There are some cities which are historic and there are some which are beautiful. However there are some which are more blessed than the others which are aesthetically pleasing as well as historic. Ones whose inert beauty does not fade even amidst the relentless tides of history. The Czech capital of Prague is one such city which combines the beauty for the eyes with the history for the mind. It is to this city that i travel on my voyage across Europe.
June 3, 2011, Friday
The Czech republic or formerly the Bohemian kingdom of Central Europe is one of the most picturesque countries of Europe. Nestled between Great Germany on the one side and the rest of Eastern Europe on the other, its location is both a boon as well as a bane. Although its location gives it some of the most beautiful landscapes in Europe it also sets it in the cross hairs of historic conflicts. Its great neighbor Germany coveted it so much so that it could not resist invading it during the world war and once the war was over the Eastern European bloc controlled by Russia sucked it into the cold war putting it behind the Iron Curtain.
As a child though my fascination for Prague was strangely enough due to a Sherlock Holmes story. Its one of the most famous Holmes stories called 'A Scandal in Bohemia' where the great sleuth takes up a case of a Count from Prague, its one of the few stories where the great British detective comes out of his British ambiance and deals with the Continent. The story and this exotic place called Bohemia stayed in my mind ever since and visiting it was one of those childhood fancies - the one that you always wish but you know you will never attain. However owing to my good fortune here i was actually making a visit to the place. Lucky me.
As my bus screeched into the Florec bus station the impending day made me very excited. Prague unlike Budapest is a small and compact city and i was able to reach the city center by foot .However there was a marked contrast between Prague and Budapest which i had visited the previous day. There was absolutely no sign of the communist period. No grey buildings, no statues, no nothing. The city seemed to be left unscarred from the five decade assault of communism. What hit the eye though was the beauty of the whole place. The narrow cobbled stoned streets wound into the historic center seamlessly merging with other smaller streets. The light from the waking sun seemed to illuminate the gorgeous buildings of the city. Even among the clamor of modernity the entire architecture of the city seemed to be immersed in a bygone era. I might well have been walking in 19th century Bohemia!
The city center loomed ahead indicated by the spire of the legendary Tyn Cathedral. But this was the case of the journey being more pleasant than the destination. My eyes were having a difficult time taking in all the spectacular sights around me, not only was the architecture so soothing but it was the myriad hues of color that the buildings were painted in that took my breath away. Shades of Yellow, pink, green and red colors adorned these wonderful buildings and the morning sunlight was bringing out their richness. These were no ordinary buildings, among them were municipal houses, banks and churches. Somehow this aesthetic image and the gory history of the city's past did not sit together in my mind.
As i continued my walk i saw a tower like black building which peaked through the colorful buildings around it. This was the famous 'Powder Tower'. It was called so because it was used to store gun powder during the middle ages. It is an important landmark in the city as the inner city starts from here. Beside it was a contrasting yellow colored building with a beautiful painting in the middle adorned by statues on either side. This was the Municipal house of Prague and was one of the great public spaces of the medieval city housing the offices of the city's administrators.
From the Powder tower starts the most famous street in Prague - the Celetna. Its name literally means 'the royal way' and as the name suggests was the historic route taken by the King on his way through the city center to his ultimate Castle destination atop the hill. This part of the city was called 'Stare Mesto' or the 'Old Town'. A few more steps from the Powder tower finally brought me to the great center of Prague - the Old town Square.
The Old Town Square was simply breath taking. I had been to a lot of great European cities and seen innumerable squares but this was just out of the world. Apart from its massive size the sheer beauty of the buildings around was mind blowing. One side of the square had the Iconic Tyn church with its 'rocket launcher' twin spires. Its lower half obscured by a trendy cafe filled with tourists. With its entrance obfuscated by the cafe the Twin towers of the church seemed to float in mid-air! Adjacent to the church is the city Opera with it lovely red tiled roof and delicately decorated exterior. The view gets better though on the opposite side which has the Town hall with a red facade and housing the world famous Astronomical clock. Adjoining the town hall is a wonderful green space with enterprising vendors selling barbeque.
