St. Vitus Cathedral

Over 400 feet long and soaring 100 feet high, St. Vitus Cathedral is huge.  It sits within Prague Castle and is considered the national church of the Czech Republic.  A church has been on this site since 930.  Construction of the cathedral began in 1344, but it wasn't actually finished until 1929 in time for the 1,000th Jubilee anniversary of St. Wenceslas.  The original portion is Gothic while the remainder is Neo-Gothic.  You can tell where the two sections meet by the slight incline in the floor.

Alfonso Mucha's Art Nouveau Window

This is the church where kings are crowned, royalty is buried, and the crown jewels are kept.  Similar to Notre Dame in Paris, the church has two towers at one end with a large rose window in between.  Unfortunately, the window was undergoing restoration so I don't have a picture of it.  Perhaps the most interesting stained glass in the church is a large window created by celebrated Art Nouveau artist Alfons Mucha in 1931.  Mucha's window celebrates the life of Wenceslas and the birth of the Czech nation.  The rich and vibrant colors draw you in to the story of Wenceslas' life.  Even though there were many other beautiful stained glass windows, this one was my favorite.

We saw many other beautiful cathedrals in Prague including St. Giles and the Jesuit Church.  Unfortunately, church attendance is low in the Czech Republic and these gorgeous worship spaces are woefully underutilized.  Churches and cathedrals such as these are a rarity in the U.S.  If only I could wave a magic wand and transport one back home.  I'd certainly enjoy the grand organs and wonderful acoustics every Sunday.

Jewish Prague

Small sample of names on the wall
in Pinkas Synagogue

Before World War II, Prague had a thriving Jewish population.  The Jewish Quarter section of Old Town has multiple synagogues and is a short walk from our hotel.  However, the Holocaust took a toll on the Czech Jewish population.  The Pinkas Synagogue, built in the Gothic style in 1535, is now a memorial to the over 77,000 Czech Jews killed during World War II.  The names are hand painted on every wall by family name along with the dates of birth and death as they are known.  This is a simple but stark reminder of the atrocity of this time period.  The Jewish Community in Prague was decimated and only 1,600 survived the war.

Close up of names

Jews in Prague were often treated as second class citizens, centuries before Holocaust.  In fact, Prague Jews had to wear emblems signifying they were Jewish, long before the Star of David associated with Hitler's reign in Germany.  This practice started in the 1200s and was finally discontinued in the 1700s.  The Old Jewish Cemetery contains the remains of Czech Jews from as far back as the 1400s.  There wasn't enough room to bury all who needed a space, so burials were done one on top of another, as many as 10 deep.  Over 12,000 gravestones are crowded in the space, having settled,

Old Jewish Cemetery

fallen, and broken over the decades.

Easter Markets

I briefly mentioned the Easter Markets in one of my Budapest posts.  Easter is very popular here, although it's definitely the secular traditions and not the religious holiday.  Easter Markets here in Prague are larger and more numerous than the ones we saw in Budapest.  Trees are decorated with ribbons and eggs and there are wooden stalls in all of the major squares with vendors selling both traditional crafts, but also traditional food.  

One of the foods we've sampled and fallen in love with is Trdelnik.  This is a traditional Czech sweet dough that is wrapped around a cylinder and cooked over hot coals as it rotates.  It's then dipped in a cinnamon and sugar mixture.  Trdelnik loosely translates to "Chimney Cake."   Depending on your tastes, you can get a Trdelnik slathered with Nutella or filled with ice cream.  

We've taken to just eating them as they are -- pulling apart the sweet dough and savoring the cinnamon-y goodness.  I've not seen these in the States, but I have no doubt they would be just as popular.  

Freshly made potato chips are also a popular treat.  Potatoes are connected to a drill and then rapidly spun over a blade that cuts them into very thin slices.  It was fun to watch the vendors appear to be drilling with a potato.  Needless to say, I've sampled the chips also and can attest to their popularity as well.

It's a good thing this is our last day here, or else I might come home 10 pounds heavier just from eating chips and Trdelnik.

