Prague, Czech Republic: (14 pictures) – Days 21 and 22


Inside the Spanish Synagogue -  Prague has a great Jewish museum.  It's actually set up so that you walk all around the Jewish Quarter, named Josefov, and visit a bunch of different areas all significant to Jewish history in the city.  This is a picture of the prettiest synagogue interior in Prague.




Jewish Cemetary - This was another stop in Josefov for Prague's Jewish Museum.  Between the 14th and the 18th Centuries, 20,000 graves were dug in 12 layers in this small area.  That's why the headstones are jammed so close to each other.



Old New Synagogue -  This is actually the oldest synagogue in all of Europe, dating back to the 1200s.  It was very small and unimpressive from the inside.



Vltava River and Castle - The castle in Prague is not really a castle, or at least it doesn't look like a traditional castle.  It's more just the yellow buildings surrounding the St. Vitas Cathedral at the top of the picture, but still at least parts of it are about 1,000 years old.



Inside St. Vitus Cathedral - This church took over 600 years to build and was only finished in 1929.



Prague from top of St. Vitus Cathedral - Prague didn't really turn out to be as great as I imagined it would be, but I definitely don't regret going to see it.  Here is my usual "city as seen from above" picture.



St. Vitus Cathedral -  The church is located entirely within the walls of Prague Castle.  It is beautiful from the outside and dominates the city skyline.



Wenceslas Square and National Museum - This is one of Prague's main streets.  It leads from the National Museum at the top of the picture near the train station to the center of Old Town Prague.  Wenceslas Square is actually the name of the whole street.



Tyn Church and Old Town Square - This is the main square in Prague.  The Disneylike castle building is the Tyn Church.  The tower in the front of the picture is the Astronomical Clock which is part of the Old Town Hall.



Astronomical Clock -  This clock is over 500 years old, but was very advanced for its age.  I still can't really figure it out, but I know it shows times of sunrise and sunset, the current stage of the moon, and a couple different versions of the time.  Every hour when it would ring, the windows above the clock opened up and a parade of the apostles would move by.  This picture was taken at that time.  You can see the big crowd of people watching and the apostles in the windows.



Charles Bridge and Castle - The Charles Bridge is the most famous bridge in Prague.  It's on the right side of the picture.  The castle with the St. Vitus Cathedral is in the background.



Plague Monument and Castle -  This is another picture dominated by the St. Vitus Cathedral, but also includes the Plague Monument in the lower right corner, which was right outside the Church of St. Nicholas.



Charles Bridge - The Charles Bridge connects Old Town Prague to Prague Castle across the river.  It's famous for all of the statues that line it.  The bridge was built over 600 years ago.



Black Light Theatre Box Office - I had read about black light theatre in my guidebook and how you can only see it in Prague, so I decided that I should check it out.  It was a very interesting experience.  Basically it was a play against a pitch black background where they could use different colors of light to make different things appear to be floating.  The actors never talked either.


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