The other two sides of the square too contains exquisite buildings with fine statuettes. One building though caught the eye. It was a canary yellow colored building which was formerly the fire department and quite apt to its utility it had a statue of a fire man as he is rescuing a girl and another which had a woman shouting for help. Talk about a building architecture befitting its utility! Adjacent to it was another remarkable building which was apparently a hotel which had statues of two squabbling couples on either side of its entrance. Apart from the wonderful buildings the square was scattered with many bars and Cafes.The people of Prague really do know their art i mused to myself.
The Center of the square was adorned with the statue of Jan Huss. A great Czech religious reformer who questioned the ways of the Catholic church a full hundred years before Martin Luther pinned the legendary note of protest on a German church door to start the reformation! Amidst his growing popularity the Catholic church did what it did best, snuffed it out by declaring him as a heretic and hunted down all his followers who together with Huss were brutally burnt at the stakes. Huss after his tragic end became a martyr and his followers and his philosophy was and still continues to be a veritable alternative to the Catholic church here in the Czech republic. His memorial in the middle depicts his final hours as he and his followers are shown embraced in fire with him still holding the Bible in his hand. What a great memorial to a great man.
If the square was a glittering crown , the jewel in the crown was the St.Nicholas church situated on one of the squares' corner adjacent to the town hall. The church was a superb example of high-baroque architecture with a beautifully crafted exterior and a magnificent dome. The inside of the church too was equally beautiful. Though not very big in size it was rich in its decoration. Statues of religious nature were crafted in white marble and Gold was added in small but strategic positions to bring a certain richness and accentuate the statues. What more it was a living church and also doubled up as a concert hall. In fact there was a Mozart concert that very evening!
Another must see church in the Old Town was the St.James' Church. Its a masterpiece of Baroque architecture and has one of the most elaborate interior designs i have ever witnessed. The exterior though was very interesting with a facade containing three baroque pieces, each in white with a tinge of gold. But the interior was the real deal as it contained artistically crafted chapels and numerous paintings and sculptures. The alter too was a sight to behold. It was designed to give the impression of a huge art piece held aloft by flying angels. Interestingly the interior was designed by an Italian artist and again goes to prove the line 'Italian for art'.
After the Old town it was time to go to the much newer part of the city - the Nove Mesto - the New Town. As Prague is a compact city one could get there on foot alone. Here there were more modern shops and malls , pizzerias and McDonalds, hotels and restaurants and all other trappings of a tourist hub. As with the old town , the new town was filled to the brim with people, it was like being in India all over again. A short walk got me to the second most important square in Prague called the Wenceslas Square. The square is named after the patron saint of Bohemia St. Wenceslas and is topped at the end of it by the enormous neoclassical styled Czech National Museum. It is a hotspot of the city for any kind of celebrations or protests. The square also had other significant buildings such as the Hotel Europa which with its yellow exterior was one of the most beautiful Hotels i have ever seen. Also present was a huge Bata showroom which is a quite special brand for Indians. The Bata footwear brand is ubiquitous in India and has been known for its quality footwear at affordable prices for decades. So much is its fame in India that most Indians think that its an Indian brand but infact its a Czech brand! How it came to occupy such a huge place in the Indian psyche is truly remarkable and a perfect case study in marketing in B-schools around the world.
The Wenceslas square played a very important role in Czech history or rather the Czechoslovak history.Czechoslovakia was a union of two desperate units - Czech and Slovakia - which were forged together after the end of the second world war when the Austro-Hungarian empire of the Hapsburgs finally collapsed. This hastily put together unity was under communist rule for almost half a century before the events arising from the fall of the Berlin wall eventually tore it apart. However the split was not as violent as that of other Eastern European countries. In fact it was at this very place that a peaceful revolution called the Velvet revolution resulted in the peaceful separation of Czechoslovakia into the Czech and Slovak republics. This is a lesson to the whole world on how to split a country in a civilized and peaceful manner. In a world filled with painful separations like pre-partition India and Yugoslavia, the events at Wenceslas square are a great lesson from history.
The eventful day finally came to and end after a leisurely stroll in Prague's New town. Though it had its share of wonderful buildings they were no match to the sights of the Old town. In fact not just the New town any city around the world would have had a tough time competing with the beauty that was the old town!
