Day trips - Prague and the Czech Republic - page 176

May and Sept Tue-Sun 9:00-16:00, closed Mon; April and Oct
Tue-Sun 9:00-15:00, closed Mon; Nov-Dec Sat-Sun 9:00-15:00,
closed Mon-Fri; closed Jan-March, tel. [phone], www
.krivoklat.cz.
SLeeping anD eating
Hotel and Restaurant Sýkora, below the castle near the train
station, has been a favorite among Czech hikers since the 1930s.
If you want to stay for an evening concert in the castle courtyard
or for a hike in the nearby woods, sleep in one of the hotel's 11
renovated rooms (Db-600 Kč, tel. [phone], www.hotel-sykora
.krivoklatsko.com, [e-mail], only Czech
and German spoken). Insist on this promised price or cross the
street to the nearby, much classier Hotel and Restaurant U
Jelena (Db-1,200 Kč, tel. [phone], www.ujelena.eu, krivoklat
@ujelena.eu).
tranSportation ConneCtionS
Getting to Křivoklát: Trains leave Prague's Main Station for
Beroun (hourly, 40 min), running through the delightful valley of
the dreamy Berounka River. In Beroun, transfer to the cute little
motor train to Křivoklát (dubbed by Czech hikers the “Berounka
Pacific”; allow 90 min total for trip from Prague). From Křivoklát's
train station, it's a 10-minute walk uphill to the castle. At the train
station, confirm the schedule back—one train leaves just before
noon, and three others depart during the afternoon.
Near Křivoklát: Lány
The village of Lány, about 15 miles from Křivoklát Castle, is
close to patriotic Czech hearts. The castle in Lány served as the
Czech “Camp David” for both Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (the first
president of Czechoslovakia, between the World Wars) and Václav
Havel (the contemporary “father of the Czech Republic” and first
post-communist president of the nation).
Masaryk and his family are buried in Lány's simple village cem-
etery. Masaryk's humble grave on a hill in the middle of the fields
is a pilgrimage place for freedom-loving Czechs. The communists,
wanting to erase Masaryk from the nation's memory, destroyed all
of Masaryk's statues (see page 160) and barely mentioned his name
in history textbooks. During the communist era, Czechs risked
their careers by coming here on the Czech Independence Day to
put candles on Masaryk's grave. Imagine: Every year on October
28, the police sealed of all roads to the village of Lány, and anyone