BOHEMIAN RHAPSODIES
Few visitors to the Czech Republic explore further than Prague, but they’re missing out – this beautiful, varied and compact country is full of hidden gems. Benjamin Beasley-Murray visits three charming towns within easy reach of the capital
Melnik
At the heart of Bohemia’s wine-growing region and just 30km north of Prague, Melnik makes a perfect day trip for those wanting to explore the countryside. It’s a great place to stroll about, whether through the town itself or among the surrounding vineyards, though the truly lazy may prefer just to kick back with a glass of wine in the main square and soak up the laid-back atmosphere.
Situated on a hill above the meeting of the Vltava and Elbe rivers, the town started as a 9th-century Slavic settlement. There was an imposing castle that was demolished in the Thirty Years War, which gave way to the current Melnik Chateau. It’s open for tours daily and is crammed with baroque furniture and 17th/18th-century paintings.
The Church of Saints Peter and Paul sits adjacent to the chateau on a cliff top overlooking banks of vines. Like the chateau, it’s a recent rebuild at a mere 450 years old (the original was destroyed by fi re in 1555). Further restoration took place at the end of the last century, and its stained-glass windows and arched ceiling certainly merit a look.
A crypt below the church houses an ossuary where the bones of some 10,000 people (disinterred to make space for 16th-century plague victims) can be viewed (every day except Monday). Afterwards, clear your head with a stroll down the hill to Horinsky Park, a wooded stretch taking in an old canal where you can walk up an appetite before returning to town to dine in one of its many wine cellars and restaurants.
Get there: take the train from Nadrazi Holesovice, Prague (approx 40 mins).
Lunch: Zamecka Restaurace (Zamecka 1, 00 420 315 622 121). Spectacular river views complement the traditional Czech food served here.
Karlovy Vary
Nestled in the western hills of Bohemia is the spa town of Karlovy Vary, founded in the late 14th century by Charles IV, king of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Karlovy Vary – better known as Karlsbad, since for much of its history the town has been within German borders – was where European gentry headed to “take the waters” and seek relief from any imaginable ailment.
Today, the town’s stunning architecture and old-world charm continue to restore visitors’ souls, regardless of whether they try the hot mineral water bubbling up from its many thermal springs. Though spa hotels, clinics and cosmetic salons still dominate, day-trippers who aren’t here for massage therapy, bath therapy, electrotherapy, lymph-drainage therapy – you name it, there’s a therapy – can stroll through the picturesque streets and squares instead.
Promenading along the Teplá river and meandering between the 19th-century buildings that fl ank it, health pilgrims sip out of small porcelain cups fi lled from fountains housed in elaborate colonnades. More discerning visitors may prefer to fi ll their cups with becherovka, an alcoholic liqueur that is famous across the Czech Republic. Known as “the 13th spring”, this cough medicine-like spirit was invented in Karlovy Vary in 1807, and promises to bring all manner of health benefi ts. It’s an acquired taste, but one worth persevering with. Much more palatable is another local treat: the plate-sized wafers sandwiching creamy fi llings of hazelnut, coffee and chocolate. Available hot from street stalls or in the town’s pretty cafes, these tasty delights are good enough not to need branding as healthfood.
The peaceful town comes alive in July for its International Film Festival, when Hollywood A-listers fl ock to the former sanctuary of Goethe, Tolstoy and Marx. Whether they stick to their own brands of bottled water or partake of the local elixir is anyone’s guess.
Get there: take the bus from Florenc station, Prague (approx 2hrs 15mins).
Lunch: Restaurant Embassy (Nova Louka 21, 00 420 353 221 161, www.embassy.cz). Eat yourself healthy with deer, boar and fried cheese.
Kutna Hora
This town is like an intimate, little-known bar you’d love to recommend to everybody, but you don’t want to spoil. Its beautiful squares may not quite match Prague’s, but you feel like they’re yours when you wander the winding cobbled streets that make up this charming town.
Around 65km south-east of Prague, Kutna Hora was one of Europe’s largest and richest settlements in the mid-15th century, deriving its wealth from the silver ore mined nearby. That money translated into the civic building projects that made the town so beautiful – the Cathedral of St Barbara, dedicated to the patron saint of miners, is among the fi nest gothic churches in Europe, and landmarks such as the Italian Court (later the Royal Mint) and the Stone Fountain (an impressive late-gothic water fountain), testify to the town’s former grandeur.
Streets full of pastel-coloured 17th-century houses are peppered with quiet restaurants and bars, making Kutna Hora the perfect place to while away an afternoon. The approach to the cathedral, up a wonderful promenade fi lled with crumbling gothic statues, is beautiful, and you can be confi dent of not sharing the views with countless other tourists.
Don’t come on a Monday, though, as nearly everything is closed, but on any other day a trip to the nearby Sedlec Ossuary Chapel is a must (what is it about Bohemia and bones?). The ossuary dates from the 14th century, but in 1870 a woodcarver was employed to turn the bones into breathtaking decorative features. The chapel now has a massive chandelier made from at least one of every bone in the body, a large coat of arms made up of bones, plus bone crosses, bone chalices and… well, you get the general idea. It’s a little ghoulish, sure, but just one of the many extraordinary sights that await tourists who explore beyond Prague. So go, marvel. Just don’t tell too many people.
Get there: take the train from Hlavni Nadrazi, Prague (approx 1hr).
Lunch: V Ruthardce (Dacickeho Namesti, 00 420 739 013 510, www.v-ruthardce.cz). Hearty food at hearteningly cheaper-than-Prague prices.
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