Away from the river and into the hills
Posted on 2018-10-26
After a good two rest days in Prague, we continued our journey more or less following the Cycle Route 1 from Prague to Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic. Petr had introduced this cycle route to us, and we thought it would be a good idea to follow it, as the route would be marked, saving us time from checking the map at every junction, and it would also take more scenic roads and dedicated bicycle paths.
On the first day from Prague, we cycled to Kutná Hora. As it was a Saturday, Petr joined us all the way, and even cycled Heiko's bicycle for 20km as he was so excited to try it out! It was then a surprisingly easy ride for Heiko that day...
Petr cycled Heiko's bicycle for 20km of the way from Prague to Kutná Hora
The city centre of Kutná Hora is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the historical and architectural importance of many of its buildings. Among the most important buildings are the gothic St. Barbara's church, and the famous Sedlec Ossuary. The Sedlec Ossuary is estimated to contain the bones of between 40,000 and 70,000 people, many of which have been artistically arranged to form decorations for the chapel. The cemetery was a desirable burial site and over the centuries, graves had to be exhumed to make room for new burials. In 1870, František Rint, a woodcarver, was tasked by the Schwarzenberg family to put the bone heaps in order, resulting in the decorations that we still see today. The Sedlec Ossuary is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the Czech Republic.
After Kutná Hora, the cycle route continued into the Bohemian-Moravian highlands. After following rivers for the first two weeks, the hills came as quite a shock to the system. Cycling on 50kg bicycles, every slight change in gradient makes a big difference in cycling speed and ability. On the first day in the hills, we followed the cycle route religiously, following every small road and scenic detour. It turned out that some of these detours just go up an extra hill for fun, or in our case, for unnecessary torture. In the next few days, we decided to take some strategic shortcuts from the designated route to ease the ride a little. We still managed to pass through stretches of beautiful forests and countryside, cycle between small villages, and see a couple of fairytale-like castles, so we probably didn't miss much.
We took another rest day in Brno, which was mostly taken up by writing this blog. We also did some sightseeing around the Špilberk Castle and Old Town. From Brno, we continued south to the Slovakian border.