I recently I started a new series on LandLopers, the Interactive Travel Guide. The idea is to highlight one city or country every week and then get the best recommendations from you all. By the end of the week, we hopefully will have created the best tips not from guide books, but from real people.
To continue this social media experiment, this week I want to highlight Prague.
Prague is an amazing city, combining the dreary look of a post-Soviet country with vibrant modernism and a populace excited for the future. Throughout our stay we did most of the normal tourist activities: a visit to Prague Castle, a walk across the Charles Bridge and of course spending time in the Medieval Old Town with its famous clock tower. We also paid an additional, last minute visit to the Czech Museum of Communism.
Every country has its own, unique way of addressing its past – both things of which they are proud and others which they are not. A visit to the Communism Museum was an experience in unintentional irony amidst the telling of a tragic story.
You can find the Museum in the middle of the main shopping district, next door to a McDonald’s and in the same building as a casino. Obviously the Czech people haven’t had too many problems ridding themselves of their Communist past.
While simple, the museum does a remarkable job of telling the complete history of Communism in the Czech Republic and the process through which it became a satellite of the Soviet Union. While not at all unbiased, it is this honest commentary into just how much the Czechs hated the Russians that tells the true story.
Yes there are artifacts and pictures and the history is well interpreted, but it is the way in which the museum presents the history that is most telling. The resentment and outright hatred is palpable and you get a real idea of the legacy the Soviet years have left in the country.
The Museum ends with a presentation of the Velvet Revolution, led by the playwright and national hero Vaclav Havel. The tour is also concluded by an unexpected sense of optimism and hopefulness that clearly had been missing for decades.
You can learn a lot about the history of the Czech Republic throughout its capital city, but the Museum of Communism is one of the few ways to learn about the people involved with the making of that history.
NOW it’s your turn. Please comment and tell us your favorite thing to do, see or eat in Prague. If you haven’t been yet, please let us know what you would most like to do.
I recommend visiting Letna Beer Garden for a great view of the city – there are sometimes events held there, and you can see the giant metronome up close.
I really enjoyed walking the way up to the castle via the Letenské Park. It boasts incredible vantage points, giving really nice views of Prague. Plus it’s a great exercise as uphill!
I also bought some nice Russian dolls, although not typically Czech, but they remind me of my trip there.
We really enjoyed walking about an hour or two outside of the city via the river…a wonderful way to see and feel ‘real’ Prague.
Whatever you do though…don’t do the Ghost Tour…what a let down.
On the 4th of July i thought it would be neat to walk around the city at night by myself which wasn’t one of my best ideas. I recommend having someone with you when the sun goes down. I felt like I was in New York city. Homeless people everywhere begging for money. People out of their mind on drugs. Maybe I was just scared because I was silly and went by myself. Despite the night life, i really liked the prices there! Everything was so much cheaper and people were more polite. We went to the Saint Vitus Cathedral which was breath taking! We also walked around the Old Town Square. I think it was around every hour or so people would wait for the Astronomical Clock to go off. I thought it was cool but every time it was about to go I could hardly get through. Prague was such an awesome place to visit and I definitely recommend it to everyone!
Excuse me..i take offense to your inane comment about my city, New York..You have no clue what you’re talking about here. ” I felt i was in New York City..Homeless people everywhere begging for money. People out of their mind on drugs. Does that describe your town, Maria Mowers? Certainly, not mine.
I live and work in Manhattan every day…in a city of 8.5 million +, we all live in relative harmony..homeless people are everywhere, less so, in proportion , in nyc..druggies and the like are few and far between..every major city has them; we have them here but less so in concentration and in ratio to other smaller cities thoroughout the world. Maybe you need a guided tour..hook up with http://www.bigapplegreeter.org and i, or the many than 300+ volunteer tour guides , will show you the REAL NYC ( The Greatest City in the World) GRATIS.. Remember 911..
From the city that NEVER SLEEPS 24/7 JAY Z ALICIA KEYS “EMPIRE STATE OF MIND” ON YOUTUBE.. CHECK IT OUT!! hurry over, i’m waiting to challenge your remark…
I have many friends and family in New York city and the statement, “we all live in relative harmony”, is a far cry from the truth.
Big cities have all kinds of problems and New York City still has an attitude problem despite the 911 events.
Obviously, the privileged ones who live high up in the tall, glass towers have a different view.
We visited Prague a number of years ago and I fell in love with the city.
The combination of Art Nouveau and medieval architecture is amazing. The bridges, the towers, the squares are filled with history and a great deal of charm.
We stayed in a rental apartment on Pariszka Blvd – right across form the Altneu Synagogue in Josefov. This is the oldest synagogue (13h century) in constant use in the world. We enjoyed a tour of the other synagogues in this quarter (most are museums dedicated to Prague Jewish life over the centuries) and the ancient Jewish cemetery. We also visited Kafka’s grave and the building where he lived when he wrote. When our daughters had a chance to do some traveling, we urged them to visit Prague and they also loved it.
We took a side trip to Terezin, the concentration camp where Prague’s Jews were sent, joining “high-profile” inmates from elsewhere – artists, musicians, celebreties, etc. The Nazis used it to show the Red Cross how they treated the Jews – and then sent them off to be gassed in Auschwitz. The children of the camp actually put on an opera “Brundibar”, specially writen for them there for the Red Cross.
If I ever have the opportunity to return to Prague, I hope to do so.
I love Prague too, thanks for adding that great information!
I have visited Prague 5 or 6 times and it still has a lot to offer. Every time I see a blog from someone I feel a little different emotions ;) It is very nice city. Thanks for sharing your experience