The Diverse World of Animals - ZOO Ústí nad Labem
If you visit Ústí nad Labem together with your children, you cannot pass the local ZOO. And so we are going to visit a section on the east slope of theMariánské mountains located between two neighbourhoods in Ústí nad Labem Krásné Březno and Dobětice. The main entrance is located in Drážďanská Street, at the beginning of Krásné Březno. The second entrance to the ZOO is located at the upper section, near the road connecting Krásné Březno and Dobětice. Our smallest visitors can admire and learn about animals living in the pavilion of cats and about rhinos, giraffes, elephants, sea lions, seals, zebras, bears and many more. The most popular creature living in the ZOO is undoubtedly Ňuňák the orangutan, who played a major role in the comedy Two people in the ZOO. You will also find a petting ZOO for children here, an educational trail with models of prehistoric animals and other attractions for children such asfibreglass animal models and slides. There are also many demonstrations such as sea lion training, elephant walks andtraining, a "Honey tree" for Malaysian bears and feeding sessions for seals, mandrills and pelicans as well as other attractions. A restaurant and various refreshment kiosks where you can fight off your hunger and thirst are also available. A look down from the heights - Erben's viewing post From the lovely animal kingdom we will go to Dobětice - a neighbourhood in Ústí nad Labem, where, above the city skyline and tree tops, you will see the roof-covered terrace of the Erben's viewing post. We will park our car at one of the parking lots near an apartment building in Dobětice turn and are ready to face the views of the city and the countryside. We start by following the blue tourist signs. After a while the city buildings are gone and we are facing an easy climb on a grassy slope which will take us to the 15 m high stone tower. Recently the tower underwent a renovation and thanks to that, the so-called Erbenka may today proudly present itself in a completely new "dress". Several years ago we saw its stone predecessor here - the three-story tower, which was made partly of stone with a wooden superstructure and roof made of shingles. The tower was destroyed several times by natural disasters . Only the Czech Association in Ústí nad Labem, who take care of the Czech Central Mountains and Krušné Mountains, tried to repair it.. Thanks to these efforts, the tower was repaired in 1933 and today we may enjoy the 8 m high square viewing tower named after the former president of the Association Alexandr Erben. From the tower we may see distant views of the rocky valley of the Elbe Riverwith silhouettes of the surrounding peaksVětruše and the Střekov Castle which we shall visit in a while. Pursuing ghosts on a huge rock – the Střekov Castle. At the end of our trip with children we will visit theStřekov Castle, whose silhouette has been the symbol of the city of Ústí nad Labem for centuries. It is the best preserved castle ruins in Bohemia and proudly rises above the steep rock, giving the castle a mysterious and inaccessible appearance. The first records of the castle date back to 1319. At that time, the Czech king Jan of Luxembourg decided to build a watch post here, with the intention to oversee the safety of transport and trading boats navigating on the Elbe River. For several centuries the watch post/castle was owned by a number of prominent clans and wealthy burghers, but in 1992 the castle was returned back to its last owners, the Lobkowicz family, who owned it from 1563. Today, the castle is a private cultural monument, and it is open to the general public. We shall park our car at the parking lot adjacent to the castle and get ready to meet Střekov Castle. Entrance to the courtyard is free of charge. Here we may freshen up a bit in a nice Gothic style castle restaurant. We may take a guided tour through the mysterious ruins or we may borrow a printed tour guide and wander through all sorts of corners by ourselves. Not only is the castle is magnificent, but the views seen from the terrace in front of the restaurant are also impressive. After the entrance to the castle, children will be attracted by a room full ofvarious castle ghosts. The smallest children may cry, older children may laugh. After a scary introduction, we move into the so called Místnost s arkýřem (Room with a bay window), which was the only heated room in the past. Then we go to see a chapel called Věžový palác (Tower palace) which offers two exhibitions. On the ground floor we began to "soak up" the history of Střekov Castle. Coats of arms of various clans, who owned the castle are painted on the surrounding walls. In the middle of the room we will find a model of the castle showing us the appearance of the castle after 1499. The upper floor is dedicated to the exposition of Romanticism. The most interesting site is the picture of Střekov Castle riddled with bullets, which apparently served as a target. At the end of our trip we climb on a wooden staircase all the way to the top of thecastle tower, where we enjoy beautiful views of the surrounding landscape. We will discover the small room of the night watcher and a former dungeon here, located in the bottom part of the tower. Full of pleasant and mysterious sensations we are slowly leaving the castle room and look forward to our next journey.
