Karlovy Vary

This slightly sleepy town was originally established and made famous by King Charles (Karlov) IV, Holy Roman Emperor. As legend goes he discovered the local hot springs while out hunting one day, and decreed that a town be built in its place. Since then, the area has flourished with people from far and wide coming to enjoy the healing properties of the hot thermal waters.

In more recent times, it has become the host of an international movie festival, held each year in July for 10 days. Just as royals used to once frequent this town, now international stars, directors and reporters come to spend time and promote their latest projects, while also enjoying the spas and local culture.

Karlovy Vary also has several more typical Czech commodities such as as traditional herbal spirit called Becherovka, beautifully blown glass from the Moser Glass factory, and delicious Karlovarské oplatky (Carlsbad wafers).

Film Festival Fiesta

The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival goes back all the way to the end of WWII when in 1946, 7 countries joined together to screen a recent results of the Czechoslovak film industry. Within a few years it had become a permanent feature in Karlovy Vary and gained much international acclaim during the 1940s and 50s. This later changed during the communist regime, but after the Velvet Revolution and the break from Slovakia, it has returned to its glory and is a year event, which happens each year in July.

Stars from around the globe come to showcase their latest film projects. Such names as Rita Hayworth, Robert De Niro, Annette Bening, Shirley Temple, Leonardo DiCaprio, Salma Hayek, Helen Mirren, Danny Devito and Morgan Freeman have attended events during the film festival.

Smaller and lesser known directors and actors also use this international event to present their projects for the first time. As the entrance level is quite low, it allows directors from all walks of life to participate and show the international community what they are doing in their home countries.

Spa Central

Of course the main draw throughout the year are the hot springs. Thousands of tourists from across the globe and within the Czech Republic flock to the beautifully preserved hotels and spas to enjoy a day or a week soaking in the curative properties of the hot water. The spas include many different luxury experiences such as beauty and massage packages.

Many visitors also enjoy buying small clay pots in which to gather some water from the public water fountains, which are boiling out from many places in the city, including many of the colonnades. The more established colonnades even post the temperature of the water which is pouring from the fountains.

How to get to Karlovy Vary

Karlovy Vary lies over 2 hours west of Prague into western Bohemia, through farmers fields and small rolling hills. Upon arrival to the city, the land drops down and the full city of Karlovy Vary comes into view.

As in much of the Czech Republic, the best forms of transportation are by a hired car or a small tour. There are daily tours which bring guests to and from the city in one day, or you can always opt to stay for a night or two in order to enjoy all of the offers of the spa.

Due to the fact that visiting Karlovy Vary involves treating oneself to some of the spa treatments, it is also a treat to include a private car transfer to Karlovy Vary for couples and small groups.

Karlštejn Castle, Most Visited Castle Outside Prague

Karlštejn Castle was built by King Charles IV in the middle of the 14th century in order to store and protect the previous crown jewels and royal relics of the Holy Roman Empire. It was also meant to serve as a vacation home or retreat for the king and his family. The castle served carried out its purpose for nearly 100 years till the jewels were taken away for safe keeping in another fortress. However, later the Bohemian crown jewels came to rest in Karlštejn for an additional 200 years.

The castle itself is a big of an unusual structure, although picturesque and stunning in nature, with its vast number of turrets and towers, making it the most visiting castle (besides Prague’s). The largest of the towers “Big Tower” stands above the rest. It contains a chapel which once held the jewels and important documentation of the royal court. In order to access the treasures, one would need to pass through 4 doors and 19 separate locks with 19 different keys, each one being held by independent guards.

But there is a weakness

Despite their best efforts, the designers and builders of the Karlštejn Castle encountered one very important feature of any building and most especially a fortress – water. After drilling below ground 70 meters and not finding water, they had to devise a different and more complex system of drawing water into the castle walls.

They managed to do so by bringing water from a nearby stream through what would later be called the Well Tower. From there they could draw water up from the cistern, although it needed to be refilled manually throughout the year with the help of a floodgate.