June 4, 2011, Saturday
It was the second day in Prague and the sun shone brightly in the sky and the cloudless sky made it a perfect day for traveling. It was a day meant for exploring the Castle district of Prague but however before that there was short excursion into the Legendary Town Hall.
The Town hall as i had mentioned previously stands on one of the sides of the Old town square. Its red exterior and pointed roof gives it a distinctive medieval look. Impressive as it is what stands today is just a fraction of the town hall. Before the second world war the Town hall was five times bigger and occupied the one entire side of the Old town square. However the war arrived and Prague became one of the many battlegrounds in main land Europe. However just before the war it was Prague that held out the last hope for peace. With Hitler at the peak of his popularity in the 30s he started on his mission of returning the 'German pride' that was battered by its surrender after the first world war. The reoccupation of the Rhineland was the first step on this road and the German speaking areas of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland were the next target. Hitler was adamant on his demand for Sudetenland and threatened a world war if he was not given it. With Europe and the world on the verge of a war the leaders of the world united headed by the British Prime minister Neville Chamberlain. Will the Czech gambit of paying off Hitler with Sudetenland stave off a world war? The whole world waited with bated breath. The British PM did what Britain was always famous for - trading off other people's property without their consent. Poor Czechoslovakia looked on haplessly as Britain and the other great powers handed over the Sudetenland to a smiling Hitler and Chamberlain proclaimed emphatically that he had achieved 'Peace in our time'. Little did he know that Hitler had other ideas, he was hellbent on a war and he got it when he found a silly pretext and invaded Poland and triggered the world war. Hence the Czech gambit did not work and the whole of Europe plunged into war and Prague was eventually occupied by Germany.
The Germans occupied Prague for the rest of the war and a million strong German army fought to retain it even as they stared defeat in the war. It was at this time that the Czech resistance fighters holed out inside the then enormous Town Hall but they were brutally killed when German tanks were brought onto the Old town square and the Town hall heavily bombarded to its present tiny size. Only the suicide of Hitler and the impending fall of Berlin alarmed the German soldiers to leave Prague even as the Soviets moved in. Just as everyone in Prague started to think of living 'happily ever after' the Soviets who came in as liberators became the occupiers and even when they left setup a puppet communist regime as part of their grand plan for eastern Europe. Thus the Czechs fell into another struggle with communism which lasted well over four decades. It was quite apt i thought that the Town hall was painted red considering its gory history.
Not everything about the Town hall is blood and gore. On one of its sides there is the world famous Astronomical clock which along with the time shows the seasons and star positions and such. It has been chiming for the last several hundred years. The most interesting thing about the clock is this very chiming. Every hour the bells are sounded by a pageant of the twelve apostles of Christ as each one comes out of a little window and hits the bell and disappears into another window only to let the next one do the same. This happens every hour on the hour! And not surprisingly its the most famous spectacle in Prague. As i made my way near the clock the sheer number of people ready with their cameras was overwhelming. And the show was as good as promised as the Twelve apostles came out on time and rang the bell. This can happen only in Europe i mused to myself!
Next i headed to the famous Castle district via the royal Celetna street. It was as if everyone in town was headed in that direction as i saw throngs of people going along with me. The narrow streets were almost choking with people . The road ended at the head of the famous Charles Bridge. Built by the Emperor Charles it connects the Old town to the Castle district. It is one of the great bridges of Europe and is modeled on Bernini's famous Bridge of Angels in Rome. Like the original it is covered by either sides by a row of Saints and Kings with each sculpture a real piece of art. Its also lined by famous artists painting and sketching away the people and landscapes around. The bridge too was crowded and was filled to the brim with people. The distant view of the Castle enticed the travelers who wanted to get there as quickly as possible.
