Travels with Russell and Stephen: Tuesday July 28, 2015

Another tour of downtown Prague today. This time we focused on the Old Town area and on Art Nouveau buildings. First stop, however, was in the New Town -- Wenceslas Square where we checked out numerous Art Nouveau buildings including the Hotel Europa and Hotel Central.

Grand Hotel Europa

A neat facade with helmeted warriors and roaring lions, Wenceslas Square

Next we headed toward the Old Town passing through the Powder Gate and into the Old Town Square. My guide book calls the Old Town Square "among the finest public spaces in any city" and from my experience I concur. Tereza called it an "open air architecture museum" and that too is correct as the square is lined with impressive examples of many different architectural styles including Renaissance, Baroque, Art Nouveau, Romanesque and Gothic. The "vibe" of the place reminded me of the Grand Place in Brussels -- lots of people going to and fro whilst others stop to take it all in and still others become part of the square performing music, hawking goods or doing whatever.

Municipal Palace outside entrance to Old Town

Powder Tower (entrance to Old Town)

Architectural style native to Prague -- Cubist.

After looking at the amazing astronomical clock we stopped at Starbucks for quick refreshments. Russell, unfortunately, was not feeling well today. His stomach was acting up but he was a real trooper going with us after Starbucks to the Jewish Quarter and finally to a beer hall called Lokal where we stopped the tour and ate some lunch.

Astronomical clock

How I spent most of the day -- looking up at the extraordinary architecture

Mr. Jan Hus with neo-Classical building, Old Town Square

The cemetery in the Jewish Quarter was particularly interesting as it contained so many headstones there was literally no room to cram any more in. There are over 12,000 headstones and they have all been photographed, catalogued and transcribed. Also, one of the synagogues that we saw is, I believe, the oldest one in Europe. It has been in continuous use since 1270. Amazing.

Jewish cemetery

Another Cubist-style building

The newer streets in this neighborhood include many fine examples of Art Nouveau style buildings of both the French and the Austrian varieties. It was a most interesting day and I am really glad Russell pushed himself to come with because it was nice to share it with him (even if he was kind of grouchy at times! I, of course, was a perfect angel! Hah).

Art Nouveau, French style