Astronomical Clock.
Old City Square. July 2019
[from FB post: October 5, 2019]
I'm starting to post my summer photos. You know, I visited Prague in 1987 and thought "this is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen, it's too bad so few people get to see it". Wow, if I only could have known it would become THRONGED with tourists 30 years later! (I missed 1987 Prague, but I am happy to see the local people getting some benefit from the influx of tourist cash)
After my big trip in 1987 [see: Beijing to Athens], one thing I told everyone repeatedly was that Prague was one of the most incredible cities I had visited in Europe and that, if ever discovered, everyone would love it.
Well it happened.
Then Prague became the next Barcelona, the place people HAD TO say they visited. It bordered on becoming over-loved and trite. When people talked about visiting Prague I just did huge internal eye-rolls. I had visited when it was behind the Iron Curtain, I saw Prague before the masses. However, I must be honest - Prague 1987 was poor, dirty, and downtrodden. It was beautiful, but slowly falling apart. Prague 2019 awash with tourist dollars was cleaned up and even more lovely. Didn't the city at least deserve that? Like finding a piece of porcelain buried and muddied, I had seen Prague just after it had been dug up in 1987. By 2019 it was cleaned up and back to its original splendor.
My second visit to the city was spent taking long city walks in the late afternoons and daytrips out of town in the morning and early afternoons. The weather was perfect on the second visit, too. I liked cleaned up Prague a lot, but rather than sitting in the old city square with only locals, I now shared it with thousands of people from around the world whose tourist koruna helped to transform the place. The best part of the return visit was having seen everything before. Those afternoon walks were just about drinking it all in and not desperately ticking buildings off a list of "must sees". Prague is a city meant for strolling and appreciating its beauty.
Late afternoon along the Vltava watching the sun set and seeing the Charles Bridge transform into a string of silhouetted statues is magical. Europe's most beautiful capital is not Paris or Rome, it is probably Prague. Even if over-loved, I think it is still underrated.
In spite of the tourist mobs, I still love Prague. I hope its future is not overwhelmed by good fortune.
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