This Dispatch (part of our irregular series of experiences from folks at the Crown Cruise Vacations offices) recounts Roger’s experiences in Prague back in 2003. Some of the information in this little story may be a bit outdated, but the all the places are still there and ready for your visit!

Travel takes you to some amazing places, and sometimes in the weirdest ways. Back in 2003, I was living hand-to-mouth, out of a backpack in Europe, mostly on the goodwill and compassion of family members and friends. Their couches helped too. But it was amazing – I got to really see and experience Europe. One of the most random moments involved a new friend and a train ride to Prague at the drop of a hat. After a night of too much celebrating from being in a new city, my friend Brent and I sought out the sights in Prague.

Once breakfast was squared, we ventured toward the Jewish community. Brent had heard about it and really wanted to see the Jewish museum. In Prague, though, the Jewish museum is not the typical museum. Its more than one museum, more like a village of museums in Prague’s old Jewish quarter. It consists of seven sites and synagogues… and we saw five of them. Even though it stretched my student budget to get into all the places, it turned out to be worth it.

Following the second world war, what was left of the Czech Jewish community (it shrank from about 200,000 in 1938 to 10,000 in 1946) put together a museum of the major sites still in Prague. The series of exhibits is to a degree understated but still stunning. There’s the Jewish cemetery which is over 800 years old and has at least 12,000 people buried within. It’s actually become a hill because land was scarce for the Jewish community so they added earth to fit more people within the cemetery. Nobody has been buried there in over 200 years but it is still kept open, in accordance with Jewish law.

There are also in depth exhibits on what the Jewish Community did during its life and death. In particular, the balcony of the Spanish Synagogue offers quite a jarring showing of life in a Nazi era ghetto. It’s nothing huge, just simple pictures of unknown victims, craftworks and small toys of children who lived there. Prayer rolls to honor the dead, by the thousands.

Following our museum tour, it was time for lunch. A quick, cheap bite and an unsuccessful attempt to wait out the steady cold rain that had been falling, and we were on a long, wet walk to the Prague Castle.

Crossing the Vlatva river and walking up a big hill, we arrived – soaked – near the castle, only to find out we could have taken the Metro to the base of the hill. Sometimes knowing the language, or at least a little pre-visit prep work can help.

It should be said that the Prague castle, is not just a castle… but almost an entire city. There is the cathedral of St. Vitus, also another romanesque church, the Golden row, which includes Kafka’s house. Much of it is free, but there are approximately a dozen museums in the area, some of which is related to the history of the Prague castle, but many are not. If you like toys, there is a big toy museum there, for example. They have a huge Barbie exhibit apparently. Brent and I got there a bit late and only had about 2 hours to spend in the museums. Nonetheless, we bought an A (long visit) ticket, which let us in to all the museums dealing with the castle and historic significance.

We started our tour in the palace, where the famous defenestration of Prague took place. The famous start of the thirty years’ war where two Catholic messengers were thrown out of a window at the Prague Castle. We think we found the exact window, but we aren’t positive. The castle tour was a bit of a let down to be honest. Most signs were only in Czech, and not knowing the language, it made a full appreciation of the exhibits a bit challenging. Those items that were explained in many languages are not explained well – it seems as though the stories start in the middle, so you leave just as confused as though the words were not in English. If seeing the famous window (which is in the first anteroom of the tour) isn’t important to you, you may want to consider getting a B level ticket. It doesn’t allow you entry to the main palace, nor do you have the opportunity to climb the south tower of the cathedral, and it is significantly cheaper. From there, we checked out the church and cathedral. St. Vitus is a stunning piece of architecture, probably – in my opinion – the prettiest cathedral I’ve seen outside of France. We elected to skip the tower climb.

We left the castle by way of the Golden Way (which you also must buy a ticket for, but is part of A or B level tickets at the Prague Castle) to see the workplace of Franz Kafka. There are also examples of torture chambers, halls of armor, all sorts of medieval things you can check out, much of which you can buy because the Golden Way has been turned into a giant gift shop.

On the way back to the old town, we took the Metro, not wanting to get any more wet. I love traveling city subways because I think they tend to give important clues about the personality of the city. New York’s is messy and huge and carries a sense of importance and almost pending history. Berlin’s is a thoroughly modern system reconciling itself with its own history. The Prague metro is a design of the Soviet bloc. Purely utilitarian in form, but modern enough to have been considered a showpiece. Each station with a different color scheme, but the same basic design in each stop. The walls and ceilings look to be covered in “Halls” cough drops. With some culture under our belts, we headed back to bed and breakfast for a nap before the nightlife takes over again.

Lots of river cruises take you to Prague. In fact, many of them start or end in this magical city. Click here to find sailings that stop in Prague.