St Barbara’s Church at Kutna Hora

This was the only place I could shot the St Barbara's Church sitting on a high ground. Kutna Hora. Dec 17, 2011.

St Barbara’s Church situated on the south-western edge of the town of Kutna Hora, perching on a little cliff looking down to the world. I had some time left, so I decided to walk up there and see this biggest gothic church in town. It was a nice pleasant walk, navigating the old cobblestone streets on a gentle slope. Loved the fresh air here. So calming and peaceful, it was quite hard to imagine this place was a busy town few hundreds years ago. Besides passing through some restaurants and vintage boutiques, some section of the path offered a wonderful view of the town from far.

The Czech made coins at an Italian Court

The courtyard of the Italian Court at Kutna Hora. Dec 17, 2011.

In the Central Bohemia Region lies a once very wealthy medieval town called Kutna Hora. Since they discovered silver deposits during the 13th century, this town established its wealth and prosperity through mining silver and minting coins. That was pretty much like getting rich by printing money. So the growing economy made it the second most important town at the time after Prague, both politically and culturally.

After visiting the unique bone church of Sedlec, I thought I could take a bus into the historic old town of Kutna Hora. However, the bus didn’t run as frequent as I thought. With no cabs insight, I followed the main road and walked for a little over half an hour. At first, it was just like some boring modern town, then it turned into some narrow cobblestone streets. Being in a town with such history, how could you not visit the Italian Court? It was the place where they manufactured their silver coins! I joined their English tour, which was the only option to see the inside of it. However it provided a lot of interesting history, and well worth it.

Human bones as decoration

Decoration on the ceiling at the Sedlec Ossuary in Kutna Hora. Dec 17, 2011.

It was about 12 years ago, after dinner during a summer evening. I was watching a girl introducing a very unusual church in Czech Republic on an episode of Lonely Planet in the living room. It was a church with every decoration made out of human bones. I’ve seen a map made out of skulls in Cambodia, but that was for a painful political history. Nothing like this. In a holy house of God, scary human skulls were on display in plain sight? Since then this place has always been on my mind. Now, the dream of visiting this strange church I saw on TV came true. I jumped on a train in Prague and went on a day trip to a town called Kutna Hora.

John Lennon Wall of Prague

The John Lennon Wall off the main street in Mala Strana in Prague. Dec 16, 2011

I was starving by the time I finished the long tour at the Prague Castle, and it was very late for lunch. However, I still didn’t want to just dine inside one of those places right below the castle, as I felt they were catering to tourists. I walked down the main street until I spotted the name of an Italian restaurant that was recommended by fellow travelers online. After some soup and lovely pasta, I took the city map out to see how to get back to the Old Town Square. Then I saw a place, not far from where I was, marked as the “John Lennon Wall”. So I decided to have a little detour to check this out.

Mini houses at the Golden Lane, Prague.

The cutest corner at the Prague Castle. Dec 16, 2011

The Golden Lane was a row of little houses lining up by the wall of the Prague Castle. The king decided to give this strip of land for the fusiliers, who guarded the fortification, to build houses there. Apparently, the king was a bit stingy, as there was clearly not enough space for all of them. Hence, they had to build tiny houses. Later, craftsmen, servants and alchemists have occupied the street as well. When I first read on the map I bought, it said that the Golden Lane was closed due to renovation But when I walked by the alley that led up to the Lane, I found people walking in and out. Turned out it was opened! Lesson learned: One can never trusts the leaflets too much.

St Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle

I kept looking back to see the view while walking up the stairs that led me to the Prague Castle. Dec 17, 2011.

In order to reach the Prague castle fast, I took the metro to the station Malostanska. From there it was a short work to the castle area, before I faced with a looooong stairs which was decorated with iron lamps. It must be a romantic sight at night… The view on my way climbing up was lovely. Every step I made, I could see a little further out. By the time I reached the top, I was rewarded with a full panorama view of the Prague 1 area. It was fun to recognize some churches’s towers, glazing at the city while thinking of what’s happening in this piece of land. There were also lots of bridges, it wasn’t hard to understand why some would compare Prague to Paris. 

Christmas Markets in Prague

Christmas market at the Old Town Square lit up in Prague. Dec 16, 2011.

After seeing the Mucha Museum, we made our way back to the Old Town Square. This little walk actually became one of the reason for me to fall in love with this city. Prague was a very pretty town, full of old colourful little houses lining up the cobblestone streets; every corner you turn, it’s a different scene. However this city turned magical at night, especially around the time of Christmas when the streets were decorated with a warm glow of light.

The enchanting world of Mucha

Lots of beautiful original prints of Mucha's posters lining up on the wall of Mucha Museum, Prague. Dec 16, 2011.

I don’t even know how to express the joy of seeing a Mucha lithograph up close. After I got off the train from Vienna, I checked in and grabbed a bite for lunch. Then I ran over to the Mucha Museum which was not far from my stay. This museum wasn’t huge, but it houses a great collection of Alphonse Mucha, a Czech Art Nouveau painter and decorative artist from around the turn of the century.