We start near the Municipal house:
Now the Municipal house:
Neighbouring house:
Continuing towards Josefov, as you see on the right side not everything is beautiful:
Close to St. Jakob, directly behind Teyn court:
Inside of St. Jakob, the second longest church in Prague. Built by Czechs, Germans and Italians:
In many parts of the old town you don't see a single tourist. Stupid mass tourism:
Please excuse my slightly Germano-centric perspective, but for me it's quite moving to see that some of these German signs survived the cleansing of the 1920's:
Entry to Teyn court, called Ungelt, which is German, means means something like un-money and was the place where the toll was collected:
Inside Teyn court:
Palais Granovsky:
St. Niklas from afar, usually flooded by tourists:
That's why we prefer side streets:
A modern airplane... at that time:
Spanish Synagogue:
St. Simon, sadly closed:
The most impressive Historism avenue (Old New Synagogue to the right):
Ceremonial house at the Jewish cemetery. When I visited Prague for the first time in the early 90's there wasn't a single tourist and I had the cemetery for myself! But now...:
Interesting building, dedicated to the most important master builders of Prague during the M.A.:
And a bit of pristine Prague:
We start close to the national theatre:
Embassy of the Vatican:
The street between the national theatre and the Wenceslas square offers some impressive Art Nouveau buildings:
Interestingly Prague still has lots of old trams:
Goethe institute, a German cultural institution, inside a very impressive building:
Now we go to Charles square:
The New Town City Hall on Charles Square. The huuuuge Charles square was built by Charles IV., Bohemian king and German emperor. The New Town City Hall was the place of the first defenestration of Prague:
St. Ignazius on Charles Square, my favorite church in Prague. The church was built by Carlo Lurago for the Jesuits in 1668, the portal was built by Paul Ignaz Bayer:
The wonderful inside:
On the southern side of the square we find the Faust house. Faust however never lived there. During Rudolf II. reign it housed several alchemists:
More to the south the Emmaus monastery:
Not very spectacular:
St. John of Nepomuk on the rock (hope the translation is right) by K.I. Dientzenhofer. Supposed to be one of his best works, but sadly most of the time closed. Today used by the Catholic Germans of Prague:
No more translations of church names. This is Panny Marie u Alžbětinek (or Kirche der Schmerzensreichen Mutter Gottes), also by K.I. Dientzenhofer, but partly with a modern interior:
This is Prague too, no tourists far and wide:
Back towards Charles square:
To the left already visited St. Ignazius:
New Town City Hall again:
And again:
Now Wenceslas square, also huge and also built during the Middle Ages. Todays houses are of course much younger:
National museum:
Grand hotel Europe. The restaurant of the hotel is the insider tip of every tourist guide, that's why it's always crowded:
I'm not sure, but I think that's the former building of the parliament. Today seat of Radio Free Europe:
Opera, built by Fellner und Helmer, like almost every opera or theatre in Austria-Hungary:
Train station:
The biggest part of the train station is below the visible buildings, and the main entrance is below this street. Strange:
The entire train station is run-down and dirty, but could be a wonderful place:
Now back to the national theatre:
On our way we pass St. Mary Major, which gets completely ignored by tourists:
St. Mary Major was planned to become bigger than St. Vitus, but only the sanctuary was built. The high altar is the biggest of Prague, and insurgents of the first defenestration came from this church:
House of the Adria insurance, very impressive:
Inside the house:
To the right St. Mary Major, to the left Wenceslas square:
St. Ursula(?), by Marc Antonio Carnevale. Sadly closed. In the background the ntional theatre:
The theatre:
View towards Smichov, which we will visit now:
Now Smichow, the quarter to the south of the lesser quarter (Kleinseite/Mala Strana):
Cyril and Methodius Cathedral by K.I. Dientzenhofer, the hiding place of the Czechs and Slovaks who had assassinated Reinhard Heydrich:
Courtyard of the palace:
Main hall of the palace:
Albrecht von Wallenstein depicted as Mars (also done by Italians):
And some other rooms:
Front of the palace, citing the Farnese palazzo:
Intimate square in front of the palace:
The lesser quarter (Mala Strana/Kleinseite) still offers some relics of the past, like these bilingual streetsigns (the lesser quarter was soemthing like the German quarter of Prague):
