Romantic Toušice Prague can be found on the river Výrovka between Kouřim and Zásmuky
Ancient smoke
Kouřim is a nice town, with an ancient history, surrounded by partially preserved walls. The local church of St. Stephen is remarkable, with the bells turned upside down, they are set in motion by a treadle mechanism. In the church chapel you will see figures of angels with musical instruments in their hands, a delicacy for music historians.
During the Hussite wars, Kouřim was on the side of the chalice, and the town suffered great damage during the Thirty Years’ War. The series There Were Five of Us was filmed in the city based on a novel by Karel Poláček.
Lech’s stone above Kouřim
Photo: Vratislav Konečný
A great attraction is the open-air museum on the outskirts of the city and an educational trail around a giant boulder leading to Lechův kámen. From there, it is said that Elder Lech sent smoke signals so that the ancestor of Bohemia could see where his fellow believers had gone. But you would be wasting energy, even if you can walk to the stone and reconnect to the blue tourist sign leading according to Výrovka.
The calm river becomes a wilderness at a few tens of meters
It is usually busy in the summer, now you will not meet many people. After about three kilometers you will emerge in picturesque Toušice. The railways also ran this way, but the tracks have been overgrown for a long time, the local has not been generated, and connections with the surrounding area are provided by buses. A yellow sign appears in Toušice near the bridge, which will take you to Zásmuk. After the last buildings, the road goes into the fields and returns to the water.
Baroque stone bridge near Toušice
Photo: Vratislav Konečný
At the former mill you will find Baroque splendor, a stone bridge with five arches from the second half of the 17th century, the exact dating is not. The pillars stand on a bedrock, and icebreakers are located on the upstream side.
The best place to take photos is a few tens of meters downstream under the bridge. You have to break through the undergrowth a bit, but the view is worth it. At higher water levels, Výrovka rushes over orthorhombic plates, which are used by paddlers to go down. Boaters know the place as a Toušice cascade, it takes experience to go downhill, it’s not for everyone. It is a sudden wilderness on an otherwise calm stream.
Toušice thresholds
Photo: Vratislav Konečný
Hundreds of paddlers gather at the Vavřiňák meeting in October. Many rare aquatic animals live in the pools below the five-meter cascade. The board on the bridgehead informs about the bridge and the fauna.
The bridge was used on the way from Zásmuk through Toušice to Kouřim. But it’s been a long time. On a rocky promontory overgrown with bushes, there are remains called Trmal’s Fortress. In the 16th century it was a manor house, the existence probably did not last even a century. It is possible that the stones for the construction of the bridge were taken from the fortress.
A smaller stone bridge near Zásmuk
Photo: Vratislav Konečný
From bridge to bridge
From the bridge you will see a stream for a while, then the road turns more into the forest, here is a small elevation gain, but after a while you will reach another baroque bridge. Not so impressive anymore, even the photo approach is worse, but it’s still beautiful here.
In the water lies a monolith representing St. John of Nepomuk, whose statue stood on the middle pillar. Zdeněk Hůla’s current work is sinking and re-emerging from the water, supposed to evoke the saint’s death. The bridge dates from the 17th century, is four-arched, the stone is quarried. The bridge was the backdrop for the film Immortal Aunt.
Water tank in the pheasantry
Photo: Vratislav Konečný
To the former field
From the bridge, the road turns to the immersion park, along the way you will come across several reservoirs. For the largest, a giant metal dragonfly is installed, a nice fragment that fits here. With a branch in the shade of deciduous trees overgrown with ivy, you will emerge on the edge of Zásmuk.
The branch was founded at the end of the 16th century, in the middle of the 18th century it was divided into upper and lower parts by the construction of the imperial road from Prague to Kutná Hora. A smaller tunnel is built under the road, it is said that deer were supposed to pass from one part to another. Mostly the lower part, called Bažantnice, has been preserved. There are over 330 trees older than 100 years, there is also a pradub oak. It is called Leopold’s and has a circumference of over 600 centimeters at the age of four hundred.
Castle in Zásmuky
Photo: Vratislav Konečný
A city with many monuments
Zásmuky is a small town on the route Prague – Kutná Hora with a nicely renovated Renaissance chateau, which again belongs to the Šternberks. These estates belonged in the past. Here, too, the armies were cruelly rioting in the Thirty Years’ War. The castle was built after 1533, it belonged to the Šternberks until 1948. During the Second World War it was under forced German administration, the archive of SS weapons was deposited here.
After 1945, it was occupied by Czechoslovakia. the army, it devastated him. The dilapidated building was returned after 1992 to Mrs. Franciana Diana Sternberg-Phipps. The castle is owned by her daughter Alexandra, married to Hardegg. The chateau is partially accessible, there is an exposition of Zásmuky in the changes of time, there is also a small gallery. There is also an English park, in which there is a square pavilion in the form of a grotto.
Grotto at the castle in Zammu
Photo: Vratislav Konečný
In front of the chateau there is a neo-Romanesque church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary on the square, built between 1900 and 1903. There is also a nice transformer station and a stone with a memorial plaque of Count Adolf Vratislav Šternberg on the square. Another monument is the Franciscan early Baroque monastery. The famous bandleader and composer František Kmoch was born in Zásmuky and little Jan Neruda also lived there.
There is a bus from Zásmuk to Prague-Háje.
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