National Park.

To the left is the Golf Course, to the right is the woods. Right is right?

We strolled through some parts of the golf course, clicked pictures and agreed that we must not lose momentum and that we should head back into the woods immediately. So, we went back in and spotted green marks on some trees, indicating that it was the green trail. There was not much mobile network coverage in the area, which is always delightful for me, as personally, I try not to use GPS as much as possible. The bond between human and nature is best experienced in these kind of hiking adventures, which instigates stimulation of the human senses.

Thinking where to go?

We reached a small village called Janov. We knew that it was a neighbouring village and we pronounced it to be the point from where we should return towards Hřensko. It had been more than 4 hours since we had started our hike.  The day had matured to a very bright noon which made the walk through the colourful village extremely pleasant visually.

After a few mins walk, we reached the edge of the village, from where the green trail continued towards Hřensko. There was a vehicle road from Janov to Hřensko as well, however that was not our option under the circumstances. You may, at this point, like to have a look at the trail map at the end of the blog. This part of the trail was tricky, as our legs were beginning to exhaust, and also it was not a well-crafted trail. It was a descending trail through a clammier section of the national park. Slippery tree roots and rocks created sly obstacles for potential stumbling or slipping stunts from passers-by.

Can you spot the green mark?

With hunger kicking in as well, we picked up our pace and tried to take minimum possible stops. The last stretch of a hike is usually like this, that’s the mental note we inscribed in our weary brains for encouragement. The woods further thickened as we walked along. About quarter of an hour later, we spotted a mark on a tree which indicated a deviation to the route. Curiosity won over exhaustion. We took the deviation which paved our way to a flat rock surface leading to an edge. We got to the edge and all jumped together in excitement. Hřensko could be seen down in the valley from where we stood! The little village was unknown to us even a few days ago. But at that point of time, it was the most desired place we wanted to be.

Oh! There is our Hřensko!

As soon as we had the glimpse of Hřensko, we felt fresh waves of energy flowing through our body and soul. We went back to the trail and after a few hundred meters of steep descend, the trail ended abruptly on a vehicle road along the hill. The last half of a kilometre could either be driven down, or walked along a series of winding steps which started from the other side of the road.

The steps went down through a cemetery

Further downhill, we came across a very mysterious looking house, which was just too attractive to be ignored, even with all the hunger in our stomach. I later studied about the house, which turns out to be an abandoned industrial site for production of acetylene gas which was used for lighting. The Old Gasworks house was built from hand-carved sandstone blocks in the style of a medieval castle.

Old Gasworks house, Stara Plynarna is now a hotel!

When we finally reached the vehicle road of Hřensko, it was still bright outside. We had a sumptuous meal at a local restaurant celebrating the successful day of adventure.

A bright end to the hike!

We spent the rest of the evening at the bank of river Elbe, gossiping about the various illustrious events that happened since morning. Deep down, I was both satisfied with the day’s efforts and also excited to realize the contents I had gathered to possibly write a new blog. (I actually had to wait out a couple of super busy months to do that.)

Next day morning, we left for Berlin. Hřensko, has stitched together some beautiful memories which we will cherish for years to come. 

If you like easy to medium scale hikes, I would recommend to visit Hřensko, which to me, is quite a hidden gem. If you have a car, there are many more offbeat places in Děčín district, which you can explore as well. Please feel free to contact me in case you need more details to plan your trip. Keep travelling!

 

Here are some extras from the trip!

Bad Schandau was the main train station for the international train between Prague and Berlin. Schöna/ Hřensko can be reached from Bad Schandau on smaller deutshe bahn train. In our train journey from Prague to Bad Schandau and from Bad Schandau to Berlin, we experienced something that I had never imagined I would have to face in Europe. We travelled sitting on the floor board of the train throughout the journey as the train was full beyond capacity, with people fleeing away from Ukraine in the current (April 2022) war situation and seeking refuge in Germany. Needless to say, the majority were women and children and looking at them made me wonder, how lucky some of us are not to be forced to face circumstances as cruel as it was for them. On a lighter note, we reminded each other of the occasions where we had similar experiences in Indian railways. Through the solemnity of the situation, we tried to spread smiles together with some little kids who, with all the innocence of the world, were just enjoying another train journey. 

Travelling by all means

Our airbnb was a superhit choice! It had all the facilities. I spent some lazy time sitting in the river facing patio, sipping my cup of coffee and watching trains pass by, on the German side.

There is another very famous spot that can be hiked from Hřensko (Red Trail, 4 kms) - Pravčická Brána, which we could not visit as we did not have enough time. The Pravčická Brána or Archway, is the largest natural formed archway in Europe. The arch is the main symbol of the Bohemian National Park and one of the most important landmarks in Czechia. It was even featured in the film Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. You can look up on the internet! I kept it as an excuse to go back to Hřensko!

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 In pictures and videos : Kaushik Mukherjee, Piyali Mukherjee, Supratik Roy

 

 Thinking where to go? : Shuvam Dhar

 

 Proofread by : Soumi Chatterjee

 

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