Karlstein Castle was our second stop. We hiked up a path to the castle on the top, then got a tour of the inside (again, no pictures allowed). There were not nearly as many historical items in this castle as in Konopiste, but the exterior was much more impressive. This castle complex was built in a short 17 years for the purpose of guarding the crown jewels (Bohemian?) It had three main buildings, each with separate protections. The jewels were in the third building. The Swedish army apparently gained entry to the first and second buildings in the 1600s, but failed to get to the jewels in the third building, so the castle maintains its record as being ‘unconquered’. The first building that was built was the Well Tower, where a 78 m (over 210 ft) shaft was built to draw water up to the castle heights. Its not truly a well because it uses water from the local stream bed, thus it makes the castle vulnerable to poisoning of their water source during a siege. It takes 2 men on a hamster wheel 15 minutes to lower and raise the giant bucket that brings up 70 liters of water.
After touring the castle, we walked down the other side of the hill into a local village. The views of the castle on the heights just kept getting better. It was hard to stop taking pictures!
This shows the 70 liter bucket and the bottom of the giant hamster wheel that two men stood in to hoist the bucket up from the well.
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