Good King Wenceslas

Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the Feast of Steven..........  These are the opening words to the Christmas Carol sung in England and elsewhere.  The Good King referred to in the title is in fact, Vaclav the Duke of Bohemia who reigned from 921 to 935 until he was murdered with help from his brother.  Wenceslas is a latinized version of the traditional Czech Vaclav.

Wenceslas was made a saint immediately after his death due to the legend of his good works in helping the poor and his popularity with the Bohemian people.  Saint Wenceslas is considered the patron saint of the Czechs -- all of the region considered to be Bohemia is a part of the current Czech Republic.  

The Main Square of the New Town section of Prague is named for Wenceslas.  There is a large statue of him on a horse looking down the grand boulevard.  It was here in 1989 that the Velvet Revolution occurred, where hundreds of thousands of Czechs gathered to protest which brought an end to communist rule.  Although fairly commercial and without the same level of historic buildings as Old Town Prague, it still holds an indelible mark on the history of the Czech Republic.

Imagine hundreds of thousands of people in this square
bringing about the end of communism in the
Czech Republic.  The statue is at the far end.

Changing of the Guard

If you've been to London, you've probably ventured over to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard.  It's quite the spectacle although difficult to see if you're not right against the fence.  Prague has a more low-key changing of the guard at Prague Castle. Right at Noon, a new regiment marches down the hill from the barracks to relieve the current group at the castle.  There is a band playing and a little bit of pomp and circumstance, but the whole thing only lasts about 10 minutes. While the Brits might have more pageantry, I think this one is more enjoyable to watch as there are much better

vantage points and the regiment marches right through the crowd.

Good Morning Prague

We arrived in Prague late in the afternoon on Tuesday and transferred to our hotel.  We walked the streets of our neighborhood and had dinner at a nice restaurant around the corner, but the big sightseeing started Wednesday morning.

Along the Voltava River with Prague Castle in the background

While Prague has some hop on, hop off bus options, these tours are around the periphery of the Old Town area due to the narrow streets.  Since this wasn't a great option, we booked a private guide and driver to show us some of the highlights of Prague and help orient us to the City.  Our guide Lenka met us in the lobby at 9:00am and we discussed our options.  She made several suggestions as to what we would be good to see.  She gave us a great overview of Czech history and the architectural styles we'd be seeing during our tour.  Pavel was our driver and we loaded into the van for our half-day adventure.

Strahov Monastery Library

We drove through Wenceslas Square where the Velvet Revolution occurred in 1989 that brought about the end of communism.  We ventured around Charles Square and saw the Old Town Hall as well as several important churches.  We crossed the Voltava River and went to the Castle Hill district and stopped at the Strahov Monastery and Library.  The library contains over 200,000 rare books and manuscripts and is ornately decorated.  We saw great views of Old Town Prague and the river from here.  We briefly stopped in front of Prague Castle and walked across the Charles Bridge, the most famous bridge in Prague and one that is pedestrian only.  After finishing through Old Town Square, it was hard to believe that five hours had gone by so quickly.

At the end of our tour with Lenka and Pavel

Lenka was extremely knowledgeable and provided great context to all that we were seeing.  She has great command of Czech history and culture.  Even though there were intermittent sprinkles during our tour, it was a great introduction to Prague.  Now we know what to look forward to as we go back and experience more of these sites in depth.

Goodbye Budapest

Unfortunately, our time in Budapest went by way too fast.  Now we're off to Prague for the rest of the week.  We snapped this picture when we arrived at the airport to depart, but we should have taken it when we first arrived.  Budapest is a great city and we've been blessed with fantastic weather the entire time.  Already looking forward to when we can make a return trip.

Budapest at Night

Chain Bridge and the Royal Palace

As part of our hop on, hop off bus tour, we took a Night Bus to see the City lit up at night.  While it was nice to see the sites, they really didn't stop anywhere long enough to take photos, so Mona and I ventured out afterwards so I could work on my night photography skills.  We walked across the Chain Bridge so I could get better views of the Parliament.  Even though it was after 11:00pm before we got back to the hotel, there were lots of people out strolling along the river.  It's refreshing to be out and about in a big city late at night and feel completely safe.  I love how my photos turned out -- not perfect, but I'm definitely getting better.

