Destination: Olomouc, Czech Republic

While I’d gone west to Karlovy Vary the previous day, I was heading east of the Czech Republic the following day while in Prague for my January holidays. I would be going to Olomouc, the historical capital of the Moravian region and the sixth-largest city in the country.

Originally, I’d wanted to make a day trip to Kutna Hora, which is an hour away from Prague, to see the famous bone church. After hearing from my parents who’d gone, however, I realize that it wouldn’t have been worth it just for the church. It wasn’t until I looked up other places online that I stumbled upon Olomouc and found it interesting– with that, I decided to go.

To get to Olomouc, the best option would be to take the train– it would be about a two-and-a-half-hour ride, which was a bit long, but I didn’t mind so much. It would be the first time that I took the train in the Czech Republic, and with that, I purchased my round-trip ticket in the train station and hopped on-board around 8:40. After accidentally sitting in first-class (and unceremoniously getting kicked out by the conductor), I settled into second-class and passed the time looking out at the landscape, which was completely covered in snow– after all, it was the dead of winter when I visited.

After passing through what seemed like dozens of small, isolated towns, the train arrived in Olomouc. It was about a 25-minute walk into the city center, so I slowly made my way over, being careful not to slip on the icy snow on the sidewalk.

First stop was at the Saint Wenceslas Cathedral, a 12th-century church named after the 10th-century eponymous saint. It’s the fourth-largest building in the country, and I wouldn’t be surprised– I had to back up quite the distance in order to take a photo of it!

I continued my walk to the city center, and soon enough I arrived at the Upper Square where the Holy Trinity Column, along with its own astronomical clock, are placed. The former was built in the 18th century to represent the gratitude for the end of the plague, which had hit Olomouc just a few years prior. Its height and Baroque architecture reminded me very much of the Plague Column (Pestsäule) in Vienna, and it was definitely the main focus of the plaza.

The astronomical clock of Olomouc was also quite impressive, not only with its gleaming, intricate mosaics, but also the fact that it’s only one of two astronomical clocks in all of the Czech Republic (the other being in Prague, of course). Construction of the clock dates back to either the 15th or 16th century, and it was the first of its kind to regulate days into the 24-hour format, which wasn’t universally-adopted until the Industrial Revolution some 200 years later. That said, it was ahead of its time!

Even more so, the astronomical had been remodeled during the Communism era, when the clock was modified to represent its ideals, along with adding statues and monuments to it. When Communism ended in the 1980’s, the statues and monuments were removed, but the clock remained. Today, one can see old Communist holidays still on the clock itself, demonstrating just how long and rich its history has been from medieval to Communism to its present-day republic.

Besides the Holy Trinity Column and astronomical clock, Olomouc is also known for its dozens of fountains scattered all over Upper and Lower Squares. Most of them represent Roman figures such as Hercules, Jupiter, and Mercury. In fact, the city is famous for its fountains, and I made it my goal to see all of them during my visit– I think I succeeded!

I was beginning to get hungry, so I decided to find a place to get lunch. Interestingly enough, I’d read online while researching Olomouc that the city is known for its vegetarian scene. It came as a surprise, because in general, Czech food is anything but vegetarian. However, the city has a notable university student population (in fact, the most dense in all of the country), so perhaps that’s why there are vegetarian places.

In any case, I thought I would try something different from the usual meat-and-dumplings meal I’d been having in the Czech Republic, so I popped into the nearest vegetarian restaurant for lunch. The place reminded me very much of Souplantation back home, as it was buffet-style– the only difference was I paid by weight, but even when I’d really piled it up, it ended up being no more than 7€ for the meal. Although I’m not vegetarian, I do appreciate vegetarian meals: I found the generous helpings of bulgur wheat salad and even fried tofu to be delicious, and they filled me up quite a bit…enough to continue with my visit in the afternoon!

After lunch, I headed to check out Lower Square. On the way, I popped into the Church of Saint Michael, which towers over the city, and contained a pretty-impressive nave inside. I also explored its hallway, which happened to have plenty of statues just on the side, perhaps for storage purposes. It was quite empty when I visited, so I assumed that it wasn’t peak season yet for tourism.

Lower Square looked similar to its upper counterpart– the only differences were that it was slightly smaller and it didn’t contain a column, like the Holy Trinity. There were plenty of cafes and restaurants surrounding the square, and I ended up popping into one of the cafes for an afternoon break. I got a black forest-like cake and mulled wine, and I enjoyed my break from the cold.

Soon enough, I was pretty much done visiting the sites, so I decided to head back to the station and catch the train back close to 15:30. Again, the journey took two-and-a-half hours, and I returned to Prague around 18:00. It’d been a long day just with traveling (5 hours total), but it was a pleasure to have visited Olomouc. Although I didn’t find it as impressive as Prague or Karlovy Vary, it was a good city to check out in the country.

…and that about covers my entire two-and-a-half month grand vacation this past winter. From November to January, it’d been pretty much non-stop traveling and, even though I was utterly tuckered out in the end, I was happy to flex my travel muscles and visit (also revisit) places in Europe. Although I’m currently stuck working and don’t have the chance to travel so much now, I’m already gearing up for another long vacation in a couple of months– until then, I hope to do day trips or weekend getaways to satisfy my wanderlust. Otherwise, I’ll continue to dream!

Looking forward to sharing more adventures in due time with you. Until later!

 

— Rebecca