Nov. 30, 2009
Prague, Czech Republic
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Dear Live and Invest Overseas Reader,
"
Prague has abolished the tourist season," writes Correspondent Paul Lewis from that city.
"Summer or winter, spring or fall, this Central European city, straddling the River Moldau (or, if you must, the River Vltava, in unpronouncable Czech), is crammed with foreign visitors of every age, tongue, and hue.
"Often called Europe's most beautiful city, Prague is a concentrated blob of pure baroque architecture, totally, utterly unscathed by the Second World War because Czech resistance to Hitler's advance collapsed at the frontier. The Communists took over after the War by coup, which spared the buildings.
"Prague has a darker side, twisting narrow back streets; sinister Medieval towers topped by bunches of aggressive spires, like sharpened lead pencils, some with gold balls on top; and a dark fortress overhanging it where the famous 'defenestration' of alien Catholic governors by local Protestants sparked Europe's bloodiest religious conflict, the Thirty Years' War.
"Prague may be a tourist magnet today, but it is no Parisian City of Light. The famous Charles Bridge over the river, decorated with religious statues, also houses a Museum of Torture. And in the Mala Strana or Lesser Town, at its southern bank, the richly baroque Church of St. Nicolas (Mikulas in Czech), where Mozart played the organ, is decorated with gilded marble statues of bishops pushing heretics into Hell with their croziers. 'Don Giovanni,' Mozart's greatest opera, a tale of Hell and Redemption, was first performed in Prague.
"Because Prague draws in the crowds, it has become a grubby place where everything has a price. In Stare Mesto, the Old Town, on the river's northern bank, the narrow streets around the famous main square are now crammed with shops selling the same tourist trash, the same colored crystals, garnets, and amber, all offering 50% off.
"Churches charge admission fees, if you are lucky. Otherwise, you get in only by buying tickets for the third-rate concerts they all put on. So don't come here looking for religious experiences.
"Visitors to the incomparable Renaissance Library in the Premonstatensian (White Friars) Stahov Monastery are sold tickets at the door and climb two flights of stairs only to discover that the library hall is closed for restoration so they must be satisfied with a selection of books in an adjacent chamber. It is interesting but not the great library. No information about the restoration is posted in any language but Czech. But you can repair to the monastic brewery to console yourself with flagons of dark monkish beer.
"Taxis jam their meters, and fares are ludicrously high, particularly from the station or airport, where befuddled tourists first arrive.
"Private pay-toilets are the latest promising line of business in rip-off Prague. Prominent WC signs now plaster the city.
"Besides cheating tourists, a positive specialty is the 'botel,' or hotel-boat, moored in the river. These are not a rip-off but handily central basic hostelries that give good value for the money.
"During Communism, there was a shortage of hotels, and riverboats were brought in to house tourists. They are now private.
"I stayed on the good ship
Albatross Botel moored near the Stefanikuv Bridge. This old river cruiser has 50 cabins of reasonable size and comfort, each with the smallest shower room that could be fitted.
"Breakfasts are Germanic: sliced cheese and sausages.
"I would not eat any other meals on board, but one wishes not to have to eat at all in Prague, where the food is heavy and leaden with gravy and stodgy dumplings accompany everything.
"Prague's old Jewish quarter, around Parizka Boulevard, offers little respite from the city's dominant commercialism. These ancient synagogues all charge entry fees and have become museums, as none of them have viable congregations. The surrounding streets are crammed with stalls.
"The city's Jewish community, which dates back to the ninth century, was once the most vibrant in Europe, and the Alt-Neu Shul (Old-New Synagogue) is probably the oldest outside Jerusalem, built in Gothic style in the ninth century. The synagogue was enclosed by an area reserved for the women who watched the service through slit windows in the wall.
"The Jewish quarter has its own town hall with a clock whose hands rotate backward, as Hebrew is written from right to left. There is an old graveyard with a chaotic confusion of Hebrew-inscribed gravestones, including the tomb of the famous Rabbi Loew, the Maharlal, who later, writers believed, created a Frankenstein-like creature fashioned out of clay, the Golem. This creature protected Prague's Jews, until he ran amok (out of love for a beautiful Jewess) and the rabbi had to turn the Golem back into
clay.
"The Golem story is a standby of Yiddish theaters. It also inspired the 20th-century writer, Carel Capek, to write a book, 'RUR,' about a factory run by robots who get out of control and kill all the humans. Capek invented the word 'robot.'
"The 16th-century Pinkas Synagogue has been turned into a memorial to the 80,000 Czech Jews killed in the Holocaust. Their names are inscribed on its walls, and a recorded reading of their names, interspersed with organ music and Hebrew prayers sung by a tenor, is played constantly inside the building.
"Preserving Prague's old buildings has obviously paid off for the city. Prague's restored 18th-century cobblestones are extremely hard on tourist feet, however, so you should take a tram up the hill to visit the Hradcany Castle. Ask the hotel which tram to take and buy a tourist day ticket from a tobacco shop, called a 'Traffik,' usually located close to the stops.
"Inside the castle is the Cathedral of St. Vitus, which is full of treasures. But the most spectacular is the solid baroque tomb of St. John Nepomuk, who was thrown off the Charles Bridge in 1393 for defending the secrecy of the confessional. The jealous king wanted to find out if his queen was cheating on him. Despite St. John's silence, the queen was fed to his hunting pack of dogs. The monument was built in the 17th century and, in addition to silver and jewels, is topped by a fantastic
baldaquin reaching practically to the top of the aisle.
"Another castle site is an enormous hall where knights jousted indoors on their horses for the amusement of the court. This room, the Vladislav Hall, in the old palace, also has splendid very large windows through which the Czechs were always defenestrating those trying to impose foreign domination. Sturdy iron bars, dating to the Communist era, now make this difficult. The last defenestration took place in 1948 when the Communists' coup took place."
Kathleen Peddicord
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