Petrin Hill and Old Jewish Quarter, Prague

Friday was our day to explore a little more of Prague!

We had decided to ride the tram to the foot of Petrin Hill, which offers some great views of the city. At the foot of the hill, we saw the Monument to the Victims of Communism (statues of men decaying slowly) and the Hunger Wall. The wall was so named because in the time of famines in the Middle Ages, the King commissioned peasants to build the wall as defense, thus providing work, and paying for many to eat.

Monument to the Victims of Communism

The Hunger Wall

 We hopped on the funicular (free for us with our tram passes) and rode to the top of the hill. We disembarked and saw Stefanik's Observatory with a weird statue of a man out front. Walking around the Rose Gardens (now dead pine gardens) we visited Strahov Monastery and finally reached our destination: Petrin Hill Tower. Only the disabled are allowed to ride the elevator up, so Hillary and I had no choice but to hike up the winding stairs to the top of the tower. The views from the top were incredible! The tower, built in an octagonal shape, was inspired by the Eiffel Tower, though it takes on a different shape. Our Petrin Hill Tower is not nearly as tall, though being situated at the top of the hill, it is located higher than the Eiffel Tower.

Stefanik's Observatory and Hillary

Petrin Hill Tower above the Hunger Wall

From the Observation deck, we snapped photos of the world's largest stadium, Prague Castle Complex, St. Vitus's Cathedral, Mala Strana (little quarter), The Charles Bridge and Vltava River, and Old Town (the Astronomical Clock and Church of Our Lady Before Tyn). The views were amazing, but it was pretty windy and chilly at the top, so we headed back down after taking our pictures, vowing to be back when the views were more clear.

From the bottom of the funicular, Hillary and I trammed through Mala Strana to Malastranska station. We walked across the Manesuv Most (One bridge south of Charles Bridge). After some discussion with an old Jewish woman at the ticket counter, Hillary and I headed into the Old Jewish Cemetery with our discounted tickets.

The Pinkas Synagogue was a depressing memorial to the victims of World War II. The walls were covered with the names of cities and victims from each city who passed away in the war. The number of entries was incredibly depressing. Heading out of the synagogue, we took a walk around the cemetery. The cemetery is an incredible sight, but also terribly depressing. Over 100,000 bodies are buried there, often 10 bodies deep, with over 12,000 tombstones to mark the graves. The reason for the huge number of bodies in the cemetery dates to when Jewish people were not allowed to be buried outside of the Jewish ghetto. The oldest headstones date to the 14th century and the cemetery was in operation until 1714. From the cemetery, we passed through the Ceremonial Hall and Klaus Synagogue.

Despite not having any Jewish ancestry, the visit was well worth it, and truly enlightening.

That night for dinner, Hillary and I got some carry-out Thai food from our favorite restaurant that is not McDonald's (Modry Zub). We relaxed and watched Fringe while discussing plans for the rest of the weekend and where to meet up in the morning.

Prague is proving to be a constantly enlightening city. Just when I thought that I had seen it all, there is a little more to see. I love the city and exploring it. While we do not plan to spend any more full weekends in the city, there is still plenty to see to keep our three weekdays very busy when we are not focused on school.

Prague Castle Complex (Left) with St. Vitus Cathedral. Mala Strana (red roofs) and Charles Bridge on the right!