Three Days In Prague

Prague is a lovely city, not too crowded, with plenty of history and culture to experience. 

Day 1

We started with a walking tour in the Old Town and Jewish Ghetto. 

We met our guide under one of the two gates remaining that lead into the Old Town of Prague, where there are plazas, churches, a clock tower, and a university.  

We first saw Charles University, founded by King Charles IV. In Prague, you can get free education until the age of 26, as long as you speak Czech fluently! I think my parents are going strongly encourage me to learn Czech now!! 

One of the main attractions in Prague is the Astronomical Clock, next to Town Hall. This clock has been working for hundreds of years and still accurately reads the time, moon, seasons, and more. 

We next went to the Jewish Ghetto, which is where Jews in Prague were forced to live because they were not welcome in the Old Town. Since the 1300s, Jews were forced to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothes and be confined to one area. During WWII, Hitler and his troops did not destroy the city of Prague at all because he loved it here; this is why there are many beautiful buildings that are centuries old. He dreamt that he would win the war and then travel back to Prague often. Thank goodness that didn’t happen.

Instead of destroying the city, he began to remove an estimated 80,000 Jews from Prague. The Jews knew that they would be taken away and did not want their furniture, clothes, and possessions to be stolen, so they brought them to the synagogues. They hoped the synagogues would be able to keep their possessions safely until they could retrieve them after the war. Sadly, almost all of the Jews in Prague would never come back. Today, their possessions are still in the synagogues and on display for all to see. There is no single museum of Jewish History in Prague, instead multiple synagogues have different exhibits and welcome everyone to visit. 

We ended our tour by crossing over Charles Bridge, one of the most iconic and famous bridges in the world because it was the only bridge that connected the Old Town to adjacent areas in Prague back in the day; it was used daily and very important in daily life. 

On the other side of the bridge is the John Lennon Wall, where many musicians and fans came to play and sing his songs upon hearing the news that he died in NYC. There was once a painting of his face on the wall, but unfortunately it has become covered with graffiti and stickers. Now this is Prague's most Instagrammable place! 

Day 2

We took a tour of the famous UNESCO site, Prague Castle. There is not just one castle, but many buildings and churches that together make it the largest castle complex in the world! This castle is smack-dab in the middle of the city; you can see it from almost everywhere! We toured the St. Vitus Cathedral, Dungeon, and many important rooms that make up this complex. 

DAY 3

On our last day in Prague, we went back to the Jewish Ghetto to see the Old New Synagogue, which is the oldest operating synagogue in the world, to visit the cemetery where over 12,000 Jews who lived in Prague are buried, and to visit Pinkas Synagogue. 

The Pinkas Synagogue has a memorial and an exhibit within it. The memorial consists of several rooms where the names of the Jews from Prague who were killed during WWII are hand painted on walls. There are more than 80,000 names written on the walls. They are teeny-tiny in size, and the rooms are ginormous. It must have taken forever to paint those names. While the rooms were big and bright, the vibe was very depressing and sad.

Upstairs, there is an exhibit of children's drawings, all of which were drawn during WWII. They were based on the children's perspectives. While these drawings show their families, friends, and soldiers, they represent  hope, innocence, fear. It was really heartbreaking and tear-jerking to see what everybody went through during this terrible time in history.  

Prague is a city where I wasn’t expecting much, and honestly, I was not looking forward to coming here. I ended up loving it though, because of the history, people, language, and vibe. I would love to come back one day!