Blanik

Velky Blanik rises to 638 metres above the rolling country south-east of Prague, wooded, with a scatter of large boulders and the remains of a hillfort rampart near the summit, and it carries the most persistent legend in Czech culture: that inside the hill sleeps an army of knights under St Wenceslas, who will ride out when the nation is at its worst extremity and the country is in its greatest danger. The legend is recorded from the fifteenth century, and it runs through Czech literature and music - Smetana's Ma vlast has a Blanik movement, Jirasek retold it, and it is taught in schools. On the summit stands a wooden lookout tower of 1941 shaped as a chapel, replacing earlier towers, climbable, with a view over Bohemia. The hill and its smaller neighbour Maly Blanik, which has a ruined chapel with a spruce growing through it, form a protected landscape area.

What you actually see

• A wooden lookout tower - built 1941 in the shape of a chapel, on the summit.
• The sleeping knights - the legend recorded here since the fifteenth century.
• Hillfort remains - rampart traces near the top among the boulders.
• Maly Blanik - the smaller hill with a ruined chapel and a tree growing inside it.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Honest expectations

The climb is modest but the tower stairs are steep and it closes in winter and bad weather. The view is over gentle countryside rather than mountains. Weekend crowds come out from Prague.

Nearby

Vlasim and its park are north; Tabor is south.