Idle Strolls

Europe is full of historic churches anywhere you go and it's hard to pick just a few. During this Christmas weekend, i chose to write about these four below which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites and have been important centres of history and culture. Since Prague was the first european city i saw and the one i spent the most time in during my trip, i have grown partial to it and hence will start from there :)  St Vitus Cathedral, Prague   St Vitus’s cathedral is at the centre of Prague, situated inside the Prague castle grounds. When you catch a glimpse of ‘Prague Castle’ from any other far off point in the city, it is in fact the tall towers and spires of st vitus church that you are seeing.  The church was founded in 1344 on the site of an earlier 10th century church in the same place. Construction of the church went on over the next six centuries, halting in between for wars etc.  some of the major work, and the ultimate completion of it happened only in...

The Old Town Hall in Prague is one of the two most visited sites in the city, with the other one being Charles Bridge. It is most known for its famous feature, the astronomical clock, but there is so much more to it.  The oldest part of the town hall is the town hall tower, which is also the tallest part, constructed in 1338. The rest of the entire town hall today consists of multiple different houses adjacent to the tower, which were bought over different periods of time and integrated as a single unit. the old town hall tower, to the left and the tyn church behind it, centre. The tower is about 70 metres tall, and the astronomical clock dominates its facade. It was installed in 1410, and has a dial showing the position of the sun, moon and other astronomical objects. Beneath it there is a calendar dial, installed later, showing the months. The clock is most famous however, for the ‘parade of the apostles’ - where the figures of the 12 apostles pass by a small door above the clo...

I had told in my previous post that Prague is a very beautiful city. While in any new place it would be common to be told 'watch your step', you should take that literally in prague - for prague's beauty lies even in its streets. Prague's pavements, or sidewalks, (depending on which side of the atlantic you come from) are paved with beautiful patterns in many areas. They are such a work of art, the granite cobbles laid out by hand, stone by stone.  So while you certainly have to keep looking at the buildings in every direction around you, make sure you look down too, to this unique form of street art exclusive to Prague. The most commonly found are white and grey stones, but some areas in the heart of the old town also have pink stones.  There are apparently 25 or so different patterns, and i was delighted every time i spotted a new pattern, and tried to capture as many as i could. I share a few below. I wish i could know more backgroun...

Prague was the first european city that i set foot in. I had always imagined going to europe for as long as i can remember, but I wasn't particular about prague as the first choice. It just so happened that i got the opportunity - and i couldn't have been happier.  My first connection to the Czech republic, unknowingly though, must have been when i had read Sherlock Holmes in my childhood - The famous story where holmes meets his match, Irene Adler - is called 'a scandal in bohemia'. Bohemia was once an independent country, but today it is one of the three  regions of the Czech republic, the other two being Moravia and Czech Silesia. Prague city, once the capital of bohemia, is also the capital of the present day Czech republic .  If your childhood involved growing up on a steady diet of fairy tales with towers and turrets, then prague is most definitely the city for you. With stone paved streets, numerous towers, churches, cathedrals, buildings from various ...