The Beachy Eby Gang minus one - Czech Republic

---

Sorry, no pictures for this section of the trip. My dad was the official photographer so naturally there is A LOT of editing that needs to be done before we get them down to a reasonable number...



May 22-25: Prague (3 nights)

We all arrived in Prague at various different times and joined up at our adorable hotel, U Zlate Studny, right by the Charles Bridge. We spent our (almost) two days wandering the streets, exploring the castle and the endless churches, traversing Charles Bridge, admiring the architecture, debating the difference between a basilica and a cathedral, watching a marionette show/opera in a language that was possible Czech, most likely Italian, but altogether jibberish as far as we were concerned, and getting trampled by the endless hordes of tourists. The first evening we ate the traditional Czech meals of pork knuckles, duck, and an assortment of dumplings right by the river and then went up the clock tower right at sunset and had a lovely view of the whole city in the dusk lighting. Prague is known for all its churches and steeples and when you look at the skyline it is amazing how true it is – where some capital cities have skyscrapers Prague has endless church steeples. Our second evening we went to a 7-piece string concert in the church right by our hostel that was amazing and the acoustics of the church only added to its magnificence. Literally every church was advertising concerts almost every night we were there. We went from the sophisticated classical music concert to a local Czech beer festival where the live band played an assortment of music from the 60’s-90’s and we joined the locals on the dance floor. I think all of us liked Prague, but we were also slightly relieved to get into our rental car, set Francesca (our semi-trusty GPS) on a south-eastern course, and head out of the city into the real Czech Republic, leaving the masses of tourists and their over-sized buses behind.



May 25: Arriving in Kutna Hora we found a world that is very different and more relaxed than Prague. It is less than two hours away from Prague and is supposedly a popular day trip, but we were some of the only tourists in the whole town. Since English is not very widely spoken outside of the capital, our adventures with gesturing began. Kutna Hora is a little Bohemian town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (as many of our stops on this trip were), and the former location of the national mints. The main attraction is the bone church, the Sedlec Ossuary, located in a suburb of Kutna Hora. An artist decided to use the abundant resources of bones and skulls to create some very unique adornments for the church, including a chandelier that consists of every bone found in the human body. It was definitely one of the more unique and bizarre places that any of us had ever been. Right down the street was another church, which Mom will tell you is one of her favorites from the whole trip. Rather than the stereotypical gaudy, painted interiors, this church was very simple and the walls were all plastered. The ceiling was high and the columns less imposing, resulting in a more open, light, airy feel. Simple yet gorgeous. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Kutna Hora proper with its cute buildings, silver minting museum, and another impressive cathedral. The whole town center is small and could be explored in less than an hour. We also had arguably one of the best dinners of our trip at an old pub dripping with character. We had our first of many forays into the world of goulash, traditionally Hungarian but found throughout this whole region of the world (formerly under control of the Hungarian empire). Hearty and delicious. Then another small, local festival where we experienced some “psychadelicpunkfolkrock” music, the quality of which we will leave up to your imagination.



May 26:

The morning of the 26^th we headed on toward Telc, the “quaintest, most charming town in the whole Czech Republic and arguably the most beautiful in a country renowned for its beautiful towns and squares”. The whole main square is surrounded by impressive, Renaissance and Baroque style houses (now shops and cafes of course), we toured the castle, and wandered along the city walls and the ponds. We happened to visit on the same day as a major regional baton competition, so the endless young girls with their twirling batons and incessantly pounding music detracted a little bit from the Renaissance feel of the town, but provided some modern local flavor and the opportunity to eat delicious sausages.

In the afternoon we drove to Uherské Hradiště, stopping in a little town to explore one of the best preserved Jewish Quarters. Uherské Hradiště is not the most adorable town in the world and we only spent a short time wandering through the very small, deserted town center before retreating to our hotel for a late dinner (it was even a Saturday night!). Our main reason for stopping here was to be close to Vlčnov where we went the next day for the Ride of the Kings festival. And our hotel was absolutely lovely.



May 27 (Sunday) Drive 5 miles to Vlčnov for the Ride of the Kings festival

The Ride of the Kings festival is a local celebration that used to take place in all the towns of the region, but today is only celebrated annually in Vlčnov and every four years in one other town. People from all over the Czech Republic go to Vlčnov for the celebrations. Besides a group of students from the University of Kentucky whose local professors had recommended they go, I think we might have been the only international tourists. We made friends with a couple from outside of Prague who helped us understand everything that was happening. Basically a young boy (usually 11-13 years old) is chosen to be king. There is a ceremony in the town hall and then he is taken back to his house and dressed as a girl for the parade through the town. This is to represent the escape of one of their kings who used a disguise to escape. The boy holds a white rose in his mouth (attached to a lollipop) and is not allowed to talk to symbolize the stealth and silence needed for the escape. He is escorted on highly decorated horseback by ten young men who very loudly and incessantly joke, insult and harass the public for donations (all in good fun of course) as they go through town. Perfect job for 18 year old males -- they get to be loud and obnoxious and they don't get in trouble for it! The whole process took several hours before the parade even started. Apparently it is an honor for your family to be chosen as the king, but also kind of a curse because they have to fund a lot of the festival and host other events throughout the year. We followed the parade for a little ways and then went up to the amphitheater where there were lots of traditional dance and music groups performing from different towns throughout the region, all with their own, slightly different costumes. This was probably my favorite day in the Czech Republic because it was something so unique and so real – everyone celebrating their heritage and history and aimed at citizens of the Czech Republic (of whom there were masses and masses) rather than international tourists.

In the afternoon we crossed the border into Slovakia (another one of those Schengen zone ones where you don’t get stopped and there is not even anyone in the booths) and continued on to Bratislava. We hiked up to the castle (hike is a very loosely used term here…) and saw the remnants of what looked like a good food festival (we even scored some leftover soup and apples – best sweet and sour soup we’ve ever had) before going back and sipping and savoring our way through the Old Town. Bratislava is a very nice city (at least the little old part that we saw). Way less people than Prague but still with nice architecture (slightly less intense and gaudy) and it felt much more relaxed. We could have spent several more days there just relaxing and wandering and exploring cafes, but our itinerary beckoned so in the morning we set off again (Skaritz Hotel).

---