Travel Blogs: Images of Prague

Images of Prague

St Vitus Cathedral

Astronomical Clock

I first went to Prague in 1998 and this was the first time I had returned 11 years later in 2009 for the 20th Anniversary of the Velvet Revolution which cast off Communism. I was nervous about returning for when I first went I was bowled over by the sheer magnificence of Prague but also by the welcome, after so many years cut off they really made visitors welcome and they were a talented and engaging people who relished freedom. I remember the taxi driver who turned off his meter to bring us the long way around and show us where they had blown up the statue of Stalin in 1962. There were the string quartets playing in the street, the foaming steins of beer which cost 50p and much more.

Charles Bridge

Charles Tower

Church of Our Lady before Tyn

Old Town Square

But it was a country in transition and much of downtown Prague looked shabby as ownership of buildings was being sorted out and there were a few examples of the “Rosa Kleb” school of customer service. Well now Prague has certainly developed and is no longer cheap, indeed some items are clearly overpriced but it has lost none of its magical quality. We had some wonderful experiences from seeing Don Giovanni in the Estates theatre where Mozart premiered it 222 years ago this month, to hearing a wonderful recital in the amazing Baroque splendour of the Franciscan Church, to touring Prague in a vintage open top 1932 Praga car and to hearing some great jazz on the Jazz Boat whilst watching the wonderful riverscape on the Vltava.

Inter-war air cooled Tatra car

And the Czech people are as genuine and as engaging as ever. It is good to see people who relish their freedom and have embraced it with open arms. In 1938 Czechoslovakia was the only democratic country in Eastern Europe and it was betrayed by appeasers of the Nazi Racist State.

Model of stage of the Estates Theatre

Estates Theatre

Don Giovanni

When I went there in 1998 the people were clutching their new found freedoms with a vengeance, a talented proud people in this the capital of Mittel Europa and the only democracy in eastern Europe pre-war whose people found themselves cruelly betrayed in the aftermath of World War II.

Kafka Statue

Mala Strana (Little Quarter) & St. Nicholas Church

Baker Street Praha

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Nicknames for Prague have included "the mother of cities" (Praga mater urbium, or "Praha matka měst" in Czech), "city of a hundred spires", or Stověžatá Praha in Czech and "the golden city" or Zlaté město in Czech. Situated on the River Vltava in central Bohemia, Prague has been the political, cultural, and economic centre of the Czech state for more than 1100 years. For many decades during the Gothic and Renaissance eras, Prague was the seat of two Holy Roman Emperors and thus was also the capital of the Holy Roman Empire.

Presidential Palace, Prague Castle

Maisel Synagogue

Hebrew Clock on the Jewish Town Hall in the Josefov

Jewish Ceremonial Hall

Josefov - The Jewish Quarter

Spanish Synagogue

Today, the city proper is home to more than 1.2 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 1.9 million. Since 1992, the extensive historic centre of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites, making the city one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe, receiving more than 4.1 million international visitors annually, as of 2009.

Frank Gehry's "Dancing House"

Art Nouveau frontage of Paris Hotel

Jazz Boat

The Municipal House (Obecni Dum) is the premier Art Nouveau building in Prague and was completed in 1911. On 28th October 1918, the historic proclamation of the independent state of Czechoslovakia took place here. Situated on the site of the former Royal Court Palace, Municipal House is the main attraction on Republic Square which is just a few minutes’ walk from both the Old Town Square & Wenceslas Square. On the outside, this stunning building has intricate stone work, gold trimmings, stained glass windows and magnificent frescos. Inside, Municipal House is divided into several areas. It hosts some of the best classical concerts in Prague, there are regular exhibitions, and it houses the first-class Francouzska Restaurant.

St. Francis Church

Prague Ham!

On our last morning in Prague in 1998 we had arranged with our driver to go to the Petrin Hill to take in the vista of this inspiring city; Hradčany, the castle district, on a hill above the west bank; Malá Strana, the 13th-century 'Little Quarter', between the river and castle; Staré Mêsto, the gothic 'Old Town' on the Vltava's east bank; adjacent Josefov, the former Jewish ghetto; and Nové Mêsto or 'New Town,' (new in the 14th century), to the south and east of Staré Mêsto and straddling through it all the Vltava River, the Czech Republic's longest river. It was here Tereza, in the novel “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” , by Milan Kundera climbs the grassy Petrin Hill “On her way up, she paused several times to look back: below her she saw the towers and bridges, the saints were shaking their fists and lifting their stone eyes to the clouds. It was the most beautiful city in the world.” But “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” first published in a French translation from Czech in 1984, is no love letter to the city; it is a message from a time of oppression, and one worth carrying for perspective on a trip through Prague. Milan Kundera submerges the reader in the undercurrents of political life, the rough passages of far-too-recent vintage and the personal repercussions of an invasive, claustrophobic time. Tereza is climbing Petrin in a dream — a dream in which she will be executed, but only if she convinces the executioners that she seeks death of her own free will. The novel returns again and again to Tereza’s harrowing dreams, simultaneously erotic and morbid.

Municipal House (Obecni Dum) Cafe

The driver told us he was taking us on a diversion and we looked at each other nervously for stories and warnings about unscrupulous taxis are legion in Prague. By the Vltava he stopped and asked us to get out and cross the road to see a plinth where a statue used to stand. He explained to us that this is where the Czechs had blown up a statue of Stalin years previously in 1962 and how proud he now was to be able to welcome us to a free city. Only those who have lost their freedom once can really appreciate what it means to be free.