Bones from the church
Golden Lane
Golden Lane
Old Hall
Cathedral of St Vitus
The Castle gates
The Castle gates
Changing of the guard
The Charles bridge and the statues on it
The Charles bridge and the statues on it
Outside the old-new syngagogue - Josh had to wear the hat to go in!
Jewish cementary
Building on the Jewish cementary - now a museum
Astronomical clock
Today we started our sightseeing of Prague at 9am and stopped for dinner at 7pm. In between times we saw heaps of sights. We walked around the castle - it was formed in the 9th Century and we saw the changing of the guard. Inside the castle we looked at St Vitus Cathedral with it's gothic archetecture. Inside we climbed up the tower and had great views of the city. Inside the cathedral was heaps of amazing alters and one was the tomb of St John Nepomuk. When we walked through the palace we saw the old hall where the horses used to be ridden in for jousting contests. The hall is famous for it's late gothic vaulting. We visited St Georges Basilica a romonesque building with 17th century baroque facade. You weren't allowed to take phtos but Josh snuk a sneaky one of the cabnit with the bones in!!! We walked down the golden lane where the king housed alchemists as he waned them to turn stone into Gold - obviously they weren't albe to do so! The lane originally housed the kings guards and the houses were built at the end of the 16th century. We visited the church of St Nicholas in Mala Strana - another bohemian baroque church. We walked across Charles Bridge. It was originally wiped out during a flood and was rebuilt in 1890. There are 30 statures along the bridge. In the middle of the old town square is the astonomical clock. It was built at the beginning of the 15th century and perfected in the second half of the 16th century. Every hour the procession of the apostles appears. The upper face has the signs of the zodiac and 2 different types of time and the lower face is a calendar. The figures beside the upper face represent vanity, greed, death and lust. The king was so impressed with the clock and didn't want anyone else to have one like it, he gouged out he eyes of it's creator!
There is also a Jewish quarter to the city, in the war the Jews were heavily persecuted and restricted to ghettos and wore yellow circles on their foreheads. Only 10% of the Jewish population survived here! We visted the old-new synagogue - named this as it was originally built int eh 13th century, then additons were made made in the 15th and 18th centuries. Rennovations were also done in the 19th and 20th centuries. The synagogue was a central point of refuge. the Jewish cemetry holds 20 000 graves, going down 12 layers! The thomb stones not only contain the persons name, sex and marital status but also their trade and social class. The cemetary was used from the 15th-18th centuries.
There were so many other great sights and prague is really beautiful! We enjoyed some czech traditions at both lunch and dinner - Josh had dumplings and beef with gravey and cream! - a really traditional dish. We had mulled wine - so nice in the afternoon as it was quite cold! I had a grog - hot water and brandy and we both had shots of plum brandy and some other authentic alcohol which actually tasted and burnt like petrol! Czech is also famous for it's pilsner beer so Josh enjoyed large ones with both luch and dinner! The evening meal had live music, 2 violins, a chello and a double bass, they played both classical and jazz. It was beautiful. Prague was a little cold be we were well prepared with thermals and jackets. Josh even had his leggings on! It wasn't that cold - he was just sick with a cold! Prague is a really beautiful city, Josh and I both agree that it's one of the most beautiful cities we have visited so far - alongside Dubrovnik!
