| We stayed in a camping ground called Apple Garden (www.applegarden.cz - no longer listed 2004) on the outskirts of the city and caught the very efficient public transport into the city each day. |
| Prague http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/europe/prague/ Matika Praha - 'little mother Prague' - was largely undamaged by WWII, and the cityscape is stunning. Its compact medieval centre remains an evocative maze of cobbled lanes, ancient courtyards, dark passages and churches beyond number, all watched over by an 1100-year-old castle. Kidnapped by communism for 40 years, Prague has become one of Europe's most popular tourist destinations. Its traditional pubs and eateries have been augmented by a wave of gourmet restaurants, cocktail bars and trendy cafes - though you can still feast on pork and dumplings washed down with a beer. In counterpoint to the city's venerable past, Prague's social life is incredibly youthful, mixing young Czechs in search of urban adventure with hordes of 20-something expats in search of the romanticism of Golden Prague. Though veteran travellers complain that their secret treasure has been discovered by the world, the evening sun still shimmers across the city's domes and spires, the clatter and chatter of Czechs enjoying an after-work drink spills from the open doors of back street pubs, and from the window of the public recreation centre, Dvorák's folksy symphonies are played on an out-of-tune piano. In some ways, Prague carries on as it always has. |
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| PRAGUE |
| Hradcany Hradcany, the residential area around the west gate of Prague Castle, was made a town in its own right in 1320. Before it became a borough of Prague in 1598 it suffered heavy damage in the Hussite wars, and in the Great Fire of 1541. Nevertheless, the area is an outdoor museum of well-kept antiquities. Hradcany Námastí has kept its shape since the Middle Ages. At its centre is a column by Ferdinand Brokoff (1726) commemorating Prague's struggle against the plague. Startling Scwartzenburg Palace and other examples of baroque- and rococo-style residences make the area an architecture buff's dream. A short walk west will bring you to Loretánskí Námastí, created in the 18th century when Cernin Palace (now home to the foreign ministry) was built. The square's main attraction is the Loreta (1626), an extraordinary baroque place of pilgrimage designed to resemble the house of the Virgin Mary. It's surrounded by several lovely chapels and an eye-popping treasury, which features the tasteful Prague Sun, made of solid silver and plenty of gold and inlaid with 6222 diamonds. Another worthwhile destination in the Hradcany is Strahov Monastery (1140, completed in the 18th century), which features a baroque church where Mozart is said to have tickled the ivories, and the Strahov Library, with its unreal collection of tomes and education-themed frescos. It was a functioning monastery until the communist government closed the doors (and imprisoned most of the monks); monks have been trickling back in over the past few years. Josefov (Old Jewish Quarter) This slice of Staré Mesto contains the remains of the once-thriving neighbourhood of Josefov, Prague's former Jewish ghetto. The half-dozen old synagogues, a ceremonial hall and the powerfully melancholic Old Jewish Cemetery were perversely preserved by Nazi leaders, who declared them to be a 'museum of an extinct race'. Instead, all have survived as a memorial to seven centuries of oppression. The Old-New Synagogue (1270) is Europe's oldest working synagogue; you step down into it because it predates the raising of Staré Mesto's streets against floods. Men must wear hats (conveniently for sale at the entrance), while women are relegated to an anteroom where they can observe male-only services. It's worth the trouble. The Pinkas Synagogue (1535) is a handsome place of worship inscribed with the names, birth dates and dates of disappearance of 77,297 Bohemian and Moravian Holocaust victims, while the 1868 Spanish Synagogue, named for its striking Moorish interior, offers an exhibit on Jews in the Czech Republic from emancipation to the present day. Perhaps the most visceral of Prague's memorials, the Old Jewish Cemetery, Europe's oldest surviving Jewish burial ground, has been a monument to dignity in the face of persecution and suffering since the 15th century. Thousands of crumbling stones from other, long-razed cemeteries are heaped atop as many as 100,000 graves; in contrast are the elaborate bas-relief markers from the 17th and 18th centuries. The oldest marker (1439; now replaced with a replica) is that of Avigdor Karo, a chief rabbi and court poet to Wenceslas IV. Malá Strana Malá Strana (the Small Quarter) clusters around the foot of Prague Castle. Most visitors pass through on steep Royal Way, as they climb to the castle, but the narrow side streets of this baroque quarter are worth examining. Almost too picturesque for its own good, the district is now a favourite for movie and commercial sets. Malá