Prague: The Magical Medieval City- English
1. Prague: The Magical Medieval City
It took us a while to release this article. Gisela had been bogged down in work at her English teaching job. She has also been busy with graduate school scholarship applications and recovering from a bad flu. Finally, we were able to write this article. Gisela and I made this trip the last weekend of November in 2021. During that fall semester, Gisela studied abroad in Seville, Spain. She took classes entirely in Spanish with Spanish students at the University of Seville. Gisela said that her Spanish improved significantly that semester. Gisela has always been very talented at Spanish from a young age. We explored other European countries during our semester, such as Portugal, Andorra, Gibraltar, France, the Czech Republic, and Poland. We also planned to visit Budapest, Hungary, and Vienna, Austria, during the first week of December. Unfortunately, we had to cancel that trip because Austria was locked down due to the coronavirus pandemic. The girls we planned to go with were also worried about Hungary going into lockdown. Fortunately, Gisela and I got to go to Innsbruck, Austria, in the summer of 2022 when Gisela studied abroad in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Anyway, Gisela and I planned our trip to Prague for four days. One of the days, we did a day trip to Wrocław, Poland (read our epic article about that trip!). Another student from Gisela's study abroad program, Maya, would be in Prague. Due to her and Gisela's different school schedules, she came a day earlier than us and left earlier. We also stayed in different areas but met up to do activities together. On a Friday morning, Gisela and I got up early and left our host family's apartment. Then, we took a Cabify (Spain and Latin America's version of Uber) to the Seville International Airport. Going through security was fast. Then, we boarded our 08:45 flight to Barcelona. We had a massive layover in Barcelona, and our flight to Prague wasn't until 18:20. Since we had not eaten breakfast yet, we ate a fruit cup and drank a strawberry and orange smoothie.
After breakfast, we just walked around because the gate to Prague still needed to be released. We also looked through the duty-free shops. After many long hours of doing that, we ate lunch in the afternoon. We ate the omelet baguette sandwich that our host mom prepared for us. Then we took a nap at the airport. When the information for the gate to Prague was finally released, we went straight to the gate. We waited some more, and Gisela charged her phone. Then the plane to Prague arrived. Gisela also bought some snacks from the vending machine to save for later. We boarded the plane to Prague. There was a delay, and we were desperate to make it to Prague to hang out with Maya. The flight was for two and a half hours. Finally, we landed in Prague, and it was dark outside.
We went to the arrivals section, and Gisela had to show one of the staff members her passport, arrival form, and COVID vaccination card. Then, the man picking us up from the airport waited for us with a sign. Gisela booked an airport transfer on Expedia. Then he took us to the hotel. He was a chatty driver and gave a lot of recommendations for things to see in Prague and even on Czech beer. Then he dropped us off at our hotel. We stayed at the Grand Hotel International. It had Soviet architecture, and it was 3 kilometers away from the Prague Old Town. We checked in and then went to our room to unpack. The room was clean, nicely decorated, and had great city views. Gisela messaged Maya that she arrived at the hotel. Maya said that we could meet up in the Old Town. Since it was far away, we had to take the tram. We waited outside in the cold for the correct tram. Gisela was also figuring out how to buy a tram ticket on the confusing and archaic machine. After she purchased her one-way tram ticket, we waited for the tram. Since we weren't sure when the next time we would eat was, we ate the snacks we bought at the vending machine in Barcelona. Then we rode the tram and got off at the stop in Old Town.
We walked in the frigid cold through the magical Prague Old Town. There were Christmas lights and decorations everywhere. We met with Maya at one of the Christmas markets near the astronomical clock. We walked around the Old Town. The Christmas market itself was closed because of the pandemic. The stands were still there, though. The area was lively, and there were many people out and about. Then Maya bought some hot chocolate at one of the shops selling hot chocolate, mulled wine, and Czech beer. Gisela ordered mulled wine, only to learn it was already sold out. Since dairy drinks gave her stomachaches, Gisela ended up getting Czech beer. The beer was fantastic, but her hands were freezing. The gloves she bought in Spain were not strong enough. Since her most recent meal was just snack food, Gisela said she felt the beer going directly to her head. I told Gisela to take it easy and not feel pressured to finish it fast. We explored the Old Town for quite a while.
