Prague, the old city

We had a 2 minute version of Czech history. The Czech kingdom was formed in the 9th century and lasted until the formation of Czechoslovakia in 1918. There were two kings of note: King Wenceslaus from the 10th century who is the patron saint of the country and King Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, who built the Charles Bridge, the cathedral and started the first university. From 1500 until 1918 the Czechs were part of the Hapsburg Empire.

We started out tour in the Prague Castle with its three courtyards. Hard to believe, but the guard at the entrance to the castle has a uniform that was designed in the 1990's by a movie costume designer. The castle today houses the office of the President of the Republic. The most beautiful part of this area was St. Vitus Cathedral, the back half of the church was built between 1344 and 1420. At the time it had its own entrance, called the Golden Gate. The church was restarted around 1870 and completed in 1929 in the exact style of the original medieval church. It's hard to tell where one part ends and the other begins. The front façade is quite ornate and appears to be medieval. The church has many fantastic stained glass windows from the early 1900s and one famous painted glass window created by Mucha.



Painted Glass by Mucha



In the first courtyard of the castle, the main gates have fighting giants from Greek mythology. The courtyard is surrounded by what were elegant houses of the aristocrats. One in particular has interesting geometric patterns formed by black plaster, covered with a brown plaster, and then the brown is cut away to form the patterns. From the courtyard we could see down into "lesser town" and up to a miniature version of the Eiffel tower. It was particularly beautiful with the trees in their fall colors.

We then walked to the old town area beginning in what used to be the Jewish Quarter. Created in the 12th century it used to be surrounded by walls. In 1780, the Hapsburg king gave the right of citizenship to the Jews, which allowed them to leave the quarter. This area then became an impoverished area, the buildings were torn down, and rebuilt in the 1800's and today, it is a high rent area.

Old Town Square and Tyn Church

Our guide, Pavla, explained that he and his wife own a 800 square foot flat in the city. Cost is $700-800 per month for rent or about $200K to buy. Typical salaries in the city are about $1300/mo. We continued on to the Old Town Square. Here is St. Nicholas church built in the 1700's with its white facade and green roof as well as the Tyn Church built in the 1300's. I walked around the church and never found a front entrance, they must have been behind some of the restaurants built right in front of the church. The major attraction of the square is the astronomical clock on the Town Hall Tower. The clock was created in 1410 and then the builder was blinded to avoid him building another clock. On the hour the 12 apostles appear in the two windows above the clock and the figures make minor moments like ringing a small bell. Below the main clock is a second dial with the day, a picture representing the month, and the sign of the zodiac. We had lunch off the square, a good Czech meal with beer.

In the afternoon, we toured the countryside. This is a large agricultural area with either flat land or at most, rolling hills. We stopped at the village of Nosalov founded in the 13th century. The unique aspect of the village is the homes built in the late 1800s with their pine timbers and plaster. Then it was off to have another Czech dinner with potato soup and pork roast mixed with lots of beer. We had a Czech dance exhibition, followed by some polka instruction, and finally we got to dance both polka and more traditional ballroom dances. With all the beer and wine flowing freely, we all had a good time.