Europe

Last day of our beautiful trip to Prague. Really last half day.

March 1st

We get up early to make the most of the day and head for the Jewish quarter.

The first stop is Španělská Synagoga, the Spanish Synagogue. Built in 1868, it is the youngest synagogue in Prague. It was the work of architects Josef Niklas and Jan Bělský.

Its name comes from the spectacular interior decoration inspired by the Alhambra in Granada. It was designed by Antonín Baum and Bedřich Münzberger between 1882 and 1883.

Before going for the entrance to the synagogues, we decided to have a Trdelník for breakfast. Next to the old-new synagogue there was a small place that looked (and smelled) very good. Its name is Trdelník & Coffee and they are kosher. It was a bit more expensive than the previous one but it was much better. It was delicious.

Now we went to the Pinkas Synagogue to buy our tickets. You can buy them separately or a voucher for all of them.

Pinkasova Synagoga or Pinkas Synagogue is the second oldest synagogue in Prague. It was built in 1535 in the late Gothic style. Its author was Aron Mešulam Horovic. It was named after his grandson Rabbi Pinkas Horovic.

In the years 1955-60, the Pinkas Synagogue was transformed into a memorial to almost 80,000 Czech and Moravian Jews who became victims of the Shoah. After the Soviet invasion in 1968, the memorial was closed for more than 20 years. It was completely rebuilt and only became accessible in 1995.

Next to it is Starý židovský hřbitov, the old Jewish cemetery. Founded in the early 15th century, it is one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in the world. The oldest gravestone dates back to 1439 and the most modern to 1787.

The cemetery was enlarged several times over the centuries, but its area was still insufficient. The deceased were thus buried in the ground in up to ten layers one on top of the other.

Before it gets too late, we head to the Staronová Synagoga, the Old-New Synagogue.

Despite its name, it is the oldest active synagogue in Europe. For 700 years it has been the main synagogue of the Jewish people.

It was built at the end of the 13th century by stonemasons from the royal foundry and was originally called Nová or Velká (New). With the construction of other synagogues at the end of the 16th century it began to be called Old-New.

Legend has it that the foundation stones for its construction were brought by angels from the demolished Temple of Jerusalem. It was on the condition that they would be returned when it was restored.

According to another legend, the remains of the Golem are kept there. An artificial being created and revived by the great Rabbi Löw to protect the Prague community.

It is one of Prague’s must-sees, pure history of the city and of Judaism. But, frankly, I find it outrageous to pay 220 CZK to enter. Almost 10€, considering that the visit takes very little time.

From there we made our way to Klausová Synagoga, the Klausen Synagogue, the largest synagogue in Prague.

In the 1570s, a renowned businessman and ghetto benefactor, Mordechai Maisel, decided to build in the area of today’s Klausen Synagogue. It was then a complex of buildings that included a synagogue and a Talmudic school.

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The complex was destroyed after the ghetto fire in 1689. In 1694 a new building was completed in the early Baroque style. Two years later a monumental three-storey aron ha-kodesh and the Ark of the Torah were added. This was thanks to the donation of Samuel Oppenheimer, a wealthy and influential personality of the Austrian monarchy.

From here we go to see Maiselova synagoga, the Maisel synagogue. It was built between 1590 and 1592 by the mayor of the Jewish aljama of Prague, Mordejay Maisel. It was badly damaged in a fire in 1689 but was quickly rebuilt.

During World War II, the Nazis used it as a storage facility for artefacts from 153 synagogues in Bohemia and Moravia. They were to use them to open a museum in Prague.

In fact, the Germans kept Prague’s Jewish quarter intact with the intention of turning it into the Great Museum of the extinct race.

After the visit to the Jewish quarter. We went for a walk to Letenská pláň, Letna Park. It is a huge park in the upper part of the city. It is used for the organisation of occasional cultural events such as ice rinks or circuses.

It offers spectacular views of the city.

To get to the park, we cross the Moldova River on the beautiful Čechův most, the Čech Bridge. Built between 1905 and 1908.

We climbed up the million steps to the park, although there are also ramps, but they are much longer than the stairs.

At the bottom is Pražský metronom, Prague’s metronome. A giant metronome that was installed in 1991 on the site of a monument to Joseph Stalin.

Nearby is the Hanavský Pavilon. It is one of the most impressive eclectic buildings in Prague. It was built as a pavilion representing the Komárovský Blast Furnaces for the Jubilee Exhibition in 1891.

Today it houses a restaurant with a fantastic view of the city.

While we were here, two curious things happened to us. We decided to have a coffee while admiring the view. When it was time to pay with a 200 CZK note (the last one we had left) the girl wouldn’t accept it. She told us that it was an old note that stopped working on 31 December 2022. If we wanted to change it, it had to be in a Czech bank.

