| Show 2W The Salt Lake Tribune Sunday September 20 1990 Prague: delights of Czech capital are best seen on foot Continued from W-- 1 lance of the bridge The Old Town Square offers a visual history lesson in every direction It is dominated on one side by the Old Town Hall with its medieval clock tower In another direction one is struck by the Baroque beauty of the Church of St Nicholas which dates from 1735 Turn again and one faces the foreboding steeples of Tyn Church one of Prague's most famous landmarks which dates from the 14th century It combines elements of both Gothic and (in the interior) Baroque design Incidentally the trict founded by Charles IV in 1348 It includes Wenceslas Square known to most Americans from TV Jews killed during the Nazi occupation Crowning the hill on the opposite side of the river is Prague Castle a labyrinth of interconnected palaces princely houses and churches The site has been the Bohemian capital since the 9th century Czech kings ruled there from 1158 At its center stands St Vitus Cathedral a gothic edifice built on the It- 41 broadcasts of demonstrations during the revolution last November The square actually is a broad boulevard many blocks long lined by the city's most fashionable shops and clothing stores The familiar equestrian statue of the saint stands at one end of the square Behind him rises the impressive National Museum built late in the 19th century in a style The Smetana Theatre which dates from the same period great Danish astronomer Tycho and houses the national opera comBrahe is buried here pany is located nearby The center of the square is domiThe city's leading dramatic house nated by a monumental statue of Jan however is the imposing National Theatre located in the Old Town on Hus the Czech religious reformer who predates Martin the right embankment of the Vltava Luther by a century and was burned It also dates from the late 19th cenat the stake as a heretic in 1415 Sev- tury and is constructed in the Neoeral decades of religious warfare Renaissance style Adjacent to it is was one political consequence of the the New Stage a striking contempoProtestant movement he helped to rary building in aluminum and glass inspire Roman Catholic forces did completed in the early 1980s not regain thorough domination in Vaclav Havel the nation's articuBohemia again until 1620 late and playwright The square is surrounded by president guided last November's Velvet Revolution from yet another homes and palaces of powerful by gone merchant princes Many of the nearby theater the Magic Lantern buildings date from the 13th and Prague is a theater town and the of14th centuries in the Romanesque ferings of drama music and opera are plentiful style and have been rebuilt in sucA visit to the Old Jewish Cemetery ceeding centuries to reflect a variety of architecture particularly RenaisIn the Old Town can be one of the sance and Baroque most moving experiences in Prague Old Town Square is a feast for the Some 12000 gravestones dating from 1389 to 1787 are found tightly eye and the nearby restaurants some located in subterranean Ropacked into the cemetery a silent testament to the once flourishing a vaults for offer feast manesque Jewish community here the palate as well Near the cemetery entrance is the A short walk through the cobbled streets of the Old Town many of State Jewish Museum which incorwhich are closed to vehicular traffic porates one of Old Town's six synaleads to the adjacent New Town dis gogues as a memorial to the 77000 t- e' ''r i : q ii :i ' 1: 't ' : fc - 77: ''' 1 '''''''''''44-- 4 ' : 4 --- i'' 1 t 11 - 01 - !:td? 1 ' i -- 4 A ' ' ' -- cd 14 - OkOrti 4 ! 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' ' ' n 14 - st iFttV cit40 tri'7:s? 4 -- liv'il" I3 r Lamiao401011031 rmoil t ithii church Work on the present building began in the 14th century at the order of Charles IV and under the direction of the architect Peter Parler who designed the Charles Bridge and several of the city's other major monuments Much of Czech history is enshrined here Highlights include the ornate chapel built over the tomb of St Wenceslas with its many wall paintings decorated with jewels and precious stones and the white marble royal tombs The nearby Old Royal Palace includes the Vladislav Hall beneath whose graceful vaulted ceiling many of the nation's most important state occasions have occurred In a nearby chamber in 1618 three representatives of the Hapsburg dy nasty were thrown from a window The defenestration and killed S ' 'c :' 1 11-?