This weakness lead to one of the first folklores or legends that surrounded Karlštejn in which they said that all those who worked to build the fortress and the well were later killed in order to prevent them from spreading the news of this failing in the safety and security of the castle.

And so the stories began….

Since the massacre of the workmen, more stories of murder and ghosts have found themselves into local legend. Two of them include the stories of two different women, both named Catherine.

The first would later become St. Catherine, patroness of knowledge. She was so brilliant and beautiful that she was so bold as to refuse to marry the Emperor Maximilian. Due to this rejection and humiliation, the emperor proceeded to have Catherine tortured to death.

The second Katerina was the wife of the governor at that time. It is said that she herself tortured and killed 14 individuals in the courtyard of the castle. Later she too was sentenced to death. Some say that her spirit still haunts the castle.

Another story yet tells of one of the wives of King Charles IV. They say that her ghost haunts the local area, going door to door telling people who each will die. Believers often keep their window shades closed so that they don’t see her and allow her to enter.

How to get to Karlštejn Castle

Karlštejn Castle can be found only about 30 kilometers or 20 miles south of Prague, through small villages and farmers’ fields. The trip is quite easy to manage any way you choose to arrive.

Of course a private car with a driver is one of the easiest ways to get there so that you get picked up directly at your hotel and don’t have to navigate the trains. This trip by car will take only about 45 minutes as many of the roads are not highway, which allows for a beautiful scenic viewing out the car window.

Another option is to take a train from Prague’s Main Station (or from Smichov Station as well). Trains leave several times per hour and last about 45 minutes. Once you arrive at the station, it is another additional 10-15 minute walk to arrive to the small town of Karlštejn, just below the castle walls.

Holašovice, survivor of plague, wars and neglect

The history of Holašovice has been one filled with continual battles against many odds, both man-made and natural. The area was first mentioned in the late 13th century under the reign of King Wenceslaus II, although settlements and people had long occupied the area for centuries before. From that time on, its population and buildings rose and fell drastically, even if the actual numbers were quite small.

The Bubonic Plague nearly completely destroyed the town and killed all but two of the residents in the 1520s. There is still a column which stands above the graves of those who died, erected in their memory.

Over the following three centuries the number of citizens grew, most of them German speaking. The highest reported population was 164, at the turn of the 19th century.

Following World War II, Germans were forced to leave the borders of the Czech Republic and the village was completely deserted and desolate. It continued like this for 50 years until the Velvet Revolution brought new energy and new desire to restore the village and its many historical buildings, which had maintained their traditional South Bohemian Folk Baroque style for which it is so famous today.

Rural Baroque Style

Also known as South Bohemian Folk Baroque, this style appeared in the early 1800’s. It is so unique in its form as it uses many common baroque elements but in slightly unusual and uncustomary ways. Baroque is known for its grandiose and awe-inspiring adornments and structures, mostly in churches, palaces and castles throughout Europe in the 17th Century.

In Holašovice however, these same themes have been applied to the houses, farmsteads, granaries, public houses, workshops and a school, leaving them all extremely ornate and distinct from a typical Czech village. The buildings shine and impress visitors with ornamental gable walls, relief ornaments, sun motifs, and stucco ornamentation to mention a few.

Holašovice Survives till Today

Despite the best efforts of wars, plagues and abandonment Holašovice has returned to its peak number of inhabitants, 140 villagers. The traditional buildings remain as an open air museum, allowing visitors to pass around the large town green in which there is a small pond. All of the 23 historical buildings face the town green, which makes it easy for visitors to wander about from farmstead to blacksmith shop to chapel, admiring the unique architecture style, ornate facades decorated with flowers, suns, and the pastel colors that all of the buildings are painted in.

The town itself is quaint and slow-paced and a wonderful escape from the more traditional tourist paths and sites.

How to get to Holašovice

Holašovice can be reached by one of many options and from several points. From Prague it is a 2-hour drive, covering 150 kilometers (95 miles) on Highway D4. This is of course the most direct and quickest way possible.

