East Europe tour - Prague

Prague (Praha) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic (once one half of Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia). At its heart it is a charming example of Old World European architecture, with cobbled lanes, cathedrals, gold-tipped towers, and bridges criss-crossing the Vltava River. The historic town centre is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

We arrived mid-day by train, and successfully navigated the Metro system to our hotel. This was a wonderful art nouveau building, with botanically styled light-fittings and stairwells. 

Met Mum and Dad who had been there for a day or two extra, and then began a very spirited walk into town lead by an enthusiastic father! We passed a lot of interesting tourist shops, filled with merchandise printed with Mucha and Klimt paintings, Matroushka dolls and dozens of odd and varied puppets:

The Old Town (Staré město) square, framed by the Jan Hus monument, gothic Týn Church, the Estate Theatre (where Mozart's opera Don Giovanni was first performed) and the famous Orloj astronomical clock:

Over the Vltava river lies the exceptional 14th century Charles Bridge. I climbed one of the bridge's towers and took a few panoramic photos:

The historical Jewish ghetto, with several well preserved synagogues. One is now a holocast memorial, with the names of local Jewish families painted on the walls (including a Wetzlerova):

 This abuts the oldest Jewish cemetery in Europe:

We also visited the Old New Synagogue (Czech: Staronová synagoga), Europe's oldest active synagogue. It's rumoured to be the resting place of the famed Prague Golem.

As well as the Spanish Synagogue, a highly ornamented building of Moorish style:

Prague Castle is the biggest ancient castle in the world, according to the Guinness Book of Records. It is an interesting complex, with several art galleries and historical rooms - not to mention terrific views of Prague:

Also on site is St Vitus Cathedral, which has splendid stained-glass windows by Mucha, the art nouveau artist. We also paid a trip to the Mucha museum, which has an excellent collection of his famed posters...

Frank Kafka grew up in Prague, and I made sure to visit a few of the sites where he lived (including one that has been converted into a pretty average museum):

We had a very nice dinner out one night, plus an outing to a nearby concert hall to watch a cheesy, but very entertaining performance of classical and opera (no doubt by jaded music students):