Strana started up in the 8th or 9th centuries as a market settlement, and was chartered in 1257 by Premysl Otakar II. Its castle-front location has long attracted visitors, friends and foes alike: It was all but destroyed in the Hussite wars of 1419. Charming churches and palaces in the area date from the 17th and 18th centuries, with Renaissance facades that were later 'baroquified'. Along the Royal Way, Nerudova Ulice is the quarter's most architecturally important street. Gems like the House of Two Suns, where poet Jan Neruda penned Tales of the Little Quarter (along with plenty of influential liberal essays and articles), and Bretfield Palace are two great examples of Czech artistry. Dominating the quarter is St Nicholas Church, not to be confused with the eponymous chapel on Old Town Square. This exquisite building, with its huge green cupola, houses the largest fresco in Europe, Johann Kracker's 1770 Life of St Nicholas. Old Town Square The centrepiece of Staré Mesto is the huge 1.7-hectare Old Town Square. It has been Prague's working heart since the 10th century, and hosted its largest market until the beginning of the 20th century. It's surrounded by a maze of alleys and is home to some of Prague's most famous monuments. Despite the over-the-top commercialism and crowds of tourists swarming the place, it's impossible not to enjoy yourself here - cafes spilling onto the pavement, buskers and performing dogs, and silly horse-drawn beer wagons all conspire to elevate the area from ridiculous to sublime. It's also a great venue for outdoor concerts, political meetings and other public events. Landislav Saloun's brooding Art Nouveau sculpture of Jan Hus dominates the square the same way the martyr's memory dominates Czech history. It was erected on 6 July, 1915, 500 years after the religious reformer was burned at the stake. Stroll down the Royal Way to the Vlatava, where the Charles Bridge has endured traffic for 600 years - thanks, legend says, to eggs mixed into the mortar. Monuments and statues of historic importance, dating from 1657 to 1858, provide a dramatic frame for views up and down the river. Don't get completely caught up in the crush of beauty and tourists, however; pickpockets work the bridge day and night. Petrin Hill This 318m (1043ft) hill is topped with a network of eight lush parks. It's great for brisk walks and postcard-perfect views of the 'City of 100 Spires.' The hill was once draped with vineyards, the quarry that provided stone for most of Prague's Romanesque and Gothic buildings is still visible. You can tone your thigh muscles hiking up from Hradcany or Strahov, or take the funicular railway for the same price as a tram ride. Just south of the cable-car terminus is Stefanik Observatory, where anyone can enjoy an enhanced view of a clear and starry night. Prague Castle With a magnificent cliff-top outlook, a 1000-year-old history going back to a simple walled-in compound in the 9th century, and a breathtaking scale that qualifies it as the biggest ancient castle in the world, Prague Castle is the indisputable centrepiece of the Czech capital. Spend at least half a day in awe here. Prague Castle (Prazský Hrad, or just Hrad to the Czechs) claims its 'largest' title by the following figures - 570m long, an average of 128m wide and occupying 7.28 hectares. As the most popular tourist attraction in Prague, at least there's plenty of room to spread out. The castle has been the seat of Czech government since Prince Borivoj founded the first fortified settlement here in the 9th century, though president Václav Havel chose to live in his smaller (and less touristed) home on the outskirts of the city. |
| There were many Jewish Tour companies offering almost every combination you could imagine. It was common to see large groups of (what we assumed were American) tourists being escorted around the streets and herded into the (outrageously expensive) kosher restaurants. A brochure that I saved lists; Private and Group Tours of the World Famous Jewish Quarter Prague through Jewish Eyes Jewish Prague by Night. The company (Precious Legacy Tours) also arranged tours throughout the republic to Terezin, Kolin, the Shtetls of Bohemia, Synagogues in Pilsen (third largest temple in the world, just recently restored), even a tour called "On the tracks of Oskar Schindler". So there seemed to be lots to do if you are interested in Czech Jewish history. One can also arrange tours into Poland (Jewish Krakow, Auschwitz and Warsaw), Budapest and Vienna. After 5 days in Prague we went in search of the most famous product made in the republic, beer. Where else would one go to find the most famous beer of all? Pilsn of couse, that's where it was invented. PLZEN. At the beginning of the 15th century, Plzen was one of the original centers of Hussite movement, but after expelling the Hussite leader Jan Zizka and his allies in 1420, it became a firm bastion of the Czech Catholic Church until the 17th century. As early as 1468 the first Czech book, the Trojanys Chronicle, was printed in Plzen. I was facinated