Weekend Trip: Prague, Czech Republic

This weekend, we decided to take our first true road trip since we've moved to Germany. We've talked about going to Prague for the past year. In order to take a train to Prague, it would take about 9 hours rather than the 5 it takes to drive. After much debate, we decided to have our first road trip since May 2013.

Columbus Day meant 4 days off of work for Greg. We left after 6 pm on Friday and arrived in Prague close to midnight after several stops for food and to walk Augustus. Our hotel was in the heart of Prague 1 (Old Town or Stare Mesto). It was a little terrifying driving the Jeep through the cobblestone streets surrounded by cable cars. I think there are only maybe 5 traffic lights in the entire city. It was pretty much a free-for-all. The Jeep barely fit into the parking garage of the hotel and took a lot of coaxing from the hotel staff for Greg to even attempt it.

 The next morning, we started our exploration of Prague by going to McDonalds. I know, not exactly adventurous, but we were starving and there was one right near our hotel. The only reason I even bother to mention this is because we somehow ended up getting 4 meals despite only ordering 2. I don't know why, but they gave us tons of wings with our order. Greg kept trying to give them back, but the cashier thought we were asking for salads and kept explaining that no, meals only come with french fries or salads. He clearly did not understand.

Our whole first day in Prague was spent just walking around the town. We started at the Astronomical Clock, which was already packed by tourists. I had read online not to bother waiting for it to chime at the hour, because it's pretty anticlimactic. We ended up just watching several street performers in the courtyard. One of the easiest things to notice about Prague is just how much fun everyone seems to be having. Unlike anywhere else we've been, it just seemed like you were constantly surrounded by happy, relaxed people. Everyone was extremely friendly, yet not once did someone come up to us and try to force us to buy anything or see any attractions we weren't interested in seeing. Whatever money you had, they were happy to take without forcing you to exchange it. It seemed as though every single person living in Prague was your own tour guide. The were more than happy to tell you the best places to eat and what you should see. There was an interesting sort of pride for their city and country that we've never experienced anywhere else. And, most importantly, their beer was amazing.

Protest in the square

After checking out the square, we took a walk through the Jewish Quarter on our way to Charles Bridge. It was Saturday, so everything in the Jewish Quarter was closed, which we expected. Aside from the Astrology Clock, Charles Bridge and the Jewish Quarter, we weren't really sure what else there is to see in Prague. We weren't really interested in walking up to the castle or into the churches because we see those things all the time in Germany. Luckily for us, as we were walking down the river and across Charles Bridge, we saw several street vendors selling photographs and artwork that were taken around Prague. I noticed most of these vendors were selling pictures of walls of graffiti, most of which was Beatles lyrics. We asked a vendor where the pictures were taken and pointed across the bridge to Mala Strana, the castle district.

Charles Bridge connecting Stare Mesto to Mala Strana

Tower of Charles Bridge

As it turns out, there is a section of wall that has been "dedicated" to John Lennon in the form of graffiti since 1981. When Czechoslovakia was under communist rule, Western music, particularly that which discussed peace and open expression was banned. After John Lennon's murder, Czech youth used the songs of Lennon and the Beatles to demonstrate their hatred of the totalitarian rule. It's thought that the Czech people channeled the words of John Lennon to encourage the peaceful Velvet Revolution which ended Communism in former Czechoslovakia. To this day, graffiti is encouraged on the wall as a way of peaceful protest. Most of the wall is still dedicated to John Lennon, however it changes constantly due to new artists tagging it. Local bands sit around the wall and cover Beatles songs.

Seeing the John Lennon wall definitely made us just want to lay around and listen to Beatles music. Luckily, The John Lennon Pub is just down the street and plays Beatles music 24/7 while serving Czech pilser and dark beer. The patio was filled mostly with Germans and we all sang along and drank. Again, I can't even begin to explain how extremely friendly the Czech people were during our trip.

We walked around the castle district a little while longer to see some more of the local artwork before going back to the hotel to see Augustus. I took a lot of pictures of unusual sculptures and monuments. That evening, we had dinner at an amazing Czech restaurant down the street from our hotel. Everything we ate while in Prague was amazing. Greg even commented that Prague was our only trip in which we didn't have a single bad experience with food. In addition, everything is extremely cheap. Both nights we ate at the equivalent of 4 star restaurants for around $40.

