Prague is beautiful. The golden city of 500 spires. Land of the best Jewish artifacts in Eastern Europe. Home to the oldest gothic castle. Home to the largest ancient church. White swans line the river. The only problem is the tourist. Way too many tourist. And the money. Who uses only cash in this day and age.
The city has never been bombed. Having basically been taken by Germany before the war. And then the war was mostly over when Germany left.
The architecture is a mix of the 6 different countries that have occupied it. The streets are a mix of the different styles. Ruling countries changed so often that some buildings are started in one style and finish in another.
It has been interesting to visit 3 different countries who were under the Soviet Union until almost 30 years ago. They all had black markets for western music and tv. They all were independent prior to World War II. Yet they all approached integrating into Western Europe differently.
Estonia integrated English into their schools and attacked the technology markets. Poland worked to establish a government and redefine itself. Where as Prague set out to be the hub of Eastern Europe for the west.
Prague’s approach was to bring tourist to their unbombed city. They started by holding a free concert headlining The Rolling Stones. Next they reopened the Prague Castle, the largest ancient church.
Interesting fun fact – The Rolling Stones returned to Prague for many concerts. They loved the city so much that they had their lighting director design and install the night lighting for the Prague Castle as a gift to the city.
Prague’s Jewish Quarter was the only one left standing after the war. Hitler ordered all other Jewish Quarter’s destroyed. He held on to Prague’s with the plan to make it a museum after the war of an extinct race and the methods used to do it.
What Prague has today is old synagogue, Jewish museums, and an untouched cemetery.
The cemetery is in old town and dates back to the 14th century. The bodies are buried 10 deep.
One of the museums we visited was in a synagogue where the people of Prague built a memorial for all the Jews from Prague who had been murdered during the war. They had written all the names on the walls.
It also had a room with children’s art work. A Jewish art teacher continued class in the secret in the concentration camp. She had the children draw on hope instead of destruction. Before she was sent to Auschwitz, the buried the artwork in a basement in an old suitcase.
The tourists were really heavy when we visited the Prague Castle. The largest ancient castle.
Worse then the tourist were the crazy rules for the pay toilets. They only took coins but they would not give you change. To get change, you had to go to the change booth which charged you to change your bills into coins so you could use the bathroom. What a scam.
Derek and I were quick to take pictures and walk around the grounds. Careful not to drink too much water. Then bought tickets to the tower and climbed up to get a view of Prague and a breeze. Did I mention how hot and sticky it was?
With an ice cream in hand, we headed to the other tower on the hill. A miniature Effile tower.
As we walked back into town, we past more towers to climb. Well, you can’t climb them all. Prague needs to give some towers to Norway.
To avoid the tourist and the heat, Derek and I decided to rent bikes one day and go down the river. The Czech Republic has been building all sorts of bike paths, all over the countryside, and we had heard that the river was swimmable. The guy at the bike rental shop recommended we go to Karlstejn Castle. The oldest standing medieval castle.
We quickly found the bike path and headed out of the craziness. I kept making Derek stop so I could take pictures. The first was the beach volleyball barge. The next was the Captain Morgan ship.
Soon we were headed toward the small Czech towns who don’t see many Americans. It was refreshing.
The Czech Republic has installed these wonderful bike bridges underneath the car bridges. I can’t wait until we get these. Might be difficult to put them under the floating bridges.
We stopped to cool off in the river.
Derek made a friend while skipping rocks. The universal language of boys.
After 22 miles, we reached Karlstejn Castle. It was everything the guy at the bike shop said it would be.
We chained up our bikes and started walking up the hill. When we reached the castle, we were told that the only way to see the inside was to go with a tour guide. This place is fragile and they don’t want people just wondering around. Point well taken.
We had to choose from these three tours…
1. the private rooms of Emperor Charles IV
2. Sacred rooms of the Castle
3. The Great Tower View
Didn’t take us long to pick, the Great Tower View. The only problem was there was only one tour left for the day and it was in Czech. Fine by us.
It was an experience. No one in our group spoke English except the guide. We listened to her describe the grounds in Czech. Watched her point at things. And tried to figure out what she was saying. When the group would move, we would ask for clarification. It was actually a really fun.
The view from the tower was beautiful. Derek and I really needed some green grass and rolling hills.
We took the train back to Prague. The end to a relaxing day in the countryside.
Back in the city, we both wanted to see Lennon’s Wall. It turned out to be one of our favorite places in Prague. When John Lennon died, the youth created a wall to stand for freedom of speech. The communist party was not too happy with this but as many times as they cleaned it. The young people kept recreating it. Eventually they gave up. The power of perseverance.