After crossing the Charles bridge i was onto the winding steep streets of the Castle district. Like the old city it was littered with magnificent buildings of various colors. The brilliant views around drowned the tiredness of the steep climb. Within minutes i was at the foot of the Castle and a few more steps lead me to the Castle itself. The Castle of course is a Hapsburg legacy and like the castle in Budapest but even more beautiful had all the signs indicating it as one. All around too there were other great buildings with wonderful architecture. It was noon time when i reached and everybody seemed to be waiting for somebody. At first i thought it could be a celebrity but later realized that in fact i was in the middle of the change of guard. Soon a set of guards marched in and opened the gates and changed the guard and the set that was replaced marched out. Exactly how it happened during the times of the Hapsburgs!
At once i was inside the castle and was impressed with what i saw. Exquisite buildings with great statuettes and a fountain to boot in the middle. With all this Hapsburg setting around me i thought i was in Vienna already until i pinched myself to say that it was still a day away. Frankly if this is what the Hapsburgs did with their other cities i could not wait to see what they had done in their capital Vienna! Next i visited the St.Vitus church built in memory of the patron saint of Prague it was a gem of Gothic architecture. The insides were well crafted and decorated as it must be as it was the church used by the Hapsburgs for their royal ceremonies. One particular piece of art caught my attention though, a statue of St.Vitus circled by cherubic baby angels holding aloft the curtains for the Saint, and all of this in pure silver. Absolutely amazing!
Then i moved quickly to the Old royal palace which although not so specially decorated provided stunning views of the city from its balconies. The view of the city from here was one of the most beautiful views i have even seen. It looked like a picture postcard. The sun shining over a lovely city with orange roofs and spires. There was a great view of the Charles bridge too. The bridge filled with people, so much so that it seemed like no one was moving! Seeing the view of the city one could vouch for the fact why Prague is called the 'City of a 100 spires'. From this vantage point one could see the entire city sprinkled with scores of spires, some tall , some short but all of them wonderful to look at.
After going to a few other minor attractions inside the Castle compound it was time to go down to the city. The exit opened to a lovely vineyard and there were people who were relaxing on the side sipping wine as they took in the view of the city. The Vineyards accompanied me to the bottom of the Castle district and sooner than i could realize i had descended the hill and was on flat ground.
After winding through some more streets it was time to bid goodbye to this great city. It had been a great experience and more than the legs the eyes were sore after taking in so much of this beautiful city. As i bid good bye i was sure of one thing, Beauty had a new word and it was 'Prague'!
June 3, 2011, Friday
The Czech republic or formerly the Bohemian kingdom of Central Europe is one of the most picturesque countries of Europe. Nestled between Great Germany on the one side and the rest of Eastern Europe on the other, its location is both a boon as well as a bane. Although its location gives it some of the most beautiful landscapes in Europe it also sets it in the cross hairs of historic conflicts. Its great neighbor Germany coveted it so much so that it could not resist invading it during the world war and once the war was over the Eastern European bloc controlled by Russia sucked it into the cold war putting it behind the Iron Curtain.
As a child though my fascination for Prague was strangely enough due to a Sherlock Holmes story. Its one of the most famous Holmes stories called 'A Scandal in Bohemia' where the great sleuth takes up a case of a Count from Prague, its one of the few stories where the great British detective comes out of his British ambiance and deals with the Continent. The story and this exotic place called Bohemia stayed in my mind ever since and visiting it was one of those childhood fancies - the one that you always wish but you know you will never attain. However owing to my good fortune here i was actually making a visit to the place. Lucky me.
As my bus screeched into the Florec bus station the impending day made me very excited. Prague unlike Budapest is a small and compact city and i was able to reach the city center by foot .However there was a marked contrast between Prague and Budapest which i had visited the previous day. There was absolutely no sign of the communist period. No grey buildings, no statues, no nothing. The city seemed to be left unscarred from the five decade assault of communism. What hit the eye though was the beauty of the whole place. The narrow cobbled stoned streets wound into the historic center seamlessly merging with other smaller streets. The light from the waking sun seemed to illuminate the gorgeous buildings of the city. Even among the clamor of modernity the entire architecture of the city seemed to be immersed in a bygone era. I might well have been walking in 19th century Bohemia!