Old-New Synagogue

On Sunday, we headed for the Jewish Quarter (Josefov) to look inside all of the synagogues and halls we had walked around the day before. The Jewish Quarter was actually started as a walled off ghetto in 12th century. Much of it, including the walls, were destroyed in an attempt to remodel Prague after Paris in the early 1900s. During Nazi occupation, it was expected that the remaining quarter would be destroyed, however, Hitler had a different plan. None of the Jewish buildings of Prague were destroyed in World Ward 2 in order for the Nazi party to create an "exotic museum of the extinct race." Essentially, Hitler planned to preserve the Jewish Quarter and turn it into a museum after killing all of the Jews. For this reason, Prague's Jewish Quarter is the only of it's kind remaining in Europe.

Jewish "Celebration Hall" with cemetery gate.

The Old-New synagogue is the oldest synagogue still in use in Europe. It was built in the Gothic style like many European churches, but is much more plain. You aren't really allowed to take pictures inside the synagogues, but everyone had their phones and cameras out snapping pictures. The workers didn't seem to mind so long as you kept your paper yamaka on and didn't talk too loudly.




Outside, the Czech people capitalized on the tourism by selling all kinds of Jewish memorabilia and story books. Some of it was pretty impressive. Two building by the Old-New Synagogue now house exhibits of the Jewish museum. On the opposite side is the Pinkas Synagogue which is no longer used, but now a monument to the holocaust victims of Prague and Bohemia. All of the walls are covered with hand-written names. Greg wasn't able to walk through this part so we looked at a small exhibit about the children of the ghetto before walking into the adjoining cemetery.

The Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague is one of the most famous cemeteries in the world. Of course I know this because, as I've mentioned, I love cemeteries. I won't lie, strange as it is, this is a big reason why I wanted to visit Prague. Although the Jewish cemetery in Worms officially predates the Prague cemetery, it's thought that burials were unofficially occurring in the Old Jewish Cemetery 1000 years before Worms. Because of the limited space allowed to the Jews in the ghetto, at least 100,000 people are thought to be buried in the Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague. Because they could not remove the bodies after burial, extra dirt was brought in to cover the graves and allow for more to be buried. There are 12 layers of graves in the cemetery and only 12,000 tombstones still visible. When you look out into the cemetery, there are layers upon layers of stones falling on top of each other and crumbling apart. You aren't allowed to walk through the graves. Technically, the cemetery is the only place you are allowed to take pictures in the Jewish Quarter for a 2 Euro fee. We payed it, but you could easily get away with no paying as no one really monitors whether or not you paid the fee.

Since you have to buy a ticket for all of the synagogues in order to go into the cemetery, we figured we might as well check the other ones out. We stopped at the Spanish synagogue before eating lunch. This one was the most heavily decorated. It was built in a particular style meant to be the sister to one in Vienna which has since been destroyed. After an amazing lunch at a local Italian restaurant, we made our last stop at the Jerusalem or Jubilee Synagogue. This one was also heavily decorated. Both of these were built last 1800s and early 1900s during the campaign to revitalize the city and make it more of a replica of Paris. The impressive part is that both of these buildings were in a general state of disrepair until the 1990s when the Czech Republic became its own democratic country.

Spanish Synagogue

Inside Spanish Synagogue

Jerusalem Synagogue 

Inside Jerusalem Synagogue

Our last stop for the weekend was back to the Charles Bridge to watch the sunset over the river. Sadly, the box office at the tower was the only place that wouldn't take Euros, so I didn't get a picture from the top. By this point, we had used all of our koruna in order to not bring any back to Germany with us. Instead, we sat on the wall of the bridge and watched tourists until the sun went down. It was a nice ending to a very great weekend.

I have to say, I really loved Prague and the Czech Republic. The whole city had a spirit and atmosphere that I don't think I have experienced anywhere else in my life. If we lived closer, I could imagine visiting much more often. Before visiting Prague, we heard a huge mix of negative things which we didn't experience at all. The food was great, the beer was better and the people really made the city a great experience. I don't have anything negative to say about our trip at all. Maybe one day we will be lucky enough to go back!

We are still in the process of planning our next trip, but it looks like we may be venturing across the border to France if everything goes as planned!

In honor of our first road trip in our new Jeep, here is one we found in Prague left over from the Cold War!