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Our hotel, the Hotel Alley (it's sort of in an alley), was small and very nice. Not too many disorderly types in the area, since the police station is next door.
As soon as we turned on to the street leading to the old town squares (there two, almost adjacent to one another), we were presented with this picture-postcard of the city hall's tower. Our tour began in the late afternoon, around what would be "rush hour" at home. We were struck by the lack of cars on the old town streets. The streets weren't pedestrian-only, there just wasn't any vehicular traffic. Nice for us, but a bit odd.
We never found out why a horse is emerging from this building, but it's fun to see.
This large house was owned by a rich family named Hirsch, which is German for "deer". They announced both their name and their wealth with the golden figure on the corner turret.
A very elaborate memorial in the first town square we entered.
One of at least eight fountains in the two town squares.
These kids were playing on the turtle sculpture next to the fountain.
Two girls were dressed in peasant costumes pushing area cultural events to the locals, not to tourists like us. The little girl wasn't sure what to make of them.
Now we're on the other side of the town hall. A heroic statue, and a nice contrast between green copper roof and red tile roof.
All over Europe are medieval clocks with animated figures, most famously in Prague in this country. The one in Olomouc is not medieval; it dates from about 1960. There was a medieval clock here, but it was destroyed in one of the innumerable wars that swept through this area. The Communist government decided to replace it with one a bit more ideologically correct for the time.
The figures above the clock face dance around a bit at specified times, like the ones in Prague. The figures, though, are modern workers rather than medieval peasants. Below are a worker and a scientist. Somewhat jarring, really -- something out of its time. Workers of the world, unite!
Another of the fountains, and a street scene out of the 18th century.
Admiring another of the fountains.
Mozart lived in Olomouc briefly as a boy, and Mahler lived here as well. This cafe is where Mahler used to hang out, and (naturally) it's now named after him.
Our guide telling us about the building in which Mahler lived.
The old and the new, or at least newly-restored. In Poland, the building on the left would be described as "awaiting restoration."
We went into a tiny chapel dedicated two saints named John, from different centuries. In the second photo we are looking down into a chamber in which the first one was tortured.
An elaborate sun dial, apparently.
A boost, to see over the city wall, with a very Czech-looking tower in the background.
We stopped in St. Mary's church on our way to visit the cathedral. Olomouc has a lot of ancient churches.
Yet another fountain. In this one, all the figures are spouting water from their mouths.
No ice cream?
The building in the back is the palace of the archbishop. The building right in front of it (to the right in this picture) is an army barracks. It's there because of a tiff between the queen and the archbishop. What set the queen off we don't know, but her revenge on the archbishop was to destroy the beautiful view from his palace and his peace and solitude by planting an army barracks on his doorstep. There goes the neighborhood!
It was a cold and windy day, and a little bit of liquid cheer (perfectly legal on the street here) was just the thing.
Fortified, we hiked up the hill to the St. Wenceslas Cathedral. Wenceslas (Vaclav) is a fairly common name here. Good King Wenceslas, of Christmas carol fame, was actually only a duke when the acts described in the song occurred. His statue is the one at the top in the second photo.
The small part of the cathedral with the arched doorway and window above dates from the 10th century; the rest is a few hundred years later.
The archbishop's gilded carriage is in a building next to the cathedral. Perhaps a sign (in Czech) said something, but it's not clear whether the carriage is still used on ceremonial occasions or if it's strictly a museum piece. Very striking in any case.
There were quite a lot of gold and jewels on display as well. Here's a picture of just one item.
We took the tram back to our hotel, and later went to dinner in a restaurant on one of the squares for a fine Czech meal.
A good tour of a beautiful and historic small Czech city.
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