The city center loomed ahead indicated by the spire of the legendary Tyn Cathedral. But this was the case of the journey being more pleasant than the destination. My eyes were having a difficult time taking in all the spectacular sights around me, not only was the architecture so soothing but it was the myriad hues of color that the buildings were painted in that took my breath away. Shades of Yellow, pink, green and red colors adorned these wonderful buildings and the morning sunlight was bringing out their richness. These were no ordinary buildings, among them were municipal houses, banks and churches. Somehow this aesthetic image and the gory history of the city's past did not sit together in my mind.
As i continued my walk i saw a tower like black building which peaked through the colorful buildings around it. This was the famous 'Powder Tower'. It was called so because it was used to store gun powder during the middle ages. It is an important landmark in the city as the inner city starts from here. Beside it was a contrasting yellow colored building with a beautiful painting in the middle adorned by statues on either side. This was the Municipal house of Prague and was one of the great public spaces of the medieval city housing the offices of the city's administrators.
From the Powder tower starts the most famous street in Prague - the Celetna. Its name literally means 'the royal way' and as the name suggests was the historic route taken by the King on his way through the city center to his ultimate Castle destination atop the hill. This part of the city was called 'Stare Mesto' or the 'Old Town'. A few more steps from the Powder tower finally brought me to the great center of Prague - the Old town Square.
The Old Town Square was simply breath taking. I had been to a lot of great European cities and seen innumerable squares but this was just out of the world. Apart from its massive size the sheer beauty of the buildings around was mind blowing. One side of the square had the Iconic Tyn church with its 'rocket launcher' twin spires. Its lower half obscured by a trendy cafe filled with tourists. With its entrance obfuscated by the cafe the Twin towers of the church seemed to float in mid-air! Adjacent to the church is the city Opera with it lovely red tiled roof and delicately decorated exterior. The view gets better though on the opposite side which has the Town hall with a red facade and housing the world famous Astronomical clock. Adjoining the town hall is a wonderful green space with enterprising vendors selling barbeque.
The other two sides of the square too contains exquisite buildings with fine statuettes. One building though caught the eye. It was a canary yellow colored building which was formerly the fire department and quite apt to its utility it had a statue of a fire man as he is rescuing a girl and another which had a woman shouting for help. Talk about a building architecture befitting its utility! Adjacent to it was another remarkable building which was apparently a hotel which had statues of two squabbling couples on either side of its entrance. Apart from the wonderful buildings the square was scattered with many bars and Cafes.The people of Prague really do know their art i mused to myself.
The Center of the square was adorned with the statue of Jan Huss. A great Czech religious reformer who questioned the ways of the Catholic church a full hundred years before Martin Luther pinned the legendary note of protest on a German church door to start the reformation! Amidst his growing popularity the Catholic church did what it did best, snuffed it out by declaring him as a heretic and hunted down all his followers who together with Huss were brutally burnt at the stakes. Huss after his tragic end became a martyr and his followers and his philosophy was and still continues to be a veritable alternative to the Catholic church here in the Czech republic. His memorial in the middle depicts his final hours as he and his followers are shown embraced in fire with him still holding the Bible in his hand. What a great memorial to a great man.
If the square was a glittering crown , the jewel in the crown was the St.Nicholas church situated on one of the squares' corner adjacent to the town hall. The church was a superb example of high-baroque architecture with a beautifully crafted exterior and a magnificent dome. The inside of the church too was equally beautiful. Though not very big in size it was rich in its decoration. Statues of religious nature were crafted in white marble and Gold was added in small but strategic positions to bring a certain richness and accentuate the statues. What more it was a living church and also doubled up as a concert hall. In fact there was a Mozart concert that very evening!
Another must see church in the Old Town was the St.James' Church. Its a masterpiece of Baroque architecture and has one of the most elaborate interior designs i have ever witnessed. The exterior though was very interesting with a facade containing three baroque pieces, each in white with a tinge of gold. But the interior was the real deal as it contained artistically crafted chapels and numerous paintings and sculptures. The alter too was a sight to behold. It was designed to give the impression of a huge art piece held aloft by flying angels. Interestingly the interior was designed by an Italian artist and again goes to prove the line 'Italian for art'.
