An afternoon in Divoká Šárka

Pronounced Deevoka Sharka.

Home to myth and legend, the beautiful valley at the edge of Prague 6, one can find total escape – Divoká Šárka, a huge nature reserve. The name means Wild Šárka, a mythic female warrior(she wasn’t Zulu tho) and is, indeed, somewhat of an untamed place.

As legend has it, the city was controlled by a small, but fierce tribe of Amazons on one side of the Vltava river and a large all male tribe, ruling from the vantage of Vysehrad on the other side of the river. The women, knowing they were greatly outnumbered; felt the best way to beat the men was to capture their best warrior, Ctirad.

So Vlasta, the female tribe leader, set Šárka, beautiful warrior, as the bait to trap Ctirad. Here is where the legend has a couple of different versions. One says she seduced Ctirad and while he slept, her sister warriors captured and killed him. Another version says she dispatched him herself. The end of Šárka’s life also has a couple of versions. One has her wracked with guilt over what she as done and she throws herself off the cliffs in an act of repentance, while another version has her falling in love with the handsome Ctirad and being broken-hearted at his death, she plunges off the cliff (which bears the name Divci Skok or Girls’ Jump) to her death at the grief of his loss. Either way, it’s a lovely and romantic legend, something Czech history is full of, and adds an extra special beauty to the naturally beautiful Šárka Valley. (full version of the legend is here: http://www.radio.cz/en/article/11889)

Knowing the legend, it is impossible to walk through the Šárka without feeling that you are walking back in time to when warriors roamed the wild. And truth be told, there are very few places in the CZ where you don’t feel the sense of the times of old when warriors roamed on horses and mighty battles were fought. The girls below making a house for the local mice of the Šárka:

At the entrance to the Šárka is a McDonalds, so we were not able to pass by without the standard wails of starvation and near death, so we ended the evening on burgers and chips.