Sedlec Ossuary (aka the Bone Church) is a Catholic chapel that was built in the middle of a cemetery around 1400. In the 1500s, skeletons began to be exhumed to make room for the newly dead, and in the late 1800s, the bones were rearranged by woodworker Frantisek Rint.
Kutna Hora is about an hour outside of Prague. I had found a few bus tour options, but we chose to hire a private driver/tour guide. That way, our timeline could be more flexible, and the kids could ride in car seats (plus we thought a private driver would be more likely to stop for a toilet break if the kids needed one). It really worked out well for us.
George, our tour guide, picked us up from the hotel in the morning, and we were on our way. He was very friendly and talkative, and told many stories about various jobs he said he'd had (working with famous musicians, secret service, other unbelievable jobs).
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| We're off! |
We stopped briefly to look at one castle on the way. I don't remember what he said it was exactly.
Our first stop once we reached Kutna Hora was St Barbara's Cathedral, one of Central Europe's most famous Gothic churches.
Construction of the building began in 1388. I am continuously in awe of the sheer age of things in Europe (and we haven't even been to the really old places yet!).
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| This whole piece is embroidered |
We walked around the main level, then went upstairs to the balcony area.
The kids behaved really well inside the church, but by the time we saw everything they were getting bored. We met George outside and walked through the town a bit.
George pointed out the little cubby on the second floor of this next building...
He said that this was the toilet, and in medieval times it would have had no floor. So whenever the person inside did their business, it just fell straight into the street. Of course the kids thought this was hilarious.
It didn't take long for us to arrive at our lunch destination - a medieval pub.
We were all ready for food, and this place did not disappoint. Matt and I agreed that this was our best meal of the week. And the atmosphere was great.
The kids had sausages and chips. Matt had goulash, which was incredibly flavorful. And I had roast duck, which melted in my mouth. And of course, there was beer.
After lunch, it was time to see the Bone Church. Lily was excited until we got inside, and Miles was a bit creeped out from the beginning.
All of the decorations are real bones. It was a little weird, but also cool. Clara loved it. The pictures didn't turn out great because we weren't allowed to use flash inside.
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| Clara even let George carry her around |
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| House of Schwarzenberg crest |
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| The chandelier has at least one of every bone from the human body |
The kids calmed down a bit when Matt let them take selfies.
After our short tour (it's very small), we hopped into the van to go back to Prague. I may have taken a quick nap during the drive, which was good because it was a lot of crazy driving on narrow country roads.
Once we got back to the hotel, we walked around the corner to the closest Easter market for dinner.
The kids ate hot dogs. I ordered pierogies (which are called something else in Czech), and Matt got some kind of Asian noodles with gyro meat (?).
We ate and then headed back to get the kids put to bed. After another difficult bedtime, Matt went back to the market to get a trdelnk for us to share. It was filled with Nutella, and it was delicious (especially since the kids were asleep).
I'm really glad we planned ahead and took this day trip. It was a lot of fun, and it was nice to visit a smaller town.