Parliament

Churches and the Great Synagogue

The Great Synagogue

During our travels, we often will take a hop on, hop off bus tour.  Usually they provide a good overview of the City and show you the most important sights.  The on board commentary is hit or miss, but we mainly use it in order to easily get to the main sights for exploring.  In Budapest, the bus took us to the the Great Synagogue and the two main churches -- Matthias Church in Buda and St. Istvan's Basilica in Pest.

Matthias Church

The Great Synagogue is the second largest synagogue in the world.  Builtin 1859, It can accommodate over 4,000 people.  Unfortunately for us, Passover has begun and the Synagogue is closed for three days so we weren't able to see the inside.  Nevertheless, you can tell from the outside that it is quite large.

Matthias Church

Matthias Church has been destroyed and rebuilt several times in the 800 years since its founding.  The church we see today was redone in the late 19th century and restored after World War II.  The church is actually named the Church of Our Lady, but everyone calls it Matthias Church after the popular Renaissance King Matthias Corvinus who was twice married here.  The church sits high atop Castle Hill with great views of Pest and the Danube River.

St. Istvan's Basilica is Budapest's largest church, built in 1896 as part of the Millennium celebration.  It's named for St. Istvan (Stephen), Hungary's first Christian king.  The church's main claim to fame is that it has the "holy right hand" of St. Istvan.  The withered 1000 year old hand is kept in a jeweled reliquary in the chapel.

St. Istvan's Basilica

"Holy Right Hand" of St. Istvan

Parliament

View of the "back" of the building

As I mentioned in the previous post about our boat ride, the Hungarian Parliament Building is an icon along the banks of the Danube.  Guided tours are given in multiple languages, but knowing our time in the city was limited, I booked ahead online for the first English tour of the day at 9:45am.  If I hadn't, it would have been late afternoon before another English tour was available because the others were sold out.

The Grand Staircase

We took Tram #2 that runs along the Pest side of the river from the hotel all the way to Parliament.  Brief Aside: Public Transit in Budapest is outstanding,  We bought a 72 hour pass that allows you travel on all of the subway (Metro) lines, the buses, and the electric trams.  Public transit runs everywhere in the center city on both sides of the river and we've used all of the various forms to navigate the city.

Parliament Chambers

The interior of the Parliament Building seems to be in a world of its own.  Gilded with gold leaf everywhere, the interior architecture is just as impressive as the exterior.  The building was designed by Imre Steindl, a native of Pest who won an international competition to design the building.  Construction began in 1885, but wasn't completed until 1902.  Unfortunately, Steindl died six months before completion of the building.

Showing the main entrance steps.  The front facade
faces the Danube River.

Our tour took us through the main sections of the building, where we saw the grand staircase that has 96 steps -- in recognition of the Millennium celebration in 1896.  The room under the rotunda features the Crown Jewels of Hungary and statues of famous Hungarians throughout the country's history.  As our guide pointed out, everything on the interior is real gold leaf -- as long as it's higher than three meters (where people can't reach).  The lower areas of gold are actually painted.  The tour only lasted 45 minutes, but it was well worth our time.  I can't imagine having visited Budapest without doing so.  It's one of the most elegant public buildings we've seen.

Cruising the Danube

Royal Palace atop Castle Hill in Buda

One of the most popular ways to see Europe, especially for Americans, is through a River Cruise.  The ships are long and not very tall in order to travel under the bridges.  These are not the giant cruise ships with thousands of people that most people think of -- these are smaller and more intimate with perhaps only 200 passengers.  There aren't casinos or shows, and you don't have 20 different restaurants to choose from.  Instead, you are blessed with gorgeous scenery and grand European cities as you travel the Rhine, Seine, or Danube.

We aren't on a river cruise, but we did take a one hour boat ride along the Danube as part of our hop-on, hop-off bus tour.  This is such a great way to see Budapest and the weather cooperated beautifully.  Abundant sunshine illuminated the sites, showing off the architecture of the bridges and the grand buildings along the riverbanks.

Look familiar?

