Exploring Czechia with an American: Kutna Hora edition

I’ve spent most of my childhood in America. Good times I must say. 3 years ago I returned to have a summer of my life in the states exploring the beauty of the east coast and oh boy did I have a great time. My American travels are all listed in my travel section. This time I took a bit of America to explore my current homeland Czech republic. Our first stop was Kutna Hora and here is everything you need to know about this trip.

Slovak and American exploring the Czechia.

Backstory: When I was in the states I met Kevin.

Good guy. Nephew of a guy I was staying at. Since we were close in age he was kind enough to show me and my cousins the best of America. He was our personal tour guide and we’re forever grateful for that. We all grew pretty close. Two years ago Kevin visited Slovakia and its capital city Bratislava and my cousins took the opportunity of being his tour guides for a change.

This year on Kevins travels over Europe he made a stop in the Czech Republic and its capital city Prague where I currently live. We had 5 days together and we wanted to use them to the fullest.

Months ahead and we were already getting together a basic plan of what to do with our time. Since Kevin visited Prague before we didn’t want to spend all of our time just in Prague even though there is definitely plenty to see in 5 days.

We decided we were gonna explore the Czech Republic together.

I was so excited because even though I’ve been living in Czechia for over 4 years now, I visited like 3 places altogether. That’s so lame.

This trip showed me the incredibly beautiful places, I had no idea were actually in Czechia. Kevin is a wanderlust at heart. I was so happy I’m gonna travel and explore new places with him again.

Kevin has a friend who was born in Kutna hora and from what she told us, we just had to visit the town and I’m so pleased we did.

Kutna Hora is a small town with around 21K population in close proximity to Prague.

I like to consider myself a bit of a traveler.

I’ve traveled quite a lot for my young age but never have I ever visited a place with such a perfect organizational structure as Kutna Hora. There is so freaking much to see and every attraction is in a few minutes’ distance from the other. Not to mention the cutes streets and honestly the nicest people ever.

We started our journey early in the morning when we took a train to Kutna Hora from Prague. It took us 40 minutes. It was basic Tuesday so I was not expecting many tourists.

I was mistaken.

On the train, we were sitting with a group of Chinese people and let me tell you a quick story of what happened.

The Chinese people bought an online ticket for the group so they’ll spend some money. What they didn’t do was read the terms and conditions of the e-ticket just hit the agree button.

The conditions state that the e-ticket is only valid with an ID. The Chinese people didn’t have one on them and they went into a major fight with a ticket collector. We were literally in the middle of the argument. Just sitting there. Minding our own business in a very uncomfortable situation.

The ticket collector explained that their ticket is invalid and they either need to buy a new one or they need to leave the train. Chinese people felt it was unfair they need to pay again just because they forgot their IDs. But you know, the rules are the rules. So after like 20 minutes or desperate arguing over who’s right, they had to pay for the new tickets anyway.

Moral of the story: Take your ID with you when you travel and read the terms and conditions all the time.

We had a list of what to see in Kutna Hora and that was it. We didn’t know how to actually get to those places but we were sure we would figure it out once we get there.

So there we were. Standing in front of Kutna Horas train station with a phone in my hand rotating the google map to see which way we need to turn first.

Suddenly, I was approached by a middle-aged woman. She asked me if we’re headed to the Cathedral. I was like: “Yeah I’m just figuring out which way to go” to which she replied: “Come I’ll drive you”.

This lady we literally never met before just selflessly offered to drive two random tourists in her own car. I was so struck by her kindness so I agreed.

Poor Kevin had no idea what was going on cuz I was speaking Czech with the lady. Only later on I realized how crazy and dangerous it could have been and I swear I don’t usually get into the car with strangers.

The lady was so nice it was unbelievable.

Not only did she drove us to the Cathedral, but she also told us what attraction to see next and what roads to take there, what restaurants to eat in, and the basic history of the city. The car ride took like 5 minutes and her explanation of her good deed was, that she just hopes we have a good time and that when she’s a tourist in some new place someone will help her too.

There are still people who spread kindness for kindness sake.

The first thing Kevin said after he got off the car was: “Why did she drove us?”

Well, because she was good and this trip was looking up to be incredible.

We were standing in front of St Barbara’s Cathedral from the 14th century. The size was enormous and I was already astonished by the architectural beauty. Photos captured what we saw better than I could ever describe it.

We were literally the only ones inside the Cathedral. There was something magical about walking through the old majestic cathedral all alone. So peaceful.

There was just the nicest guy at the ticket booth and he explained that it’s cheaper for us to buy the ticket for 3 Kutna Hora’s attraction together rather than separate ones. So for 220kc, we got a ticket for St Barbara’s Cathedral, the famous Ossuary and The Cathedral of our Lady of the Assumption and St John the Baptist. He also got us a map of Kutna Hora with every attraction numbered and described in both Czech and English and he gave us a text in English explaining the history of the cathedral we were standing in.

