Prague (3), Czechia 🇨🇿

Date: 20th August 2023

Travelled: 0 kms in Prague

Visited: Prague

Stayed: Autocamp Hayek, €30, N50.11730, E14.42890

Budget: 90 days @ €91 per day

Our final day in Prague starts just like the others, a #17 tram. Another day in the low 30° according to the weather app. We get off two stops earlier today as it’s a straight walk along Káprova to the Old Town Square in the Staré Mėsto district.

It’s not yet 10 am and the square is teeming with people, looks like everyone’s out early seeking to beat the heat.

Despite the fact so many people are about it’s still easy to get around as the square is huge. The area around the Astronomical Clock pictured below is packed, so we’ll come back later.

Our guide book recommends visiting the Church of Our Lady Before Tÿn. Whilst its twin spires loom over the square you cannot see the front of the church. The church is accessed through an arched walkway passing through the building in front. It’s all a bit odd, but so is its name.

As you can see the exterior is gothic but the interior is very much baroque. Your not supposed to take photos but I stole a couple.

The picture above is taken from the Tÿne Courtyard, which is obviously behind the church and where it gets the unusual name.

Pam spies a street full of tat and things are looking grim. Just in time I remind her its 10 minutes to mid-day and we need to get back to the Astronomical Clock to catch the show.

We set off towards the river and the Jewish Quarter, in the adjoining area called Josefov. It’s only about 500 metres to the Prague Jewish Museum. Our guide book has it listed as one of Prague’s highlights.

It was ridiculously expensive at €18 pp and probably the most confusing and convoluted things we’ve experienced. There are 5 synagogues all within a couple of blocks. The highlights were the Jewish Cemetery and the Spanish Synagogue.

Pictured below the Jewish Ceremonial Hall. Now part of the museum it was where the Burial Society did whatever it was before the deceased were put to rest in the cemetery which is directly behind.

The cemetery is unlike anything we’ve experienced. On a relatively small area there are some 12,000 headstones and more than 100,000 people were buried her from the 1420’s until 1787 when it was closed.

The commentary can be downloaded on your phone and played as we walk. It provided some interesting features found on many of the headstones.

As this is an abridged version of the Jewish Museum let’s move on to the Spanish Synagogue, pictured below co-incidentally with a McLaren noisily passing by. May not look like a synagogue but the two armed security guards are a give away.

From the front it could be an office of some kind.

Whilst the Spanish Synagogue is the newest synagogue in the Jewish quarter it is built on the site of the oldest. It was built in 1867 in what’s referred to as the Spanish Revival Style, hence the many many Moorish patterns in its amazing ornamentation.

So that’s it our visit to Prague is done, we find a wonderful restaurant on the edge of the quarter, enjoying a long late lunch chatting about our day. Eventually we walk off and catch a hot tram back to the Hymer.

As we are about to catch the tram I notice there’s a great view of the Castle from here, so I thought we’d share it with you.