We’d originally planned to rise before dawn for some arty shots of the lights on a deserted Charles Bridge. However those plans went out the window when we realised that would mean getting up before 5 am! So we contented ourselves with a 6.15 am visit to the bridge. The sun was up and the lights were off but there were only a few hardy souls out that early – two Bridal couples, a young pregnant woman having a “maternity” photo shoot, a young man proposing to his girlfriend ( and he’d even remembered to bring champagne!) and a nice couple from Ontario, Canada who asked us to take their photo.
Brides
Aaaah Love!
Back to the hotel for a good breakfast to set us up for the longest drive of our trip, heading to Poland. An hour outside Prague we made a stop at Kutna Hora to visit the Sedlec Ossuary. We were scrabbling through the last of our Czech coins to pay the entrance fee but it was well worth it. The ossuary is a charnel house built under the church here which became a highly desirable burial spot after 1278 when dirt from Jerusalem was sprinkled on the grounds. The plagues and Hussite wars meant that by the 1500s they had to start exhuming the bones from their graves and piling them up in a charnel house. In 1870, the local aristocracy employed a woodcarver to tidy up the heaps and he decided to do something a liitle decorative with them. The result is a spectacular display of the bones of over 40,000 people. Its one of the more bizarre sights Ive ever seen.
Not your average chandelier. It’s reputed to have at least one of every bone in the human body!
Neil looking a bit freaked out!
We then had another 4 1/2 hour drive to get us to Krakow, through rolling agricultural country , skirting many small towns and a couple of substantial cities. Finally we arrived in Krakow and checked into Andels Hotel, our home for 3 nights. Its a very modern hotel, a complete contrast to the last one. The best thing about it is that there are tea and coffee making facilities in the room, Ive missed my bedtime cuppa the last few nights!
We went for walk down to Rynek Glowny, the absolutey huge Old Town Square. It’s one of thebiggest in Europe but you can’t see all of it at once as the massive Cloth Hall sits right in the middle of it. The Cloth Hall used to be a trading place for cloth dealers but now its mostly souvenirs.
One small part of the Square. St Mary’s Cathedral at right
Inside the Cloth Hall
The square was really buzzing this Sunday afternoon, with many market stalls selling handcrafts as well as several delicious smelling food stalls. Some swing dancers were putting on a performance in one corner and nearby a guy with an enormous bubble blower was keeping hordes of children entertained.
Bubbles and the only remaking tower from the 14th century Town Hall
We walkedback to the hotel through the Planty , a long green park which surrounds the Old Town where the old moat used to be.
We’re a bit weary after today’s early start and long drive so we’ll try the hotel restaurant tonight. Tomorrow should be an interesting day as we have a tour booked to the nearby salt mines.
