Usti nad Labem Czechia
Czech Rep
Frequently Asked Questions
Near the centre on the Elbe, after the Porta Bohemica gorge that vessels from Prague or Dresden pass through. The centre and the leaning bell tower are about 1 kilometre on foot; Střekov Castle is roughly 3 kilometres away, by taxi or a walk along the river.
A working city, and it makes no apology: an industrial port and rail junction, with cranes, silos and freight setting the rhythm of the bank. This river was long the great trade road between Bohemia and Hamburg. That frankness is part of the experience, set among extinct volcanoes.
The urban cable car up to the Větruše lookout, the old centre with its leaning tower, then Střekov Castle if time allows. The three combine into a full half day; at four hours, one has to go.
An eyrie clinging to a basalt outcrop about a hundred metres above the Elbe, guarding the passage since the early 14th century. Richard Wagner stayed here in 1842, and tradition links these romantic walls to the genesis of his Tannhäuser. A path winding around the rock leads up to it.
Because of a 1945 bombing that shook the ground beneath its foundations. The tower of the Gothic Church of the Assumption leans by nearly two metres, and local guides present it with a mix of pride and humour.
An urban cabin that leaves from a shopping centre in the middle of town and lifts you in a few minutes to the Větruše pavilion, whose observation tower dates from 1897. Stepping out of a shop and landing on a wooded hill is a shortcut few port calls offer.
The confluence of the Elbe and the Bílina, the Mariánská rock and the coming and going of river convoys. It is the best orientation point in the valley. Walkers come down through the woodland trails, everyone else takes the same cabin.
The Czech koruna. Cards work in shops, restaurants and for the cable car. The German border is close, but the euro is not legal tender and the rate offered is rarely good.
Czech, with German fairly widespread in this border region. English is understood at the sights and in town restaurants. This is a city that lives for its residents, not for visitors.
It is among the most striking of the whole route. The river cuts through the volcanic cones of the Central Bohemian Uplands, with vineyards, forests and cliffs alternating on both banks, and Střekov appears around a bend. Stay on deck for the approach.
