Czeching out the Czech Republic

This morning we started with a tour of old downtown Brno. Brno is the capital of Moravia in the southern part of the Czech Republic and central Europe.

Our sightseeing included a walking tour of churches, government buildings, and plazas.

Church in Brno

It also included a brief visit to a farmers' market. In this market farmers were selling local potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, parsnips, fresh eggs, and mushrooms, among other locally grown produce.

Farmers' market in old downtown Brno

We then departed for Prague (spelled and pronounced Praha). During the three hour bus ride, the landscape changed from rolling hills reminiscent of central Washington to a more wooded hilly terrain.

As we arrived into Prague, we first encountered a typical metropolis with business parks, including companies like Dell, Oracle, HP, IBM, Caterpillar, etc. Suddenly as we got closer to the center (downtown) of the city we were in awe of the vast panorama of the majesty of Prague.

Downtown Prague

In the afternoon, our tour guide Dorina, a native of Prague, led the group on a walking tour of the historic downtown. The sites we visited are the Powder Gate, the Astronomical Clock, Wenceslas Square, and the Old Town Square. We ended the tour in the Jewish Quarter where we visited a historic Synagogue which is still used by the Jewish community today. The president of Lebanon is on a state visit to the Czech Republic and as we were standing before the Astronomical Clock, his impressive motorcade passed in front of us.

 

The beautiful Prague Cathedral

Submitted by:
Cesar Hernandez
Vernon Peterson
Jorge Suarez