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the prague castle fortified sand gate as seen from outside the old city wall in 1750

The Sand Gate

The Sand Gate Prague was a fortified city up until the 1880s. On my Walking Tours I can point out where the various city wall gates used to be, what they were called and who might have used them. I can even show you what they looked like, describe the dimensions and generally paint a … Read More

czech food bramborak cooked golden brown and drained of excess oil

Czech Food Bramborak

Czech Food Bramborak Bramborak has to be without doubt one of the least healthy food options so limit yourself to side dishes and pub food with a beer. You may also see this listed as “Bramboračky” in which case it’s smaller in size. More often than not it’s a side dish so look for “Bramboračky” … Read More

prague st vitus cathedral viewed from the presidential office in the third courtyard of prague castle

Prague ST Vitus Cathedral

Prague ST Vitus Cathedral If you’ve read the post about Legend of ST Vitus then we arrive at the year 925 and Wenceslas, Duke of Bohemia (later to be known as Good King Wenceslas) is gifted a relic (bones) of ST Vitus by Henry the First, King of Germany (if you thought that was nice … Read More

bronze detail on a st vitus cathedral door showing the relics of st vitus being carried to the new rotunda

ST Vitus

St Vitus – The Boy Saint Before you read about ST Vitus Cathedral it’s worth telling you something about the legend of ST Vitus himself because although he is patron saint of Prague, he was not Czech. So let’s just agree on who he was and how a piece of him ended up here in … Read More

the neo-renaissance sophies palace building on slavonic island in prague

Slavonic Island and Sophies Palace

Slavonic Island and Sophies Palace If you visit the Dancing House then when you look down into this part of the river you’ll see a weir. You may think that this is a fairly recent thing to control the river but actually there has been a weir here for at least 600 years. It’s a … Read More

jaroslav rona bronze sculpture sitting devil on the old town square in 2017

Jaroslav Rona Sculptures

Jaroslav Rona Sculptures Born in 1957 you could say that by the age of 15 Jaroslav Rona knew that he wanted to be some kind of artist. He applied to various arts schools and was rejected so having completed his basic 9 years of education he enrolled in a 3 year vocational school to train … Read More

prague historic tram 41 on manes bridge with prague castle in background

Historic Tram 41

Historic Tram 41 and 42 The Prague Historic Tram 41 is of a type that was running in Prague between 1908 and 1942 so it’s for people who want to experience a bit of Old Prague. This line only runs at weekends and on National Holidays. It’s ONLY between 11am and 6pm and it’s an … Read More

Prague Roast Duck and Dumplings with red and white cabbage and gravy on a white plate

Czech Food – Roast Duck

Czech Food Roast Duck I guess that Prague Roast Duck will be on every Czech food restaurant menu as a main course but there are of course subtle differences and styles of presentation. English menus will say “Roast Duck”, the same thing in Czech is “Pečená Kachna” but you might have trouble saying that. So … Read More

alfons mucha slav epic

Slav Epic Part One

Slav Epic Part One – Introduction and Location The Slav Epic is a huge piece of work whether you look at it from a perspective of the number of paintings i.e. twenty, the size of the paintings (6 of the paintings would cover the front of a terraced house in England, including the roof), the … Read More

Slav epic, celebration of Svantovit, when gods are at war

Slav Epic Part Two

Slav Epic Part Two – Paintings 1 to 5 This post explores the detail on paintings numbered 1 to 5 in the Slav Epic series with interpretation, what to look for and historic context etc. If you want first to learn what leads up to the creation of the Slav Epic, who painted it, when … Read More