The banknote was “placed” in a grocery shop on the corner of Letenská Street and U Lužického semináře. It’s a good way to get rid of black money… to give it to tourists.

While we were sipping our coffee, thinking about how to change the ticket, a message began to sound over the loudspeaker throughout the city. A few minutes after it stopped, the bomb siren started to sound. Fortunately they were only testing it.

We finished our coffee and thought about where to change our banknotes. Then we remembered that there was a change machine in the castle baths. So that’s where we headed for a brisk walk.

Right next to the park is Chotkovy sady, the Chotek gardens. Founded in 1832, it was the first public park in Prague, under the Summer Palace of Queen Anne.

It is a wooded park with more than 55 species of plants. Inside is a monument to the poet Julius Zeyer. It is a cave in which there are sculptures representing characters from his works.

The gardens belong to Letohrádek královny Anny, the Summer Palace of Queen Anne. It is a Renaissance building in the Royal Garden of Prague Castle. It was built between 1538 and 1560 at the eastern end of the Royal Garden. It was a gift from Ferdinand I to his wife Anna Jagiellonian.

The chateau gardens are beautiful and have several remarkable features. These include the Fontána se sochou Herkula or Míčovna v Královské zahradě, the ballroom.

The hall building was built between 1567 and 1569 as a place for ball games. Later it was used as stables and during the reign of Joseph II as a military storehouse.

Today it is mainly used for art exhibitions, concerts and important social events.

In front of the building there was a couple having a wedding photo session. Nice place.

Now we are on our way to the change machine.

We arrived, went into the toilet and… BINGO! accepts the 200 CZK note and gives us change in… 10 COINS! It was like a slot machine.

It was time to leave the city. But first we had to eat. We picked up our things from the hotel and headed for the pub where we had eaten so well the day we went to Kutná Hora.

But on the way we had a stop: Jeruzalemmská synagoga, the Jerusalem synagogue. Unfortunately it was closed. But the outside of the building was beautiful.

We arrived at the pub. The waiters were different from the previous day. We sit down, I take the menu of the day. The waiter arrives, takes it out of my hands and tears it up saying: “menu finish”.

I get up, give him an expletive in Spanish (I’m sure he more or less understands me) and we leave. Twice you don’t laugh in my face.

We end up eating at a chain hamburger joint in the station.

At 2 pm we take the bus to the airport. The ticket is 100 CZK (4.20€). Guess how we paid… right, we loosened the 200 CZK in 10 coins…

At 17.20 the return flight took off on time…

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We continue our journey through Prague, which is getting closer and closer.

18th February

We get up early and set off in the fresh air. Our first destination is Městská knihovna v Praze, the Prague City Library.

But what we are really looking for is the work of art The Idiom Installation, the Infinite Tower. Hundreds of carefully stacked books assembled by Slovak artist Matej Kren.

It runs from the floor to the ceiling, inside which mirrors have been installed. This creates the illusion of an endless spiral of books.

The tour guides had told us that there are endless queues of up to 2 hours. We went early in the morning and… there was nobody there. We had trouble finding the entrance.

Next to the library is Nová radnice, the New Town Hall. It was built in Art Nouveau style between 1901 and 1908. Since 1945 it has been the seat of the Prague Municipality and its mayor’s office.

On the northwest corner stands Socha Železný rytíř, the statue of the Iron Knight. A curious story is told about this knight.

Jáchym Berka was engaged to a girl but had to go to war. After his return it was rumoured that this girl had been unfaithful to him. Because of this, the gentleman married another woman.

The former fell into a deep depression and committed suicide by throwing herself into the Vltava. Her father threw himself from the top of a tower.

Jáchym Berka, in great remorse, took advantage of a drunken night when his wife was drunk to strangle her and then hanged himself in their cellar.

As punishment, his soul is trapped in this statue.

Legend has it that every 100 years, if a woman talks to him for an hour, he will be released from his torment. The last time was in 2009…

In the southwest corner is another sculpture: Rabbi Judah Loew (1520 – 1609).

Known as the “Maharal of Prague” to Jewish scholars, he was a prominent Talmudist, Jewish mystic and philosopher who served as rabbi in the city of Prague.

Rabbi Judah Loew is credited with the creation of the Golem, whose legend stimulated the fantasy of central Europe for several centuries.

The Golem was a colossus made of clay. Animated by kabbalistic combinations of the letters that made up the holy name of God, it came to life and moved, performing all sorts of tasks for Rabbi Loew.

Legend has it that this Golem saved the Jews of Prague from the persecutions and anti-Jewish accusations of the time.

Opposite the town hall is the Klementinum. It is a complex of historic buildings that formerly housed the National, University and Technical Libraries.

After the university and technical libraries were moved to the Městská knihovna building, it now houses only the Prague National Library.

