The next series of Near-Normal Traveler Blogs
reviews our tour/cruise with Viking. Since I’d
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| Alexej on the right |
not taken a formal tour of
anywhere in years, I had a bit of adjusting to do. First, and happily, I wasn’t
in charge of anything. Second, and irritatingly, I wasn’t in charge of
anything. In this episode we were taken around the old area of Prague by an
excellent local tour guide. Alexej had been speaking English and doing tours
for about 20 years – since she’d been in high school. When she began taking her
required foreign language courses, the only language provided was Russian.
However, midway through her junior year, Czechoslovakia became the Czech
Republic; the students in the language classes refused to learn any more
Russian and demanded to learn English. Luckily, their teacher spoke English and
could comply with their wishes. That summer Alexej’s mother got her hired by a
tour company and she’s been leading groups ever since.
Prague, with
its surrounding environs, is extremely old because it is located at the hub of
trade routes. The earliest known inhabitants arrived around 500 BC and trade
trundled
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Clockwise from top: Royal gardens, Prague Castle,
Art on horse barn, St Vitus Cathedral |
happily along for about 1000 years with Germanic, Bohemians, and
Western Slavs migrating in to the area. Prague
(Praha) Castle was built in about 880 AD by Prince Bořivoj of the Premyslid
Dynasty. It’s still in use and changes to its interior continue depending on
who is using which part for what. The gardens were beautiful the day we
visited, but I was most impressed with the friezes on the horse barn. One of
the later rulers was enamored with riding and with horses, so the barn is much
nicer than some places I’ve lived. Next to the castle is Saint Vitus Cathedral with
its towering Gothic spires and beautiful arched stained glass windows; the
construction was begun in about 930 AD and finally finished in 1929. If you
look closely at the sculptures around one of the doorways, you’ll see the two
architects who completed the cathedral; they are wearing business suites. For
much of its Christian history this country was ruled by the clergy. Holy Roman
Emperors (Catholic Bishops) were the top dogs, being in charge of not only the
spiritual but the secular lives of the people. Presently there is a bishop who
lives very near the cathedral and the castle and participates in the running of
the country. Alexej said that during one of her tours a guest asked her if the
Czech people really sand the Christmas carol, ‘Good King Wenceslas’. Alexej was
really surprised that around the world Saint Wenceslas
was known as a King, because he was only a Duke. She does her best to dispel
this misconception during all of her tours!
Along with the Germans, Bohemians and Slavs,
Prague had a thriving Jewish
community. In
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| Jewish Cemetery |
the 17th century Jews made up about 30% of the
population, creating all sorts of businesses and serving as theologians and
academicians. However, discrimination began with Maria Theresa of Austria who
had them thrown out of the city and continued at some level until 20th
century. Oppression and persecution were at their worst during the Nazi
occupation. It was not until May 12, 1945 that all fighting ended in the Czech region.
Prejudice caused the death of 77,297 Czechoslovak Jews, whose names are
inscribed on walls of the Pinkas Synagogue in Prague. This is a moving place to
visit; if we remember our history, perhaps we won’t make the same mistakes,
again.
You’ve not really been to Prague until you’ve
walked across the Charles Bridge.
From its center you really understand why Prague is referred to as the city of
spires. The horizon is
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Left: St John of Nepomuk
Right top: Spires seen from Charles Bridge
Bottom: Gondola |
littered with towers from churches, castles, and even
homes. However, what caught my attention was out in the Vltava River. There
were gondolas sliding over the surface, carrying passengers back and forth
between the banks. This is the celebration of St. John of
Nepomuk, the patron of sailors and bridges. This Saint John is always shown
as having a halo with stars attached to it. During his canonization, Venetian
gondolas came to Prague; St. John of Nepomuk’s statue is the only Baroque
statue found on the banks of the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy.
Across the Charles Bridge and in the old city is
the Prague astronomical
clock. Once again I
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| Astronomical Clock |
stood in a crowd of enraptured tourists and watched as
the hour was struck. With each hour the doors open to show a parade of saints,
but the main attraction is the four figures, two on each side of the clock. The
two on the right as you face the clock are Vanity, represented by a figure
admiring himself in a mirror and a miser holding a bag of gold representing
greed or usury. On the left are Death, a skeleton that strikes the time upon
the hour and a Turk who represents pleasure and entertainment. When the hour
strikes, the skeleton rings the bell and immediately the other three figures
shake their heads, showing that they are not ready ‘to go’. It’s a real
crowd-pleaser!
Part of the tour group went back to the hotel on
the tour bus, but Dave and I wove our way through the old town so I could
introduce him to Saint Wenceslas Square and to some of the
 |
Top: Three musicians
Bottom: Two musicians and graffiti |
buildings inspired
by Musca. We also discovered some sculptures by Anna Chromy called Czech Musicians.
These statues are a bit different and add a touch of whimsy to the gothic
towers we’d been seeing all day. Another oddity in this interesting city is a
graffiti wall that began as a tribute to John Lennon. Although the art evolves
almost daily, the area dedicated to Lennon remains unchanged. There is usually
someone near the wall playing and singing songs by the Beetles.
Since I’ve been to Prague previously, there are some other
links from the Near-Normal Traveler Blog that provide more information about
Prague:
For information on What we did, Where
we stayed and What we ate, stay tuned for the
‘Review of the Viking Cruise from Prague to Paris’ which will come out in a few
weeks.
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| Saint Wenceslas Square |
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