Pilsen and Pilsner Urquell

Friday was another day trip, a bit more uplifting this time. We traveled by bus to Pilsen, a small and beautiful town with a lot of history; it has also recently been named the European capital of culture in 2015 (I don't really understand what that means, but it seemed to deserve the title). It was also a GORGEOUS day-- I was able to wear a skirt!

Our first stop was the Great Synagogue, which is the third largest synagogue in the world! The Nazi HQ was located in the next building so it was not demolished during their occupation of Pilsen. Instead, they used it as a warehouse of some kind. This information is all from my tour guide, who also told us that there are currently three Jews living in Pilsen who, together with "sympathizers", make up a community of about ten people. According to the Wikipedia page, however, there are a little over seventy Jews in a town of a few hundred thousand.

What is apparently used now by the Pilsen Jewish community is a small synagogue which is older than the original and located a few blocks away. There is also a memorial for the Pilsen Jews who died in the Holocaust: a rock garden with the names of all the missing.

From the synagogues we moved on to the town square, an enormous space empty except for the Cathedral, some sculptures and benches, and a random jumping castle.

St Bartholomew's Cathedral is one of the hallmark attractions of Pilsen. We climbed up the tower to a platform just above the clock. I just read that the spire is highest in the Czech Republic. There was a beautiful view from up there and we spent a long time taking photos of the town. It also helped us to get a better grasp on the geography of the town; useful during our two hour free time for lunch and personal tours.

We were also able to step into the Cathedral itself. Quite lovely (but typical):

On the lunch break I was lucky enough to join up with some girls after my own heart. They said they were craving a hamburger! I had barely thought of one in a week but it just may be my favorite food. Luckily we came across a steakhouse on a manmade pond, complete with koi fish.

This thing may have been one of the best burger's I've had in awhile. They put some tzatziki on there. Fantastic. 

We then wandered around the square for a bit, grabbing a cappuccino before heading back to meet up with the rest of the group. The presentation was quite quaint:

We then returned to the square to meet up with the rest of our group. We were on our way to the Pilsen museum and a tour of the Pilsner Urquell brewery (for which our tour guide suspiciously works)! That will be a separate post because there is just too much information to share now.

All in all it was, though, a lovely day at Pilsen. I would not hesitate to return.