We did so much today. We visited the Prague Castle, which includes the Old Royal Palace, St George's Basilica, Golden Lane, and Daliborka. We then made our way over to the Old Jewish Cemetery, which we toured and was really amazing. Lastly, we walked around Old Town Square. We didn't get to see much in Old Town Square today, so we will blog about it tomorrow. There is a lot to do in Old Town, as it is labeled as the heart and soul of Prague. We hope to find some crystal to bring back to the USA tomorrow at the market
Lastly we went to dinner at Flambee in Old Town. This was my birthday dinner and was also one of 2 days out of the year where they host a special tasting menu. The restaurant brings in the top 5 Prague chefs and they each cook 2 courses...yes, it was a 10 course meal. The atmosphere was great, hosted in an old gothic wine cellar. The restaurant also featured live piano music, which was a nice touch. While it was a good experience, we had the most fun laughing at how long we sat there...4.5 hours!!!! Jeff was going crazy!!! And the food, while it seemed to go over well with the Czech's was very different from what we serve back home...pidgeon, wild hare, partridge, veal shoulder, sea bass sashimi, tuna and caviar, halibut and scallops, and a chocolate trio! Half of it was raw..even the meat! VERY VERY interesting....for a girl that doesn't eat meat! We were laughing so hard, I almost choked on my wine.
I wanted to give you some info on the places we saw today, see below! It was an amazing day in Prague!!!
Prague Castle
The castle overlooks Prague, built on a hilltop overlooking the river as the dynastic seat. It was originally a wooden fortres built in the 9th century by Prince Borvoj. The castle later became the capital of the Holy Roman Empire. The castle has gone through many different renovations throughout the years, most notably in the 16th century. Today it is home to the President of the Czech Republic.
Prior to our tour we walked through the Garden on the Bastion, which was landscaped with beautiful pine trees and evergreens. It also marked the back entrance of the castle.
After walking through the gardens, we decided to do a short tour of the castle, which started with the Royal Palace. One of the many features were Vladislav Hall, where Benedict Ried created a mastery of Gothic design with his elaborate vaulted ceilings. The country's presidents have been ceremoniously chosen here, but it has also been used for coronations and jousting tournaments!!! Unfortunately many rooms of the Royal Palace were closed, so we didn't get to see much of the interior.
Next we went into St George's Basilica. The Basilica was built in AD 921 by Prince Vratislav. The chapel, which you will see in the pictures below, is decorated with beautiful 16th century painting. Some of it has faded, while other parts remain in tact.
From the Basilica we went on to Golden Lane, which may have been my favorite part! This was a tiny street with colourful "hovels" built into the castle wall. This was the home to goldsmiths so they could avoid guild dues in town. The interior of these shops were so tiny and housed Prague souveniors such as marinettes, watches, clocks, Christmas decorations, ect. Look how tiny they are in pictures below.
Our last stop on the tour was in Daliborka. Daliborka was named after a Czech Robin Hood, who was captured and became the first prisoner of the tower that now takes his name. The tower was filled with torture devices and contained the history of it's multiple stories or floors. Depending on your rank as a criminal, depened on where you were placed in the tower. If you were really bad, you were hoisted down in a "human cast" through a tiny hole in the floor where you spent the rest of your days. See the frightening picture below.
Josefov
They said it is impossible to date precisely the jews' arrival in Prague, but historical sources mention the destruction of a Jewish settlement on the Vltava's left bank in the 13th century. For the next 500 years, Prague's Jew's were made to live in a walled community where the Josefov quarter is today. So restricted was their allotted space that they were obliged to bury their dead layer upon layer in the Old Jewish Cemetery. During WWII nearly 80,000 Czech and Moravian Jews perished in the Holocaust.
Old Jewish Cemetery
The crumbling image of the Old Jewish Cemetery is a moving memorial to Prague's once considerable Jewish community. This was one of the few burial sites available to Prague's Jews. Graves are built up in layers and it is estimated that over 200,000 graves exist here. The oldest stone dating back to 1439 and the last burial was in 1787. We also toured the Jewish Museum, which was founded in 1906. The museum was closed to the public after Nazi occupation of Bohemia and Moravia in March 1939. The museum has a long history though which is was closed, reopened, rebuilt through WWII and the Communist regime in 1989. It now stands as one of the most extensive collections of Judaic art in the world.
One of the most moving parts of our walk through Prague's Jewish quarters, was the Pinkas Synagogue. The building was originally constructed in 1535 as a synogogue; however, after WWII it was turned into a Memorial to the Jews of Bohemia and Moravia murdered by the Nazis. On its walls are inscribed the names of the Jewish victims, their personal data, and the names of the communities to which they belonged. There is a permanent exhibition there called "Childrens' Drawings from Terezin 1942-1944." Among the Terezin prisoners there were over 10,000 children under the age of 15 at the time of imprisonment. Of the 8,000 children that were deported to the East, a mere 242 survived the wartime suffering. The Jewish Museum has over 4,000 drawings by these children in its collection. They provide a moving testimony to the cruel fate that befell the children and for the most part are the only relics of those who did not survive. (In all there were over 181,000 Jews that lived in the Ghetto during WWII, only 10,000 survived the Holocaust).
We also viewed Ceremonial Hall, which was devoted to illness and medicine in the ghetto, death, Jewish cemeteries in Mohemia and Moavia and the activies of the Prague Burial Society.
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