After the Old town it was time to go to the much newer part of the city - the Nove Mesto - the New Town. As Prague is a compact city one could get there on foot alone. Here there were more modern shops and malls , pizzerias and McDonalds, hotels and restaurants and all other trappings of a tourist hub. As with the old town , the new town was filled to the brim with people, it was like being in India all over again. A short walk got me to the second most important square in Prague called the Wenceslas Square. The square is named after the patron saint of Bohemia St. Wenceslas and is topped at the end of it by the enormous neoclassical styled Czech National Museum. It is a hotspot of the city for any kind of celebrations or protests. The square also had other significant buildings such as the Hotel Europa which with its yellow exterior was one of the most beautiful Hotels i have ever seen. Also present was a huge Bata showroom which is a quite special brand for Indians. The Bata footwear brand is ubiquitous in India and has been known for its quality footwear at affordable prices for decades. So much is its fame in India that most Indians think that its an Indian brand but infact its a Czech brand! How it came to occupy such a huge place in the Indian psyche is truly remarkable and a perfect case study in marketing in B-schools around the world.
The Wenceslas square played a very important role in Czech history or rather the Czechoslovak history.Czechoslovakia was a union of two desperate units - Czech and Slovakia - which were forged together after the end of the second world war when the Austro-Hungarian empire of the Hapsburgs finally collapsed. This hastily put together unity was under communist rule for almost half a century before the events arising from the fall of the Berlin wall eventually tore it apart. However the split was not as violent as that of other Eastern European countries. In fact it was at this very place that a peaceful revolution called the Velvet revolution resulted in the peaceful separation of Czechoslovakia into the Czech and Slovak republics. This is a lesson to the whole world on how to split a country in a civilized and peaceful manner. In a world filled with painful separations like pre-partition India and Yugoslavia, the events at Wenceslas square are a great lesson from history.
The eventful day finally came to and end after a leisurely stroll in Prague's New town. Though it had its share of wonderful buildings they were no match to the sights of the Old town. In fact not just the New town any city around the world would have had a tough time competing with the beauty that was the old town!
June 4, 2011, Saturday
It was the second day in Prague and the sun shone brightly in the sky and the cloudless sky made it a perfect day for traveling. It was a day meant for exploring the Castle district of Prague but however before that there was short excursion into the Legendary Town Hall.
The Town hall as i had mentioned previously stands on one of the sides of the Old town square. Its red exterior and pointed roof gives it a distinctive medieval look. Impressive as it is what stands today is just a fraction of the town hall. Before the second world war the Town hall was five times bigger and occupied the one entire side of the Old town square. However the war arrived and Prague became one of the many battlegrounds in main land Europe. However just before the war it was Prague that held out the last hope for peace. With Hitler at the peak of his popularity in the 30s he started on his mission of returning the 'German pride' that was battered by its surrender after the first world war. The reoccupation of the Rhineland was the first step on this road and the German speaking areas of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland were the next target. Hitler was adamant on his demand for Sudetenland and threatened a world war if he was not given it. With Europe and the world on the verge of a war the leaders of the world united headed by the British Prime minister Neville Chamberlain. Will the Czech gambit of paying off Hitler with Sudetenland stave off a world war? The whole world waited with bated breath. The British PM did what Britain was always famous for - trading off other people's property without their consent. Poor Czechoslovakia looked on haplessly as Britain and the other great powers handed over the Sudetenland to a smiling Hitler and Chamberlain proclaimed emphatically that he had achieved 'Peace in our time'. Little did he know that Hitler had other ideas, he was hellbent on a war and he got it when he found a silly pretext and invaded Poland and triggered the world war. Hence the Czech gambit did not work and the whole of Europe plunged into war and Prague was eventually occupied by Germany.
The Germans occupied Prague for the rest of the war and a million strong German army fought to retain it even as they stared defeat in the war. It was at this time that the Czech resistance fighters holed out inside the then enormous Town Hall but they were brutally killed when German tanks were brought onto the Old town square and the Town hall heavily bombarded to its present tiny size. Only the suicide of Hitler and the impending fall of Berlin alarmed the German soldiers to leave Prague even as the Soviets moved in. Just as everyone in Prague started to think of living 'happily ever after' the Soviets who came in as liberators became the occupiers and even when they left setup a puppet communist regime as part of their grand plan for eastern Europe. Thus the Czechs fell into another struggle with communism which lasted well over four decades. It was quite apt i thought that the Town hall was painted red considering its gory history.
