Saint Barbara Cathedral and the Jesuit College in Kutná Hora
Sometimes when you sign up for an optional excursion you don't know what you're getting into. The excursion might let you down, or it might be a pleasant surprise. During our stay in Prague, we visited a pleasant surprise called Kutná Hora, a medieval silver mining town (since 1260) which has stayed vital over the centuries by reinventing its economic strategy. The silver mines here were Europe's largest until the silver ran out in 1700. Kutná Hora then promoted itself as a tourist destination, and now in addition to tourism its citizens can choose to earn their living by assembling servers for major computer companies or processing tobacco for Philip Morris. Philip Morris's Central European headquarters are nearby.
My story isn't about economic strategies, servers, tobacco, or silver, though. I'm going to show you the enchanting medieval buildings and one spooky, creepy church which earned Kutná Hora its UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 1994.
St. Barbara Cathedral
The Gothic St. Barbara's Cathedral dates back to 1388 when the town's silver miners wanted a church to honor their patron saint of miners. Master builders and artists from Prague participated in the design and construction of this cathedral and its notable frescoes.
Trompe l'oeil frescoes at Saint Barbara Cathedral
Miner statue (that's what miners actually wore) in Saint Barbara Cathedral
Three side altars at Saint Barbara Cathedral
This stone fountain from 1497 (below) is actually a twelve-sided structure built to cover a water tank. Clean water was difficult to provide to citizens in a mining town, so a system of pipes bring water to the town where it is stored in tanks. A clever architect named Rejsek who had been working on the cathedral built this fancy cover. It's unique in this part of Europe. Notice the date: where the '4' should be there is a fish standing on its tail. This is actually half of an '8' which is how medieval folks sometimes notated the number '4'.
Medieval water tank in Kutná Hora
The main residence of the Czech kings when they were in town is also the building where silver coins were minted. The Czechs brought into Kutná Hora Italians from Florence skilled in making coins to teach them how to make a Czech currency from the Kutna Horan silver. The building came to be known as the Italian Court because of those visiting craftsmen. This building is mostly a reconstruction because it suffered heavy damage in the 15th century at the hands of Jan Hus's Hussites.
Part of The Italian Court, where coins were minted
Kutná Hora lost thousands of citizens in wars and plagues, and this colossal Plague Column was erected in the town square in 1716 as an entreaty to God to end that year's plague.
The Plague column, 1716
I'm saving for last the Sedlec Bone Church. It's about a mile from the center of Kutna Hora. This church, really a chapel, was attached to a Cistercian monastery founded by St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Remember I mentioned the human beings lost to wars and plagues? Those people all wanted to be buried in the All Saints Cemetery here because, as the story goes, an abbott attached to the monastery brought back a handful of dirt from Jesus's grave in Jerusalem and sprinkled it over the cemetery. (You could say people were just dying to get in.) The common practice in popular cemeteries in some parts of Europe was to remove skeletons from the graves once the descendants are no longer around. The bones are stored in some kind of warehouse. Kutná Hora had accumulated 40,000 skeletons from the wars and plagues, and they found a very clever way to use them...to decorate the Sedlec Church!
This chandelier uses every bone in the human body.
Real bones. (Sanitized.)
A crest
...And the artists signed their names in bones! (Don't miss the bones stacked up on the left.)
As you might expect, this was the creepiest place I've ever been: dark and chilly with human bones everywhere!
Prague was our last destination, a three-day extension, on our splendidly fantastic river cruise on the Danube. It's the freshest in my mind, so I figured I'd start my city blogs with the "City of 100 Spires." If you know your geography, you know that Prague is not on the Danube River, it is about four hours by bus away from our last Danube destination (Passau, Germany). If you know your music history, you know that the Danube doesn't bisect the city, the Vltava River does. Some Bedrich Smetana might be appropriate here--this is his musical depiction of that river, part of a larger work dedicated to his homeland (Ma Vlast). (It's easy to get confused: the Czech name for the river and this movement is Vltava and the German name is Die Moldau.) By the way, the building shown in the beginning of the video is the Municipal House, and inside there is a hall named for Smetana. It was a few steps away from our hotel.
Old Town
Next to Municipal House is the Powder Tower, built in the 1400s to house gunpowder.
The Powder Tower
Municipal House and the Powder Tower are considered to be in New Town, but just on the other side of them is the Old Town where we find the mammoth Gothic Tyn Church which was Catholic, then Hussite, and then Catholic again. Construction of this church began in 1365.
