Sedlec Ossuary & Prague

"Dem bones, dem bones"

30.09.2020

I had seen this on the "Long Way Round" TV programme where two actors and a large film crew and "fixers" and "minders" had ridden around the world on BMW R1150GS-Adventure motorcycles. Although I have been to the ČR many times, and had lived there for a year, I had never been here.

We were on the way home from our friends' house in Popůvky and our overnight was to be in Prague at a hotel we have stayed in many times since the mid-90's.

I had read about Kutna Hora in Czech booklets aimed at the business tourist and they seemed to be more interested in the area as the tobacco growling region of the ČR. In fact Philip Morris, the company that gave us the Marlboro Man (and him lung cancer) has a museum here.

Sedlec Ossuary is actually to the north-east of Kutna. The fame of the place has spread far and wide and finding somewhere to park wasn't easy. We ended up a street or two away and walked back. Once inside though and WOW! As you can see from the web link below, and the photos I took. WEIRD!

Church of Bones - Kutna Hora

I guess once you are dead and only the bones are left you don't really care what happens to them? Maybe made into coat of arms design or stacked up with a few mates?

Once we had finished we set off to S2 and the run into Prague. One night again. I had booked the car-parking at the Hotel Extol Inn in Přístavni Prague 2. It's small and it makes it easier than messing about in the streets. Once parked it would stay there until we came to leave. Getting around Prague is much easier combining foot and tram.

I first stayed in the Extol when it was just coming put of the communist doldrums. It had been a hostel for water workers. A place for them to come to Prague and see the sights. When I say water I don't mean people generally with water, but those that worked in providing fresh water for drinking and of course, the opposite end of the water cycle. Okay. Sewage.

In the mid-90's is began to transform from a hostel into a hotel and for a while you could stay there cheaply with an International Youth Hostel card or pay more for a better room and hotel it. Either way the breakfast buffet was the same! And good it was too. it does make me a little annoyed when western teenagers brought up on the sausage and egg McMuffin culture moan and carp about local dishes. This trip we had a load of them on a coach trip bringing the good old Dixie religion to the pagan Czechs. Grrrr.

Anyway, once checked in to our room, we changed into walking out clothes and set off for the tram around the corner on Komunardů. A short ride into the city and a walk around all the places we have been before but wanted to experience again.

On my first visit to Prague in 1986 a lot of the centre was run down and in need of a coat of paint. It was also deserted. So much so that two Suzuki motorcycles with British registration plates attracted crowds. It was marginally better in May 1989 with a bit of a tidy up. Now it's like any other city with bright lights and the same stores that you find anywhere. Gone are the kiosks selling "smažené sýrové sendviče" (friend cheese sandwiches) or "párek v rohlíku" (Czech hotdogs) and there are McDonald's and other chain restaurants instead.

Although the párek they served at the kiosk at Brno railway station was a good of the very last resort. Whether there was any meat in it might be open to debate!

If anyone has read the Terry Pratchett Discworld books you may have come across a character called CMOT Dibbler. He would have been a purveyor of párek.

Anyway. Into the city and a digital camera flash bang wallop.

Praha - Václavské náměstí