Prague
On Friday, the 2nd leg of my Eastern European trip took me to from
Budapest to Prague. I had heard about two travel apps called Busradar and
GoEuro. Both compare methods of travel; is it cheaper/faster to go by train,
plane, car or bus? It tells you the company, the timetables and exactly which
bus/train to take. They were both so easy to use, I couldn't believe I had
never heard of them before. Surprisingly, the bus and train were basically the
same time and price, about €20 for a 7 hour journey. I picked Flexbus, for no
particular reason and set out. The bus had WIFI and pretty comfortable seats.
I chose the very back, thinking I would have more room. Well, I would have, had
the seat belt holder not bitten into my backside the whole way. I was fine if I
sat straight up, but leaning into the window to sleep just wouldn't work. Oh
well, it was only 3 hours to Vienna, where I had a one hour layover.
When we
stopped, the only place to eat was a little food truck that served currywurst
and fries. I got to practice my German, which was apparently well understood,
but she kept answering me in English. At the appointed time, I went over to the
bus terminal, but didn't see my bus listed. There were plenty of people
standing around and after about 15 min I asked an English speaking man named
Michael what was going on. No one seemed to know anything and the bus was now
quite late, so he volunteered to go check at the desk. He reported back that
they didn't know anything. The driver had not called in so they didn't know if
he was just delayed or what. About an hour later, one fellow in our group tried
to call the company, but they didn't answer. Repeated visits to the ticket desk
revealed they still knew nothing and we still couldn't get the main office to answer the phone, so I went on
Facebook and messaged them. They replied that the bus was delayed due to 'an
operational situation'. 20 min later, all the passengers got a text saying the
bus will be 2.5 hours late due to 'an
operational situation'. Apparently no one in their front office even
knew there was a problem until they got my message. Not a good first
impression! Well, we all got a free voucher for the next trip, so OK, I'll give
them another try.
While we were waiting, I got to know Michael. He was a retiree as
well, he travels as much as he can on his limited pension; staying in hostels
and packing his lunch instead of eating out. He was an attorney, but gave that
up for a career in classical music. We chatted about many different things; he
was very intelligent, interesting, well educated, and well traveled, but I got
the impression that he was a no frills kinda guy. When we finally reached
Prague, we were gathering our bags and he commented on the fact that I had a
large suitcase. I reminded him that I was traveling for just over 2 weeks. He
said so was he yet he managed to have everything he needed in a tiny carry
on. I decided not to point out that the entire seat of his pants were ripped,
and if those were his 'going out in public' pants, I probably didn't want to
know what else he packed. Yes indeed, he had on jean shorts and one entire butt
cheek, covered by thin blue nylon bikini briefs, got a back row view to
everywhere he went! Well, you sure do meet some interesting people when you
travel!
In Prague, I opted for a hotel instead of an apartment, mainly
because I couldn't find one near the city center. As it turns out, neither was
my hotel. (Hotel Pawlovia). Google maps was still giving me problems, and my
mobile charging port wouldn't connect to my battery pack. I managed to get
myself to what was supposed to be the nearest metro stop to my hotel, just as
darkness set in and the battery on my phone died completely. I found a map and
guesstimated where I was going and set out. I thought I could take a tram close
to my destination and walk the rest of the way, but soon realized the tram was
going the wrong way. In the meantime I had gotten my cell to charge a little
from my laptop, so I went back to the metro stop and tried again, this time on
foot. Eventually I made it to the hotel, but it was late, I was hungry and
there was nothing around. The hotel had a restaurant, but it was closed. The
girl on the desk timidly offered to make me a hamburger, but said she was
afraid how it would turn out since she didn't know how to cook. (OK
seriously, who can't cook a hamburger?) I managed to convince her that she
could do it, it would be great, so she headed into the kitchen and whipped up
not only a really good burger but fries as well. Well, that was an interesting
day.
Wouldn't you know it, Saturday morning I walk outside my hotel and
there's a bus stop! My hotel was on the outskirts of town, in a residential
area, with huge parks nearby. It was a nice enough place, I would say more
homey, old world charm then modern, but very comfortable. It was small, with
only 6 to 8 rooms and an indoor pool that I had to myself each evening. They
had a lot of food out for breakfast, but I only ever saw one person so I'm not
sure who it was all for. I ventured out, hopeful that I could find my way around
when suddenly, Google maps was back with us.
