Unless you count Istanbul (and I don't), Prague was my first introduction to Eastern Europe. And by Eastern Europe, I mean Central Europe. Our couchsurfing host in Prague corrected us, and apparently Prague isn't Eastern Europe at all. It's Central Europe. Close enough for me.
Prague was absolutely gorgeous. One of my favorite cities yet. Prague escaped WWII with very little damage (in fact, the only bomb dropped on Prague was dropped by an American plane who's pilot thought they were actually bombing Dresden...eeh…thank goodness we have GPS now) so the buildings are amazingly well preserved. In fact, Prague's entire history is pretty incredible, and i could spend weeks or months in the city just figuring it out. The Czech Republic is situated in one of those places on the planet that always seems to be in turmoil due to pressure from the countries around it. One of our Czech guides explained to us how in the 1920's the Czech government anticipated the aggression that was coming from Germany at the end of the first World War, so began a 40 year project strengthening the border between the two countries What they could not anticipate, however, would be Germany conquering Poland so quickly (our guide also explained how the German army attacked Poland with tanks, and the Polish army, instead of surrendering, counterattacked on horseback. In his words, "they were so f**king defeated." - said with a smile.) and so Czech was not only invaded from the North through Poland, but also from the East by Slovakia, who saw an opportunity to seize a bit of land.
WWII was a hard time in Prague, especially for the Jews. They were moved into the ghetto, were stripped of everything they owned and after about two years, many were sent to Auschwitz. After the war, not much improved - the Jewish museum we visited told of Jews being allowed to return home, only to find that their house had been 'given' to another family, and they had no ownership rights to ask that family to move out. The anti-semetism continued all the way through the 1980's, until the Communist government fell and laws were finally passed ensuring equal rights.
Prague was absolutely gorgeous. One of my favorite cities yet. Prague escaped WWII with very little damage (in fact, the only bomb dropped on Prague was dropped by an American plane who's pilot thought they were actually bombing Dresden...eeh…thank goodness we have GPS now) so the buildings are amazingly well preserved. In fact, Prague's entire history is pretty incredible, and i could spend weeks or months in the city just figuring it out. The Czech Republic is situated in one of those places on the planet that always seems to be in turmoil due to pressure from the countries around it. One of our Czech guides explained to us how in the 1920's the Czech government anticipated the aggression that was coming from Germany at the end of the first World War, so began a 40 year project strengthening the border between the two countries What they could not anticipate, however, would be Germany conquering Poland so quickly (our guide also explained how the German army attacked Poland with tanks, and the Polish army, instead of surrendering, counterattacked on horseback. In his words, "they were so f**king defeated." - said with a smile.) and so Czech was not only invaded from the North through Poland, but also from the East by Slovakia, who saw an opportunity to seize a bit of land.
WWII was a hard time in Prague, especially for the Jews. They were moved into the ghetto, were stripped of everything they owned and after about two years, many were sent to Auschwitz. After the war, not much improved - the Jewish museum we visited told of Jews being allowed to return home, only to find that their house had been 'given' to another family, and they had no ownership rights to ask that family to move out. The anti-semetism continued all the way through the 1980's, until the Communist government fell and laws were finally passed ensuring equal rights.
Our host in Prague, was eleven when the revolution happened. It was interesting to hear her talk about what she remembered, how school changed for her - before she was eleven she was required to learn Russian, and after the revolution, English. She remembered the first time she was allowed to leave the country, and how it was exciting to see a store with many different kinds of soap. She bought some and brought it back home to Prague for her mother as a gift. What an interesting change that must have been. Prague has certainly come a long way. We spent hours and hours wandering through the old streets, noticing the small signs of the past governments. We walked back and forth across the Charles Bridge, reading information about the saints that had their statues there. Seems like it was really easy to become a saint a thousand years ago. I spent a couple hours exploring the castle, the largest in Europe, and where 'Good King Wenceslas' is buried.
We went one night with our host to the park high above the city and sat in a beer garden with an amazing view of the city lights and the river. We tried as many different kinds of beer that we could find, even taking an expensive microbrewery tour, where our guide very proudly explained why Czech beer was the best in the world. "Much better than German." We ate loads of pork - braised, smoked, roasted, cured...and potatoes, bread and cabbage. Might not sound too exciting, but I think that the food in Prague might be my favorite yet. The meat was always perfectly cooked and salty, the potatoes a little greasy and the cabbage nice and sour. Perfect combination.
I was sad to leave the city. Between our amazing host, the delicious food and drink, the beautiful architecture and the fascinating history, Prague could have kept my attention for a long time to come, and was the perfect place to energize my slightly low travel-battery. Someday I'll come back and explore it further when I have a little bit more time. Right now, Steph and I are on a train on our way to Austria, where we will meet up with one of the friends I made while traveling last year. It's nice to be on a train again, though we unfortunately happened to sit next to a group of eight twenty-something American boys. Luckily I'm carrying my ipod and a pair of sound-blocking earphones.
-EC
We went one night with our host to the park high above the city and sat in a beer garden with an amazing view of the city lights and the river. We tried as many different kinds of beer that we could find, even taking an expensive microbrewery tour, where our guide very proudly explained why Czech beer was the best in the world. "Much better than German." We ate loads of pork - braised, smoked, roasted, cured...and potatoes, bread and cabbage. Might not sound too exciting, but I think that the food in Prague might be my favorite yet. The meat was always perfectly cooked and salty, the potatoes a little greasy and the cabbage nice and sour. Perfect combination.
I was sad to leave the city. Between our amazing host, the delicious food and drink, the beautiful architecture and the fascinating history, Prague could have kept my attention for a long time to come, and was the perfect place to energize my slightly low travel-battery. Someday I'll come back and explore it further when I have a little bit more time. Right now, Steph and I are on a train on our way to Austria, where we will meet up with one of the friends I made while traveling last year. It's nice to be on a train again, though we unfortunately happened to sit next to a group of eight twenty-something American boys. Luckily I'm carrying my ipod and a pair of sound-blocking earphones.
-EC
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