by the anti Catholic religious movement led by Jan Zzka ( and also by the CATHARS in southern France), that appear to be precursors to Luther's Reformation. I have assembled some more information about the HUSSITES. http://www.brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue5.3/urquell.html It sometimes happens that history and fortune intersect at precisely the right time and place. Pilsner Urquell emerged from a small Bohemian village in the 19th century to become what is now the world's most imitated original. The first Pilsener, brewed in 1842 Bohemia, was a lager unlike any other. Its brilliant clarity, golden color, and light body made it an instant success in a world that was accustomed only to dark, heavy, cloudy beers. Its popularity soared. Within a couple of decades it was being exported around the world. No sooner had shipments of this new beer reached American shores than brewers set to work duplicating the style. The import's subsequent impact on American brewing trends is most manifest in the popularity of its most famous American successor, Budweiser. No imitator, however, can hope to match the true character of this Czech original. Brewed with a combination of soft Plzen water, home-malted barley, superb native Saaz hops, and a lager yeast originally smuggled out of Bavaria more than 150 years ago, Pilsner Urquell is to this day a true king of beers. The brewery's oak legacy lives on, however, in the architecture of the 560-seat restaurant/pub, Na Spilce -- the largest in the Czech Republic -- which now sits in place of a portion of the traditional sandstone lagering cellars beneath the brewery. Much of the woodwork in the restaurant is carved from the brewery's old stock of wooden barrels. In addition, a "working museum" in the original old sandstone cellars is nearly complete, featuring the wooden vats and barrels originally used for primary fermentation and lagering, now newly reconditioned and fully operable. Visitors may tour the traditional setup and compare for themselves the old and the new Pilsner Urquell. A brewing museum located near the town center on the riverbank opposite the brewery houses more than 18,000 exhibits and showcases many beautiful brewing artifacts that document the history of brewing in Plzen. The museum was founded in 1959 and was modernized in 1991-1992. (The house that holds the museum is an architectural time capsule in its own right; the building was used for malting barley in the Middle Ages and was converted into a pub in the 1800s). Northern Cezch country side, camping with Germans who had been to the same site for 25 years, huge coal mines appearing out of nowhere, lots of pollution. On leaving Pilzn we just headed off toward the German border with the idea that we'd pull up in Dresden. At the end of each day, after finding a camp site for the night, we would look in the travel guides for thing to do the next day. So it was a bit of a fluke that along the way we bumped into an amazing place that occupied an important place in the obscenity that was Nazism. The information that we could get about Terezin fell into two clearly defined types. That available from the Czech tourist authorities was largely about what happened in the Lesser Fortress (the prison) and the second, about the Jewish ghetto. In many ways the information was similar to that available from the Hungarian authorities about the Jews in Budapest. It was as though it never happened. Somehow the Jews have been erased from regional history and Terezin was a place where Czech patriots were tortured and killed for opposing the Nazis. The first part in italics is from the official Czech site and refers to the tens of thousands of Czechs that died; it's only the reference to the 'Jewish ghetto' that included the hundreds of thosands that were assembled for the death trains to Auschwitz. THE TEREZIN MEMORIAL: (The Czech perspective) Terezín was established at the end of the 18th century as a fortress; still surrounded by its massive ramparts, the town lies at the confluence of the rivers Labe (Elbe) and Ohre (Eger). The Main and Lesser Fortresses at Terezin, although modern for their period, gradually became obsolete, and having lost their military function fell into disrepair. Only in the relatively recent past has Terezin once again entered the world's public consciousness as a tragic symbol of the sufferings of the tens of thousands of innocent people who died here during the Nazi occupation of their homeland. After Hitlers occupation of Czechoslovakia, the Nazis recognised the advantages of the Lesser Fortress (as a ghetto), and in June 1940 opened a police prison within it. Czech and Moravian patriots, members of numerous resistance groups and organisations, were sent here by various branches of the Gestapo. While around 90% of the inmates were Czechs and Slovaks, others included citizens of the Soviet Union, Poles, Yugoslavs, Frenchmen, Italians, English prisoners of war and other nationalities. In five years, some 32 000 men and women passed through the gates of the Lesser