Prague, Czech Republic

30th June

Another magnificent day greeted us on waking…hot and sunny, cloudless skies. Mark and I went for an early walk to find the Intercontinental Hotel where we are to collect the rental car from tomorrow.

We had a walking tour of Prague Castle booked for the afternoon so decided to have a leisurely morning strolling through the Jewish Quarter. We purchased a pass that gave us access to a few Museums and the Cemetery. One of the museums had the names of about 77,000 Holocaust victims hand written on all of the walls that reinforced in a rather chilling way the enormity of the ethnic cleansing. The tiny cemetery was crammed with 12,000 tombstones but there are apparently 18 times that many bodies stacked and buried in the ground that lies well above street level.

It was a really hot day so we decided to go back to the apartment to rest for a few hours before our afternoon walking tour.

The Prague Castle walking tour was just ok. A lot of time was wasted waiting to start and then sorting out which tram was going to be the correct one to take. Impressive aspects of the tour included the view from the elevated castle down over central Prague and the magnificent St Vitus Cathedral. The Cathedral was started in 1344 and only completed in the mid 1900s.

We finished the tour at the Castle and then wandered home, stopping on the way for a drink on one side of Charles Bridge and then for dinner on the other side. We are all very tired due in part to the long hot days and trying to take in so many facts and many foreign names of significant people in history.

Today was our last full day in Prague and we have a long drive, about 7 hrs, to Salzburg tomorrow.