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| Boscolo Prague - our hotel |
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| Up the stairs |
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| to the lobby. |
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| Beautiful bouquets everywhere. |
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| Welcome fruit and cake in our room. |
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| Bathroom and living room downstairs |
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| And a loft bedroom. |
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| Evening dinner at the hotel steak and wiener schnitzel with Czech potato salad. |
We decided to get an overview of Prague today with a six hour bus/walking/boat tour. We were picked up at our hotel and dropped off at the Prague Castle complex with another couple and our tour guide. A tour with four people was wonderful.
Prague Castle Complex
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| St. Vitus Cathedral |
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| View from the Castle Gardens of St. Nicholas Church |
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| Heading down the steps to lunch in Lesser Town |
Lesser Town
40 minute boat trip
Jewish Quarter
Old Town
Whew! Six hours of walking minus the 40 minute boat trip. Long day, but very informative. I don't even know the name of most of these! The next few days we will go at our own speed and hunt out the most impressive places/buildings that we saw today and further investigate.
We walked around the corner of our hotel for pizza in a cute 1/2 basement restaurant. Good pizza. Short walk!
Friday, August 28
After yesterday's whirl-wind six hour walking tour of all four areas of Prague we decided to concentrate on the Castle Quarter in Lesser Town today. It wasn't until 1784 that the Castle Quarter officially joined the city of Prague; before that time it had been an independent borough.
The Castle Quarter is the furthest neighborhood of the four from our hotel. We walked through Old Town and across the famous Charles Bridge to get to Lesser Town.
Our first stop in Lesser Town was Church of St. Nicholas. This church dates to 1703 and its copper dome and bell tower are a recognizable part of the Lesser Town skyline.
Next up: Prague Castle and Castle Square
One of the city's grandest sites, Prague Castle ranks as the largest castle complex in the world. The Castle Quarter revolves around Castle Square. From the gates to Prague Castle we walked by Schwarzenberg Palace, Archbishop's Palace and Loreta Prague.
As we walked back toward the Castle complex we stopped for lunch. Don had goulash in bread and I had roast beef. Both were good.
St. Vitus Cathedral within the Castle complex is a symbol of the Czech state. While construction of this Gothic cathedral began in 1344 the structure did not gain its grain neo-Gothic facade until the early 20th century.
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| Lunch at a medieval restaurant |
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| Started with potato or goulash soup, then I had duck with cabbage and dumplings, Don had pork kabobs with roasted vegetables. |
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| Church of St. Nicholas |
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| Infant Jesus of Prague church |
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| Lennon's Wall |
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| Charles Bridge |
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| Walking across Charles Bridge |
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| Rub this dog on the bridge and you will come back to Prague. |
Jewish Quarter
Old Town
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| Gate where they used to collect taxes for entrance to city. |
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| Powder Tower - one of the original town gates |
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| Astronomical Clock |
Whew! Six hours of walking minus the 40 minute boat trip. Long day, but very informative. I don't even know the name of most of these! The next few days we will go at our own speed and hunt out the most impressive places/buildings that we saw today and further investigate.
We walked around the corner of our hotel for pizza in a cute 1/2 basement restaurant. Good pizza. Short walk!
Friday, August 28
After yesterday's whirl-wind six hour walking tour of all four areas of Prague we decided to concentrate on the Castle Quarter in Lesser Town today. It wasn't until 1784 that the Castle Quarter officially joined the city of Prague; before that time it had been an independent borough.
The Castle Quarter is the furthest neighborhood of the four from our hotel. We walked through Old Town and across the famous Charles Bridge to get to Lesser Town.
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| Old Town Bridge Tower |
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| View from the bridge toward the Castle Quarter |
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| Lesser Town Bridge Tower |
Next up: Prague Castle and Castle Square
One of the city's grandest sites, Prague Castle ranks as the largest castle complex in the world. The Castle Quarter revolves around Castle Square. From the gates to Prague Castle we walked by Schwarzenberg Palace, Archbishop's Palace and Loreta Prague.
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| View of Prague Castle from Castle Square |
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| Schwarzenberg Palace |
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| Toscan Palace |
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| Loreta Prague a self-contained complex of buildings including a church |
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| Our Lady of Loreta church |
As we walked back toward the Castle complex we stopped for lunch. Don had goulash in bread and I had roast beef. Both were good.
