On our last night in Berlin we ate excellent German food and of course that was washed down with a very tasty white wine!!

…….and we were off to Prague early the next morning!  Sebastian(our air bnb host in Berlin) said if  you enjoyed Berlin then you’re going to fall in love with Prague and we have!  The architecture is unbelievable and it is the most beautiful city I have ever seen.    According to our guide book “the centre of Prague is essentially a Gothic city with a Baroque face”.  Fortunately it suffered very little damage during WWII, much less than many major European cities, and had only a few bombing raids by the US airforce close to the end of the war.  Today Prague, with its population of approximately 1.3 million residents, is best known as one of Europe’s most beautiful, and most visited, cities.  Almosr 8 million tourists visit Prague yearly and although tourism is a significant industry here, the automotive industry is the largest in the Czech republic.  Prague has buildings dating from the 13th century to present day and is extremely easy to get around in on foot.   Having said that, it’s worth noting that as I have gotten older I can trip on a pebble because  when I’m tired I don’t lift my feet enough.  While walking this beautiful city for hours I was very aware of this fact but could not keep my eyes on where my feet were going because I was too busy looking up at all these beautiful buildings – thank God I didn’t break a leg because that would have definitely been bad luck.    Anyway I digress – here are a few pictures which will give you an idea of Prague’s beauty.

LOL – the beauty here is not me but the Charles Bridge in the background – gotta catch a laugh whenever you can!

The old town square …..picture on top left is of Prague’s astronomical clock which is the oldest functioning one in the world and is from around 1410.  On the hour crowds gather(including us) to watch as the little windows open where you can witness the ‘walk of the apostles’ and just below them what looks like a dancing skeleton but is actually a ‘figure of death’.  Picture on top right is of Tyn Cathedral – an example of Gothic architecture – and if you were to go up the street in the middle of the picture on the bottom you would arrive at our air bnb.  It was excellent, as was the location, because from there  we walked everywhere and saw all we wanted to see and could possibly manage in a few days.  One of the highlights of our short visit was attending Vivaldi’s Four Seasons concert at the Mirror Chapel concert hall, Clementinum(see picture below).  This chapel was built in 1724, has marbled floors and walls that are well matched with stucco decoration – parquet colours, ceiling frescoes and mirror decorated ceiling – sound was fabulous!

St. Nicholas Church is the most famous Baroque Church in Prague and the most

valued Baroque building north of the Alps.  It took approximately 100 years to complete(around 1750) and involved three generations of great Baroque architects – father, son and son-in-law.  It is massive and was so worth the visit and of course the three pictures above give you just a hint of  is beauty.

The Prague Castle is the largest castle in the world and now houses the office of the President of the Czech Republic.

It is over a thousand years old(870-1929) and you would need a great deal of time to see the whole thing –  time we didn’t have so we once again went quickly through and saw what we could.  It also houses the Czech crown jewels which are the fourth oldest in Europe.

Charles Bridge, one of Prague’s many bridges, and certainly its most famous, was completed in 1400 and has withstood centuries of varied traffic and many floods.  Legend has it that its longevity is due to eggs in the mortar – I’ve started eating more eggs!  As you walk acrross there are many statues of Catholic saints and of course some of them are being worked on(as they probably should be!!)

The Jewish Cemetery, Museum and Synagogue – the Jewish  cemetery is one of the largest in Europe and dates from the first half of the 15th century until 1786.   As you can see from the picture below, which is just a small portion of the cemetery, thousands  of gravestones are crammed into this space.

While we were walking through the Jewish quarter it was quite emotional at times as you witnessed people breaking down into tears.  Obviously they saw some of their family names among the 80,000 names of Czech and Moravian Jews who perished under the nazis – these names were written on the walls of the synagogue.  In addition to this there was an area of children’s drawings from Terezin(1942-44) who were Jewish victims of the Holocaust.  I witnessed one woman about my age break down crying as she pointed one particular child’s drawing to her daughter who took a picture and began to cry.   Needless to say I was drawn to tears myself.

We took a boat ride on River Vltava after we visited the Jewish quarter and it was a welcomed relief after the sadness witnessed there.  There is so much to see in Prague and although there are other pictures and areas I could cover in this blog, I won’t, as it is getting way too long and you’re probably asleep by now……….and I should be.  Let me sum it up by saying put it on the bucket list! The people were great, the city and its architecure were unbelievable, food was good and although the meal was a little heavy the duck was excellent.  Stay tuned for our very short stay in Vienna!