Castles and the Jewish Quarter

I took the train from Budapest to Prague (Praha). To do that, I had to buy a supplemental train ticket through Slovakia, and also a special Prague Excursion Pass for travel in the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic and Slovakia are not covered on the Eurailpass. It is very cheap, though, and the trains are fine.

The train ride from Budapest was lovely. I had a whole compartment to myself, so I spread out all of my Prague info and got ready for my arrival. The landscape changed as I watched through the window and listened to my musical tapes on my Walkman as a soundtrack for the ride. I love that.

Upon my arrival at the Prague train station, I was met by Peter, an entreprising tout who easily convinced me to stay at his hotel. I didn't feel like figuring out yet another subway system/city layout at that point, and he offered to drive me right to the door of his establishment. I paid a bit more for the room, but in Prague its so cheap anyway it didn't matter. Did the usual shower, change, set out to find an ATM to get some Czech Koronas (It will be GREAT when they get everything changed over to the Euro!) then found the local laundry mat. Had to hang around there for quite a while - there was a line - but that was ok, the couches were comfortable and they served tea. The laundry crowd that day consisted of grungy-looking kids from America and Europe who were piling into town to protest the IMF - World Bank meeting that was coming up. One American guy had also been at Seattle and was particularly excited about the upcoming protest.

I stuffed my laundry into the machine and headed down to get some dinner to kill the time. Found a place, ate some pizza-looking thing and drank a beer then went back to throw everything into the dryer. I felt good - at the best point to be: room secured, local currency in my pocket, belly full, oriented to the city, clean, fresh wonderful clothes, and well rested. Ready to explore the city.

By then it was late, though, so I just went back to the hotel, put my laundry in my room, and joined the other travelers in the t.v. lounge to watch the Olympics - in German. The next day I took the subway into town and found the tourist information booth. I decided to go on a walking tour of the Old Town and the Jewish Quarter. First, though, I went for a walk of my own. I strolled through the town, meandering through the crooked streets until I emerged into the old town square. Prague was fortunately spared much of the bombing that ravaged Europe in WWII, so most of the old buildings still remain. The town square is a stunning combination of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, and Art Nouveau.

I stood in the middle of the square and slowly turned around, looking at each building carefully. On one side of the square is the 500-year-old Astronomical Clock. At the top of the hour, 1) death tips his hourglass and pulls the chord ringing the bell, 2) the windows open and twelve stern-looking apostles parade by acknowledging the gang of onlookers, 3)the rooster crows, and 4) the hour is chimed.

I met my walking tour group at the clock. My guide this time was an older man who had seen it all - WWII, the 'liberation' from the Nazis by the Soviets, 40 years of communism, the Prague Spring, the Velvet Revolution. We set out from the square. On the way to the Jewish Quarter we passed the birthplace of Kafka.

We entered the Jewish Quarter (Josefov). Jews first came to Prague in the 10th century. The main intersection of Josefov was the meeting point of two medieval trade routes. Jewish traders settled here in the 13th century and built a synagogue.

When the pope declared Jews and Christians should not live together, Jews had to wear yellow badges and their quarter was walled in, becoming a ghetto. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Prague had the biggest ghetto in Europe.

Ironically, today the synagogue-museums of the Jewish Quarter are, in part, the work of Hitler. He preserved Josefov to be his museum of the 'exterminated race.' Of the 120,000 Jews living around here in 1939, only 15,000 lived to see liberation in 1945. At the Pinkas synagogue, the walls are covered with the handwritten names of 77,000 local Jews who were sent from here to the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Then, when the Communists moved in, they closed the synagogue and erased everything. After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, the synagogue was reopened and all the names rewritten.

Our walking tour also covered the Maisel Synagogue, the Old-New Synagogue, saw the Golem, and the the Jewish Cemetary. From 1439 to 1787, this was the only place Jews could be buried in Prague. With limited space and over 100,000 graves, tombs were piled atop each other. With as many as twelve layers, the cemetery became a small plateau.

Other highlights in Prague included another walking tour of the Prague Castle, strolling the statue-lined Charles Bridge, window shopping, (crystal, marionettes and those Russian dolls-within-dolls are big here, as well as antique jewelry and, in the liquor stores, Absinthye) wandering the Little Quarter with its pastel-colored little shops, and Wenceslas Square. I also saw the Mucha Museum. (Alfonz Mucha is the one who created all the Art Nouveau Sarah Bernhardt posters.)

Prague is a magical city. I would recommend it to any of you travelers out there.