Olomouc, Czech Republic
We were now on tour with the Busabout tour company and we were stopping for the night in the sixth largest Czech city (a bit less than 100,000). It is located in the lowland of the Haná region and was, in the past, the capital of then Moravia. An architecturally attractive city with good mix of ancient, older and newer architectural styles to keep photographers busy. We would be spending the night at the Flora Hotel. It’s a nice hotel with comfy beds and windows that open. The rooms were a bit warm so we kept the window open for the night.
In the morning breakfast ended up being quite an adventure. We went to the wrong breakfast room. We were supposed to go to a nicer restaurant but, instead, some of us went to the more basic breakfast room where we watched in shock as the a group of tourists ahead of us literally attacked the food tables. Fortunately, our guide came and rescued us and we found our way to the much nicer restaurant and the rest of our group where we were able to have a nice breakfast in a more civilized fashion.
Bone Church, Kutná Hora
Now on the tour bus, we stopped at a church which became a very popular place to be buried after a 13th century monk returned form the Holy Land with some soil which he sprinkled over the existing graveyard.The graveyard became the popular place for aristocracy to be buried, so much so that there was a significant overcrowding issue and to help with the overcrowding issue bones were exhumed and stored below the church. Eventually, the city council hired a local craftsman,FrantiÅ¡ek Rint, to go in and put the bones into more order. What he ended up doing was create works if art using the bones. An interesting place to visit – rather unique. (photos to follow).
(Graeme on tour in Europe. Images will be uploaded when time and access to reliable internet permit)