We wanted to get a late dinner. However, the restaurants closed at 22:00 due to the pandemic. It was past that since Gisela's flight came late. It was excellent that she got the snack food from the vending machine in Barcelona. After we hung out, it was getting really late. Maya walked to her hotel in the Old Town. Her dad got it for her since she was traveling by herself. Gisela booked a stay at Hotel International because it was cheap. She needed to pay more attention to the distance. She just didn't want to spend a ton of money. That's what happens when you're a college student on a budget! After all, the hotels in the Old Town were more expensive. Since it was too cold to wait for the tram, Gisela took an Uber back to the hotel. Ubers in Prague were so cheap, which was a pleasant surprise! The Uber driver had an excellent song playing in the car. Gisela looked at the title and added it to her Spotify playlist. The song was called "Nije Ljubav To" by Marija Šerifović, a Serbian singer of Romani descent. The title means "this is not love" in Serbian. Gisela was trying to learn some Russian, so that's how she understood the title. Anyway, we went back to the hotel. We got ready for bed since we wanted to get up earlier to see Prague.
We woke up early the next day and bundled up. Then we ate the buffet breakfast at the hotel. We got bread, baked beans, some carrots, and broccoli, and drank orange juice. Breakfast was good! After breakfast, we took the tram to Prague's Old Town again. The Old Town of Prague has been around since the medieval times. It was separated from the outside by a moat and wall connected to the Vltava River. The moat is now covered by some streets, and they are the official boundary of the Old Town and the New Town of Prague (the youngest medieval historic town in Prague). The most well-known places in the Old Town are the Old Town Square and the Astronomical Clock. Across the Vltava River on the other side of the famous Charles Bridge is the Lesser Town of Prague (a historic neighborhood known for the ethnic German population; the nobility also lived there). The Jewish quarter is also surrounded by the Old Town.
So, the Old Town settlement was from the 9th century. Since the 1100s, a market was at the marketplace, and there were also large military gatherings. There was a lot of trade, and the merchants became wealthy. King Wenceslaus I of Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) gave the merchants township privileges. That is how Prague came into existence. Ancient records declare that Prague had 13 gates and a vast moat, resulting in the town's robust defense system. In 1338, the councilors of the Old Town of Prague were granted permission by John of Luxembourg, the King of Bohemia at the time, to buy a house from the noble family Volfin of Kamene and add it to their town hall, the Old Town Hall. Because of the development of commerce and craftsmanship, Prague became a critical European metropole.
When the Bohemian King Charles IV became the Roman Emperor in 1355, Prague garnered much attention during the medieval era. Thus, the town hall was expanded by a stone tower. The city grew, and Charles IV founded the New Town of Prague. He further established the University of Prague in 1348. When 1357 rolled around, Charles IV built the bridge to connect the Old Town to the Lesser Town of Prague. The Prague towns became more connected. In 1689, a great fire destroyed the Old Town, even the Jewish Town. Nonetheless, the towns were reconstructed. In 1784, the four towns of Prague were officially united. They became the Royal Capital City of Prague under one municipal administration. We also visited Josefov, also known as the Jewish Quarter.
It was a former Jewish ghetto where European Jews were before the 19th century (the Jewish emancipation was in the 19th century, and the ghettos were abolished; however, during World War II, the Nazis created a new ghetto system built on terror, torture, and persecution of Jewish people) were confined to and placed under strict regulations. The conditions were harsh, and the Jewish people faced poverty and tight, crowded houses. Jews settled in Prague as early as the 10th century. The first pogrom (violent riot against Jews) was in 1096 during the First Crusade, and they were forced to be within a walled ghetto. In 1262, Přemysl Otakar II granted the Jewish community a degree of self-administration. Then, 1,500 Jews were massacred on Easter Sunday in 1389. That was during a time of significant religious persecution of people who weren't Christians.