Not everything about the Town hall is blood and gore. On one of its sides there is the world famous Astronomical clock which along with the time shows the seasons and star positions and such. It has been chiming for the last several hundred years. The most interesting thing about the clock is this very chiming. Every hour the bells are sounded by a pageant of the twelve apostles of Christ as each one comes out of a little window and hits the bell and disappears into another window only to let the next one do the same. This happens every hour on the hour! And not surprisingly its the most famous spectacle in Prague. As i made my way near the clock the sheer number of people ready with their cameras was overwhelming. And the show was as good as promised as the Twelve apostles came out on time and rang the bell. This can happen only in Europe i mused to myself!
Next i headed to the famous Castle district via the royal Celetna street. It was as if everyone in town was headed in that direction as i saw throngs of people going along with me. The narrow streets were almost choking with people . The road ended at the head of the famous Charles Bridge. Built by the Emperor Charles it connects the Old town to the Castle district. It is one of the great bridges of Europe and is modeled on Bernini's famous Bridge of Angels in Rome. Like the original it is covered by either sides by a row of Saints and Kings with each sculpture a real piece of art. Its also lined by famous artists painting and sketching away the people and landscapes around. The bridge too was crowded and was filled to the brim with people. The distant view of the Castle enticed the travelers who wanted to get there as quickly as possible.
After crossing the Charles bridge i was onto the winding steep streets of the Castle district. Like the old city it was littered with magnificent buildings of various colors. The brilliant views around drowned the tiredness of the steep climb. Within minutes i was at the foot of the Castle and a few more steps lead me to the Castle itself. The Castle of course is a Hapsburg legacy and like the castle in Budapest but even more beautiful had all the signs indicating it as one. All around too there were other great buildings with wonderful architecture. It was noon time when i reached and everybody seemed to be waiting for somebody. At first i thought it could be a celebrity but later realized that in fact i was in the middle of the change of guard. Soon a set of guards marched in and opened the gates and changed the guard and the set that was replaced marched out. Exactly how it happened during the times of the Hapsburgs!
At once i was inside the castle and was impressed with what i saw. Exquisite buildings with great statuettes and a fountain to boot in the middle. With all this Hapsburg setting around me i thought i was in Vienna already until i pinched myself to say that it was still a day away. Frankly if this is what the Hapsburgs did with their other cities i could not wait to see what they had done in their capital Vienna! Next i visited the St.Vitus church built in memory of the patron saint of Prague it was a gem of Gothic architecture. The insides were well crafted and decorated as it must be as it was the church used by the Hapsburgs for their royal ceremonies. One particular piece of art caught my attention though, a statue of St.Vitus circled by cherubic baby angels holding aloft the curtains for the Saint, and all of this in pure silver. Absolutely amazing!
Then i moved quickly to the Old royal palace which although not so specially decorated provided stunning views of the city from its balconies. The view of the city from here was one of the most beautiful views i have even seen. It looked like a picture postcard. The sun shining over a lovely city with orange roofs and spires. There was a great view of the Charles bridge too. The bridge filled with people, so much so that it seemed like no one was moving! Seeing the view of the city one could vouch for the fact why Prague is called the 'City of a 100 spires'. From this vantage point one could see the entire city sprinkled with scores of spires, some tall , some short but all of them wonderful to look at.
After going to a few other minor attractions inside the Castle compound it was time to go down to the city. The exit opened to a lovely vineyard and there were people who were relaxing on the side sipping wine as they took in the view of the city. The Vineyards accompanied me to the bottom of the Castle district and sooner than i could realize i had descended the hill and was on flat ground.
After winding through some more streets it was time to bid goodbye to this great city. It had been a great experience and more than the legs the eyes were sore after taking in so much of this beautiful city. As i bid good bye i was sure of one thing, Beauty had a new word and it was 'Prague'!
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