The Beautiful Sights of Prague

Prague is incredibility beautiful and picturesque with a mix of architecture, a beautiful river running through the city with several medieval bridges, flowers everywhere, narrow meandering streets and a display of art all over.  Not only is it a feast for your eyes, its literally music for your ears. Numerous concerts are held each night and you can hear the music as you wonder through the city.wenceslas-square.jpgThis is Wenceslas Square, which is actually a wide boulevard, is lined with picturesque buildings.

Charles Bridge is a beautiful 500 yard walk across the river.charles-bridge.jpg The bridge is pedestrian only and a treat as you stroll across it. There are numerous artists and craftspeople set up on the bridge, so you can have your portrait painted or buy an interesting hand crafted item. Since I love unusual jewelry, I bought a few pieces on my strolls across the river and they were very reasonably priced at a few dollars, better by far than the prices in the stores. 

Crossing the Charles Bridge during the day, we saw wonderful views of the other bridges across the river and all the buildings with their red tiled roofs, as well as the Prague Castle, sitting on a hill above the bridge. These photos castle-from-charles-bridge.jpg the-old-mill.jpgare veiws from the bridge – Prague Castle and the cathedral, the old mill, Little Quarter at the other side of the bridge, and crossing the bridge. little-quarter.jpg crossing-charles-bridge.jpg

We walked back one night to see the city with its lights. We could also hear the music from a concert on the banks of the river.

The Prague Castle looks down on the city. Inside the castle walls is a medieval cathedral, St. Vitus Cathedral which is very gothic looking. After going inside the cathedral, I immediately dropped my jaw in awe at the size and beauty. I joined a line, not knowing what it was for, but assumed it was for something interesting. It was a line to go to the top of the cathedral tower – all 287 steps, round and round and round to the top. This is not for the faint of heart, and I was on the verge of turning back a few times, but being determined not to give up, I made it to the top. And it was worth every step to see a full 360 degree breathtaking view of the city.view-from-tower-2.jpg

If you love shoes (and I do), then you would love this giant shoe. shoe-sculpture.jpgIt is by Jean-Jacques Ory and is part of the Festival of Scultpures that was going on. Inside the shoe is a painted replica of Venus from “The Birth of Venus”. I guess she liked shoes also.

One of the most popular gathering spots for tourists is at the Astronomical Clock, which does an elaborated show on the hour. The clock, which is the top circle, is very complex and gives several versions of time with revolving disks and sweeping hands.astronomical-clock.jpg 

Prague has so many restaurants and pubs.  And if you like beer, this is the place to go. Czech beer is very good, and even better, is at very good prices – between $1.25 and $2.00, depending on where you go.The food is very good also, especially away from high tourist areas.

Of course, we had to find the Lennon Wall. It was close to the Charles Bridge, but difficult to find. We had to ask directions numerous times, almost every 50 feet (these are all winding little cobblestone streets). It was really a perk in communicating that everyone spoke English. This picture is a small section of the large wall, which was painted with memorial graffiti when John Lennon was killed. It symbolized hope and freedom when they were under communist rule.

lennon-wall.jpg

With all the flowers throughout the city and in window boxes, there had to be flower shops.  We saw many of them, of which this is one.flower-store.jpg

As I said in my post yesterday, you had to look – up, down, front and sideways so as not to miss anything, like this view of a restaurant down an alley.restaurant-down-alley.jpg

This is just one of the many beautiul buildings througout Prague.  building-on-town-square.jpg

I hope you enjoyed my photo’s of Prague. If you ever get a chance to visit this city, go for it!