Mníšek: Brdy’s hidden pilgrimage gem

The small town of Mníšek, a mere half an hour’s bus ride southwest from Prague’s Smíchov station, is a hidden gem of the Brdy Hills. Its delightful and quirky hilltop chapel, Skalka, was once firmly on the pilgrimage circuit (and, inevitably, on a path that leads you to the Way of St James). It's being restored and makes a fine little half-day trip – or more – from the capital.

Mníšek itself is a pleasant little place with a pleasant main square and some pleasant places to eat – about which more later. Once off the bus, you have a 2km walk or 3km bike ride up the hillside to Skalka, your hilltop destination.

At the top, magnificently overlooking the plains and the town below, is the church of St Mary Magdalene, designed by Kryštof Dientzenhofer and built in the 1690s.

It’s a cracking place. Literally: mining subsidence left over from the 1970s has sheared the building, which has some eye-popping misalignments now patched over.

The interior is still being refurbished, and – this being St M, who is associated with caves – is splodged with lumps of concrete to resemble a cave. None of your fancy Baroque stuff: this is more like an underground grotto.

The hilltop complex includes a former monastery now used as offices, info point and exhibition space, a hermitage which may be converted into a hostel – wow, what a place to stay this would be – and 14 Stations of the Cross, plus a lake and refreshment kiosk.

From here you can walk west all the way to Santiago de Compostela, in northwest Spain. Simply follow the shells...

Back down in Mníšek, a super place to eat is La Terasa, the restaurant in the Esmarin Wellness Hotel. The food is a modern fusion of Mediterranean and Czech (and excellent value): I had the rabbit risotto, which was rather fab.

In summer you can sit outside on the balcony and watch tennis being played in the courts below, and they do menus with a tennis theme. Strawberries and cream during Wimbledon, for instance, rather cheaper and tastier than you’d get in SW23!

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