The area was prosperous towards the end of the 1500s because Major Mordecai Maisel helped develop the ghetto. In 1850, the Jewish quarter was renamed to Josefstadt, "Joseph's city" in German. It was named after Joseph II, the Holy Roman Emperor who emancipated Jews within the Toleration Edict (extension of religious freedom to non-Christians) in 1781. Thus, Jews were allowed to settle in other parts of Prague. In Josefov, only Orthodox Jews and poorer Jews remained in the quarter. Furthermore, at the beginning of the 20th century, most of the quarter was demolished to imitate the neighborhoods of Paris. Nowadays, Josefov is overbuilt, and we are still determining precisely what the Jewish quarter was like. In the area, you can visit the Jewish Museum in Prague, the Jewish Town Hall, the Old Jewish Cemetery, writer Franz Kafka's birthplace, various synagogues, Pinkas Synagogue (a memorial to Holocaust victims), and the Ceremonial Hall of the Prague Jewish Burial Society.
After visiting Josefov, we wanted to see the famous Prague Castle. We crossed the Vltava River to get to the castle. Walking in the severely cold weather, we admired the beautiful buildings. Prague was so beautiful that even Hilter wouldn't bomb it. We also walked uphill to get to the castle. We got the best views of the buildings with the reddish-orange roofs. Then, we stopped at the Lobkowicz Palace, part of the Prague Castle complex. We visited the Lobkowicz Collections and Museum. We bought our ticket and an audio guide that went along with it. The price was 220 Czech koruna for students (about 9.83 USD). The Lobkowicz Collection was the oldest and largest privately owned art collection in the entire Czech Republic. We saw paintings, books, music sheets, musical instruments, military equipment, and everyday items at the museum.
The House of Lobkowicz has to do with the Czech noble family that dates back to the 14th century and is one of the oldest Bohemian noble families. The first Lobkowiczs were members of the gentry of north-eastern Bohemia in the late 14th century. The family also belongs to the German, Austrian, and Belgian nobility. Lobkowicz Palace was built in the second half of the 16th century by the Czech nobleman Jaroslav of Pernštejn (1528-1569). His Brother, Vratislav of Pernštejn (1530–1582), the chancellor of the Czech Kingdom, finished the palace's construction. Vratislav's Spanish wife, Maria Maximiliana Manrique de Lara y Mendoza, brought the Infant Jesus of Prague statue to the castle because she thought it had healing powers. The statue was later given by Vratislav and Maria Maximiliana's daughter, Polyxena (1566-1642), to the Church of Our Lady Victorious in Prague, which is now a tourist attraction. Polyxena married Zdeněk Vojtěch, the first Prince of Lobkowicz (1568-1628). That is how the Lobkowicz family was affiliated with the palace.
Then, in 1618, the Protestant rebels threw the Catholic Imperial Ministers from the windows of the Prague Castle. On the other hand, the ministers survived the fall and sought refuge inside Lobkowicz Palace. Polyxena protected them from the Protestant rebels. In the next 300 years, the Lobkowicz family was influential and powerful. The palace took a formal role and was the Prague residence for the important noble families that needed to participate in politics and imperial ceremonies. In the case of the seventh Prince, Joseph Franz Maximilian Lobkowicz, he had another residence that he liked more than the palace. Thus, he only used the palace for entertainment purposes. In 1811, the palace usage shifted to being a hospital for wounded soldiers in the war with Napoleon. The palace still belonged to the Lobkowicz family. The only time it didn't was between 1939 and 2002 when the Nazis and then the Communists occupied the property.
What exactly did the Nazis and the Communists do? After World War I and the abolition of hereditary titles in 1918, Maximilian Lobkowicz, the son of the tenth Prince, was supposed Czechoslovakia's First Republic. In 1939, the occupying Nazi forces confiscated the palace, along with all other Lobkowicz family properties. The palace was returned to the family in 1945, only to be confiscated again after the Communist takeover in 1948. For the next forty years, the palace was used for other purposes, including as Communist state offices and as a museum of Czech history. After the Velvet Revolution (the transition from a one-party regime to a democratic one) of 1989 and the fall of the Communist government, President Václav Havel enacted a series of laws that allowed for the restitution of confiscated properties to their respective owners. The palace returned to the ownership of the Lobkowicz family in 2002. After being restored for five years, the palace was opened to the public for the first time as the Lobkowicz Palace Museum. The museum also regularly hosts classical music concerts.
