Prague was a surprise. Its endless narrow winding cobbled streets, large bright squares and stunning architecture had me walking for hours and loving every step. A day was never going to be enough and I found myself being pulled onto the next sight as time was ticking.
One thing that I noticed about Prague was the number of clocks; every street seemed to have a clock either fixed to a wall or perched on top of a post, and they were all working perfectly, in fact you could set you watch by them. But all the clocks in Prague couldn’t compare to the famous Astronomical Clock that was first installed in 1410, making it the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world and the only one still working. I arrived minutes before one of its regular performances and I’m glad to say I ticked that off my looooong to-do list.
High up on my to-do list, and at the end of a very high hill, was Prague castle. To get there I had to leave the Old Town and cross the Vltava river to get to the Lesser Town to begin my assent to the castle. Lesser Town dates back to 1257 and spreads out over the slopes below the Prague castle. I crossed the river by the Charles bridge, a historic stone bridge from the 14th century. The walk to the castle, again, amazing. It was like stepping back in time, the buildings were ancient but perfectly preserved and maintained. The views from the castle were stunning and I took some time to savour the sights and a local brew before descending the sloops again.
Before reaching the river I happened to pass the Church of Our Lady of Victory, the home of the Child of Prague. This had a special significance for me because in Ireland some brides would place a Child of Prague statue outside their house the night before their wedding to ensure fair weather for the wedding day. I entered the church in the hope of seeing this famous statue and, after walking around the interior for some time, I finally spotted it embedded in the most extravagantly decorated alter. The original statue is tiny, and totally dwarfed by the opulently decorated giant cabinet that surrounds it. While I was staring at the statue I didn’t notice a groups of a dozen or so people file into the church and gather in front of the statue. I became acutely aware of the them when they broke into the first decade of the rosary with gusto…
After slipping out of the church I crossed the Vltava again and walked through the Jewish quarter and visited the Jewish cemetery before heading back to my hotel, dinner and bed.
Tomorrow I planned on visiting the Pilsner Urquell Brewery in Pilsen (the first pilsner beer in the world) before entering Germany to look over Hitlers’ rally grounds in Nurnberg and finally Stuttgard!!