I'm back from my tour through the Czech Republic and Poland, and I did indeed manage to visit some other places, besides the major towns. Here is part one of the customary overview posts.
Prague was of course the highlight. The town is beautiful, but also pretty stuffed with tourists already in April. I wouldn't want to travel there in summer; you'd probably have to ride a Nimbus 2000 to get any photos without peoples' heads in the foreground, and the queues in front of the Hradčany ticket office will wind down halfway into the Lesser Town.
As it was, I managed enough decent pics to give you a tour of the town in another post or two. I was told that November is a quiet month ... so if you want to get Prague with fog instead of tourists, travel in November. *grin*
The photo above is a fine example for the reason Prague is called the Golden City - it does have a golden shine in the sunset gleam.
The weather was sunny most of the time, though the temperature couldn't decide whether it was spring already or still winter, it tried something different every day.
What I had not counted on was the Easter markets being held in pretty much every square shaped place, which added to the crowded feel. But they were a pretty sight nevertheless. (Note to self: don't travel the week prior to Easter.)
The Mediaeval town of Cheb (Eger) is a much smaller town close to the German border, with a charming old market square plus some other pretty old houses, and an interesting castle.
The castle - then an Imperial palatine seat - dates back to the time of Friedrich Barbarossa. The chapel and the Black Tower are remaining features of that earliest construction from the 12th century. At that time, Cheb belonged to the German Empire.
Another castle near Cheb is Loket (Elbogen). Its origins date to the 13th century, but it was enlarged in the 1520ies, thus displaying Romanesque and Gothic architectural features. As border castle between Germany and Bohemia, it was the place of several historical events.
The castle fell into disrepair after the Thirty Years War; some parts burned down a century later. The remains were used as prison in the 19th century. The castle was eventually restored when it came into possession of the town of Loket in 1993.
Karlovy Vary (Karlsbad) is a spa town in the same area as Cheb and Loket Castle. It once was one of the most popular spa town in Austria-Hungary (and Germany). Famous German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe went there several times during his life (he'd been to Loket as well, where he got a statue on the main road of the village).
with the Mill Colonnade to the right
Until the end of WW1, most of the inhabitants of Karlovy Vary were German speakers. Today, the language I most prominently heard during the few hours of my visit was Russian - they have replaced the German spa visitors, it seems.
The other Czech castle I visited is situated close to Prague: the iconic Karlštejn. It was founded by Charles IV (of House Luxembourg), Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia, in 1348. Charles was also responsible for several of the buildings on the Hradčany in Prague. The castle was intended to protect the crown jewels of Bohemia, and did so for several centuries.
Due to its historical importance, the castle has been restored in the late 19th century. Some neo-Gothic fake elements, like the timber battlements on the towers, have been added in the process. Some important rooms can be seen on a guided tour which I took.
Sedlec (about an hours drive from Prague) was a 13th century Cistercian monastery which became attractive as burial site when one abbot brought back some earth from Golgotha and sprinkled it over the cemetery. A Gothic chapel was built over the churchyard in 1400; with the cellar used as ossuary for the mass of bones found in the cemetery. The site came into possession of the Schwarzenberg family who employed the woodcarver František Rint to sort the heaps of bones (1870) - the result was that he used a bunch of them for decorations.
Kutná Hora (Kuttenberg), the town near the Sedlec monastery, was one of the wealthiest towns in Bohemia in the 13th - 16th centuries due to the nearby silver mines, competing even with Prague. The city centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Italian Court during that time included the main mint of Bohemia.
A quiet spot in busy Prague: The Čertovka canal separating the Kampa island from the Lesser Town.
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