In 2019, I took a solo trip to Prague.  I didn’t have a lot of time there but I made the most of my time. During my trip, I visited a number of Prague’s landmarks, monuments and attractions.  I saw a sunrise on arguably Prague’s best known landmark, the Charles Bridge.  This bridge has stone architecture of many saints.  There’s also a status of King Charles at the Tower at the end of the bridge.  I also visited the Old Jewish Cemetery.  There are 12,000 tombstones that are squeezed into this cemetery (can’t be no more than an acre or two). From 1439 to 1787, this was the only burial ground for Prague’s Jews. Over time, the graves had to be piled on top of each other seven or eight deep. Because of this, there are close to 85,000 Jews buried there.  Prague’s Jews were buried 8-9 Jews deep because this was the only cemetery they could use for hundreds of years.  I also visited the Pinka Synagogue.  If you look closely, you can see the names of all of the holocaust victims written on the walls. Notice that all of the death dates are 1941-1945 - in the throes of WWII.  Definitely an humbling experience.

In addition, I visited the massive Prague Castle which housed the beautiful St. Vitus Cathedral.  The artwork in the cathedral was breathtaking.  It is definitely a must see in my opinion.  One statue clearly looks like an angel making a demon his footstool.  I walked all over the city center with little safety concerns.  I snapped a pic of Saint Wenceslas (the king) at Weceslas Square. I also visited the Old Town Square at 1 am, hours before tourists swarmed the area.  While there, I saw the Astronomical Clock that dated to the 1400s.  I even saw this cool sculpture with a dude reading in a big black hand. 

There seems to be a big focus on reading in Prague.  To this end, I saw a huge book tunnel outside of the Prague public library that contained thousands of books.  I also stopped by the gorgeous Strahov Monastery.  If our libraries looked like this, I’m sure we’d read more as a people.

In addition to centuries old attractions, I also saw some modern wonders too.  I saw the Dancing House (a house shaped like a boot), a big head of Franz Kalfa that moved every few seconds, and the Petrin Tower which was meant to look like the Eiffel Tower in France.

Even though it was an action-packed week, I did take some time to just slow down and enjoy the views around me.  I caught some youth enjoying a beautiful sunset overlooking the river at Letna Park.  Time just seemed to stand still long enough to recharge my batteries.

I really enjoyed my time in Prague.  It was a bit shorter than it would’ve otherwise been because I took a couple day detour to Berlin.  In the next section, I share some of my pictures from that side trip.