This time, traveling was much
easier; a short bus and metro ride and I was in the city center. I had listened
to a Rick Steves podcast "A Walk Across Prague" and he said " Huge Wenceslas
Square, lined with great buildings and loads of history, is the focal point of
Prague's modern, New Town Quarter. It's named for King Wenceslas, the "good
king" of Christmas-carol fame, sitting astride the big equestrian statue at the
top of the boulevard. The statue is a popular meeting point among locals, who
like to say, "I'll meet you under the horse's tail." I thought that would be a
good place to start, but other then the massive statue, it was just a busy street
with a nice park running down the middle. The buildings were beautiful and the
energy was positive and upbeat as people walked along, shopped or chatted in the
many cafes along the way. This area was much more modern, hence the name
New Town I guess. The podcast talked about the Velvet Revolution: "...Jan
Palach and Jan Zajíc, were two college students who set themselves on fire in
1969 to protest the Soviet Union's invasion of the Czech Republic the year
before. Twenty years later, giant crowds converged on the square, jingling
their key chains and chanting, "It's time to go now!" in the lead-up to the
peaceful overthrow of the communist government." I guess it's called a velvet
revolution because it was so peaceful.
The shopping in that area looked really good, but I never found the
time to go back. I continued walking down the street toward Old Town when
I stumbled upon Havelská Market. Like the guide books said, very touristy, but
I enjoyed it. It's really just a group of stalls selling arts & crafts,
leather, wooden toys and other souvenirs. Many of the stalls were selling
Kitchen Witches. These are some pretty hideous witch marionettes, complete with
their own broom and an on off switch that makes them cackle like, well, a
witch. Of course I had to have one. They are said to ward off evil spirits
and bring good luck to the kitchen. Who couldn't use that? They were also
selling baked goods including the chimney cakes that I liked so well in
Budapest. Unlike the previous ones, these were filled with creams, jellies, or
ice cream. That proved to be messy, so I stuck to the plain ones rolled in nuts
or cinnamon.
I continued on toward Old Town Square and the crowds of tourists
picked up dramatically the closer I got. The streets were very wide with more
then enough room for the hordes of pedestrians. As I mentioned in my last blog,
I want to know more about architectural styles and never would it have come in
more handy. I wish I knew something about the different styles I was seeing.
The guide books all talked about this area being the heart of the city and being
lined with magnificent buildings and even my uneducated eye could see the
diversity in the architecture - Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, and Art
Nouveau all in the same city center. Old Town Square has been around since
1091. The website A View on Cities (http://www.aviewoncities.com/prague/oldtownsquare.htm) describes
it best: "The square and surrounding streets are pedestrian zones, and during
summertime tourists relax and have a beer here at one of the many outdoor cafés
while being surrounded by many remarkable medieval buildings. The whole square
is bordered by a large number of colorful houses, palaces and churches. Some of
the most prominent buildings around the square are the Old Town Hall (famous for
its astronomical clock), the Týn Church, the Kinský Palace and the St. Nicholas
Church. The most famous building on the Old Town Square is the
fourteenth-century Old Town Hall. Its Gothic tower, built in 1364, is one of the
most recognizable buildings in Prague. The tower is famous for its magnificent
astronomical clock, built in 1410. It is the oldest such clock in Europe.
Throngs of tourists gather in front of the clock every hour to witness the
procession of miniature figures." Sadly, though I saw the clock, and was in
the square several times, I never thought to go watch it on the hour.
From the square, I picked up a free walking tour and we headed to the
nearby Jewish Quarter. There were some beautiful synagogues and the Old Jewish
Cemetery. This area dates back to the 13th century, when even then, Jews were
forced out of their homes and into ghettos. The Jewish Quarter has survived
wars, city restructuring, and building demolitions over the centuries. These
buildings are the best preserved Jewish monuments in all of Europe, perhaps
helped by the fact that Hitler brought in Jewish artifacts from all over the
world. He intended this former ghetto to become a "Museum to an Extinct
Race"
I spent a lot of time in the square and walking all over Prague and I
couldn't help but notice all the segways. They were everywhere! Some were
operated by tour guides trying to drum up business but a significant number were
people just using them to travel around. One tour guide told us to watch out,
not for the guy with a cell phone in one hand and lunch in the other, he was
probably pretty experienced. Who you needed to get out of the way of, were the
people you saw in helmets because they were still trying to figure out how to
stop. I also noticed a huge number of college age backpackers, many
obvious tourists who had brought their dog on holiday, and one really odd
observation. I rarely saw anyone smoking. Such a contrast to Malta because
everyone here smokes. The sidewalks are very narrow and you have to really
watch out that you don't get burned by someone's cigarette.