After visiting this informative museum, we went to Golden Lane, a street part of the Prague Castle complex. The street was named after the goldsmiths who lived there historically. Golden Lane had cute houses in bright colors that were actually painted in the 1950s. I thought they were much older! Many houses are now souvenir shops and a small museum of medieval armor exists. You must pay a fee to go to Golden Lane, which is part of Prague Castle. Gisela and I got our ticket to the Basilica, the Golden Lane, and the St. Vitus Cathedral. It was 250 Czech Koruna per adult (11.17 USD). We got to see exciting places on Golden Lane, such as a defense corridor, the gallery of medieval armor, a shop of Czech wooden products, and antique shops.
We also got to see the toy museum. The price for the toy museum was 120 Czeck koruna (5.36 USD) for the reduced price (students and seniors). The museum had traditional Czech toys, historical toys from around the world from the 1700s to the 1900s, toy vehicles, toys of famous cartoon characters, teddy bears, musical toys, building blocks, and Barbie dolls. It was enjoyable seeing this museum! It contrasted nicely with history lessons at the Lobkowicz Palace, the Golden Lane, and Josefov.
After seeing that museum, we went to the best part of Prague Castle: the St. Vitus Cathedral! It is officially called The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslaus, and Adalbert. It is a Catholic metropolitan cathedral in Prague and the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. Until 1997, the cathedral was dedicated only to Saint Vitus and is still commonly named the St. Vitus Cathedral. Like Notre-Dame de Paris and the Cologne Cathedral, this cathedral is a prominent example of Gothic architecture and the largest and most important church in the Czech Republic. The cathedral is at the seat of Prague Castle. It has the tombs of many medieval Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors. The tallest tower is 102.8 meters high (337 feet). You can go up the stairs to get to the top. The history of St. Vitus Cathedral is almost as old as Prague Castle itself (Prague Castle dates back to the 9th century).
Wenceslas I, the Duke of Bohemia, built the cathedral's first sanctuary in 930. It was the third church built at Prague Castle. Wenceslas was also buried there. However, the church was destroyed by Prince Spytihnev after 1060 and replaced by a new Romanesque basilica. That basilica did not last long there. Kings John of Luxembourg and later Charles IV started building an enormous Gothic cathedral. The design of the new cathedral was done by French architect Matthias of Arras, who was inspired by classical French cathedrals. After he died in 1356, Petr Parler continued building the cathedral. Since he wanted to be original, Parler tried to create a monument that would not copy other cathedrals. Some of his ideas were very advanced. Until his death, he managed to build the east part of the cathedral and the low floors of the Bell Tower. His sons later finished the Bell Tower. There were many attempts to finish the cathedral in the next few centuries. It was finally completed in the 20th century by the Union for Completion of the Cathedral of St. Vitus. We saw the inside of this picturesque cathedral and took the spiral staircase to the top. Although the climb was intense, it was a great workout. We got some of the best views of Prague!
After seeing Prague Castle, we decided to get lunch. Gisela pulled up Happy Cow on her phone, an app that shows vegetarian and vegan-friendly restaurants in the vicinity based on your current location. We found a vegan restaurant within walking distance. We had to cross the bridge back into the central Old Town. The name of the restaurant was Forky's. It was also freezing, so it was nice to warm up inside. Gisela and I ordered the lentil rolls, and we also got a chocolate cake to go (as breakfast for the following day before going to Poland). Lunch was delicious, and it was nice that Prague had vegan food. When I think of Central Europe, I usually don't think it will be vegan-friendly.
