>From Aida: Here are some of the ancient trade roads overland and on rivers. This ;link shows you is the Amber Road going from the Baltic to Venice and is many thousands of years old: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_Road Bohemia did not have any resources for salt, which was the only preservative during the middle ages. It was so valuable that a trade route was developed from Linz, Passau, Regensburg, Prachatitz, and finally Prague from where it was disposed to all of Bohemia and Moravia,. This trail was called "Der goldene Steig" or "The golden trail" because salt was a most valuable commodity and was often paid for in silver and gold. http://helios.augustana.edu/~ew/des/works-of-art/su34.html The easiest access into Bohemia was from the East via the Duchy of Moravia, another not so easy trail went through the Bohemian forest from the South near Bergreichenstein (Kasperske Hory) and Schuettenhofen (Susice) in the general area of Plzen, and the easiest entry to Bohemia from the West was along the Eger River through the Egerland flowing East toward the Elbe River. Salt and Amber was coming in, and silver and glass was going out.