Prague.

When I was younger traveling through Eastern Europe was much harder than it is today.  In 2003 when Dina and I backpacked through Europe the Eurail pass system didn't even include any of those countries. I know that had it, we definitely would've made it to Prague.  Now after being in the Czech Republic it has definitely opened up a desire to see the rest of them countries... Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia.  Hmmmm.  When's the next vacation??  :)

I arrived in Prague early in the morning and easily figured out how to take public transport to the city.  Finding the hostel was also super easy.  Immediately when walking out of the subway I got an amazing taste of the architecture.  Wow.  Prague is really something special.  Cobblestone streets, colorful European buildings, streets full of people.

My first day was spent getting to know the city.  I mostly toured in the Old Town area, which is where the hostel was located.  I had the chance to see the Old Jewish quarter.  It was really fascinating.  There are 4 synagogues that you can tour in and a very old Jewish cemetery.  One of the synagogues in the Old Town is still being used as a shul, the others are museums commemorate the Jewish community in different ways: the names of Czech Jews lost in the Holocaust, pieces of Judaica, displays of Jewish texts, and there is even an exhibit of artwork that kids at Thereseinstadt drew.  Fascinating stuff.  The cemetery was the most intriguing.  Such a small area and so many graves. In some places there are 10 layers of graves one on top of the other!!

This is the Old New Shul, which is still in use today.

Clock tower with Hebrew alphabet in Jewish Quarter

Stained glass windows in the Klaus Synagogue

The Pinchas Synagogue which is dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust from the Czech lands.

All the names are inscribed on the walls of the synagogue in alphabetical order.

This picture is crooked because you're actually not allowed to take photos in the synagogue but I cheated.  On the side of the ark is printed the names of the different concentration camps.

The synagogue architecture is beautiful.

The cemetery

The outside of the spanish synagogue

This is probably the most beautiful synagogue I've ever been inside of.  Incredible design.

The second day in Czech I headed to Karlovy Vary, a town on the western side of the country about 2 hours away from Prague.  As I later learned, Karlovy Vary held two world zionist congresses in 1921 and 1923.  It used to be a really sophisticated and she-she town where people traveled to for vacation.  It sits on thermal land and there is a belief that its waters contain healing powers.  Everywhere in the city there are fountains that contain different temperatures of water (naturally heated), people buy these little sippy cups and go around and drink the different water.  Its actually really funny to look at and the water itself tastes totally foul.  I think that if you drink too much of it you can probably become quite ill, too many minerals!!  Regardless, the town was really beautiful and again like Prague, the architecture was so lively and colorful.

Sippy Cups, all shapes, sizes, and colors

One of the fountains at 60 degrees celsius

beautiful Karlovy Vary

and again...

On my third day I headed out of Prague for 2 days and took a bus to the southern part of Bohemia to a beautiful little town called Cesky Krumlov.  The bus ride was quite fun, it felt like a plane ride.  There was a hostess, assigned seats, and even drinks to choose from.  They played a movie called "Then She Found Me" which I found to be hilarious because its all about this Jewish woman played by Helen Hunt. I can't imagine anyone else on the bus found any interest in the movie whatsoever.  Anyway, the bus took 3 hours and I found the hostel quite easily.  I was so glad that I decided to head down to Cesky Krumlov. Its a UNESCO World Heritage city.  Very colorful and quaint with a castle and a river that runs through the town.  I grabbed a bite to eat outside by the river on the first day and then explored the castle, which was pretty amazing.  My second day in Cesky Krumlov I did a 14 km hike to the top of Mt. Kret.  Stunning views of the valley.  Its location is so close to the Austrian border that I would really recommend this a stop for anyone in the area.

The castle

One of the castle courtyards

View of Cesky Krumlov from above

Breathtaking.

The castle gardens... so serene.

Early Sunday morning was back to Prague for me.  I left the hostel with two other American travelers who were heading on the early bus with me and at the first stop heading to Austria.  I tried sleeping on the bus back, but the early morning sun was shining right in my face and I had a hard time sleeping after that. I returned back to the same hostel but because of my early arrival I couldnt check in yet, so I dropped my bags in storage and headed out to see the city.  This day was spent following my guidebook on another beautiful walk.  One of the stops was a place called the Klementinum which contains one of the most beautiful rooms I have ever seen, known as the baroque library and containing stunning frescoes and thousands of books.  See below:

I also had a chance to walk across the Charles Bridge and see the section of town on the other side of the river, as well as tour the castle grounds.  On the Charles Bridge there was a sculpture in the middle of Jesus Christ.  Notice the Hebrew on the sculpture, its the words of the prophet Isaiah that say "Holy, Holy, Holy, the Lord of hosts".  Apparently, there was a Jewish man who was taken to the courts for debasing the cross and his punishment was to have that Hebrew text added to the cross in an attempt to humiliate the Jewish community.  Oh geez.

The bridge itself is quite fun, packed with tourists and peddlers who sell all kinds of things, "chatchky's" if you will.  The other side of the river is also quite cute.  Full of cafes, restaurants, and TONS of souvenir shops for tourists.  My favorite was a wall named for John Lennon that was painted with fantastic quotes and colors.

The next day was spent in Kutna Hora, a small town about an hour away from Prague.  The thing that its most famous for is a church that is full of over 40,000 bones.  Its incredibly weird and creepy but I guess if thats the style of decoration than who am I to judge??  The town is also a UNESCO World Heritage site, but its nowhere near as cute as Cesky Krumlov.  Here are a few pics from the bone church.

My last day in Prague I took a tour with Wittmann Tours and went to Terezin.  I posted some pics on FB of the place and I won't repost them here, but I am really glad that I had a chance to go.  I didn't know very much about the camp.  I always assumed it was a death camp.  This is not correct.  It was a transit camp that was based inside a fortress that had existed since the 18th century.  People clearly died there because of its poor conditions and mistreatment, but there were no gas chambers.  They stayed there for a while until they were routed elsewhere, most usually Auschwitz.  The most upsetting part of Terezin, though was that it was a propaganda camp.  It was made to believe that people lived "normal" lives inside of it. Artists were brought in to work with the people there and lead art classes, music lessons, play sports, etc.  It was a way to fool the world into thinking that places like Auschwitz, Treblinka, and so on were all functioning in the same way.  Truly sickening.  I think the weirdest part about Terezin is that it stands completely as it was during the war and people actually live in those buildings.  There are houses, cafes, shops, etc inside the camp.  Super strange...

Its interesting to note that the Jewish community of the Czech lands was not like the religious Jews of Poland.  They were not orthodox.  There is still a Jewish community in the country, mostly in Prague which had so many synagogues but I even saw a synagogue in Cesky Krumlov.  And the full spectrum of Judaism too- reform, conservative, and orthodox.  I wish I would've had time to go to a service while I was there.  Could've been cool.

Anyway, this blog entry is super long so I will end here, but all in all the Czech Republic was a very worthwhile trip, one that I'm so happy I took and one that I will never forget.