Czech Republic: Prague, Karlstejn Castle, Bohemian Saxon Zwitserland and Kutna Hora

Czech Republic: Prague, Karlstejn Castle, Bohemian Saxon Zwitserland and Kutna Hora
26 – 29 March 2016

Our sleeping train from Cologne arrived at Prague Central Station (Hlavni nadrazi) at around 11.20. First, we put our luggage at the hotel. We stayed at EA Tosca Hotel, though it took about 25 minutes walk from central station, but it is very close-only 1 minute walk-to metro stop (Náměstí Miru) and also had a good price EUR 60/night.

 

In the metro station Náměstí Miru, we bought our 1 day pass. We can buy in the ticket office, at the ticket machine or in the shops inside the metro station. Since we had not change our money to Czech Koruna, we only can buy the ticket in the shop (since there was nobody in the ticket ofiice at that time). The price for 1 day ticket was CZK 110 (EUR 4).

To get to the old town, we need to get off at Staromestska Stop. From metro stop just walk about 5 minutes then we arrived at Old Town Square (Straomestska Namesti). Though it was still off season, but it was crowded, with so many people and since it was near easter, there were so many stalls that sell easter things, besides foods and drinks. We tried the must try Czech traditional snacks, tdrlo. It looks like a hollow spiral bread cover with granulated sugar. They have many variation, such as they will serve with nutella or ice cream inside the bread.

 

Around the square, we can see the most famous church in Prague, Church of Our Lady before Týn (Chrám Matky Boží před Týnem). It has Gothic style and was built from the mid-14th to the early 16th centuries. Inside, the interior was in Baroque style. Besides of the The cathedral serves as an extensive gallery of Gothic, Renaissance and Early Baroque works, the most interesting of which include altar paintings by Karel Škréta and the tomb of the astronomer Tycho Brahe. The organ, dating from 1673, is the oldest in Prague.

Next, the must see in the square was the Astronomical Clock (Prague Orloj). It was installed in 1410 and still work until now. It has 12 wooden sculptures of the Apostles in the upper windows. The other church around the square is St. Nicholas Church (Sint Nicolaaskerk). It is a Baroque church that completed in 1735.

From the old town square, we walked to Wenceslas Square. Wenceslas Square is a main square in the new town and one of the favorite meeting place (and for demonstration too – there was a demonstration when we visited that square). There were shops, hotels, restaurants. And we can find National Museum (Narodni Museum) in this square. Too bad, during our visit, it was closed during reconstruction. Wenceslas Square also a good place to exchange your money, because some of the money changer did not charge for commission, not like in the old town square.

From here, we continued walking to Municipal House (Obecní dům). The Royal Court palace used to be located on this site. From 1383 until 1485 the King of Bohemia lived in the property. After 1485, it was abandoned. It was demolished in the early 20th century. Construction of the current building started in 1905. It opened in 1912. The Municipal House was the location of the Czechoslovak declaration of Independence. Today, the building is used as concert hall, ballroom, civic building, and as the location of cafes and restaurants (source: Wikipedia)

Next to the Municipal House is The Powder Tower or Powder Gate (Prašná brána). This Gothic Tower seperates the Old Town and New Town. The gate was used to store gun powder in the 17th century, hence the name Powder Tower or Powder Gate.

Then, we continued to explore the other part of Vltava River, where we can visit The Prague Castle. We took metro and get off at Malostranská stop, walk up the street Klarov then climb up the Castle Steps. Prague Castle is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It consists of some magnificent buildings with its different style. The first building that we see (if we take the metro) is Rosenberg Palace (it was closed during our visit). Then the next building is, the St. George Basilica, with its Romanesque appearance. The most beautiful building in this complex is the St. Vitus Cathedral, the largest and the most important church in Prague. The cathedral is a place of burial of several patron saints, sovereigns, noblemen and archbishops. It’s also the place for coronations of Czech kings and queens. The next important building is the Old Royal Palace.

