River Elbe

Melnik 1 — The Church of St. Peter & St. Paul, Melník © Ricky Yates

Following my recent busy July weekend, I am now on annual leave until the end of the month. For a variety of reasons, we’ve decided to have a stay-at-home holiday or ‘staycation’ as I gather Americans call it. For these next two weeks, we’ve written out a list of places in or around Prague that we either want to visit for the first time, or re-visit because we missed something previously, or because we want to go in summer having previously visited in another season.

On Tuesday 17th July, we visited Melník, a small town which lies around 35 km directly north of Prague at the confluence of the Vltava and Labe/Elbe rivers. Melník comes into the third category outlined in the previous paragraph as we had been there once previously at the beginning of January 2009. On that occasion, there was snow lying on the ground and the two main attractions were both closed! It was also a few weeks before I commenced writing this blog and some months before I bought my current camera, thus meaning I have no written or photographic record of that trip.

The historic centre of Melník is situated on the top of a hill overlooking the confluence of the two rivers with a steep drop down to the water’s edge. Right on top of the hill stand the two most significant buildings in the town – the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul with its tall tower, and ‘Zámek Melník‘, a Renaissance château belonging to the Lobkowicz family.

Melnik 6 — Cobbled street in the centre of Melník with Restaurace U Rytiru on the right © Ricky Yates

We drove to Melník and upon arrival, found a suitable parking spot for the car, and then walked into the centre of the town. We headed for the Church and Zámek, and just before reaching them, decided to have a late lunch at Restaurace U Rytiru, sitting under one of the red Budweiser umbrellas on the right in the photograph above.

Melnik 3 — Cross made from human skulls & bones in the crypt of the Church of St. Peter & St. Paul, Melník © Sybille Yates

Then it was off to see the somewhat macabre feature of the Church – the old crypt which is an ossuary containing the bones of more than 10,000 people, dug up to make room to bury plague victims in the sixteenth century. When the crypt, which had been previously walled up, was re-opened in the late nineteenth century during renovation work on the Church, a professor at Charles University in Prague undertook anthropological studies on the bones and arranged them into some interesting patterns including this cross.

Melnik 2 — The Labe/Elbe River at Melník with the navigation channel and lock that circumvent the first section of the Vltava River © Ricky Yates

Walking between the Church and Zámek Melník, we reached a spot from where there is a wonderful view across the Central Bohemian countryside and, in the foreground, the confluence of the Vltava and Labe/Elbe rivers. A navigation channel and lock, built in the first decade of the twentieth century, allows boats to circumvent the first few unnavigable kilometres of the Vltava. The metal plaque shown below, explains which waterway is which!

Melnik 7 — Plaque explaining which waterway is which! © Ricky Yates

We then headed for Zámek Melník, not least because of the onset of a very heavy thundery downpour! This photograph, taken in the courtyard of the Zámek, shows some of the sgraffito decoration on the exterior walls of the building.

Melnik 4 — Zámek Melník with exterior sgraffito decoration © Ricky Yates

There was also this sundial on one of the courtyard walls which was unfortunately rather redundant in view of the weather 😉

Melnik 5 — The sundial on the exterior of Zámek Melník © Ricky Yates

We took a most enjoyable tour of the interior of the Zámek but, as is sadly now commonplace in many historic houses, no photography was allowed. However, we did appreciate being able to walk through the various rooms at our own pace, without an accompanying guide. As might be expected, there was a variety of antique furniture and historic paintings to observe. We particularly liked the intricate decoration of many of the ceilings.

Melnik 8 — Church tower and vines at Melník © Ricky Yates

Before the heavens opened once again, I did manage to get this photograph which shows the Church tower, together with the vines that grow on the steep slope below the Church and Zámek Melník. Most Czech wine is produced in Moravia but some excellent, mainly white wines, are also produced in Bohemia, particularly in and around Melník.

The vineyard below the Church and Zámek Melník can also be clearly seen in the photograph below which I took, soon after we set out on our journey back to Prague by a different route to the one by which we came.

Melnik 9 — Zámek Melník and the Church tower with vineyards below © Ricky Yates

PS Before anybody points it out, I do know that there should be a hácek above the ‘e’ in ‘Melník’, just as there should be one above the ‘c’ in ‘hácek’. But as I have previously explained, for technical reasons beyond my comprehension, if I put one in, it will appear as ‘M?lník’ and ‘há?ek’.

