Stramberk

Stramberk climbs a steep limestone hill in the Beskydy foothills, its timber and half-timbered cottages stepped up the slope around a sloping square, with the castle above it reduced to one round tower - Trubka, climbable, the town's landmark. The hill is a limestone reef, quarried on one side, and the Sipka cave in it produced a Neanderthal child's jaw fragment in 1880, one of the important early finds of that kind in Central Europe. The town's product is Stramberske usi, Stramberk ears: thin spiced honey biscuits rolled into cones, with EU protected geographical indication, sold from shops around the square. The name comes from a legend that a Tatar raiding force was destroyed here in 1241 and that sacks of severed ears were found in their camp - a story with no historical support, which the town nonetheless tells.

What you actually see

• Timber cottages up a hill - stepped around a sloping square below the tower.
• The Trubka tower - the round survivor of the castle, climbable.
• Sipka cave - where a Neanderthal jaw fragment was found in 1880.
• Stramberk ears - cone-rolled spiced biscuits with EU protected status.

When to go

April to October. A day.

Honest expectations

The town is steep and cobbled throughout. The tower and cave close in bad weather and outside season. It is very busy on summer weekends. The Tatar ear legend is folklore, not history.

Nearby

Koprivnice and the Tatra museum are close; Novy Jicin is east.