On our back, we took different path. We visited the Golden Lane, where we can see the small houses that were inhabited by defenders of the Castle, servants or for example goldsmiths and the Castle marksmen. One of the most famouse house is house No 22, as from 1916 to 1917 the house was inhabited by the famous writer Franz Kafka.

From Prague Castle, we walked to Charles Bridge. The most famous bridge in Prague. It connects the Old Town and Lesser Town (Malá Strana). There is a tower standing on each end of the bridge. There were so many statues that placed along the bridge. The most popular statue is St. John of Nepomuk, people believe that touching the statue will bring good luck.

We had our dinner at the old town, tried Czech foods, before we headed back to the hotel.

 

Karlštejn Castle

27 March 2016

We started the day with attending morning Easter Mass at St. Thomas Church, which is located at Lesser Town. The church had Baroque style, and inside we can see beautiful painting, The Martyrdom of St. Thomas. After the mass, we took train to Karlštejn Castle from central station. We made sure that we got the family price. The trip was around 40 minutes. First thing we did when we arrived at the Karlštejn Castle was checking the train schedule for going back, because there will be no  train at night time. We noted the last train from there at around 5 pm.

 

From the Karlštejn Station we still need to walk to the castle for about 30 minutes. Along the way to castle, we saw souvenir shops that sell knight and castle theme things, restaurants, cafes and also stalls that sell tdrlo, hot wine (Svařák) and kofola. As the castle was located on the hill, we need to hike a bit. But it was an easy one. 

 

 

The castle was built by Czech King and Roman Emperor Charles IV and used to store royal treasures. Admission fee to enter the castle was CZK 270. the outside of the castle is open to the public for free, so we can still climb up and explore the castle and the beautiful views from the top.

 

From Karlstejn Castle we went back to Prague central station and from there we took metro and made stop to Dancing House (Tančící dům). It was designed by famous architect Frank O Gehry. We can go to the top floor and if we bought something from the cafe in that floor, we can enter the roof top and see a panoramic city view from above.

 

Bohemian and Saxon Zwitserland National Park

28 March 2016 

For our 3^rd day in Czech, we took tour to Bohemian and Saxon Zwitserland National Park. Because to get there by public transportation was not easy. We booked the tour from Cayman Travel (www.chechtours.com). Jan, our tour guide (also the owner of the tour company) picked us up at 7 am sharp. Because it was still off season, there was nobody else in the tour, so we had a private tour! Atlhough it was not included in the tour, Jan was very thoughtful to provide us with bread and water for our breakfast.

After about 1 hour 30 minutes, we arrived at our first stop, Bastei Bridge. Our car parked near Bastei Hotel and then we headed to the site. Once we got there, we were stunned by the sandstone rock formation and Bastei Bridge. Since it was still in the morning, we were the first to arrive and can enjoy the breathtaking view of the valley. From the valley, we can see the beautiful Elbe River. We also went to the fortress ruins, although there was no ruin, the views and walks are worth it. This area was simply beautiful, stunning and it was easy to reach. When we back to parking area, we saw cars and bus tours were coming. So, it was a good timing we arrived early.  

Our second stop was Pravčická Gate. In this site, we must do 2 km hike up. The hiking was not as easy as in Bastei, but with some short rest along the way, we managed to get to the top. The view and also fresh air along the way, gave us more energy to keep hiking. And sure, when we reached to the top, the view are priceless. We can see the Pravčická gate with its beautiful valey as its background. Pravčická gate is the largest natural sandstone gate in Europe, its span was 26.5 metres. There were a small restaurant where we can rest while enjoying the scenery. It served cold and hot drink, and also some foods.

Then we had our lunch break (included in the tour). We tried Czech food, Goulash. Lunch break was really good to recharge our energy. Then we hike down towards Kamenice gorge. While we hiking down, we were surrounded by green trees, the river with stones also green, covered with fungi. It was so beautiful. After a refreshing walk, with some stop to taking pictures, we arrived at the boat pier.




