Hello Hivers,
Prague is a world famous cultural and touristic center. Located on the Vltava River, it has approximately 1.3 million inhabitants. Moreover, Its historic center was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1992 (deservedly I must add).
I went to Prague with two friends of mine, and we had a whole pack of stuff with us, since this was the first stop of our Inter-rail, which lasted for 21 days and brought us through 5 capitals of the Balkans: Prague, Budapest, Beograd, Sofia and Istambul.
We travelled by train of course, and since all of this cities are very distant one from the other, we travelled by night, sleeping on the train.
The Jewish cemetery
I would like to start this post not in chronological order, but from the thing that left me the strongest emotions: the jewish cemetery .
I clearly remember my visit there, first of all for the strong whirlwind of emotions that I felt and second because while we were visiting it, there was a very strong rainfall and we got really wet.
The graveyard has a very unique style. The first thing that I thought when I saw it, was: am I in Bloodborne? I don't know how many of you are familiar with the PS4 game, but if you are you for sure remember the fight with Father Gascoigne. The location of this fight is really similar to the Jewish Cemetery in Prague (of course in the game the atmosphere is a lot gloomier).
This cemetery has a really strange atmosphere, the shape and positioning of the tombstones seems casual and irregular and this adds to the strong feeling of uneasiness that grips your hart as soon as you enter.
I believe that whoever designed the shape of the cemetery, did a really great job, and monuments like this are really helping keeping intact the memory of the horrors and crimes which were committed.
What happened during Second World War is something that nowadays seems impossible even to think about, but is also something that we should always keep in mind because the best thing that we can do as humans is learn from our mistakes and don't let them happen again. I believe that ignorance is one the main causes of most of the problem that we have faced through history and that we are still facing.
There is a psychology study which I find really interesting and that explains how racism can start from a very simple situation. The experiment is the following: a group of children of a certain elementary class are split randomly (so without any ethnicity, skin or sex criteria) into two groups. This two groups have to play a game for two weeks were they are in competition one with the other. The two groups are split for most of the day and meet only when they have to play the games for the competition. Through the course of the experiment, it was clearly visible how the two groups started having very harsh feeling among them, and even when the experiment was concluded and all the kids returned to their classes, they still continued being separated into two groups and being in really bad relationships with the kids of the other group.
The only thing that solved this situation, was the introduction of a new common enemy. The class was told that they were to face another class in a new competition and in this way they were forced to start talking one with the other, and in this way they were able to overcome their differences (or more correctly to understand that there weren't any differences) and collaborate.
So probably the only way that we have to eliminate racism and conflicts between nations, is an alien attack 😅. Just joking (sort of), but with this I want to say that, sometimes just being a little more open minded and willing to know the other side (instead of judging only by appearances) even. little bit, can make all the difference in the world.
Puppets
Let's switch to more funny subjects. An other thing that I liked a lot in Prague were the shops full of puppets. I discovered that in Czech Republic there is a great tradition of puppets.
Czech puppetry is an important cultural and social phenomenon that spread in the mid-19th century. Puppetry began in various regions of today's Czech Republic in the mid-18th century. Puppeteers who traveled from city to city helped to develop the level of the Czech language among ordinary people.
Some photos of the city
Prague is a really beautiful city, and it is really occidental. You can smell in the air the internationality and diversity of cultures that are present. Moreover, it is also healthy from the economical point of view (The domestic product per capita of Prague is about double that of the entire Czech Republic and the city is also establishing itself as the headquarters of European management of numerous multinational companies).
A giant Panda
Nothing more to say here, just a gigantic costume of the most beautiful animal in the world: the Panda 😍.
A street artist making kids (and not only) smiling with an amazing bubble show in one of the main squares in the city.
The Dancing House (Tančící dům) is the nickname given to the Nationale Nederlander Building in the center of Prague. It was designed by the Croatian architect Vlado Milunić in cooperation with the Canadian Frank Gehry. The chosen location was a vacancy on the riverside, in the Nové Město district. The building that previously occupied that place had been destroyed during the bombing of Prague in 1945.
A parade of vintage cars through the streets of the city.
Conclusion
I really liked Prague, and probably it is another of those cities (like Budapest or Wien) where I wouldn't mind to live in.
The most beautiful thing in Prague
Before concluding the post, I want to make a special mention for a place that we visited, but here photos weren't allowed: the Klementinum.
This was by far the best thing I saw in Prague and I literally feel in love with it as soon as I approached the Room of the Baroque Library. If you haven't seen it, I strongly recommend that you do it, and if you can't go to Prague, at least google it to get an idea of how beautiful it is.
