Prague

We lost our breath; literally, we gasped and held our breath when we first entered Prague’s Old Town Square. Gorgeous religious, civic and residential buildings framing it.  Thousands of people filling it.  We both stood silently for many minutes, just trying to take it all in. We returned repeatedly to the square.  Grand during the day; surreal at night.

Prague provides sensory overload.  While its inner city has few bikers, and fewer traffic lights than currency exchanges, almost everything else about Prague exaggerates what we saw during the weeks before in Gothenburg, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Hamburg or Berlin.

If you look up as you walk in Prague you see beautiful buildings, block after block,  many adorned with paintings or statues of mythical, political or religious importance.  If you look further up you see steeples in every direction so none can serve as a point of reference to help you find your way ”home.”  Look down and you see almost every sidewalk is a stone mosaic masterpiece, far exceeding in scope what we saw and raved about in Lisbon two decades ago.

Tourists, street “artists” and beggars combine to pack the iconic Charles Bridge and the narrow cobblestone streets leading to it.  Tourists peddle little boats or ride in larger craft in the wide but gently flowing water of the Vltava River below the bridge.  Restaurants along the river banks provide dining with iconic scenery, including Prague Castle, which is as much a treat up close during a day trip as it is lit up atop the distant hill at night.

Night after night, churches and synagogues across Prague host accomplished but un-acclaimed musicians performing programs that appeal to the pocketbooks and tastes of tourists; while season after season, grand venues are the settings for performing works of some of the greatest composers in history, many of whom were Czech-born or residents, like Dvorak.  Mozart lived here only briefly but visited several more times and later composed the “Prague Symphony.”

Prague proudly promotes its links, however brief, to some of the greatest thinkers and writers since the invention of the printing press, like Kafka and Einstein.  And in their tradition, Prague continues to have gritty groups of locals drinking and debating long into the night, appearing to just be warming up as we were retiring for the evening.

And the story told in the Jewish Quarter here evokes nearly as much emotion as in Berlin.

All considered, Prague dominates the memories of our summer sabbatical like no other city.

JER