Walking Tour of Prague

Now that we’ve been home from vacation for several MONTHS, I figured it was about time I get some more pics posted.

I took a LOT of pics. But there was so much to see! Prague really is a colorful city, full of old, new, and just-plain-interesting architecture, art works of all shapes and sizes, people, fabulous views, cheap beer, yummy food, etc. Some of the architecture is famous, some not so much.

I could go on and on. Instead, I’ll sum it up briefly by saying…I loved Prague. The pretty weather helped, though it could have been a tad cooler. The fact that the beer is basically cheaper than water in all of the restaurants didn’t hurt either.

I really did take lots of pics. I shared about 50 of my favorites here.

Rather than include a bunch of explanatory text, I’ll just say that we basically roamed the city on foot for about two and a half days. It was exhausting, but so worth it. I’m already ready to return to the Czech Republic.

HELP… this is my first post using a Mac. If the following image or any other image in this post appears sideways to you, please let me know. It appears correctly on the Mac and on the Windows PC, but not on my iPhone. Let me know what device you are using, too. Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not a bad spot for a lunch break, eh? Yes, we lingered.

I forgot to mention that lunch was within the walls of the Prague Castle.

 

Also inside of the castle is The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert, a Roman Catholic cathedral, which is the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. It’s huge. I never did get a good shot of the whole thing because it’s just so darn big. I did capture lots of shots of its stunning architectural elements.

The sun was streaming in through the windows, resulting in some pretty amazing light inside the building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I guess the city could be drab-looking on cloudy days, and I’m sure the hills and cobblestones are a bitch in the winter, but Prague was shining in all of its colorful glory while we were there.

 

I did say Prague was artsy, right? These are some of David Cerny’s famous crawling baby statues.

I’d only told Annelies we were looking for some of Cerny’s baby statues. I didn’t warn her that Cerny’s art is a bit unique. (He is most famous for these giant space-age babies that crawl up the Zizkov TV tower a hundred meters or so above Prague, which we didn’t visit.)

 

I’m glad were we able to find the babies on our way back from the castle. I would have been so disappointed if I hadn’t gotten to see them in person.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the highlights of Day Two in Prague was seeing the astronomical clock. It’s the third-oldest in the world — first installed in 1410 — and the oldest one that is still operating. I even captured a video, which you should be able to watch by clicking here (make sure your speakers are on, but set at low volume).

 

 

 

The highlight of our third and final day in Prague was visiting the remains of the Jewish ghetto.

According to one Czech tourism website…

Even the mere fraction remaining of the Prague ghetto is amongst the most valuable Jewish monument in Europe. One of the most admired places, apart from the Old Jewish Cemetery from the beginning of the 15th century, the Jewish Museum and several synagogues is the Old-New Synagogue…

I don’t think any of us knew what to expect of the synagogues. We only went into one, the Spanish synagogue, which looks rather plain on the outside. The newest of the six historic Prague synagogues, it was built in the Spanish Moorish style in the second half of the 19^th century. The inside was anything BUT plain.

 

 

 

 

After that, we meandered through Old Town, making our way back to the hotel.

 

 

 

Prague really is a great city to visit. As are other parts of the CR, which you’ll see in my next post.

If you’d like to see all of the pics from Prague, you’ll either have to visit my photo sharing site or look at smaller versions of the images embedded in the slideshow below.