*Stage 1 of the Cyril & Methodius route – Levý Hradec to Prague Castle: 19 km*

Stage 1 of the Cyril & Methodius route – Levý Hradec to Prague Castle: 19 km

The Cyril & Methodius route is a series of interlinked hiking trails connected with the life and mission of the 9th century Byzantine missionaries, Saints Cyril and Methodius. The route was established by the Council of Europe in 2021 and now comprises over 5,000 km of trails, spanning 10 countries. The Saints – who were brothers – are most famous for helping bring Christianity to the Slavic lands. They most closely associated Great Moravian Empire, where Methodius became the first Archbishop.
The Czech Republic has six different Cyril & Methodius trails, all which end at the pilgrimage site of Velehrad, in the eastern Moravian Zlín region. Velehrad was (in folk tradition) the seat of Methodius after he became archbishop. It is also the site of Moravia’s first Cistercian monastery. The Bohemian-Moravian trail runs for approximately 420 km between the site of the first Bohemian church, at Levý Hradec (10 km to the north of Prague) and Velehrad.
The first stage begins at Levý Hradec, overlooking the Vltava river 10 km to the north of Prague. Levý Hradec is one of the most important archaeological sites in the country and is also the location of the oldest known church in Bohemia, dedicated to St Clement.
The church was founded by Prince Bořivoj I (the first historically documented ruler of the Přemyslid dynasty) in the second half of the 9th century. Bořivoj is believed to be the first Přemyslid Prince to have converted to Christianity. His baptism may have been performed by the great Byzantine missionary, St. Methodius who is reported to have made his base in Velehrad. This is essentially the rationale for this particular branch of the Cyril & Methodius route.
Bořivoj and his wife, Ludmilla (who became Bohemia’s first national saint), are believed to have resided in Levý Hradec, which they had strongly refortified. In fact, the hillfort had been first fortified at the end of the Neolithic period, some 5,000 years ago. Bořivoj was succeeded as Duke of Bohemia by his son, Spytihněv I, who is considered to be the founder of Prague Castle, which became the new seat of the Přemyslid dynasty henceforth.
Stage 1 of the route actually finishes in Prague Castle after traversing the northern suburbs of Prague. The route is not just interesting for its start and finish points, however. From Levý Hradec, the trail follows the Vltava river into the village of Roztoky, notable for its fine moated Renaissance castle. From Roztoky, the trail continues through the surprisingly extensive Suchdol woods before emerging to cross the Lysolaje and Šárka valleys. There are suberb views over Prague from the Baba viewpoints. The route finally crosses the Dejvice residential area, with its elegant villa to reach Prague Castle.
As a standalone one way walk this is actually one of the nicest medium/long walks in the Prague area. It is recommended even for those not continuing on the remaining 19 stages of the Cyril & Methodius route! The 19 km route is not particularly challenging, although the footpath down into Šárka valley is quite steep. There is around 280m of height to ascend-descend on this route. There are a few refreshment spots along the way (in Levý Hradec, Roztoky and in Dejvice, but a good stop at the halfway point is Restaurace Carl-Inn (map point 7).

Note: click ‘Show on Mapy.com’ to go to a full screen version of the route directly on the mapy.cz site. This can be used for on line navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file.

Directions

As this route involves sections across the residential areas of northern Prague on side streets that have no hiking or trail markers, it is best followed by downloading the mapy.com phone application (and using the route shown in the map above) or by using a good paper map