After leaving the ship, our coach took us to Prague, capital of the Czech Republic (another country which was new to us). We had booked an extra few days in Prague so that we could explore this beautiful city properly, and our first day there gave us a good introduction as we paid a quick visit to its magnificent castle and then sought our own lunch in a town-centre hostelry.
The castle, perched on top of the hill, is certainly spectacular. We wandered around its grounds, admiring the beautiful architecture of both the castle and the Cathedral (where St Wenceslas is entombed; note that he was never a king despite what the carol may say about him!). We were lucky enough to be there at the right time to watch the changing of the guard.
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The entrance to the castle |
Inside the castle courtyard |
The front wall of the cathedral |
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There were fantastic wall decorations ... |
... and incredible gilded windows |
We watched the changing of the guard |
Of course we then had to walk over the famous Charles Bridge, across the river Vltava and into the Old Town area with its maze of narrow streets around the Square with its fabulous architecture.
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There were a lot of odd souvenir shops in town |
Charles bridge was bigger than I expected it to be |
It is certainly a beautiful bridge ... |
... with more than 30 wonderful statues along the parapets |
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We spent a day exploring the city on our own. We were pleased to discover that all travel around the town by tram or underground train was free of charge for anyone over the age of 65; the service is also excellent, so we took a couple of trams up the hill and revisited the castle. We were delighted to discover that their main art museum was also free of charge, for just 5 days, so we enjoyed spending time there before walking on to another art gallery which was within the castle grounds. We couldn't work out if the gallery that we wanted to see was in a Palace called Schwarzenberg or called Sternberg, but it transpired that these were two different palaces opposite each other inside the castle grounds and each having its own art gallery - so we bought a combined ticket and visited them both, which was wonderful.
Later we had a walking tour of the city by night. The views of the city were wonderful; as well as most of its historic buildings as well as the Charles Bridge being illuminated, the sights included the famous 'Lennon Wall' and also their own model of the Eiffel Tower which they claimed was the same height as the one in Paris despite being just 200ft tall - because it has been built on the top of a hill! The coach took us to the top of the hill, so that we could admire the wonderful view of the whole city from up there, followed by which we were taken for a beer-tasting session to revitalise us before our return to the hotel.
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The next day was a long one as the coach took us on a trip to Kutna Hora, about 50 miles away, which had once been one of the main cities of the area. Our first stop was at the Bone Church; in early mediaeval times this was a popular burial place, particularly for crusaders and pilgrims, as soil from Jerusalem's Golgotha had been brought and scattered in the cemetery. After the cemetery filled up with about 70,000 bodies, the Church had the brainwave of exhuming them and decorating the interior of the church with the bones, saying that in that way their worshippers would be better able to revere the bones! They built huge decorative pyramids of skulls, am enormous chandelier made of bones, and even a giant representation of the shield of the ruling Schwarzenberg family. Unfortunately one consequence was that people flocked to the church to pray for immunity from the Black Death plague when it swept across Europe, but ended up catching the plague instead because the bones of plague victims had themselves been added to the decorations!
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The Bone Church near Kutna Hora. |
A Pyramid of Skulls |
.A Giant Chandelier of bones |
The Schwarzenberg family crest |
| Note that pictures from inside the Church were not taken by myself | |||
Leaving the bone church behind us, we continued into Kutna Hora itself, Our first destination there was the magnificent Church of St Barbara which is stunningly beautiful inside and out, with a great many individual chapels with their own shrines and stained glass windows - usually dedicated to a particular powerful local family and often arranged in sequence to tell Biblical stories.
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After walking trough Kutna Hora, and having a delicious traditional lunch in a very ancient restaurant, we retuned to the ship for a brief rest before our evening adventure in Prague. This started with a visit to an amazing little museum underneath the Charles Bridge, which showed us the history of the bridge in exhibits including models of its construction stages and with steps down to the remains of the earlier Judith Bridge which the Charles Bridge had replaced in the 14th century. We were then led down some steps to a dock which had been built underneath the first arch, where we boarded a small boat for a delightful evening cruise on the river, where we had unique views of the city as we sipped on the ginger cake and beer that we had been given as we stepped on board.
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Trip boats wait for us in a dock beneath the first bridge arch, ready to show us the fabulous night-time views of the city from the river and its backwaters |
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All too soon, our last day in this wonderful city had arrived. The weather was good so we boarded a tube train into the Old Town and wandered slowly through the streets to the Old Town Square which was packed with people because it was St Wenceslas Day (and a Sunday too). We spent a happy hour sitting outside a small cafe on the square, sipping coffee and watching the people - many of whom were packed around the famous Astronomical Clock - which also tells the time so you can watch it perform its hourly rituals in which the Apostles emerge and the Devil strikes the time. Eventually it was time to buy a few small souvenirs and return to our hotel before we flew home, very happy after a very fantastic holiday.
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You can have a sightseeing tour in a vintage car ... |
.... seeing such sights as the famous 15th century Astronomical Clock in the Old Town Square ... |
.... or you can have a sightseeing tour in a horse-drawn carriage |
All pictures on this site are © Allan Jones unless otherwise stated.