Pretty nice guy right?

After a tour inside the cathedral and several photographs, we were headed out when the nice ticket guy reminded us that there is also a balcony we might have missed and there is a lovely sight from up high so we went back once more. Still, we were the only visitors.

Right next to the St Barbaras cathedral is Corpus Christi Chapel originally designed as an ossuary and right opposite is the Jesuit College and the GASK gallery.

It’s a beautiful Baroque building that contains the Gallery of Central Bohemian Region. As we got in and were aimlessly searching the halls we met another nice lady who told us something about the history of the college and told us that the regular exhibitions are for free. Once again we were only tourists there and it was much different from the cathedral.

Old gothic cathedral was in great contrast with fine arts of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Besides us, the only people there were actual students and professors – or at least they seemed like the part.

Our next stop was the Museum of silver, Hrádek, and medieval mine, and trust me it’s not as boring as it sounds. There are 2 tours you can choose from. The first one is a basic museum but the second one is way more interesting. It’s called the Road of the Silver and you’ll be heading down to the mines.

The next English tour of the mines was available in like three hours so in meantime we got lunch and explored the town some more until it was time for us to get down to the mines.

As I was wearing a white coat and a protective helmet with a light on my head, walking down hundreds of steps underground to the silver mines, I realized this was not how I thought this day would go.

I was aware that Kevin mentioned some mines. I assumed it’s gonna be like pictures or maybe a video of the mines to see how people back then used to get silver. But as the water from the mines was wetting all of my clothes I figured out this is a much better way of learning.

It’s important that you’re not claustrophobic or suffer from heart or lung diseases when entering the mines. Also, there were several breaking points when the mine halls get so narrow or small we literally had to crawl or walk sideways. It was pitch dark when we turned off our lights and I was high on adrenalin rush all the time. Most of the time I was so freaking grateful for the helmet cuz I was bumping my head a lot.

It was honestly one of the greatest and most unexpected experiences ever.

Besides actual mines, we got to see how they extracted the silver or how they processed it afterward.

The whole tour cost around 200kc per person including the 50kc for photos and it took something over one hour.

In between as we were just exploring Kutna Hora we wanted to visit the Italian court where the Museum of Legends and Ghosts is located. Unfortunately, they started reconstruction the same day we were there. Pitty.

Both the car lady and Kevin’s friends recommended this restaurant that also has great ratings on TripAdvisor called Dacicky. The whole interior was just incredible and the waitresses wore old bohemian costumes and were very friendly. Kevin got long-expected Czech beer and our lunch was spectacular. It’s in a great location and it totally meets the hype.

I was surprised at how clean and well organized the town was.

Everywhere we turned were these incredibly cute buildings and even the weather was perfect for an October day. Well, so far cuz we would get rained on later that day. Kutna Hora is a sight like no other.

The next stop was something I was the most excited about. The Sedlec Ossuary. This one is actually on the other side as all of the attractions so far. It’s much closer to the train station and from the museum of silver, it was like 30 min walk. You can take a bus or taxi but we wanted to walk as it was such a lovely day.

We were headed to the Roman Catholic Cemetery church of all Saints with an Ossuary.

It was hands down one of the creepiest and most awesome places I ever visited.

Basically, it’s a small church with shit tons of skulls and bones arranged into different aesthetical shapes. The remains of about 60 000 people who died of plague or war are exposed in the ossuary since the 16th century.

I’m sure you’re wondering what is the point of such a morbid place?

MEMENTO MORI

It’s a simple reminder that you will die.

I will never get over the spectacular photographs I took in there.

There were only a few other tourists in the ossuary and judging from the visitors I saw I think the place is very popular among metalheads and rockers. I was particularly interested in the group of Mexican guys who looked like they definitely play in a heavy metal band.

We even went to a gift shop with them and got some pretty cool stuff.

As we stepped outside from the ossuary we found out it was raining. We quickly ran into the next and last stop of ours we already purchased tickets for in the morning. The Cathedral of our Lady of the Assumption and St John the Baptist is a beautiful cathedral in High Baroque style. Back in the days, it used to be the largest sacred building in Bohemian and Moravian around the year 1300.

I was fascinated by the boldness to display the remains of the saints right out there. You can see it in the photos. Also, I was particularly interested in the images mapping the reconstruction process done on the cathedral. The whole place was rather empty by the time we arrived, which was around 5 o’clock in the evening.

We successfully managed to spend a great day in Kutna Hora.

The kindness of the residents’ people was breathtaking. Just like the beauty of the whole town that has so much to offer.

Kutna Hora is, in my opinion, the top 2 places to visit in Czechia.

First being my beloved Prague.