- r- —1111 41 -- - t 1 74 ' '"' tr 1 sweLaakw bn S '''4" N ": t - ' - f i " -- 1 '' ' I - ' F:1 1' !A I 1 ' r4e 1 1 i t 13 ((Nig 19 -- - 1 79 ' r site of an earlier Romanesque $ 44t ‘ (1 1rA) $ ' A - 140 ' f 4 il '''''74‘4111'52 ) I C IIVArt 1 k- 1 I-- ti TIB ET N! la i I? I - i '' z‘': 1 I i " I )4 :o2' t ) In i ''' pfdi '': g (° A re! is ' i w i !'14't ker k' k klr'2' r tri : i ("01 4): 43g : P ) i P - 4' ' ' ' 11111 1 14th-centur- y tr ' Town Square This High Baroque monument to the wealth and power of the Catholic Church was built in the first half of the 18th Century under the direction of the architects Christoph and KI Dientzenhofer two of the most prominent designers in the city's history Prague includes many other fasci— nating and beautiful locales museums palaces monasteries churches and homes For example Mozartians may want to explore the Bertramka on Mozartova Street the home where the master composed "Don Giovanni" in 1787 The Tyl Theatre in the Old Town where the opera premiered currently is undergoing extensive renovation and is all but unrecognizable The four decades of communism that followed World War II sapped the Czech capital of its vitality and ringed it with the gray architectural wasteland pandemic in Eastern European nations Serious air and water pollution are another bitter legacy of the communist period although the drinking water in Prague Is considered safe However today's city is proud and free The Czechs and Slovaks won the admiration of the world with their Velvet Revolution that cast off one of the most repressive of the East Bloc regimes without bloodshed Czechoslovakia enjoys relatively good economic health by the standards of its neighbors though times are tough now and will remain so for at least five years Prague suffers an acute housing shortage but there is plenty to eat and people seem optimistic about their long-terprospects as they adjust to their new freedoms The next year may be the best time to visit the beautiful Bohemian capital Once word of its beauties gets out there will be no keeping visitors L ' 4 Photo by Pout Wetzel Jazz band plays during campaign rally at last June's elections In Prague Wall behind displays its past communist leaders touched off the Thirty Years War that devastated Bohemia and much of Germany In 1620 south German Catholics successfully put down the Protestant Czech revolt and Bohemia remained under Hapsburg rule until the end of World War Today Prague Castle houses President Havel's office though he continues to live in a private family home elsewhere in the city Below the castle lies the Hradcany district of palaces noble houses and gardens and the Lesser Town sites in the latAmong the must-se- e ter is another spectacular St Nicholas Church this one on the Lesser I away I Despite discomforts traveling in Romania can be stimulating By Roddy Ray Knight-Ridde- BUCHAREST Romania — Given interest in the offbeat and oxymoronic two words intrigued me so much that I put my normal duties aside and made a 24- to the north of this hour round-tri- p country into the region we know as Transylvania First the two words that caught my Interest: Merry Cemetery I heard of this place from two Romanians As I understood it all of the tombstones at a particular cemetery in northern Romania had funny things written on them As it turned out this was not the best description but had I not gone I could not man- age to give you the better one you will find here And second a few words about traveling in Romania It is not to be done lightly For the 15 years or so before his execution last December dictator Nicolae Ceausescu savaged travel opportunities in this country in a number of ways not the least of which was forbidding Romanians to talk to foreigners Before the Merry Cemetery trip I was in the the Intercontinental almy professional i legedly Bucharest's best hotel where the cheapest accomodation is $124 a night That got me a poorly cleaned room — imagine finding — a p someone's well-use- d Q-ti- OBOWL:NAS LOWER ROSE PARADE ($O CALM) 27Jan 2 $Aca MC Dientylatst tirAsNmal SPECIAL a tidos Sim:4 nuke Bit ComimIlkos Tors En Party 23-2- 