In just about every country, I make friends with a local driver and guide and then keep up the friendship from then on. I learn a lot from them and a I learn a lot about them. Whenever possible, I refer them to my friends too.

Petr is my new friend in Prague. He has been my driver and guide today. As with most of my friends, he has an interesting history. He has tried his hand in a lot of jobs – from airlines to hotels to construction to driving.

His favorite subject in school was history. Which was very convenient for me since I got to know a lot about the history of Czechia that I was unaware of. Also, learnt a few Czech words from him that I have been trying on unsuspecting locals!

I hope to see Petr down the road again!

Do you see the village on the left in the distance? That is the village of Mezna. That is the second part of our adventure. We will hike down from there to a river. But that will come up later. As of now, taking in the breathtaking views.

You see the top edge of that rock on the left? If you zoom in, you will see the shapes of human beings. That is our final destination to get a view of the archway from the top and a panoramic view of the whole area. But as of now, we will go under the archway and grab a coffee.

We turned the final corner and there it was – the natural archway!! It is gargantuan in size. You will see a better shot from a different angle a couple of posts later.

You can get an idea of it by the size of the gentleman below there

Sandstone, being soft, often gets eroded in striations

You can get an idea about our height from how small the folks on the trail way below look. The trail took a right hair pin bend. So, we are in the shade of the mountain for the next segment. From the cliff there, the trail we came up on is clearly visible below.

Apparently, some of the key scenes of The Chronicles of Narnia were filmed here.