In the 11th century, a small chapel dedicated to St. Clement was located here. In the Middle Ages a Dominican manastery was founded here. It became a Jesuit college in 1556. The Jesuits moved the library of the Charles University to the Klementinum in 1622. In 1654 the college merged with the university.

After the expulsion of the Jesuits from Prague in 1773, Empress Maria Theresa I of Austria established an observatory, library and university at the Klementinum.

At one time the Klementinum was known as the third largest Jesuit college in the world.
The oldest meteorological record in the Czech lands began at the Klementinum in 1775, and continues to this day.

In one of the corridors of the courtyard of the Klementinum is Dívka s vlaštovkou, the Girl with the Paper Plane. It was created in 2005 by Polish sculptor Magdalena Poplawská. It depicts a young woman holding a paper aeroplane.

We leave the Klementinum and cross the Charles Bridge once again. We head straight to Kostel sv. Mikuláše, the church of St. Nicholas in Malá Strana, the most famous baroque church in Prague.

It is the site of a Gothic parish church consecrated in 1283 and dedicated to St. Nicholas. In 1620 it was handed over to the Jesuits who moved the parish to the church of St. Wenceslas.

The old church was demolished and the foundation stone of the new church was laid in 1673. However, the start of construction was delayed until 1703 according to Kryštof Dienzenhofer’s plan.

The church was consecrated in 1752, but its decoration lasted until the 1760s.

The church is remarkable not only for its architecture, but also for its decoration. It is mainly due to the frescoes by Jan Lukas Kracker and a fresco inside the 70-metre-high dome by František Xaver Palko.

It is said to be the Sistine Chapel of Prague.

Entry costs 100 CZK (4.27€) and is well worth it. It is spectacular.

If you like classical music, you can attend a wonderful concert in St. Nicholas Church:

Opposite the church is Morový sloup Nejsvĕtĕjší Trojice, the Holy Trinity Column. It was built between 1713 and 1715 to commemorate the end of the plague epidemic.

As it was freezing cold, we decided to look for a place to have a warm coffee. But without going out of our way. We did so in a very chic café called Nº 211 cafe & wine.

We accompanied our coffees with some sweets that were to die for. When it was time to ask for the bill, it turned out that we were overcharged for a coffee. We told the girl about it and she went ballistic. She gave us back the extra and also gave us a huge biscuit, which we could use as a snack.

Everything cost us 270 CZK (11.50€).

After warming up we headed to our next destination: Strahovský klášter, the Strahov monastery.

It is a Premonstratensian abbey founded in 1143 by Bishop Jindřich Zdík, Bishop John of Prague, and Duke Ladislaus II.

It was originally a wooden building next to a Romanesque basilica. It caught fire in 1258 and was severely damaged. It was rebuilt on the spot.

In 1420, during the Hussite Wars, the building was sacked but little damage was done to it.

During the communist regime it was taken over by the government and converted into a National Literature Monument. During an archaeological investigation, the original Romanesque style was revealed and the monastery was sensitively reconstructed.

After the fall of the communist regime in 1989, the monastery was returned to the Premonstratensian order.

Of particular note in the library are the Baroque Theological Room and the Classicist Philosophical Room. These contain books and manuscripts from the Middle Ages, illustrations and globes.

It also has one of the most important picture galleries in Central Europe.

From here we take a cool walk uphill to Mount Petřín. There are several remarkable features at the top. The most prominent of these is Petřínská rozhledna, the Petrin Tower.

Known as the Eiffel Tower of Prague, it was built as part of the Jubilee Exhibition in 1891. It offers spectacular views of the city of Prague. It is a must-see.

The entrance fee is 220 CZK (9.40€) and on the day we went, the lift was out of order and we had to walk up.

Here we also find Kaple Božího hrobu, the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre. It was built in 1737, inspired by the one in Jerusalem.

It is interesting to note that the window is positioned in such a way that at three o’clock in the afternoon on Easter Day, the sun’s rays fall through it onto the sacrificial stone in the middle of the chapel.

Opposite is Katedrální chrám sv. Vavřince, the Church of St. Lawrence. It is a Baroque church built in 1735. The original church dates back to 1135 and was built in the Romanesque style.

The Way of the Cross leads to it on the way to the top of the hill.

At the end of the Stations of the Cross, next to the Church of St. Lawrence, is Kaple Kalvárie, the small Chapel of Calvary.

It was also built in 1735 as the penultimate stop on the Way of the Cross. The unique sgraffito of the Resurrection of Christ, which decorates the front wall of the chapel. It was painted in 1936 by Jaroslav Reidl after a design by the famous Mikoláš Aleš.

After our visit to Mount Petřín, we set off down to the city. Our first stop was a bakery called Náš Chléb, Vaše pekárna. Mostly because we were struck by the look of the cakes.

While we were enjoying our cakes, we made our way to the Loreto, one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Prague. The Holy House was built between 1626 and 1631 by the Italian architect Giovanni Orsi. It was financed by Kateřina Benigna, a noblewoman from the Lobkowicz family.