Fortress. The "internal komando" maintained the prison, tilled the surrounding fields and built various structures. The majority of prisoners, however, worked outside the fortress for various firms in the area, and until the closing days of the War contributed to production and work for the Reich. From 1943 executions, too, were carried out in the Lesser Fortress, on the basis of "Sonderbehandlung" - without judicial process. In all, more than 250 prisoners were shot. At the last execution, on May 1945, 51 prisoners and 1 informer, mostly representatives of the Predvoj youth movement, lost their lives. The Lesser Fortress had the character of a transit prison, from which inmates were after a certain period either brought before the courts or transferred to concentration camps. As a result of hunger, maltreatment, insufficient medical care and poor hygienic conditions, however, some 2600 prisoners died here, while thousands more lost their lives having been deported from Terezín. The concentration camp for Jews - the "Terezín Ghetto" An integral part of Nazi plans for a new ordering of Europe was the so-called "Final Solution of the Jewish Question". From the occupied territories of Bohemia and Moravia, too, citizens of Jewish origin were hunted down and, from November 1941, gradually deported to the town of Terezín (the Main Fortress), where the Nazis arranged a "ghetto" for them. Here they were to be massed until the extermination camps further east were ready to carry out their final liquidation. Initially, the barracks in the town were used to accommodate the Jewish prisoners, and once all the local residents had been moved out, by mid-1942, all civilian buildings were used for this purpose. Massive overcrowding, however, also led to the use of attics, cellars, and the casemates within the ramparts. Terezín became the largest concentration camp in the Czech Lands, with thousands of transports arriving here carrying Jews not only from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, but also from Germany, Austria, Holland and Denmark, as well later as from Slovakia and Hungary. In less than four years, more than 140 000 prisoners were brought here - men, women and children. In the last days of the War, a further 15 000 prisoners arrived at Terezín on "evacuation transports" from concentration camps cleared from the advancing front line. Over 35 000 prisoners died here as a result of stress, hunger, and the atrocious accommodation and hygienic conditions. The Terezín camp for Jews was headed by a Nazi Komandantura, which gave instructions to the "Jewish authority" which took care of the internal organisation of the camp. Direct supervision of the prisoners was left to the Protectorate guards, the great majority of whom sympathised with the prisoners, attempted to help them and kept them in touch with the outside world. Within the camp, all manner of prohibitions and ordinances applied, and only cultural life was for a certain period permitted, as it could serve as a backdrop disguising the truth of the fate that had been decided for the Jews. The internees took up the arts as a means of coping with depression and their fears for the unknown future. They attempted to ensure that even imprisoned children missed nothing of their education, and did not lose their outlook. Despite Nazi prohibition, therefore, they taught in secret, dedicating themselves with great self-sacrifice to educating the children; even behind the walls of the ghetto, they prepared them for a future in freedom. Unfortunately, even as transports arrived at the ghetto, others gradually began to leave - into the unknown. From October 1942 virtually all went to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the most awful of the extermination camps. In all, 63 transports left Terezín for the "East", carrying a total of more than 87 000 individuals; of these, only 3800 would see liberation. The fate of the children of Terezín was equally tragic; of the 7590 youngest prisoners deported, a mere 142 survived until liberation. Only those children who remained for the whole period at Terezín had any really chance of being saved; on the day of liberation, Terezín contained some 1600 children aged 15 or under. Their lives are reflected in verses, diaries, illegally produced magazines and thousands of drawings - often the only things that remain of them. To cover the growing rumors about what was happening to Jews under the Third Reich, the Nazis placed prominent and old Jews into 'Theresiesenstadt' (the Greman name). Then, through deceit and subterfuge, the Nazis transformed Theresienstadt into a "model ghetto" and invited the outside world to come and visit. To the Dead A grave among graves, who can tell it apart, time has long swept away the dead faces. Testimonies, so evil and terrible to the heart, we took with us to these dark rotting places. Only the night and the howl of the wind will sit on the graves' corners, only a patch of grass, a bitter weed before May bears some flowers... Jaroslav Seifert |
| The saga continues in East Germany. |