St. Vitus Cathedral within the Castle complex is a symbol of the Czech state. While construction of this Gothic cathedral began in 1344 the structure did not gain its grain neo-Gothic facade until the early 20th century.
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| St Vitus |
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| St Vitus' back side |
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| St George Basilica |
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| Castle Gate |
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| Old castle wall |
We walked back across the Charles Bridge into Old Town.
Hard Rock Cafe for supper - why not? We were hungry for fajitas! It was located right in the Old Town Square.
Walking back to the hotel we went by the Astronomical Clock and it performed at 8:00. Not very impressive, but I guess in the 14th century it would have been.
Saturday, August 29
Today we dedicated our time to Old Town. Old Town is the oldest of all of Prague's districts and comprised the entire medieval settlement. Old Town became an official town in 1231.
Our hotel is an easy three blocks walk to Powder Tower which is the entrance to Old Town. Built in the mid-13th century, the Powder Tower formed a part of the 11th century Powder Gate attached to the original Gothic fortification for the city's Old Town.
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| Powder Tower |
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| Municipal House |
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| Old Town Hall |
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| Jan Hus Memorial with Tyn church in background |
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| View of Old Town Square and Church of our Lady Before Tyn |
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| View of St. Vitus and the Castle complex |
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| Charles Bridge from black tower to far black tower |
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| Heading down the tower |
The 1410 Astronomical Clock on the Old Town Hall is a true medieval wonder. Three hands of the central face indicate, along with the passing of the hours, the position of the sun, moon and planets according to medieval cosmology. The lower face is a calendar of the months of the year. On the hour the clock stages a mechanical procession of the twelve apostles.
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| Astronomical Clock - 1410 |
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| Horse carriage rides in front of Old Town Hall |
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| Carriage ride through Old Town |
Late lunch in Old Town - Prague ham, potatoes with ham & cabbage, and a potato on a stick.
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| It was like fresh potato chips |
Church of Our Lady Before Tyn has two distinct spires visible from a large part of the city. The facade is not fully visible from Old Town Square. It was built between 1365 and 1470. No photographs allowed inside so I only have one!
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| Church of our Lady Before Tyn |
Church of St Nicholas (of Old Town as there was the famous one in Lesser Town)
This church features twin towers (one of which was covered and getting worked on) was built between 1732-37.
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| Church of St. Nicholas |
A snack before heading back to the hotel. We've been seeing this cinnamon pastry on the streets and decided we had to try it. We took ours plain but we've seen people with chocolate nutella frosted inside.
A night out in Old Town
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| Goulash and dumplings Roast beef in cream sauce |
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| Attended a concert in the Municipal House by the Bohemian Symphony Orchestra Prague |
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| Music by Pachelbel, Mozart and Vivaldi |
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| Old Town Hall |
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| Church of Our Lady Before Tyn |
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| Powder Tower |
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| Municipal House - concert location |
It was a sobering day as we took a day trip to several places out of Prague in regards to the Jewish plight during WWII.
First stop was what our guide called "Small Fortress" which was essentially a prison for some Jews and others of political opposition.
Then we went to the town of Terezin. The Nazi's took over the town and made it a holding place for the Jews.
The tour lasted from 10:00 till 4:00 and it was a HOT and exhausting day. We ended by eating lunch/supper in Old Town next to the astronomical clock on the Town Hall.
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| I ordered a Czech specialty - pork knuckle and cabbage. |
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| Don had a steak! |
Jewish Town was our destination today. We walk through Old Town and just down the street to this section. Jewish immigrants began settling here in the 10th century. Old-New Synagogue is the most picturesque and the oldest operational synagogue in Europe dating back to 1270. The town hall next to it has two clocks - a regular one and one in Hebrew. We went through several other synagogues that now house displays and information about the Jewish community. We finished up by walking through the Old Jewish Cemetery which is one of the oldest in Europe dating back to 1439.
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| Old-New Synagogue |
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| Inside the synagogue |
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| "I place God in front of me always..." (Psalm 16:8) |
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| Jewish Town Hall |
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| Hebrew clock |
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| Klausove Synagogue Now houses Jewish artifacts |
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| Pinkas Synagogue Memorial to the Jews that died in the war. Walls are inscribed with their names |
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| Old Jewish Cemetery |