After the walking tour, I took a little tourist train up to the
castle and to the outlying areas. To be honest, it was hot, I was tired, and
the thought of walking up to the castle could not have been less appealing. The
problem was, once we got to the castle, it started raining. Instead of getting
out and exploring a bit, I just kept right on riding, all the way back to Old
Town Square. Of course the rain stopped by this time, but the castle would have
to wait for another day as I started thinking about dinner. I know, I should
have had local food, but I found the best little Vietnamese restaurant called
Banh Mi Makers. I eat the same dish everywhere I go and this was hands down,
the best I ever had. It's a very simple dish called Bun Thit Nuong and its just
vermicelli rice noodles with grilled chicken or pork and some veggies with fish
sauce.
Near the square were several Thai massage parlors in a row. There were
people outside trying to entice tourist in, and since I didn't want to be
rude, I complied. The people were actually pretty funny. One looked like a
blond body builder, dressed in traditional Thai robes with a mannequin of a
Thai man strapped to his back. All of them had on varying degrees of funny
costumes, but his was by far the worst. When I walked into the room, there were
about 15 lounge chairs in the center and another 8 chairs along the huge window
and back wall. It was totally silent as I whispered that I wanted a foot
massage to the receptionist. I reached in my bag for my wallet and suddenly out
of no where, I heard what sounded like a cackling witch. OMG my kitchen witch
got turned on and now I couldn't find the off button! The whole room exploded
in laughter as I made a hasty exit into the hall to shut her up. I did get my
massage, but I like my local place in Malta much better.
On Sunday I went on a Discover Prague Tour (http://discover-prague.com) of Kunta Hora,
an old silver mining town about an hour from Prague. What draws tourists like
me is the Sedlec Ossuary or Bone Chapel. This fascinating place is located
beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints. Here are the bones of between 40,000
and 70,000 people. What makes this place so fascinating is what they
did with the bones. According to Wikipedia - In 1278, Henry, the abbot of the
Cistercian monastery in Sedlec, was sent to the Holy Land. He brought back a
small amount of earth and sprinkled it over the abbey cemetery. News of
this spread and the cemetery in Sedlec became a desirable burial site throughout
Central Europe. In the mid 14th century, during the Black Death, and after the
Hussite Wars in the early 15th century, many thousands were buried in the abbey
cemetery, so it had to be greatly enlarged.
Around 1400, a Gothic church was
built in the center of the cemetery with a vaulted upper level and a lower
chapel to be used as an ossuary for the mass graves unearthed during
construction, or simply slated for demolition to make room for new burials.
After 1511, the task of exhuming skeletons and stacking their bones in the
chapel was given to a half-blind monk of the order. In 1870, František Rint, a
woodcarver, was employed to put the bone heaps into order, yielding a macabre
result. They have been artistically arranged to form decorations and
furnishings, such as the enormous chandelier containing at least one of every
bone in the human body. It hangs from the center of the room with garlands made
from skulls. There are piers and monstrances flanking the altar, a coat of arms
of House of Schwarzenberg, and the signature of Rint, also made from bones, on
the wall near the entrance. The ossuary is among the most visited tourist
attractions of the Czech Republic - attracting over 200,000 visitors annually.
The tour included lunch, so our small group of about 15 headed to a
nearby Czech restaurant called Pivnice Dacicky. I sat with a family of
Americans who worked at the embassy in London. They were really fun and their
teenage kids seems really engaged, in both the tour and the other tour goers.
Usually you see kids this age only engaged in their electronics. There was also
a young man from Columbia, who had studied in Amsterdam, then come to Prague for
an internship in International Banking. We had some Australians and
Scottish tourists as well. We had a wonderful conversation at lunch and the
food itself was absolutely fabulous! I had a wild boar goulash where the meat
just melted in my mouth. It came with gingerbread dumplings which was dark
sweet bread loaded with nuts and fruit. The paring sounds really weird, but
believe me, it was out of this world! I really wish I had gotten some of the
bread to go.