If you've seen a commercial or print advertisement for a river cruise (think of the Viking River Cruise commercials on PBS), then you've seen the parliament building in Budapest.  We also were treated to great views of the Castle Hill, the Royal Palace, and Mathias Church.  We also saw many of the River Cruise ships docked along the river as folks were touring the city.  Mom wants to do one of these now, although she says we've been to a lot of the places these cruises go already.  Somehow, I don't think she'd object to repeating a few, especially since you're experiencing it from an entirely different perspective.

Being a Local in Budapest

Inner City Parish Church

We happen to be in Budapest during their spring Arts & Music festival.  We took advantage of that tonight by going to a choral concert featuring a program of all Franz Liszt music.  Liszt is one of Hungary's most famous composers.  Fortunately the concert is at the Inner City Parish Church which is a five minute walk from the hotel.

Inside the Inner City Parish Church

Liszt is not necessarily known for his choral music.  The program featured three choral pieces and one organ fantasia.  The finale was Via Crucis, which translates into Way of the Cross -- with the subtitle "The Fourteen Stations of the Cross."  This piece covered the crucifixion of Jesus from the time he was sentenced to death until he was removed from the Cross and laid to rest.  As you might imagine, there was a somberness to a lot of the music, but there were still glorious harmonies and fabulous acoustics in the church.  We're in Budapest during Holy Week -- Today is Palm Sunday -- so the text is very appropriate, although I would think you would more likely

hear it on Good Friday.  Interestingly, Liszt never heard this work performed.  He could not get it published as it was considered too modern for the day.  It wasn't published until 50 years after his death, shortly after the first performance.

Given the appearance and mannerisms of those in attendance, I am fairly certain that we were the only non-Budapestians in attendance.  Even though there was English translation in the program, the music was sung in Latin and German with Hungarian translation on a large monitor overhead.

Budapest sign at the Easter Market

Also taking place this week are the Easter Markets.  Set up in a square two blocks from the hotel, there are all types of handmade crafts and food stalls featuring a smorgasbord of Hungarian and regional delights including goulash and langos, which is a deep fried flat bread to which you can add various toppings.  We ate dinner here our first night, sitting with (mostly) locals and enjoying a quintessential meal of goulash and beer, while taking in the sights and sounds of a Saturday night in the city.

Thermal Baths

One of the more popular activities in Budapest, especially with the locals, is relaxing in one of the many thermal baths.  These baths are actually part of Hungary's health care system and doctors will often prescribe therapy that includes soaking in the various baths.  You don't need a medical reason to go to the baths, and you can relax in one of the many pools or swim laps if you choose.  Since we've just arrived this morning, what better way to finish our day than experience what the locals enjoy doing.  Combatting jet lag will be an added bonus.

We took the subway up to City Park and visited Heroes' Square which dates back to the millennium celebration of the Hungarian Empire back in 1896.  The square features statues of many important icons from Hungary's history including St. Istvan for whom the main basilica is named.  The Millennium Monument towers over the square, with the Archangel Gabriel looking down.

After leaving Heroes' Square, we visited the Szechenyi Baths which is a complex located in the middle of City Park.  After navigating through the maze of changing rooms and lockers to put our stuff, we skipped the inside pools/sauna and went outside to the large outdoor pool to enjoy the sunlight and warm water.  It was maybe about 60F, so it was very cool to be walking around in just a bathing suit, but the water was very warm and relaxing.  We were hearing all types of languages being spoken as people just enjoyed being outside.  There are even chess boards set up and we saw guys playing chess while relaxing in the water.  We stayed about an hour, but could have enjoyed it even longer.  I will definitely sleep well tonight.

Buda, Pest, Budapest

View of the Danube, Buda, and the Chain Bridge from
our hotel room.

We've arrived in Budapest!   We decided to splurge and stay right along the Danube River with great views of the Chain Bridge and the Royal Castle.   Budapest today is the combination of two separate towns - Buda and Pest.  On one side of the Danube is hilly Buda with the Royal Castle and Mathias Church.  We're staying in Pest which is flatter and has more of the government and shopping areas.

We're only here for three nights, so it's time to hit the streets and start exploring.