There are also various forms of public transportation that can get you there too. Trains run from Prague hourly, taking slightly over 2.25 hours. There is also an option to take a bus from Prague, leaving Prague every 3 hours and lasting about 2.5 hours in total.

If coming from a different city, there are still more options. From České Budějovice, the easiest, simplest and most efficient way to arrive to Holašovice is by car or taxi as it is only a 20-minute drive. The same is true if coming from Český Krumlov, which is less than 30 kilometers (18 miles) away.

Kutná Hora, former silver capital of the world

Kutná Hora is currently a relatively small, slow-paced town, hardly a city, located to the east of Prague in eastern Bohemia. It’s close proximity to the capital of the Czech Republic has made it one of the most popular day trip destinations for those looking to get out of Prague for a day.

You wouldn’t know it by looking at it today, but it once provided the known world with the majority of the silver. During this time period, the city was bustling, lively and rich beyond belief, and it was also more powerful and important that Prague itself. The power and population size rose and fell during the various wars and diseases that plagued central Europe over the centuries and when silver was discovered in the New World, Kutná Hora lost some of its strength.

Despite that, it still offers visitors some of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring sights in the Czech Republic. The Sedlec Ossuary Bone Church, Italian Court, and Saint Barbara’s Cathedral just to name a few. And to top it off, it is unspoiled with all of the tourism and still maintains its small town charm and demeanor.

500 years in the making

The Saint Barbara Cathedral, which is the most prominent building in all of Kutná Hora, stands upon a hill at the far side of the city. It is a massive structure, yet the original drawings called for it to be nearly twice the size it is today. In addition, due to the lack of funding over several centuries, it took 500 years for the church to be completed, starting in 1388 and continuing till 1905. During that time, not only did the size nearly get cut in half, but due to changes in styles and architectural preferences over those 5 centuries, the original Gothic design was later modified slightly to take on a more Baroque style. The construction is a beautiful marriage of the two time periods.

St. Barbara is the patron saint of miners (as well as military men and anyone who works with explosives) and so the faithful silver miners of the 14th century wanted to pay homage to their patron saint and raised the funds to do so. The artwork inside the church still depicts the devotion for the saint as well as the saint’s love of her patrons, through the murals seen within.

Ghastly or Genius? 

Just to the north of Kutná Hora on the outskirts of town, there stands a not so small chapel which has been made world famous due to the interior decoration of the chapel. Instead of crystals, paintings, murals, statues and tapestries, you will find the bones of over 50,000 lost souls. The story behind how they all arrived to this location is indeed quite sad and tragic.

However, the story behind how they came to be as they are now is not! Without giving away too many details, one could say that what was once a mournful memory is now an amazing presentation and incredible structural achievement. The Sedlec Ossuary or Bone Church as it is commonly referred to, is one of the most visited spots in the Czech Republic. You will have to judge for yourself whether or not entering a church full of the bones of 50,000 skeletons is creepy and scary or amazingly beautiful.

How to get to Kutná Hora

Kutná Hora is located just to the east of Prague, less than an hour’s drive, making it one of the most visited, most popular and most convenient to get to for those interested in a day trip from Prague.

The most common and popular way to reach is by a private car transfer as the trip door to door from the center of Prague to Kutná Hora is only about an hour’s drive.

For those who do not wish to drive, they can take a train from Prague’s Main Train Station, (or several of the other smaller train stations). The trains leave every hour or two depending on the time of day and take about 1 hour.

If you are interested in visiting the Sedlec Ossuary Bone Church, you can exit the train at the Kutná Hora Main Station and walk several minutes to arrive at the chapel.

If you wish to go directly to the center of Kutná Hora, then you must switch trains at the Kutná Hora Main Station and take another train to Kutná Hora Mesto (town) which is much closer to all of the other attractions. This would add another 20 or 30 minutes onto the commute time.