After lunch we headed off to The Church of the Assumption of Our Lady
and Saint John the Baptist. The church was built first in the Gothic style
around 1300 as one of the first High Gothic building in the Kingdom of Bohemia
and as the first church in the kingdom resembling French Gothic cathedrals. The
Hussites burnt it to the ground in 1421. In 1700, after 200 years of ruin, the
church was rebuilt in the Baroque Gothic style. This church, like every other
one I toured, was stunning. We got to go up in the rafters and see the church
bells as well as a great view of the surrounding countryside. One wall was
covered in murals, depicting some of the jobs the silver miners did. There was a
beautiful spiral staircase and I took some really great pictures; very artsy I
thought. In doing research on the church after, I see it wasn't just my
opinion, there are many Google images of the exact same shot I took!
We also went to The Saint James church and the Saint Barbra church.
After a while, the do tend to blend into one, but all were very beautiful. Come
to think of it, the murals depicting mining jobs were in the Saint Barbara
church, which also had some elaborate stain glass windows. After walking around
a bit more, it was time to head back to Prague. The conversation on the train
was very lively, as we solved most of the world problems in the hour long ride.
We discussed economics, politics, refugees and more. If only our small group
ran the world.
The tour was so good I decided to do another one to
the Theresienstadt / Terezin Concentration camp on Monday. Also an hour train
ride from Prague, the fortress of Theresienstadt was initially built in 1790 on
orders from the emperor of Austria. It was supposed to be part of a larger
system of forts, but that dream was never realized. It was used for political
and military prisoners in the 20th century. Gavrilo Princip, who played a part
in starting WWI by assassinating Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, was
a prisoner until he died in 1918 of TB. In 1940, the Gestapo took over the town
of Terezin and turned the citadel into a prison. By the end of the war,
some 32,000 political prisoners, mostly Czech, had been housed there. 5,000
were women. In 1942 the Germans annexed the walled town of Theresienstadt (the
former fortress) and turned it into a Jewish ghetto/concentration camp. The
camp became known as the destination for the elderly as most of the Jews were
older than 65. The younger prisoners were merely housed there on their way to
the extermination camps. At one point, the camp commander forced all 40,000
prisoners to stand in subzero temperatures for hours while a count was taken.
300 of them died of hypothermia.
In 1943 the Danish Red Cross scheduled a visit for the following year. The Nazis used that time and prison labor, to turn the camp
into an outwardly appearing model Jewish settlement, complete with fake shops
and cafes. In reality, some 33,000 inmates died of malnutrition, disease, and
torture. The Nazis made a propaganda film, showing how happy the 'citizens'
were and how nice the 'community' was. Jewish prisoner and actor/director
Kurt Gerron (he appeared with Marlene Dietrich in The Blue Angel) was forced to
direct the film, which was shot in 11 days. Upon completion, Gerron and most of
the cast were deported to Auschwitz. Gerron was murdered in the gas chamber less
then a month later. Many, many prisoners, including the Czech inmates used to build the new buildings, were also sent to Auschwitz so the
camp wouldn't appear overcrowded. The Red Cross was fooled and came away with a
very positive impression of the town. In late 1944 the camp was 'liquidated'
and 24,000 more Jews were sent to the death camps. All told, 144,000 Jews were
sent to Theresienstadt. 1600 children were then sent to Auschwitz to die.
33,000 died in the camp due to the deplorable conditions and torture. 88,000
were sent to other death camps, only 17,247 survived.
In walking around Terzein, it definitely looked more like a town and
not at all like a concentration camp. Strangely, there are many people now
living in the former ghetto, and the site of such suffering. We visited the cemetery where 9000
prisoners were buried in less than a year. There were so many they had to build
a crematorium, which is now a memorial / museum. The ovens were a stark
reminder that these people had their dignity taken from them even in death as
the entire facility was layed out like an assembly line. On the day we went,
someone had put a vase of flowers on the carts used to push the bodies into the
oven. One person in our group was so overcome with emotion that she left the
memorial in tears.
Our next stop was an underground bunker, now also a museum.
It contained replicas of the cheap wooden coffins the victims were buried
in. When they no longer had burial space and the cremations began, the remains
were placed in small paper bags. We also visited the barracks and could see for
ourselves, just how many people could be housed in a small area. We saw
row after row of bunk beds.
Probably one of the most poignant displays were the
artwork created by the prisoners themselves. Most were drawings depicting
everyday life or some attempts to convey how bleak things were for them. There
were also sheets of music with hidden messages, composed right under the Nazis
nose. The messages were written in Hebrew, which looked like musical notes.
The train ride back was much less lively as we all tried to process what we had
seen. We got back to Prague early enough that I could stop in the Vietnamese
restaurant one more time before heading back to my hotel and packing for the
final city on my trip, Krakow.
Link to pictures:
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