Tyn Church
It's difficult to get a good picture of this church because buildings stand right in front of it. I'm standing in Old Town Square to take the shot of Tyn Church, and it was lightly raining at that moment. Rain is not always a bad thing: as long as your photographic gear is protected, interesting shots are possible!
Old Town Square with the Tyn Church and a different tour group
Another view of Old Town Square...with bubbles!
The most famous attraction on the square, and possibly in all of Prague, is the 15th-century Astronomical Clock. This thing marks every hour with a grandiose show of chimes and a parade of twelve apostles inside the little windows above the clock. Please note also that the sun and moon revolve around the earth here, and Prague is the center of the earth. The zodiac signs were added in the 19th century.
Oh yeah, I took a video of the clock, too, at 10:00am. Look for the Apostles moving past the two windows under the arch.
The writer Franz Kafka was born practically in the shadow of the clock, and lived in Prague most of his life. His birthplace is now a cafe bearing his name, but the building is not original.
Cafe Kafka gets ready for business
Rott House nearby is the location of the printing press which printed the first Bible in Czech in the 15th century.
U. Rott House
Charles Bridge
The Charles Bridge traverses the Vltava River and brings us to the other side of Prague. It was the city's only bridge for 400 years. Built in the 14th century, the bridge originally had no statues. The imperial Hapsburg family had many religious statues built in an attempt to re-convert Czechs to Catholicism in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Bridge statue with St Vitus Cathedral
This is a sample of the activity on the Charles Bridge
The Vltava River from the Charles Bridge
Charles IV, for whom the bridge is named
Prague Castle
Eventually, our group wound its way over hilly cobblestone streets to Prague Castle. This is actually a megalopolis of smaller palaces, houses, and the imposing St. Vitus Cathedral, built over the centuries around Castle Square.
Castle Square
From a distance, and you saw it from a distance in some of the Charles Bridge shots above, it looks like one giant castle, spooky at night. Franz Kafka's novel, The Castle, is thought to have been inspired by the spooky nighttime castle. Our group cruised through Castle Square, inside the main gate where we saw the guards change, and briefly stopped in St. Vitus Cathedral. We were headed to Lobkowicz Palace for a tour which I blogged about on my Music Monday with Margaret blog here: http://musicmondaymargaret.blogspot.com/2015/06/musical-treasures-of-lobkowicz-palace.html(Check it out!) Back to Prague Castle, visitors may buy a ticket to tour some of the buildings, and see more of St. Vitus than just the free zone just before the nave as we did. This cathedral is very important to Czech Catholics as many of their local saints and kings are entombed here. The stained glass windows are impressive, but the one most visitors crane their necks to see was created by Czech artist Alphonse Mucha. Without a ticket, though, we can only see about half of it:
Alphonse Mucha window
St. Vitus Cathedral Rose Window
ABC
One of our tour guides told us a funny story about a couple returning home from a Viking River Cruise of the Danube. The man went into his study and began to write, "ABC...ABC..." The woman asked him what he was doing, and he explained that he was writing about what he saw on their trip. This made no sense to the woman until he explained: "Another Bloody Church, Another Bloody Castle..."
Ha. Ha.
But maybe you are interested in shopping opportunities in Prague. What does one typically buy there?
Garnets are popular, and reportedly inexpensive. (I was tempted, but I didn't.)
Czech crystal. (I didn't.)
Marionettes! (I didn't.)
Pencils? (I didn't.)
These pastry cylinders with chocolate syrup inside. (I did!)
These pastries had no name from what I could tell except for "Bavarian Treat," and they were sold all over town. They are baked in long tubes on metal cylinders and cut down to about six inches for the customer. The chocolate is spread inside just before you eat it and the thing is still warm and fragrant.
Here they are cooking.
If you go to Prague, it is this sign that you have to look for:
Books
In case you want to read more about Prague, I have two suggestions for you beyond the usual tour guides. Look for Prague: A Traveler's Literary Companion, edited by Paul Wilson (Whereabouts Press, 1995), for stories about Prague from the best Czech writers. I was reading this one on the tour bus, and fellow travelers were intrigued. I found Prague in Black and Gold by Peter Demetz (Penguin, 1997) in the Prague Airport. It focuses on Prague's history.
