Someplace New

As the names might suggest, Old Town Prague has the quaint charm you expect, while New Town Prague has the booming economy and modernness of a much larger metropolitan area.  The architecture in the New Town areas is still distinctly European, but more sleek, modern, and cubist than the Old Town section.

Today, we will explore a few different areas of town that fall under that “New Town” umbrella.

The Dancing House:

The Dancing House is such a cool and unique piece of the Prague skyline.  The Dancing House was designed as an ode to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and the two sections are actually referred to as “Fred” and “Ginger.”  You can even go atop the Dancing House for a drink or pastry and take in the view of the city! (We had a tasty peanut butter banana protein smoothie!)

 

The Spanish Synagogue: 

As we have touched on before, there is an enormous amount of Jewish history here in teh Czech Republic. This synagogue is among the world’s most decorative and is truly stunning to explore.

Full of light, color, shapes, and shimmer, I just couldn’t get enough of this beautiful place.  There has been a house of worship on this site since the 12th century.  In a horribly ironic twist of fate, during WWII the Nazi’s took over this property and used it as a storage warehouse… for all the items of value that they confiscated from local Jews. It is now proudly owned by the Prague Jewish Museum. The top floor of the synagogue houses a few exhibits full of religious items that were hidden by locals during the Nazi invasion, and survived the war.

 

The Charles Bridge:

Construction on the Charles Bridge began in 1357 and it still stands as the most important connection from Prague Castle to Old Town.  This massive stone bridge crosses over the Vltava River and is adorned with statues representing scenes from past nobility.

 

Public Art:

We have already talked about my beloved John Lennon Wall, but Prague is home to some other… peculiar public art, as well.

There is a TV station tower on a prominent hill in the city, and back in the day it was thought of as quite the eye sore.  A local sculptor was asked to jazz up the tower and make it more pleasing in the surrounding landscape.  As his solution, he created a bunch of these squish-faced babies, and they are installed crawling up the side of the tower.  In the end, he had three extras left over and placed them in this public park.   They create an odd and alarming scene to encounter on your stroll…

In addition to the “Crawling Babies” statues, here are some other public art pieces we ran into.

These funky boot-shaped chairs were a colorful addition to the sidewalks and oh look, some random umbrella lady up above.  We even found her husband a few blocks further down…

I leave you today with one of my most favorite treats!  These are not from Czech origin.. but they do sell them here in Old Town and they are so yummy they had to be featured!  Local carts roast dough over a spit and cover it in cinnamon and sugar.  They are called Trdlos, or Trdelniks, and can be served either with cinnamon sugar only, lined with nutella, or even with soft serve ice cream inside. YUMMMM!!

Thanks for reading!