Time to check out Prague

Prague Castle is seen from the náměstí (plaza) by the Charles Bridge.

Recently, we (my husband, my sister, and I) took advantage of a pretty good airfare and went to Prague for a few days. Prague, or Praha, is located in the Czech Republic, the country formerly known as Czechoslovakia, which is much harder to spell. Before it was Czechoslovakia, the country was the kingdom of Bohemia. 

This mural above the entry to Prague's Municipal House
depicts a Bohemian scene entitled 'Homage to Prague.'

The Czech Republic is a member of the European Union, but it has its own currency, the koruná česka (Kč), or Czech crown (CZK). Currency confusion is probably the biggest challenge we encounter during our visit. I wondered why the Czech Republic hasn't converted to the euro, so I checked online; according to the Kafkadesk website, the reasons are political along with a hefty dose of national pride. 

This is the only picture I take in Wenceslas Square. This part
of Prague is touristy, crowded, and not really our scene.

To add to currency confusion, we were warned to be wary of the many ATMs and currency conversion offices. We were specifically advised to not convert any money at the airport. Instead, we take our AirBNB host's advice and change some euros (cash only) to Czech crowns at a bureau de change on Jindrisska Street near the Post Office. Most restaurants and ticket machines for the buses, trams, and subways accept credit cards. (Be sure to ask beforehand, as we eat our last meal in Prague at a waffle place that only accepts cash. As we have efficiently just spent the last of our crowns, we find ourselves in a bind. Luckily, the restaurant accepts our euros.)

We meet our tour guide by Prague's Powder Tower,
one of the city's original gates.

On the morning after our arrival, after fumbling our way through currency conversion and incomprehensible street names, we meet our guide from Free Tours on Foot for a three-hour tour of the city. Ken and I always try to go on a walking tour when we visit a city for the first time, and this tour turns out to be above average. We see some of the most famous sites of Prague as well as some lesser known, learn a little history, and receive tips on where to eat and more sites to hit during our stay. 

Old Square in Prague is a vast area ringed by buildings
from the 14th through 19th centuries.

Prague's Astronomical Clock puts on an under-whelming hourly
show, but it's a fascinating work of engineering. Installed in 1410,
it is the oldest working clock of its kind.  

The Karolinum is the seat of Charles University
in Prague. Tuition to universities in the Czech
Republic is free  — but you must speak the language.

Once known as the Crying Wall, the Lennon Wall in Prague has
become a symbol of free speech, peace, and resistance to communism. 

 

The Lennon Wall is the only place in Prague where graffiti is legal.

Another challenge is language. I tried to memorize some Czech phrases in the weeks before our trip, but I wasn't too successful. Most Czechs who are younger than 50 speak English, and lots of the signs and menus are in English. I have to pull out my "cheat sheet" of Czech food — both dishes-to-try and dishes-to-avoid — at one restaurant. Czech cuisine emphasizes meat, although Prague is becoming known for its vegetarian and vegan restaurants. Despite this, my vegetarian sister has cheese for her main dish, three meals in a row: two times fried and once pickled. The city has a ton of ethnic restaurants too, and the dish I most enjoy during our trip is at a Vietnamese restaurant.

The Loreto is a beautiful baroque monastery located in
Prague. It's a replica of the Holy House of Loreto in Italy,
and is a popular Catholic pilgrimage destination. 

St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague is the city's most important
church. About 40 percent of Czechs consider themselves
to be Catholics, and another 40 percent are atheists.

As we leave the Prague Castle complex, we see the spires
atop St. Vitus from a different angle.

We head back down the hill from Prague's Hradčany
quarter via Královská zahrada (the royal gardens). 

Our apartment is located in Vinohrady, a beautiful residential neighborhood, a short walk to the old town. And walk, we do! In fact by the end of our first full day in Prague we are wiped out. The next day, we decide to master the metro. Turns it, it's pretty easy, inexpensive, safe, and clean. We kick ourselves for not using mass transit the day before. 

Ken patiently waits for our subway to arrive in a Prague metro station.

A delicious highlight of our trip is a Saturday morning visit to the Naplavka market along the shores of the Vltava River. In addition to stands selling (cash only!) produce, baked goods, and crafts, there's a section of clothing vendors and, of more interest to us, there's an array of offerings for lunch. Before deciding what to eat, we cross the river and peruse more food stalls. Bingo! My sister scores a grilled mackerel, Ken gets some Asian soup, and I have tater tots — that's right! — tater tots, with wasabi and guacamole sauce. We buy some beverages from one of the bars embedded in the walls under the roadway, and enjoy our unusual market lunch.

I'm talked into trying these tater tots by a vendor from New Jersey.
My sister has fish on a stick.

Bars like this one are built right into the walls under the streets
beside the Vltava River.

Swans cruising the Vltava River seem to know that it's market day.

Palackého Most is just one of many bridges that span the
Vltava River in Prague.

We take an unexpected detour uphill and are rewarded
with this view from behind the Prague Castle.

The Vinohrady Water Tower is no longer a water tower.

Once a market hall, the Vinohradsky Pavillion now houses
an interior design gallery.

For the life of me, I can't figure out what
this poster in a store window says.

I'm amused by this sign on a 'dog lawn' in Prague.

Feeling anything but Kafkaesque during our
long weekend in Prague, we stop to pose
by the Kafka statue.

On our last morning in Prague, we take the metro to the Jewish Quarter. Two days earlier our guide had advised us to only buy tickets at the official ticket office, and the website for Jewish Quarter said that everything opened at 9. Wrong on both counts. The Jewish Museum, which includes five synagogues, the Ceremonial Hall, and the Jewish Cemetery, opens for visitors at 10, and no one showed up at the ticket office. But, we are able to buy our tickets at the entrance to the Ceremonial Hall. Our tickets give us access to all the sites except the Old-New Synagogue, which requires another ticket and which we won't have time to visit anyway. (Note: The sites in the Jewish Quarter are closed to the public on Saturdays and on Jewish holidays.)

Prague Castle can be seen through a gate in the city's Jewish Quarter.

The walls inside Jewish Ceremonial Hall are covered with the names of the millions of Jews who died in the holocaust. The building also houses an exhibit of children's artwork and stories depicting life in the Jewish Ghetto and in the Terezin concentration camp located to the north of Prague. Outside we look at several large panels of photographs from this sad era, before walking through the Old Jewish Cemetery. One of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Europe, this is the burial place of between 12,000 and 100,000 people.  

A burial site for more than 300 years, Prague's Old Jewish
Cemetery contains the graves of tens of thousands of Jews.

Because Jewish law forbids the destruction of graves, the
Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague was expanded upward,
with remains being put to rest on top of other remains.
There are sections here with as many as 12 layers of graves.

The interior of the Spanish Synagogue in
Prague is surprisingly shiny.

In this post, I've included photos of some of the highlights of Prague. In another post coming along very soon, I'll share lots of pictures I took of the marvelous architectural treats found in Prague. 

I snap one last picture of the Prague skyline before heading home.

I must mention that I received a ton of useful information about Prague prior to our trip by watching the Honest Guide series on YouTube. Check it out if you're planning a trip to Prague.