Prague (or Praha in Czech) is one of the coolest cities I have ever been in. It was virtually untouched by WWII, other than an unfortunate bombing that was probably someone trying to bomb Dresden one night.
After a great breakfast (included with hotel) we had a walking tour from 9:00-1:00pm. They transported the four customers plus guide up to the castle on top of the hill behind the Augustine Hotel. The “castle” is actually a sprawling group of buildings, gardens, etc. covering 45 hectares (whatever metric BS that is).
Ok, we have this huge gothic cathedral tucked into an inner courtyard of the castle. It is dedicated to St Vitus, nice Sicilian boy from the 200’sAD. His relics moved around and were presented to Wenceslaus I, in 925AD by King Henry I of Germany. They were installed in a rotunda on the site of the cathedral. Finally, St Adalbert was born a good Bohemian son and went on to be Bishop of Prague but eventually was martyred in Prussia in while converting the proto-Prussians. (It is always the Germans).
Anyway, the present Cathedral was started in 1344 and proceeded apace until 1399 when work was stalled and proceeded in fits and starts until a revival in 1844. It was finally consecrated on 12 May 1929 just in time for the 1,000th anniversary of Good King Wenceslaus’s death. (he got a posthumous promotion to King from Duke). Note that 1929 was in the post-WWI period where Czechoslovakia was a real country.
After the castle, we were driven down to the Old Town section of Prague. We wandered through the streets, past the oldest Synagogue in Europe completed in 1270. In continuous use (except for the unpleasantness from 1939-1945).
We wandered over to the main square where they had set up Easter Market booths and spent about half an hour browsing and got some famous “chimney cakes” which are supposedly popular in Budapest.
We arrived just before noon for the exhibition of the Prague Astronomical Clock, of course the oldest astronomical clock in the world, from 1410. It was impressive, but there was quite the crowd in front of it. After the clock we wended our way through many of the back streets to the Charles Bridge.
The bridge (started 1357) is an amazing structure.
One of the Statues
After crossing the bridge, it was just several blocks back to the Augustinian Hotel arriving about 1:00pm. I will post this now and write part 2, the river cruise next.