Prague | Cuts for Him

As promised in a previous post about Prague, I have put together another set of photos of this wonderful city. This city does not need introduction when it comes to architecture. If you are into architecture then you would definitely appreciate the architectural diversity Prague has to offer. Lonely planet wrote “Prague is a living laboratory of 1000 years of European architecture. Fans of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, neoclassical and art nouveau will all find plenty to gawk at. Gothic marvels such as the Charles Bridge and St Vitus Cathedral rival the best in Europe. More eclectic 20th-century styles like cubism, functionalism and even ‘communism’ are represented as well, creating an entrancing labyrinth of contrasting styles that complete a remarkably cohesive whole”.

I would even challenge anyone who isn’t bothered about architecture to visit Prague and not be intrigued and stimulated by this. If and when you visit Prague, here are a few places, buildings and points of interest I would encourage visitors to see: Charles bridge, Old town square, St. Vitus Cathedral, Astronomical clock, Prague castle, Petrin Lookout tower, Dancing house, Prague national theatre, Kampa Island, Church of our lady before Tyn, National Museum, St Nicholas Church, and Powder gate.

I am sure there are many other places to see but these are just the ones from the top of my head.

Before you browse through the pictures, here are a few facts about Prague you might find interesting:

– Prague Castle is the biggest ancient castle in the world.

– Prague’s nick name is the city of a hundred spires.

– The population of Prague is over 1.2 million

– The Vltava River which is Czech republic’s longest river flows through Prague.

– Prague was the seat of two Holy Roman Emperors

Enjoy the photos and please leave a comment or share your experiences from Prague (if you have any) for other readers. Prague by River

Ok, first of all, why haven’t I been to Prague before? And how come no one ever mentioned to me how beautiful this European city was? As someone who loves travelling, why do I know so little about Prague? In fact the only thing I have heard about Prague is that it is a hotspot for stag dos and cheap beer. Cheap beer of course naturally attracts young British tourists. As someone who is not a huge beer fan, this was hardly a selling point and would rather sit in front of the lake in Geneva watching people go about their business. But here I was in the middle of the old town in Prague on a Friday evening with a look of bewilderment and surprise. Surprised at what my eyes were seeing. Just in case I haven’t already said it, Prague is incredibly beautiful.

The fact that I was blown away by its beauty is probably down to me having little expectations. If anything, I had this notion that the city is overrun by old Gothic looking buildings and architecture with beer houses dotted all over the place.

In fact I know so little about Prague or the Czech Republic in general that I only found out their currency is Koruna when I was on my way to Heathrow airport to catch my flight. I mean seriously what on earth was I thinking? All along I assumed it was the euro.

Waiting for my flight at the airport with little to look forward to, I began to plan how I could explore the fashion scene in Prague, which based on a link a friend sent me, hardly exist. Knowing at least that Prague is not a city associated with fashion and trends; I was determined to discover up and coming Czech brands that I could blog about. I mean there has to be more to Prague than stag dos and cheap beer and if I should spend my time exploring anything, then it has to be fashion. Well that was the plan at least.

The reality of what I ended up exploring couldn’t have been any more different to what I had in mind. The architecture! All of it and I mean Romanesque, renaissance, gothic, functionalist, cubist, classicism, historicism, post 1989 and by far my two favourites, Baroque and Rococo. The architectural styles span several centuries and makes the city looks like it wears it history on it sleeve.

If architectural diversity and taste were fashion, Prague would have been the capital of Europe ahead of London, Milan and Paris.

Anyway, enough typing for now as I would rather the photos speak for themselves. I hope they do justice to this wonderful city. I will do another blog post about Prague in the near future to share more photos.

Enjoy!

The view of the city from Vyšehrad castle