Anne & Kirk Woodyard – Music and Markets Tours

There’s more than enough to keep anyone busy, entertained, and delighted right in Prague, but a trip out of town is a fun addition to include in a week-long visit. About an hour and a half out of Prague, Kutna Hora is a W0rld Heritage site well worth a day trip, with a magnificent cathedral, ancient silver mines, and the former Royal Mint. The town became increasingly famous in the 13th and 14th centuries for its silver deposits, and eventually accounted for as much as a third of all the silver production of Europe.
Outside of the town of Kutna Hora is a church made famous by its decoration of bones – everything from an heraldic shield, to pillars and posts and a chandelier are made of bones from ancient graves.We much prefer the glorious cathedral of Saint Barbara, patron saint of miners, in the town itself.A wonder of Gothic architecture, the church is filled with treasures, such as an unusual triptych whose center is an intricately carved Last Supper – an uncommon subject for an altarpiece.The organ, high above on a balcony, is topped with golden angels ready to resound – unfortunately silent during our visit.A marble statue of a silver miner gives us some insight into the ancient work of this town. The miners wore white in order to be more easily visible in the dark mines, and had a wide leather apron on their backsides, used for sliding down the deep shafts.An old mine shaft in the town is still open for visitors… nearly a thousand feet below ground!The town is a pleasure to walk through, one lovely old building after another.The Italian Court, named for its original 14th century Florentine occupants, is a former royal residence and mint, now home to a museum showcasing coins made here from the 1300’s to the 1700’s. The Czech tolar, origin of the name of our US dollar was minted here.
The Royal Audience hall is now the Town Hall – what a place for meetings!And the royal chapel ceiling is a lovely sight.Several companies, such as Viator and Prague Experience offer this day-trip (and others), making it easy to add a countryside visit to your city stay in Prague.

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The best way to describe us (Kirk and Anne Woodyard) is that we’re interested in the stories that make the places we visit come alive.
We’ve visited Europe more times than we can count, learned some entertaining stories there, and met some warm and helpful people who also enjoy the wonders of music and life in Europe.
Between our music-related travels, we split our time between our homes near Washington DC and the south of France. We look forward to sharing these stories and friends and experiences with our Music and Markets guests.
While both of us have experience in organizing travel and music groups Kirk’s background is in project management and competitive writing, and Anne is an accomplished pianist with over thirty years of teaching experience, and a travel and food writer specializing in France and Italy.