The Golden City

Whether you know Prague as the 'Golden City' or as the 'City of Spires' – or simply one of Europe's cheapest beer locations, it doesn't disappoint! Matthew and I certainly thought that this quiet little “town” was the best of all of the places on our Europe trip – Find out why!



Prague is a large city with a concentrated historical center that was originally made up of four townships before being amalgamated into one in what we could call fairly 'recent' times… The city has been under many different countries controls, including being a part of the former Soviet block. The country is still being rebuilt and restored to its former glory as the historical buildings had been left mostly abandoned during the Communist era.

Now, normally I am completely against stupid advertising, however – Matthew and I stayed at an AWESOME hotel… not a great, not a wonderful – but the best hotel while we were there – Anges Hotel. It was located on the outward fringe of the old Jewish quarter which once existed just outside the city's protective walls and had better service than even the fancy Fairmonts that we've occasionally stayed in back home.

The first day, we left Prague, or Praha in chek, and went out to the town of: Kutna Hora. The town, back around the 1300/1400s was the second most important town, aside from Prague, as it contained extensive silver and cooper mines and had luck of also having a mint. The town now has only 11,000 residents but there are magnificent cathedrals which were built during Czech Republic's golden age <– as a bad joke, maybe I should have called it the silver age?

St. Barbara Cathedral (circa 13th century):
This was one of my favourite cathedrals of Europe – it was beautiful… in a simple way and you can tell it revolved around the town's life of mining (some fresco's depict it even on the walls of one of the chapels)

Sedlec Ossuary Bone Church:
The church dates from the 18^th century, although the bone artwork was carried out by a half-blind monk in the 19^th century. It is estimated that up to 40,000 people are remember through his artwork, but apparently any unused bones were reburied… it was a little crazy.. neat, unusual.. but crazy weird!

The next day, we did a 6 hour city walking tour – you can only imagine how many photos Matt took… but here again are a few of my favourites :)

Prague Castle – the castle took a 1000 years to complete, with the towering Gothic cathedral taking almost 500 years… it took so long, that the church was only finished at the beginning of the 20th century! It is made from Sandstone and the black is just the oxidizing of the stone, in another couple hundred years, the stone will be even more black.

Church of our Lady Victorious:
This is a church dedicated to a wax statue, originally brought to Prague from Spain, that is believed to have healing powers. It is a popular place for Catholics to come on a pilgrimage  Even the a couple of Popes have prayed here. It was interesting, but the statue was small… like a mini-priest complete with pose. The clothes are changed 10 times a year which is supposed to synify that Jesus is closer to us as we also change our garments.

Charles Bridge:
Most photographed bridge in Prague.. and for hundreds of years – the only bridge in Prague. There is also a city gate at one end, originally a gate into one of the four towns. See the Tourists?

John Lennon Wall:
This wall symbolizes the concept of free speech and started shortly after John Lennon was assassinated – fans put a picture on this wall.. very illegal in the communist era. The police painted over it only for it to be replaced again before the next morning. It was like this back and forth for many years and it is the only place in Prague (even today) where it is legal to tag anything you want… Say anything you want!

Easter Markets:
As it was the week before Easter, there were fun Easter Markets in various squares through the old town and they sold arts and crafts, traditional food, and had local entertainments.

:)
M&M