Branice → Písek

Stone Bridge and the Otava

Cross the Kamenný most, a seven-arch Gothic bridge built in the later thirteenth century over the Otava. It carried the Golden Salt Route across the river and remains the oldest preserved bridge in the Czech Republic. Baroque sculpture groups on the parapets are replicas; the originals are kept at the Prácheň Museum. From the bridge, fragments of the former town walls are visible above the water.

Castle and old streets

The nearby Písek Castle houses the Prácheň Museum, whose collections connect the town’s medieval trade with regional history. Follow the old lanes toward Palackého Gardens, where further wall fragments and bastions survive. Písek’s historic centre is compact, so bridge, castle and riverside defenses can be understood together as parts of a fortified crossing town.