Budapest's Parliament Building from the Sun Deck in the Rain
My sister and I recently splurged on one of those river cruises you see advertised on TV, especially if you watch Downton Abbey. Before we left, and after we returned, the most often-asked questions were about the ship! Not the Danube's color (I was asked about that a lot), or the various destinations we visited. People seem fascinated by the idea of cruising on a river on one of those skinny, odd-looking boats. So, before I jump into my thousand photographs of the fantastic destinations we visited via the ship, let me tell you about the ship itself.
The first thing we notice about the ship was the efficiency of the staff. Everyone chipped in to help with embarkation and disembarkation. The maitre d' Vladimir showed us to our room and gave us a thorough orientation to its amenities. The chef Erik was rolling passenger luggage behind me as we left the ship. Soon we were introduced to all of the key personnel just in case we needed anything: the concierge, the chef, the hotel manager, the program director, the front desk guy, the housekeeping manager, the maitre d', and the sommelier. They always seemed to be around, in uniform, and extremely professional, and all but the program director came from countries on or near the Danube. Most meals were taken in the ship's restaurant where friendly waiters took good care of us. By the end of the week, Ronaldo knew to have my Coke Light waiting for me at lunch! It's nice to be pampered.
I'll tell you a little secret about my philosophy of blogging: I avoid writing anything negative about the places I visit. I'm no Pollyanna, but I don't see any reason to tell you about crappy lunches or bitter salespeople or filthy bathrooms. I just leave that stuff out. Keep that in mind while you read this blog about our river cruise experience, because I suspect that you might suspect that I'm candy-coating it. Nope. I have nothing negative to say. It was fabulous: well-organized, fun, unboring. If I'm not mentioning it here, it is not because it was sub-par---it is because I don't want to make this thing too long. If you have a question, ask me in the comments section!
We chose the Danube Waltz cruise, starting in Budapest and sailing upriver through Slovakia and Austria to Passau, Germany. From Passau, we jumped off the Viking ship and onto a Viking bus which drove for four hours through the German and Czech countryside where we would stay for three additional days in Prague. And by the way, there were no passport checks anywhere except the airports at the beginning and end.
You're wondering about the stateroom, I bet. We booked late and were lucky to have found a cancellation, mid-ship on the first floor. The room was bigger and more luxurious than we expected. It was all we needed because we were hardly there except for sleeping. Here are some views...
I know what you're thinking: on the commercial, they show rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows and sometimes verandas. Yup, those rooms were on the boat, too, and if you think you prefer one of those, please start saving now, and book early. They are on the second and third floors. Let me remind you, though, of the people on the Titanic (in the movie) who traveled in steerage. Didn't they have a lot more fun than the Snooty McSnootersons in the fancier rooms? I contend they did, up until the iceberg happened.
So, yeah, when I stood on tippy-toes to look out our rectangular porthole, the top of the Danube River was at my chin level. This would mean, when I was lying down I was under water. So all of you people to whom I said, "I'll be floating on the Danube at the end of May," I should have said, "I'll be floating IN the Danube at the end of May." (That may have given you the wrong idea though. Accuracy is sometimes troublesome.)
View of Bratislava's waterfront from our stateroom. The green Danube is just above the porthole frame.
We signed-up for as many optional excursions as we possibly could, and I'll be blogging about them in coming weeks. There was plenty to do when we were on the ship besides watching movie in the room. There were great views from the Sun Deck (the top level),
From the Sun Deck in the Wachau Valley
plus shuffleboard and giant Chess.
One morning we were treated to a pastry demo by the chef, pastry chef, and two volunteers from the audience:
Rolling the strudel dough
Stretching the strudel dough
Adding the apple filling
Rolling the strudel with the extra tablecloth it had been created on
There was tea time.
One night while we were in Austria, the staff threw out the usual dinner protocol and threw an Austrian-themed party complete with Weiner Schnitzel, Sacher Torte, and strolling musicians. Some staff were in Lederhosen (or Dirndl), some in checkered shirts, but everyone was festive.
Speaking of food, the ship desserts were fantastic. Here's a collage of some of them:
The desserts and other courses were presented in sensible portions, so one never felt too full or too naughty/guilty. With all of the uphill cobblestone walking we did almost every day, I'm sure we walked-off these innocent desserts. And the Chateaubriand. And the Deconstructed Beef Wellington. And the cheese plate.
This was interesting: sometimes the ship double-parks at the dock and you have to walk through other ships to get to land. Here I'm standing on the ramp between two Viking ships in Budapest:
One last thing: what do you suppose this sign means? It was posted on the railing around the skylight on the floor of the Sun Deck. I'm guessing it's warning me against climbing over the rail and stepping on the skylight, but I can't be sure.
