Prague, Day 6

On Thursday, our last day in the Czech Republic, we took a day trip to Kutna Hora. The bus picked us up at our hotel, then gathered a collection of other English and Italian speakers as well as our guide, Sharka (Sarah). The guide changed back and forth between three languages (speaking Czech with the driver) without any hesitation.

Kutna Hora is a small town about 70 kilometers east of Prague, famous in the Middle Ages for its silver production and mint. We traveled past brilliant green and yellow fields (rapeseed for oil).

Our first stop was the Bone Church, Kostnice, where 40,000 human bones form the decorations, from swags and candelabra to the Swartzenburg coat of arms. We declined to buy a reproduction skull souvenir.

We traveled further on to St. Barbara’s Cathedral (she is the patron saint of miners), dating from the fourteenth century and quite wealthy due to the silver in the town.

From there we could see the single, leaning tower of St. James’ Church, which is a bit off balance from the missing tower, with construction abandoned due to concern over collapse.

The mock bridge with statues was built to emulate Charles Bridge in Prague.

The Italian Court was the early mint, where groschen and tiny parve of the Middle Ages were struck by Italian artisans, 2000 each per day.

We also saw dollars, large silver coins from which our American money takes its name.

We saw the Royal Audience Chamber and the Royal Chapel, which was beautifully decorated with Art Nouveau paintings from the early 1900s, no photos allowed.

After returning to Prague, we ate dinner in the enormous Art Nouveau restaurant at Municipal Hall. Very ornate, with delicious food to match. Flaming tropical fruit crème brulee was the highlight.