84mok 5 De MERIDIAN from Ft Lauderdale Antigua SPECIAL St Thomas & Nassau These ' 69 2Nan TERRI TOUR Oct 5 23-2- '499 2 St NEW Nov & SPECIAL SPECIAL TRAVEL SEMINAR oefv : 359 7-- di GOOSE) SsEpNEIgRASI 1 4 Lis) Fall Foliage DENiER TRAIN Nt 11-1- 8228 3 LACS Of THE The The COCK OF C:R1231 Feb 14-2- '1495 Val 8 nEA8 TH ViALeLAYstomoRs - 189 SPECIAL NALOWEEN IN SALEM MASS Oct 25-3- 0 $699 sagrls KILIO'S Etqam &TOURS TRAVEL cl 18004254622 youreocluo k sgigrA10 o o ' 1 I 1 Feb 22-Mar- H 8-- 5 or (303) Transportation Temple Sessions and More October October 349 3 691-22- 23-2- 11 II 5 f014007 Ell VAtATION' 0 46S4-- Perfect The Ships The Islands The Price 71:77 Fr172111774-71NY4 0e tit 1 ROSE PARADE TOUR For the perfect way to bring in the New Year join our tour k A 4 OA 'N : - iA YV " wr - 1- -4 0 - 100116" er---- 1 77 r3T'::---r--777-7-:4- including: Las Vegas San Diego Los Angeles With Seaworld Wild Animal Park 71 Universal 1-176- d L ::Iiit i' imoiia 1 The catch? Cabins won't last forever ORANGE BOWL TOUR & CRUISE - A '8 Be in Florida while everyone watches on TV as you enjoy the New Year festivities of the -- ' v0) efi You'll dine from menus designed by Orange Bowl gameareand the parade Also included Everglades Epcot Cypress Gardens and an optional three day cruise DEC 30 — JAN 4 OR 7 88 West 500 South Bountiful Utah 84010 Tel (801) 295-002- 5 ToU Free CALL NOW FOR 1" BROCHURES 041141:-0- - 4s-- chef Michel Roux and be served by a European staff Enjoy inviting whirlpools on-de- ck world-renown- ed hand-pick- ed fitness state-of-the-- casino inviting clubs and lounges And spacious cabins many with large picture windows center European-styl- e a fre Morris IAN' 32 ortypnac Ingbat 14 World Of Us" H &milk Odor Wm shirk ALL OUR TOURS Co Mirky 011soiamnagewannollossom AwIt oespoemaatos t L C Ilestory lebsano Ithnos INI6kitt I ARE MIT ESCORTED! t $ V) 1: 0 I 10WMVIIIIP620110001"014441RallOWNIINOMICONWMIOAOSiN t 1 i Where The Beet Things 1 In Life Are At Sea "Wpm 1 r eWeA ea 44es 11 Travmej TRAVEL NETWORK Meridian departs Ft Lauderdale Sundays to Antigua St Thomas and Nassau Horizon departs San Juan Saturdays to Martinique Barbados St Lucia Antigua and St Thomas IkAnnemkon AsscAIS" ON pm 11 ati‘IPTIALI:e'cqr LJ 8-1- a "Toe Can Expect The °Goo' iALTLAtumwr g Includes: Meals Hotels Transportation Disneyland and More 5 ch On-Goi- ng M-- F Temples Includes: Meals Hotels i Discover the Isles of Paradise on our fully escorted tour to Hawaii See four islands stay in first class hotels Enjoy activities other tours don't include IQ LOS ANGELES MANI! ST GEORGE George & Las Vegas Las Vegas ' 1 Travel Franchise Organization International Networking & Advertising Training Learn how you can own your own travel agency without prior experience Tuesday Oct 9 7pm Little America Hotel 500 S Main St REGISTER St HAWAII Become Part Of Industry in the World LIMITED SEATING! BY CALLING: TEMPLE Race Track and of course the Rose Parade and a New Years Eve Party DEC 27 — JAN 3 Per person Pod Charges extra Fares thru 121690 S RS diers at attention On each was a scene that included the dead person usually showing something significant from the person's life A man on a bicycle Another by a stream with his dog The women typically were in a kitchen or with children In a rather macabre case a small girl killed by a taxi was shown in the street with the taxi approaching And below the scene was carved in a Romanian dialect a rhyming epitaph that told something about the person The poems ranged from the tragic to the serenely happy Directly behind the church was the grave and beautiful marker of Stan Ion Patras the man who created the cemetery before he died 13 years ago Oddly enough his poem though' respectable was rather plain and made no mention of his work on the grave markers Since he died his students have kept the tradition going the taxi driver said For information contact the Romanian National Tourist Office 573 Third Ave New York NY 10016 side-by-sid- Disneyland Studios Santa Anita sst:Elgt 89 sP11001 Barbados St Thomas 5622032 CATALINA ISLAND mom NARY & ships HAVE IT ALL! St GEORGE I US VEGAS 8 Lucia Antigua SPECIAL HOLIDAY BOWL & ROSE PARADE Dec San Juan Martinique 7070 Union Park Center SSEPN'ElgtiASI Adg oeyvv Z-2- 1 FREE AIR RED CARPET TRAVEL SPECIAL 11 CHARLES DICKENS CHMSTIAAS (ENGLAND) w Dec $995 from