Pragues Jewish Quarter

Our plan for today is to explore the Jewish Quarter of Prague. We have another nice breakfast but do not run into anyone we know. We do see our new friend Vaclav working the front desk. We give him our card which will entitle him and guest to free room and board,,free tour, and free beer. He does have a friend in Colorado so you never know. He is such a pleasurable young man with a good outlook on life.
We try and take different routes everyday and today we stroll,through the little quarter to the Charles Bridge. It is much nicer crossing it at an earlier hour before all the tours get here. We rub a dog on one statue that is supposed to ensure you are loyal to your mate, rub another spot that is supposed to ensure you return to Prague, and touch another brass relief of John of Nepomuk. He was a priest that the queen confessed her sins to. Legend says that the king wanted to know what they were but John refused to tell. He was tortured and thrown off the bridge and when he hit the water five stars appeared. Anyway touching this is supposed to make a wish come true. It worked because my wish is still with me.

CTG

At the other end of the bridge, I must stop and get a picture of my great great great great great grandfather King Charles IV. I don’t know what number I am so you all can just call me Charles the Great or CTG for short.
We walk along and reach the Pinkas Synagogue. We pay for a ticket that gets us in 4 synagogues, a cemetery, and a ceremonial,hall. It seems a bit pricey considering the cost of living here. It is the equivalent of four good Czech meals. The Pinkas Synagogue was a site of worship for 400 years, it is now a memorial to Nazi victims. The walls are covered with handwritten names of 77,297 Czech Jews who were sent from here to the gas chambers at Auschwitz and other camps.

Pinkas Synagogue Memorial

The names are read one at a time over the speaker system alternating with singing of psalms. The hometown is written in gold, family name in red and individuals firs names in black with birth dates and last day known to be alive. It is sad to see 2 to 3 generations of families listed. The communists erased almost all,the names when they came in so most of the names have been rewritten after 1989. We walk around the corner of the synagogue and into the old Jewish cemetery. This was the only burial ground for Jews from 1439 to 1787 and there are 12000 tombstones here. The tombs were piled atop each other and since the Jewish believe they should not move the bodies a small plateau was formed as a result.

Jewish Cemetery

Over time, the stones settled into a very crooked and unorganized manner, which is how they remain.
Next is the ceremonial hall which describes Jewish medicine, death, and burial traditions. Across the street is the Klaus Synagogue from the 17th century. It now has exhibits on religious practices, Jewish calendar, and rituals of Jewish life such as circumcisions, barmitzvah, weddings, and kosher food. A short walk through the streets leads us to the Maisel Synagogue which was a private place of worship in the 16th century for the Maisel family. Maisel was a wealthy financier of the Hapsburg king. It depicts 1000 years of history from the Star of David to the creation of Pragues Ghetto. We are really learning a lot about the Jewish way of life and religion. It almost becomes information overload, as each place, takes on a different aspect and there is a great amount of information.
This is why we now take a lunch break. We find the only shady bench around in the middle of a traffic circle and across from a strange statue honoring Franz Kafka, a Czech writer. Just sitting still with our feet off the pavement feels good. We are also,across our last stop, the Spanish Synagogue.

Spanish Synagogue

The interior is my favorite with a moorish style and ornate design. The exhibits in here covers the last three centuries with a focus on the 20th century and life in Terezin, a camp not too far from here. When you left Terezin, you generally did not come back or survive. It also depicts the many items that the Nazis took and stockpiled from people’s homes. Many items were stored in Synagogues and were eventually returned to the places they came from.
We take our time heading back as it is around 1500 and the heat of the day is pretty bad. We find the hidden entrance to Wallenstein Palace Garden and go in. Carol is suffering from the heat so sits in the shade while I explore. The gardens are nice and there are peacocks running around. I spot an albino one which seems rare so I take a picture. Around the corner is a more formal garden and then a grotto of sorts which has a more modern funky wall with some faces hidden among the sculptured rocks.
A little cooler from the shade, we brave the heat in order to get to our hotel. We see another church so we must go in. It is the church of St Mary the Victorious.

The Infant of Prague

We are glad we go in as it has the Infant of Prague, a much worshipped alter. It was brought here by a Spanish noblewoman who came to marry a Czech nobleman. It is an important pilgrimage site for South Americans. There is a room above the church that has tiny embroidered outfits given to the Infant including one from Hapsburg Empress Maria Theresa of Austria in 1754. We go back out into the heat one last time. When we are close, we can’t resist the air conditioned market, which leads to us exiting with a few beers to drink in the hotel lobby.
We settle in for beer and snacks while talking to Vaclav, in between his helping people. We also spent some time talking with our new friends from Tasmania, Peter and Elizabeth. They are leaving at 1700 by cab and catching a flight home. They have been traveling for 4 weeks. We sit and talk over a few drinks and now have an invitation to stay in Tasmania. Tasmania is on my list of places I want to go, so this may seal the deal.

Lounging in the Lobby

We hope that they will consider visiting us as well. Their cab arrives and that is when we notice they are not traveling quite as light as us. The cab lady looks and says my car is not that big. I guess it all fit as they don’t come back in. After talking more with Waclav, who we are now Facebook friends with, we let him get back to work and head out for dinner. We go back to Davlicky A Noze and have another great meal. No sharing of my Svickova this time. Carol has her goulash all to herself. When dessert time arrives it is an individual slice of honey cake for both of us. Excellent food and people. They even gave us a free gift as they called it, a local appetizer on a piece of bread. It tastes good but we are not sure what we ate as it was not on the menu. They called it Skvarky, which we later found out was lard with onions. Like I said, it tasted good, so that is all we care about. It is a very fitting end to our wonderful stay in Praha. It would have been nice if it was a little cooler but we made it all work. Tomorrow is supposed to be hot again and then we may start getting a break from it. Stay in Mother Nature long enough and she will reward you.
Expenses
Jewish Synagogues and Museum. 600 CZK
Beer and Soda from Market. 113 CZK
Dinner, Beer, and Dessert at Vidlicky A Noze. 525 CZK
Walked 6.9 Miles