A day trip from Prague to Kutna Hora

For our second day in Prague, we went on a day trip to the town of Kutna Hora! The
first day was slightly overwhelming, and this visit came as a much welcomed respite from the crowds and the hustle of the capital which completely took me by surprise.

The idea came from this advertisement on the Prague map and I was so glad we did it!

We decided to go with the Kutna Hora and Bone Chapel Tour organised by Discover Prague and it was a pleasant experience! We purchased our tickets that very morning, with their office located conveniently by the Old Town Square.

Our tour voucher! Positive aspects on going for the tour were the inclusion of the admission tickets in the tour package, getting history lessons leading to more appreciation behind the historical landmarks, and we simply had to follow and did not have to plan our routes or risked getting lost. Kind of like a lazy man way haha. Of course, it was a fixed itinerary which didn't give the flexibility, but it was alright for a short breather from the city.

Old Town Square, busy in the morning

Around 11, we met our guide with his signature yellow jacket and umbrella and the other participants for the tour, and off we went. The significance of structures we simply passed by earlier on began to sink in as our guide started to give us historical insights during the walk to the railway station.

Jubilee Synagogue
Also known as Jerusalem Synagogue, it was built in 1906 with Moorish influences in its design

And we had reached Prague railway station!

Our guide gave us a brief on our train and meet-up point and time. We had a lunch break while he purchased our train tickets. We stocked up on pastries and drinks for the day.

Soon enough, we were at the platform ready to depart!

Ready to board!

With a fairly big group of 8 people, we split up in different carriages but our guide was on the ground with us, checking if we were doing fine and dealt with the train inspector.

Lunch was not included in the package and he also took our orders during the ride

The buildings of Prague slowly gave way to..

... the Czech countryside!

After a slightly less than an hour ride, we were in Kutna Hora!

We alighted from the train on the left

We transferred to another smaller train from there. It was not necessary but it was included in our ticket, so why not?

Rolling away in the smaller train

The train inspector checking everyone's tickets

Our first stop was the Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady and Saint John the Baptist, whose interior was very spacious and looked rather skimpy at first glance. After an enlightening lesson from our tour guide, we uncovered its details and analyzed the different Baroque and Gothic architecture styles. The two has always been very confusing to me so I would have been very lost and even indifferent without a guide!

A write up on the church

The church exterior

It was indeed spacious

Our next stop was the famous Sedlec Ossuary. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking for this one..

Not comfortable with capturing the graves at the bottom, the top looked pretty serene and harmless.
A brief, slightly inaccurate and ultra shallow history lesson.. A man supposedly came back from the Holy Land (Golgotha, the place where Jesus was crucified) carrying soil from there. This was still during the time when religion played an important role in the region. Word got around and the sick and dying made a pilgrimage to this blessed area to spend their remaining moments and be buried in the holy soil. With a plague and some series of unfortunate events, this place was crowded with the dying and their bones were congregated here and many years later, their remains were laid out for tourists from all over the world to see.

YES. Human bones.

We paid to admire the carcasses of the ancestors from centuries past being used as decorations. Our tour group even gathered at some interesting skulls and pondered if they were hacked to death by machetes or if the person had teeth problems judging by their teeth, or what remained of them.... Extremely weird I know. To me, it was less of scary but more of a question of ethics. Is this an absolute monstrosity or a form of art? I still haven't placed my finger on that one. The locals didn't seem to be bothered though. There was even a field trip for young children while we were there. Yes, a school excursion to see a display of human bones.

But you have to admit, those decors are nicely done

There was an area still used for religious purposes every now and then

A change of scenery

Craved for a doughnut after that!

After a short mini-bus ride, we arrived at Saint Barbara's Church and this, to me, was the main highlight of the day. I mean, it was just plain gorgeous and rich in history!! (Although the history wasn't exactly pure and nice but still amazing)

We got out of the van to this!

Inscriptions about the church

WOW

So another very vague, layman and slightly inaccurate history lesson.. there was a 'competition' between the archdiocese of Kutna Hora and Prague back in the day. Like who had the better cathedral and what not (I could just vaguely remember the details) which was so ironic for the Church who promotes peace and humility.. which explained for this massive church in the middle of Kutna Hora. No, I am not against the Church or any religion, I do go to Church, but humans tend to do funny things don't we?

Very very impressive! Being a silver mining town in its prime, there were many depictions of silver mining around the church. Saint Barbara was the patron of mining.

THIS IS KUTNA HORA.

Kutna Hora rose into prominence in the past because of silver. Almost all coins in the past in Central Europe were made of silver and were sourced from this very town. It was a rich town, the second richest in the Kingdom of Bohemia, constantly challenging Prague for importance during the period. 

So why did Kutna Hora not evolve into a major city which could have potentially rivaled Prague and instead, dwindled into this sleepy historically rich, gorgeous town today?

Depletion of resources.

Silver ran out and so did profitability.
We should really learn from history and analyze the parallels between this case study and the many similar cases today.

At this point, we had blue skies, cool breeze, a decent-sized crowd and we were surrounded by all these magnificent buildings and structures and it was so enjoyable and uplifting!

We learned other events that occurred in history too, like people being thrown out of windows.

VIEW 100/100

It was beginning to encroach into the late afternoon and we made a relaxing stroll to Dačický Restaurant. 

An unflattering photo of the cozy homely place

After dinner, it was another quick stroll (it was starting to get really cold too) around the cute houses to the mini-train from which we transferred to the bigger one back to Prague

Waiting for the train back to Prague. It was full, with fellow day trippers going back to the capital. We got our seats and observed as other hopeful passengers continually peeked into our carriage looking for space and moving on to the next after failing to find any. It was the same drill, our guide took care of the tickets and ensured our well-being.

Back to Prague. So thankful to our guide and it felt so refreshing to be able to experience a slower pace of life without the crowds for the day. I was ready to explore Prague the following day!