Olomouc, on a whim

by annie

I have to tell you something. It's pretty gross. So I'll start from the beginning. We had two couchsurf hosts cancel at the last minute in Prague. So by 9pm on our first night, we still had no place to sleep. We showed up at a hostel, desperate, and fortunately scored two beds. We opened our room to find an overweight, middle-aged man sprawled out on a mattress in the middle of the floor. It was dimly lit, so we settled in as best we could. As I climbed into bed, I noticed stains on the wall. I resolved to sleep on the half of the twin farthest from the wall. Just as I was about to shift my glance, some of the stains moved. There on the wall, between dirty white paint and actual stains, tick-like bugs the size of my pinky fingernail came alive. Horrified, I made Brian squash as many as I could see. Needless to say, I woke up countless times in the night to flick mystery bugs off my pillow and mattress. I lasted until about 2am before pleading with time to move faster.

I mention this story for the silver lining. It came in the form of a bright blue brochure in the lobby of this dreadful hostel. It advertised a cozy hostel in a Moravian town called Olomouc, 2 ½ hours south of Prague. The brochure outlined all the day trips and cool things to do nearby, and eventually led us to the town and the hostel itself, called Poet's Corner. Olomouc quickly became my favorite part of the Czech Republic so far. It is quiet, but big enough to keep you exploring.

We took a full bus from Prague and felt a little weird as the only passengers de-boarding in Olomouc. We felt even weirder when we couldn't find out how to get into town because the lady at the info desk didn't speak English (our first sign we weren't in Prague anymore). The bus station was deserted and the info desk closed 10 minutes after our arrival. It was 4pm on a Saturday afternoon. We turned to the bright blue brochure and easily obtained directions through a phone call, landing ourselves at the Poet's Corner, a clean, hip hostel with helpful staff and a burcak party that night. Burcak is a local, young wine that can only be enjoyed a few days out of each year before it ages into something else. It tasted better than fruit juice and better than wine. We tried the red and white varieties alongside Czech delicacies.

We awoke the next day, took much needed showers and headed towards the Astronomical clock tower in the center of town. You can find 2 such towers in the Czech Republic, here and in Prague (ahem, not to brag, but we've seen both). Then we moseyed over to St. Micheal's church. I've come to expect a certain experience in European churches and cathedrals. Usually, they are so overrun with loud tourists, that the mystic grandeur and ancient energy has long ago been lost. I've never found the silence in these places that I so crave. They're nice to look at, but can feel gaudy and worldly. This was not the case at St. Micheal's. The pews weren't roped off and so I sat in one to meditate, basking in the silence and unique spiritual energy of the place. Afterward, I climbed the winding stairs to the church's bell tower and looked out over the city. To my surprise, I stumbled upon a stone entrance to the unfinished basement, where a dimly lit altar hid in a corner. In utter silence and near-dark, I sat in one of two chairs set before the altar.

I left St. Micheal's rejuvenated and joined Brian for a picnic in the sunny Botanical Gardens. We walked alongside the stream, through gardens and in playgrounds full of tree trunks turned musical instruments. Entrance to the museums in Olomouc was free on Sundays and St. Wencenlas day (the country's patron saint), so we went to both. The museum of modern art blew my socks off. We saw collections of Czech book art and climbed the winding stairs to an attic space called the “Artist's House.” There we found works by Alfonz Mucha, Gustav Klimt (including “The Kiss”) and Utagawa Hirosige. For such a small museum, they displayed impressive diversity.

We also visited the museum of the Archdiocese and two elaborate tea shops with book-size menus. We indulged in the famous chocolate pie of cafe 87 and a Czech specialty, potato pancakes. When we visited a local microbrewery to try some local beer- Czech beer is fantastic by the way- we encountered another language barrier. I cheerfully asked the waitress if she spoke English and received a hard glare in return. Since I couldn't read the Czech menu, I pointed to the blackboard, simply taking a guess at the beers listed (and why not at 1 euro a pint?). She started pouring from the tap something very dark. Intrigued, took a sip. It tasted sweet with minty/fennel undertones. “Is this beer?” I asked Brian. “Nope” he said. “Looks like you ordered a Czech coke.” Oh well. Brian's beer stein of house pilsner was big enough to share.

Although we encountered a handful of tourists, the town is certainly not geared towards tourists. There are no souvenir shops, and you don't have to seek out real Czech people. Because of this, Olomouc feels more authentic than Prague and we felt like we discovered a hidden treasure. We met some great travelers in the hostel and learned about many other places in this country that I hope to visit someday.

The pics:

Olomouc

And you can find Prague Part I HERE.