Prague is a bit of a conundrum for us. We enjoyed seeing some of its celebrated sights, but it is not a city that will be on our list of places to come back to. For us, cites such as Budapest, Amsterdam, Istanbul, Vienna tempt us for return visits... There are so many exquisite cities in Europe and for us, the atmosphere and esthetics need to match the beauty. This did not happen for us here. The beauty of the architecture, the living history of the narrow cobbled streets, the visual elegance of the astronomical clock are all readily apparent. We can appreciate that this is a world class city with many Unesco designated heritage sites. However, the charm of Prague is eclipsed for us by the rampant tacky commercialism at every step along the way. Even the iconic Charles Bridge (another Unesco heritage site) is littered with vendors selling their tourist wares and touts wanting your tourist business. The crowds of tourists are to be expected - and there are large crowds to plough through. We can't fault Prague for its popularity - however, it does become tiresome to vie for a view of a landmark with literally hundreds of people around you. We found Prague to be a city of much beauty whose charm is vanishing under the weight of opportunistic and tacky commercialism. Locals will warn you to take care in the city as pick pockets and scam artists are a serious problem. As well, prices are quite inflated compared to typical Czech pricing.
On our first trip in to Prague we took a free walking tour, as recommended by the tourist office. We were impressed that this free service was most likely sponsored by the city. That is, until we got the "talk" halfway in to the tour, encouraging us to book other tours for a fee as well as the offer to have a meal break during the tour and enjoy "discounted" food. The restaurant he chose was the headquarters for the tour company. We declined the meal and moved along at this point. We couldn't see the point of sitting in a restaurant for an hour waiting for the tour to resume. The young man (American) gave an entertaining synopsis of Czech history.
We found that the way to appreciate Prague was to get away from the tourist areas and walk along the back streets. It was refreshing to see ordinary commerce used by locals and not the hundreds of tourist shops that dominate the areas of interest. We chanced upon the Jerusalem Synagogue and were really impressed with its beauty and the special exhibit detailing post 1945 life for Jews in Prague. The synagogue is quite beautiful and its Art Nouveau style with Moorish details is painted vividly and complimented with vibrant stained glass windows along the walls and in the ceiling. The feeling is that this Synagogue survived the war as it functionned as a holding place for confiscated Jewish belongings during the war years. We learned a great deal about the tragic history of the Jewish community in a post WWII, Communist Czechlovakia. We read stories of people who had survived multiple concentration camps, such as Terezin, Aushwitz and Dachau, only to return to Prague and be denied citizenship (considered German) and the right to openly practice their faith. Many were imprisoned once again post war. It is hard to imagine surviving such hardship. This permanent exhibition is a testament to the strength of their community and survival. So many children were orphaned and returning adults had compromised health. We found our visit here moving and thought provoking and refreshingly non commercial. Our one disappointment was that we didn't make it to the Castle. It is a huge (largest in the world!) complex and an impressive sight. The cost seemed a bit high (700 kronur per person) and we were worn down by the tackiness of the touristic demands of the shops and touts, so we didn't bother continuing up the hill. We know that this is a must see sight for Prague, but we are ready to move on. Ultimately we appreciate the charms of smaller communities where we can interact with locals without the suspicion of dollar hospitality or the concern of pick pockets. Tomorrow we will reluctantly leave our campground, which has become a home away from home. But we look forward to exploring more of the Czech Republic that we have grown to love over the past few weeks.
This historic steam train fueled by coal is a favourite way for Czechs to take a holiday. We were lucky that this train pulled up just as we were about to depart on the regional train to Prague.
This young family were enjoying the experience of riding the steam train. We would have loved to get on the train and view the cars. It looked like the family were standing in the corridor which feeds in to the wooden compartments.
Our train approaches - a nice train and very comfortable - but we would have liked to have taken the historic train. For future note, this train has excellent accomodation for a bike - big double doors and a large area to hold bikes.
The streets are filled with people trying to make a living from tourists. It's like a carnival: musicians busking, magicians and this man with his daughter, dressed as royalty holding parrots and offering to let you hold one if you paid for the opportunity.
Every city has guys dressed like this hoping that you will drop some money in their pot. These guys had lots of competition from others painted completely silver or gold and performing in mime.
It is a beautiful feature. As the clock approaches the hour, hundreds of people gather for the show which takes a matter of seconds. It always draws the crowds though.
Two of the figures of the Astronomical Clock - these ones represent vanity and greed. The communists thought that the figure representing greed resembled Karl Marx, so they had his beard removed. He remains clean shaven today.
Mozart was well loved in Prague and he felt appreciated here. He performed the premiere of Don Giovanni in the theatre here and this sculpture represents a character from this opera.
We stumbled upon this delightful scene at the train station. A local coffee shop owner has placed pianos around the city with the idea that the sounds and ambience will help to beautify the city. Anyone can play as long as you are not drunk, are dressed in clean clothes and offer pleasing sounds.