After we ate, we walked around the Old Town. We were getting a lot of Christmas vibes, being the end of November. We also wanted to try a traditional Czech dessert. We went to a shop called Sweet Dreams (we found it on Happy Cow), and it was known for trlndnik, Czech and Hungarian cake made with layers of dough or batter in a cylindrical shape. The dough is baked rotisserie style. The dough can have different sweet fillings. We got ours with strawberry jam because that was entirely vegan. It was one of the best desserts I have ever eaten! After we ate, we took the tram back to our hotel to rest for a bit. We would meet Maya in the Old Town that evening to see a classical music concert. We relaxed for a bit and warmed ourselves up. Then we retook the tram to the Old Town. While we waited for Maya, we saw the Prague Astronomical Clock.
This clock was built during the 15th century. The clock was designed 200 years before people knew the Earth rotated around the sun. On the clock, you could see that the Earth was surrounded by orange, black, green, and blue, representing the day's four phases (dusk, night, dawn, and day). The sun moved around the Earth and floated above the four colors. Although the part with the sun wasn't accurate, the moon cycle was. Then we met up with Maya and walked to the Clementinum Mirror Chapel for the concert. The concert had music by Pachelbel, Mozart, and Vivaldi. The concert hall was gorgeous. We scanned our tickets and showed the staff our vaccine cards when we entered. Then, we sat in our assigned seats. The concert had incredible music that was nicely played. It was great going to Prague to see a classical music concert!
After the concert, we decided to get dinner together. Since Gisela and I were vegan and Maya was vegetarian, we decided to go somewhere with many options. Sadly, traditional Czech restaurants were heavily meat-based. On Happy Cow, Gisela found a restaurant called Zebra. It had international food, and there were lots of vegetarian and vegan options. Gisela and I got red curry tofu, and Gisela got a strawberry daiquiri. Maya also got a vegetarian dish, and she got hot tea. We also got a bowl of edamame to share. We had fun chatting about what we did in Prague. We also talked about our lives studying abroad in Spain and our other travels. The food was fabulous, though I would have liked the red curry tofu dish to be more spicy. After dinner, we walked around some more. Then, we decided to head our separate ways. Gisela and I had to get up early to go to Poland the next day, and Maya had her flight back to Spain. She would see a few more places in Prague and then fly back. We took the tram back to our hotel. Then we got ready for bed to go to Poland.
Gisela and I have already released a separate article on Poland. You should definitely give it a read because it's intense! Anyway, after the epic day in Poland, we woke up the following day to return to Spain. We ensured we had everything and ate our last breakfast at the hotel. We checked out and took an Uber to the airport. The driver back was also chatty but less talkative than the one who took us from the airport to the hotel. Then we went through security and got another coffee at the airport. We also bought chocolate for our host family. The plane to Barcelona was delayed because of the snow. After a stressful day in Poland and freaking out about being stuck in Poland, we were worried about being stuck in the Czech Republic and Gisela not being able to make it to her classes the next day. Luckily, the plane arrived and thawed its wings.
Then we flew to Barcelona. Since we had another extensive layover, we relaxed at the airport. We also got lunch from Burger King. Burger King in Spain had more plant-based options than the US. The one in Spain had plant-based chicken sandwiches and plant-based burgers. After lunch and getting bored at the airport, we finally flew back to Seville. Then we took a Cabify back to our host family's apartment. The driver kept talking about how Gisela had the body of an athlete. Gisela was very uncomfortable. The driver said she should be proud of it and do more sports. After dropping us off, our host family welcomed us with dinner. That was our adventure in Prague.
Prague was one of my favorite places I have visited. Prague was beautiful and safe, with many fascinating historical sites. Prague had such a rich history. The people were also polite, direct, and welcoming. It was also a walkable city, and the public transportation was easy. Prague was also cheap, especially compared to Western European countries. I would return to the Czech Republic to see more of Prague and other Czech cities. After all, there is more to this fascinating country than just Prague. Gisela and I would revisit Prague in the warmer months because it was pretty cold in November. Even in the winter, it still has rewarding experiences, such as beautiful snow and Christmas markets. I am rambling too much about Prague now. I miss it so much! Okay, now I need to make Gisela sleep because sleeping will help her recover from the flu.
Comments
Post a Comment