We boarded in a green smaal boat with other passangers. The boat driver was also the one who did the explanation about the things we saw along the way. He did the explanation in Czech, and Jan did the translation for us. They associated some unique shape of the rocks with the shape of animals, which was quite true. The ride took about 20 minutes to the other side of the river. From there we just continued walk and no need to go back to our first place (can not imagine if must do the hike up), as our driver were waiting for us there. The boat ride was our last stop, then we went back to Prague.  

 

Kutná Hora

29 March 2016

We had half day today. We decided to visit Kutná Hora, only 1 hour from central train station. Although it was only one hour, but we must be very careful with the train schedule, as the train leave every two hours in the morning. And one more thing, we must make sure to buy ticket to Kutná Hora Mesto (mesto=city), so it will included ticket for local train for transfer to Kutná Hora city. Arriving at Kutná Hora Train Station, we must quickly take the local train for transfer to the Kutna Hora City. If we miss the train, we must take the bus.

 

 

The local train made stop at Sedlec (first stop) before heading to Kutná Hora Mesto. Sedlec was the place for The Ossuary (Bone Church). The Ossuary is in the undergroud chapel of the Church of All Saints. It contains the bones of about 40,000 people who died of the plague in 1318 and during the Hussite wars in the 15th century. They were originaly buried at the church cemetery. When the cemetery was closed at the end of the 15th century, the exhumed bones were transferred to the chapel and compiled into pyramids. In 1870, František Rint of Česká Skalice arranged the bones and skulls into creative decorations that include bells, the Schwarzenberg coat-of-arms, and a chandelier (source: Wikipedia). To enter this church we can either buy single ticket (only for the Ossuary) or combine ticket (for the Ossuary, Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady at Sedlec and Church of St. Barbara at Kutna Hora City). We bought the combine ticket, which was a good deal.

From the Ossuary we walked to Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady (Katedrála Nanebevzetí Panny Marie). Actually from train station Sedlec, we passed this church first, but we decided to visit Bone Church first because the bus stop to Kutna Hora City was near the Cathedral.

This Cathedral was built in 13^th, but was burned down in 14^th century.  And because of renovation, it looks like a “new” church, especially the interior. The church was built in gothic style. We can learn about the church’s history through the information that were put inside the church.

Accros the Cathedral was the bus stop to Kutna Hora City. We waited for bus no 1. The ride took about 20 minutes. It stopped near Church of St. Barbara, the beautiful gothic style church. The most unique design of this church was the three tent roof and flying buttreese, which was become the Kutna Hora Landmark. The construction of the church took over 500 years, from 1338 to 1905.  

Beside the Church of St. Barbara, there was Jesuit College (Jezuitská kolej) Building. The college was built in 16^th century and had connecting bridge with Church of St. Barbara. In front of the building, there was a terrace enclosed by a low all upon which 13 statues of saints were placed. Now, the building is become an art gallery.

From there, we just followed the sign to The Stone Fountain. It was located on Rejsek Square. We can see the wall that surrounding the fountain. There was a door with a hole, so we can see stones display inside the wall.

We walked around the area for a while, before heading back to Kutna Hora Mesto train station. The train arrived at around 3 pm and stopped at Kutna Hora Station. From there, we took train to Prague Central Station. Arriving at Prague Central Station, we still had some time to explore places near the station. We decided to go to Wencelas Square. Had an early dinner at chinesse restaurant there. But, same with our first experience with the chinese resto near our hotel, the price that they put in the menu was not the same with the actual price. They will charge more, saying that it’s not included rice (although in the menu picture, the food all served with rice) and they forbid us to order small portion menu.

Then we walked back to the Prague Central Station. Our train arrived on time. We had enough time to rest before it reached Dusseldorf at around 6am. From Dusseldorf we changed train to Utrecht and another change to Den Haag.