shed with a steep thatched roof I have seen many things but never have I seen a real house that small It was on the main road and its address was No 1 We knocked and out came Maria Oanta 82 a small woman who said she had lived in the house for 30 years since the villagers helped her late husband a watchman in the fields build it When we arrived in Sapinta a narrow white sign with black letters — Cimitirul Vesel or Merry Cemetery — pointed us down a side street We pulled up at an ornate Romanian Orthodox church surrounded by a fence and went inside The sun was low on the horizon and the air was alive with the honks bleats and clucks of nearby village animals Three peasant women were in the cemetery but they spoke Russian and so we could not talk to them The grave markers perhaps 200 of them were not tombstones but tall ornately carved slabs of thick wood e in rows like sol standing DIII FIRST COMPARE THE TOUR THEN COMPARE THE PRICE SENIORS' '299 2 29-Ja- n HORIZON a F MORE FOR THE MONEY! Space is limited at this price so call NOW ROSE PARADE Dec $895 SENIORS' LAUGHLIN -- two-bun- A14 44g 4 Oct 10 12 52-se- dual-propell- spending much of my time in the bathroom of room 1108 Remember me to it should you ever find yourself there All that said I should point out that traveling in Romania is most stimulating because few foreigners litHOJIAHOE $159 rtic10: 11-1- - FREE AIR LAKE POWELL FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS Nov no-sho- stayed at the Intercontinental w Newspapers to get to Merry Cemetery and back do it and because in the countryside it is its own kind of place The Merry We hailed a taxi Once on the road I forgot all that is bad about travelCemetery is a case in point and there are many many others A good trav- ing in Romania Almost immediately el book can fill in the wide gaps outside Baia Mare the scenery was varied and beautiful We headed you'll find in this dispatch Further once you're here it's north winding our way back and forth hairpin after hairpin up a cheap getting around — the Intercontinental is not representative — mountain called Gutii The road apand during excursions into the counpropriately enough was called the try you can get by on food such as Road Over Gutil bread and cheese from people in the Along the route clear water streams ran down the mountainside villages From Bucharest my interpreter and occasional fading signs — "ProRamona and I managed to get the tect edible mushrooms" "Don't start seats of two on the day's fires" and the like — indicated the only flight fully booked because of road's faded reputation as a tourist an airline strike the previous day to attraction Baia Mare a smallish city about 300 - We saw more horses pulling wag-ci- s than-wmiles to the northwest It is the seaf saw automobiles and alof Romania's northernmost county most all the horses were dollied up Maramures with large red tassles on one side of The their heads Many children waved at ride in a the taxi plane of Romania's Tarom airlines was hot loud and In Feresti we stopped at a tiny cramped and for refreshment we tiny house perhaps 9 feet wide by 6 each received a piece of hard candy feet deep — something like a tool with a soft center that surprised with its foul taste --- Upon arriving we realized there was no return flight to Bucharest A : k that day so we booked a sleeper compartment on the overnight train It left at 8 pm that night so we had only about six hours smoky lobby haunted by sleazy money changers and prostitutes and one morning no hot water Unfortunately I could not shampoo my hair with their meek apology My intention was to stay a couple of nights and then find something less expensive but almost immediately I got food poisoning with its troublesome complications and if you've ever seen Eastern European toilet paper you will pity me To be fair to the Intercontinental which hardly deserves it I should say that before I got sick I also had eaten at the Bucharest Hotel allegedly the city's second best More than any other Eastern European country I have found Romania to be an adventure in eating Not in good eating but just in eating A colleague told me that at a cheaper hotel I should not assume that the room would have hot water and heat So though I cannot recommend it — you'd do much better to scout around as I couldn't — I 1146 MOORS' r |
