Monday 7 March 2022

A BIT OF CULTURE, AND A BAD TIME IN HISTORY

 So where was I last week ? My wife and I went to Prague to celebrate our 10 th wedding anniversary that we had last month, it was somewhere we had both wanted to visit and have never been before. We stayed in a nice hotel just on the outskirts of old town, so had plenty of opportunity to explore all the great Architecture that is part of old town. Even the standard buildings have fantastic detail work, but then you have the more elaborate buildings with brass roofs, or gold detailing, and lots of statues, here are some of the pictures we took.


We also found a art exhibit being set up, with some great pieces and interesting vehicles.


While there, we went on a day trip to Terezin, originally built as two fortresses in the 18 th century, and known as the small fortress, and large fortress. It never fulfilled it's original purpose, and later the small fortress was used as a prison, and even held Gavrilo Princip  as the glass panel we photographed shows.


In world war 2 the small fortress became a SS prison camp, and the whole of the large fortress, became a propaganda camp for the Jewish community, from here they were then transported by rail, to the more well known concentration camps, or death camps, some were actually sent from the death camps, back to the large fortress, if they proved useful, but not many.

Propaganda films were made here to show that the Jewish community were thriving in this new place for them, but was far from the truth, although never set up as a death camp the mortality rate was extremely high, due to overcrowding, malnutrition, and disease. Here are some of the pictures we took.

Small Fortress Pictures
Large Fortress Pictures

What also surprised me was that one of the barracks in the large fortress was set up for Germans that they wanted out of the country, including world war 1 veterans, which had to pay for the privilege but were then treated just as bad as the Jewish community . If you haven't heard of this camp, have a look on google or other search engine, as it was one I knew very little about until visiting. It was an experience that I will always remember.

That's all for this post, so until next time stay safe and have fun !

Cheers Dave

32 comments:

  1. John@justneedsvarnish7 March 2022 at 10:32

    Nice for you both to get away for a break! :-) Thanks for sharing the pictures, a combination of beautiful and sobering!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you John, it was great to get away. These were just a few that we took, as we also have ones at night with the buildings lit up, and when the snow fell on the Friday. Left some of the ones from Terezin out as well, because of the back story we were told about the places.

      Delete
  2. Very interesting pictures, some nice and fun, others sad and a bit poignant.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Ann, this post was very much a duality, and hopefully thought provoking too.

      Delete
  3. I was actually a bit fearful you were about to say you were holidaying somewhere a bit further east than your actual destination, Dave. So super-pleased that you're back safe and well, and had such a marvellous time. Love the architecture on display in Prague, and clearly you spent some time learning more about its darker past too - superb photos btw.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Simon, my days of getting involved in combats is well behind me ! We did see a lot of mention and protests about what's happening in the Ukraine while we there though. The architecture was stunning, and spent a lot of time looking at all the details. It was a chilling place to walk round, and learning about it's dark past.

      Delete
  4. Gorgeous pics Dave! Prague has been a place I’ve always wanted to visit.

    Congrats on 10 years! Here’s to many more my friend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Dai, it is a great place to visit if you get the chance, but would check on what's open for the time of year you go, as Prague castle was shut for the winter, on our recent visit.
      We've lasted longer than any one thought already mate ! LOL still happy together, and work well as a team.

      Delete
  5. Congratulations on 10 years and a nice way to celebrate. 😀

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Stewart, we didn't want to let a milestone slip by, without doing something special.

      Delete
  6. Some nice and some disturbing photos, sounds like you had a good trip, congratulations!
    Best Iain

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Iain, we had a great time, and definitely two extremes on the photos.

      Delete
  7. Great photos, from what I've heard Prague is a beautiful city albeit with a sadder, darker history. Congrats on the anniversary!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Matt, unfortunately most places in the world have a darker part, if you look far enough back in history.

      Delete
  8. Congratulations on the anniversary and well done getting away ! The architecture of Prague is wonderful, shame they removed the city walls though. The two fortresses story is very poignant too, which I'd never heard of either.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Joe, it was nice to get away for a change. The architecture was stunning and amazing to see, with how the city is expanding can understand the removal of the walls, but as you say a shame, as a piece of history lost. I think the more notorious camps story is what is focused on, but this one was just as poignant as well, and should be covered in history as well, so we can learn from it.

      Delete
  9. Great photos, a place I have to visit one day...Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Phil, well worth a visit if you get chance.

      Delete
  10. First off congratulations to you & your good lady Dave 🥂
    Prague is a place I've always want to visit but haven't got around to yet & your pictures only make me want to go all the more.👍😊

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Frank, have passed on your comments to the good lady.
      If you get the chance mate, go, as it is more stunning than the pictures capture, and all the people we met were awesome.

      Delete
  11. Sincere congrats to you both. A lovely and poignant post that I enjoyed reading.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Mark, tried to keep the post informative, without going into gory details.

      Delete
  12. As many others have said, a big congratulations on number 10 😀 It's quite the milestone, all the best for many more years together.
    Prague looks absolutely beautiful, but I'm sure the photos don't really do it justice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Ivor, I hope so to mate.
      There is just so much detail that the camera can not capture it all, must have spent a good ten minutes looking at the statue above, finding so many details, that really don't show up in the photo ! LOL

      Delete
  13. Great post Dave, lovely pictures of a what appears to be a great place to visit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Justin, Prague is wonderful to visit, and Terezin was full of history

      Delete
  14. Thanks for sharing the pictures with us, Dave. Prague is beautiful and visiting the fortress looks profound to me as well. I hope you and your wife enjoyed your holiday!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Jeff, we had a great time mate, and glad you found the pictures of interest.

      Delete
  15. Interesting stuff mate, and some great pictures, that Shark car is awesome! by the way.

    Cheers Roger.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Roger, my son loved the car, which was why we took the picture, as we thought he would like it.

      Delete
    2. Not 100% sure but I seem to recall "Hotwheels" do one very similar, might even be based on that one.

      Delete
    3. They do indeed Roger, it's very similar, as my son has it in his collection.

      Delete