Czech Republic 3 - how on earth did we miss the Jewish quarter?

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The castle is the official residence and office of the president of the Czech Republic and we saw his guard protecting the palace. Similar to the guards on San Marino they stood rock solid still even when people stood at the side of them taking silly photographs of themselves saluting. Not a grin crossed their face. They looked grey. From the palour of their skin to the moleskin grey of their uniforms. All that seemed missing was a large Russian style ceremonial hat and they would have looked the part .

We walked through the gates into the castle courtyard around which was built the Baroque palace which housed the parliament and residency and the payment desks. We parted with 700 crowns which gave us access to the castle, the church, Golden Lane and the museum of torture and warfare.

The castle dates back to the ninth century and has been the seat of power for kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emporers and presidents. We started our tour at the church which was pretty impressive on the outside. There were queues to get in and we joined the back. Inside it was plainer with high vaulted ceilings, heavily ornate stained glass windows and a clerestory of plain glass which let in a great deal of light to the white interior. To the sides were the usual array of confessional boxes and baroque chapels. Modern stained glass was as pretty as a picture in some of the chapels but our photographs did them no justice whatsoever. Walking behind the altar we saw one tomb made completely from silver but were not able to take decent photographs. Whilst I am not David Bailey my camera is acting up and has a mark on the lens. At first I thought it was outside and scrubbed it within an inch of its life but it appears to be a fine hair or dusty partical stuck to the inside of the lens. This now means all my photographs have a black smudge on them.

We went into Vladislav Hall and saw the the large empty white space. Not a bit of furniture nor any fittings. From this large room we entered another which held the crown jewels, glittery bling with huge baubles set in the crown. The jewels were large garish rubies, diamonds and emeralds all set in the brightest gold you could ever imagine. Unlike any modern crow which are heavy these were lighter and prettier in a way. Again our photographs were poor as they were behind glass which reflected the light. We later found out that we had to pay a licence fee to take photos so we had to stop taking them sadly. To the tower and off with heads.


We only managed a few and luckily before we realised our mistake we managed to take some of the Vladislav Hall whose history stretches back to the year 870 when Vratislav and his son St Wenceslas founded the basilica . The hall was empty a big echoing space all white and clinical but with fantastic views of the city and river below. Huge pot storage heaters filled corners of the rooms. Central heating medieval style. Other rooms were painted but all relatively empty of furniture and fittings. One had banners painted on the wall and these were impressive. We walked down Golden Lane with its museum of torture full of the instruments of battle , swords, guns, gory implements for inflicting pain. Along Golden Lane were medieval apothecary shops which had been kitted out as if the apothecaries were still practicing. The rooms were tiny, one room with table, chairs and bed. Homely but small. It must have been a thriving hive of activity in its day.

The final palace was the home of a gentlewoman and comprised of her chapel with fittings, her bedroom completed with bed and chamber pot and a wonderful tapestry on the wall which did not depict Biblical scenes but coats of arms.

By this time we had decided we had seen enough. Not the most interesting of castles, the museum and church were probably the best part so we headed back down the knee jerking, hamstring pulling cobbled hill back to the Charles Bridge. Which by this time was heaving with walkers and artisan workers showing their wares. Pictures of Prague old and new, metal headbands and hair jewellery. The bridge must have groaned with the weight of bodies on it.

We missed the 11.00 and the 12 noon appearance of Death as we got back too late for one and were sitting eating our lunch a goulash stew with a mixture of breads in a pretty hotel restaurant with tables spilling out into the street. The only difference here between the Czech Republic and Italy is that they needed calor gas heaters to warm the air around the tables as there was little or no sun today.

We sadly missed the Jewish quarter. Walking down we found it . That was the easy part. Heaving with people, queues down the street for the synagogue and the cemetery. We hate queues and decided to only visit the cemetery. Shock horror the cost 300 crowns each and we only had 500 between us. The choice walk all the way back up town, find a bank or exchange bureau, get some crowns and walk back to the queues or give up and go home.

The choice was made. The walk back was long, they wouldn’t take credit cards so we gave up and walked to the tram stop and worked out the time of the connection we needed for the bus. This was crucial as the buses ran hourly. The bus we needed either stopped at the village which meant a walk to the campsite or we made sure we caught the right one which stopped outside the campgates. We needed to judge how long it would take for the tram to get to Modrany which would be 25 minutes. And keep an eye on our ticket which once validated on the tram lasted for 120 minutes. If we went over the 2 hours we would have to buy two more tickets for the journey from Modrany to the campsite. Counting the stops on the tram we got confused counting . 14 on the way in - 11 on the way back. We alighted at Modrany and waited for our connection. The bus driver shouted at me for validating my ticket again. Must remember validate it once he said He stopped his bus in the next village to our stop and had a cigarette. After his comfort break he got back on again and we sat watching the landmarks finally seeing our bus stop we got off and felt highly delighted to have negotiated both the Czech bus and tram service.

Not a bad night, had my final swim in my own personal swimming pool and my shower in a heated room with underfloor heating. Picked up brown and white bread rolls for tea and spent the night reading. Secrets from the Tudor Court one of the many stories about Henry VIII and Ann Boleyn.

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Photos

All we saw of the jewish quarter
ah well they say you should still leave something so that you can go back

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Boring
Honestly I would go crazy in this job.