Dam and Hydro-electric plant on the Vltava at Vrané © Ricky Yates

As most people who know me will already be aware, I have had a lifelong interest in canals and inland waterways. I was therefore delighted to discover that the Vltava, the river on which Prague is situated, is navigable. Engineering works, begun in the nineteenth century, have provided locks, navigable cuts and a sufficient depth of water to allow quite sizeable craft to reach the city.

The Vltava (or Moldau in German) leaves the Labe (Elbe in German) at Melnik, about 50 km north of Prague. From Melnik, it is possible to travel downstream along the Labe/Elbe all the way to the North Sea at Hamburg as well as connecting with canals and rivers that lead to Berlin and other German cities. Upstream of Melnik, the Labe is also navigable as far as the Czech city of Pardubice.

Not only is the Vltava navigable, it still carries quite a considerable amount of commercial traffic as far as Prague. From my observations, this mainly consists of bulky materials such as sand and gravel. The use of river transport in this way saves the surrounding roads from a large number of additional truck journeys which would otherwise be required to shift these goods.

In the centre of Prague, the Vltava is populated by many passenger vessels offering tourists trips along the river to view the city sights or to enjoy a meal in a floating restaurant. Most of these vessels rarely pass a lock, confining themselves to the section of the river between Hlávkuv most (just east of St. Clement’s Church) and to just south of Karluv most (Charles Bridge). However, a few months ago, I was delighted to discover that one company does offer a far longer trip upstream on the Vltava, all the way to the head of navigation at Slapy, nearly 40 km south of Prague city centre.

Pražská Paroplavební Spolecnost only run this trip on Saturdays and Sundays between early May and mid September. As Sundays are out because of my profession, if I was going to make the trip this summer, it was going to have to be on a Saturday. And having my sister Jenny staying with us for ten days recently gave me the perfect excuse. Here was a day out that we would both enjoy! So having for once, completed the Sunday sermon on Friday, on Saturday 15^th August we set out early from the flat, travelled by bus and metro to Palackého námestí, bought our tickets from the office on the quayside, all ready for our departure upstream at 9am.

The boat was smaller than I was expecting and was quite packed with standing room only. However, so far as I was aware, Jenny and I were the only non-Czechs on board. This trip clearly appeals to Czech people who want to head out of Prague into the surrounding countryside but clearly doesn’t normally appear on the agenda of visiting foreign tourists.

Small pleasure boats entering lock at Vrane © Ricky Yates — Small pleasure boats entering lock at Vrané © Ricky Yates

The initial part of the journey out of Prague goes past the Staropramen Brewery on one side of the river and the twin spires of the Church of St. Peter & St.Paul at Vyšehrad on the other. Then follows the southern suburbs of the city, together with passing our first lock at Modrany. Soon afterwards comes the confluence of the River Berounka and then the Vltava enters an ever increasingly beautiful wooded valley at Zbraslav.

About 5 km further on lies the next lock at Vrané. This is situated at one side of a fairly substantial dam built across the river to generate hydro-electric power. Beyond this dam and lock, the river is wider because it is effectively a ribbon lake.

Lower gates of Štechovice Lock © Ricky Yates

After cruising for over three hours and nearly 30 km, we arrived at the town of Štechovice. Here passengers both got off and on before we set out on the final leg of the journey. Ahead lay a much higher dam, also generating hydro-electricity, and therefore with a far deeper lock alongside. In fact the lock is monstrous – certainly the deepest lock I’ve ever passed through. The mind boggles as to how much water it takes to fill it! But eventually, our boat rose out of the bowels of the lock for a further forty minutes of cruising past beautiful wooded hills until we reached journeys end, the quay at Nové Trebenice, immediately below the very impressive Slapy Dam.

The Slapy Dam was built during the Communist era between 1949 – 1955. Like the earlier smaller dams we passed, it also enables the generation of hydro-electricity as well as helping to control the river flow, hopefully helping to prevent flooding further downstream during times of heavy rainfall. But for unknown reasons, no lock or boat lift was provided when it was built and the dam therefore prevents through navigation. The lake behind the dam is extremely popular with small yachts and pleasure boats. But none of them can cruise down the river to Prague because the Slapy Dam blocks the way.

After a quick lunch at a bar-restaurant in Nové Trebenice and a walk out on top of the dam, it was back to the boat for the return journey. This was fortunately less crowded as a number of people only did the journey one-way and got the bus back to Prague. It thus enabled me to more easily take the photographs that accompany this post. We arrived back at the quay alongside Palackého námestí at 6.30pm somewhat tired and a little sunburnt but having had a most enjoyable day.

Tag: River Elbe

Melník

A Trip up the River Vltava