It is a replica of the house where the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary (supposedly) took place. The original is located in Loreto (Italy).

Half a century later, it was surrounded by cloisters. The baroque façade dates from the 18th century and was designed by the architects Christoph Dientzenhofer and Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer.

The carillon was built by the clockmaker Peter Neumann in 1694. It still sounds today and has done so since 15 August 1695.

From here we went to Kostel Panny Marie Vítězné, the church of St. Mary of Victory. It was built in Baroque style in 1611 and rebuilt by the Carmelite order between 1634 and 1669.

The church is famous for the statuette of the Infant Jesus of Prague. It originates from Spain and was donated to the Carmelites by Polyxena of Lobkovice (1628).

The Infant Jesus wears 2 crowns and about 46 garments, which, according to custom, are changed 10 times a year according to the season.

In the church we can visit a small museum with children’s clothes and other religious articles.

Admission to the church and the museum is free.

Although it was early in the morning, it was getting to be time for lunch. We had lunch at the other place we had eaten the day before, a pub called Ferdinanda. Well, this time WE WERE SCAMMED.

We went in, they sat us down and automatically took the menus of the day off the table and tore it up. We assume they were out of them. We ordered a soup and a plate for each of us. Meanwhile, the Czechs who came in were being served the menu of the day. Ordering à la carte is more expensive, so there is no menu of the day for tourists.

The truth is that we ate very well and it really wasn’t expensive, 643 CZK (27€) but the menu would have been cheaper. We were left with the feeling that they had laughed in our face. It would not be the last time.

With our stomachs full we went to Nejužší pražská ulička, the narrowest street in Prague. It is about half a metre wide and is regulated by traffic lights. It’s a bit of a tourist attraction, but we had to walk along it.

Nearby we find Čůrající postavy, Types Pissing… This is another of David Černý’s sculptures. There are two guys pissing in a fountain depicting the map of the Czech Republic.

When the communist regime fell, the Czechs mistook freedom for licentiousness. It seems that this freedom gave them the right to piss on every corner of the city, with all that that entailed. Bad smells… above all. The fountain is a satire on… WE ARE PISSING ON OUR HOMELAND!

From here we went for a walk to the Rudolfinum. It is an important concert hall. It was built in neo-Renaissance style between 1876 and 1881. It belongs to and is home to the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.

Before it got later, we went to visit the interior of the Týn Church. We talked about it in the first part of the diary.

It is forbidden to take photos inside the church. I took some of them incognito but I keep them for myself. But I have to say that it is not the most beautiful in Prague by far. But it is free.

After the visit we went for a long walk on our way to the Paratroopers’ Crypt. On the way we passed another of David Černý’s works: Viselec.

It is a sculpture of Sigmun Freud hanging from the roof of a building on Husova Street. It was designed in 1997 to interpret the state of an intellectual at the end of the 20th century.

After walking two kilometres we reach Národní památník hrdinů heydrichiády, the Crypt of the Paratroopers.

Officially the National Monument to the Heroes of Heydrich, it is an exhibition located in the crypt of the Church of St. Cyril and Methodius.

During World War II it served as a refuge for a group of Czech paratroopers, who in 1942 successfully eliminated the representative of the Reich Protector, Reinhard Heydrich.

Strolling along, we come to Novoměstská radnice, the new town hall, presided over by its tower.

The tower was completed in 1456 and served as the headquarters of the New Town fire brigade. Later it was used by a guy to announce the time.

It has undergone several restorations until it reached its present appearance dating from 1876. Since 1760, merchants’ merchandise could be officially weighed here to prevent fraud.

Today the tower houses an exhibition gallery where short-term exhibitions are held (closed in winter).

On the way to the centre we passed another work by Černý: Franz Kafka – Otočná hlava, Kafka’s Head. It depicts Kafka’s 11-metre high head. It consists of 42 movable parts that move in a variety of ways, representing Kafka’s metamorphosis.

Nearby is another of his works: Embryo. Located in Anenské náměstí, it is a kind of embryonic sack attached to the façade and illuminated from the inside. It was created for the 50th anniversary of the Na zábradlí Theatre.

From here we went to warm up with a hot chocolate. We did this at a place I had seen on the internet called Choco Café. It has a lot of varieties and they were to die for. It’s not cheap but it’s worth it. The two chocolates cost us 220 CZK (9.25€), service not included, of course.

After warming up a bit, we return to the cold. We go to the castle again, as we were looking forward to visiting it at night.

It’s a different way of seeing it, with little light and, best of all, practically alone.

On the way down we were so tired that we didn’t feel like looking for something to eat. We had dinner at the McDonald’s at the Palladium. We went down the Macpiedra quietly in the hotel and went to sleep to get up early again.

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