Words and photographs: Tina Edward Gunawardhana
With its narrow cobbled streets and gothic spires framing the skyline, Prague or Praha, the capital of Czech Republic is a perfect destination for a romantic getaway or those wishing to immerse themselves in culture and architecture.
Trying to recover after the pandemic and with the aim of luring travellers back to the skies, air travel within Europe has become very affordable. Tickets that were once over £100 flying out of London can now be obtained for less than £50 on sites like www.tryp.com which offers value for money deals. Sky Scanner and Google travel too are useful sites to look for cheap air tickets.
When the option of meeting a friend from Sri Lanka who was travelling through Europe arose, we both decided that Prague with its abundance of scenic sights would be the perfect meeting place.
My first piece of advice is to download the Uber App as it came in very handy to flit from location to location especially in temperatures of -2. Using Uber is a cheaper option as some taxi drivers in Prague are known to rip off customers with higher than average fares. That said, the public transport in Prague is both affordable and convenient. Another tip is to arm yourself with a list of places to visit and mark them on a map, that way you don’t end up walking around aimlessly, unless you have Google maps on your phone.
One of the first places on my list was The Old Town Square. This has been the main marketplace for the city for over 1000 years. The Old Town Square plays host to the Astronomical Clock or Orloj. Affixed on to the walls of the Old Town Hall, this clock has been in operation since 1490. The doorways above the clock open and a procession of 12 mechanical dolls (representing the Apostles) pass by the window.
If you look closely you can also see the Bohemian life scenes painted by Czech artist Josef Manes on the calendar dial below the clock face.
The Old Town square is also home to the Powder Tower which marks the entrance to the Old Town. The dark gothic structure is one of the 13 original city gates and was used to store gunpowder during the 17th century. If you are able to climb up 186 steps you will be rewarded with some stunning views of the city. Also in the locality is the gothic Church of Our Lady before Tyn which was built from the mid 14th to the early 16th centuries. Its interiors are in the Baroque style. The cathedral serves as an extensive gallery of Gothic, Renaissance and Early Baroque works, the most interesting of which include altar paintings by Karel Škréta and the tomb of the astronomer Tycho Brahe. The organ, dating from 1673, is the oldest in Prague. the Church of Our Lady before Tyn was one of the sources of inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castle in Magic Kingdom.
Amidst all of this stands the Jan Hus Monument which is a stone and bronze monument which pays homage to Jan Hus, a respected Czech figure and church reformer who was burnt at the stake a heretic. Jan Hus’ death led to the Hussite Wars, a protestant rebellion against the Roman Catholic Church. Jan Hus is recognised as an icon of strength against oppressors and during the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia, sitting at the foot of the monument was viewed as a symbol of resistance.
Less than a mile away from the Old Town Square and the Vltava River is the Jewish Quarter. This small area known as Josefov, was once a walled Jewish ghetto. The many historical monuments within the area provide a painful reminder of the awful conditions the Jewish people were forced to endure. Particularly striking is the cemetery which is packed with graves and is one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in the world. The earliest tombstone dates back to 1439 while the last burial took place 348 years later. As space was scarce, bodies were buried on top of each other, with graves layered up to 10 deep.
There are about 12,000 tombstones in the cemetery, many decorated with animal and plant motifs.
