Can you remember a moment from your travels when something literally took your breath away?

One such moment happened for me 20 years ago in Prague. A decade before, the Velvet Revolution had ended 41 years of communist control, after which Czechoslovakia split into separate countries; the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Prague had been left relatively untouched for all those years.

I was anxious to see this jewel of a city and accepted an invitation to a travel industry familiarization trip. It was wintertime when I arrived late in the afternoon at a nondescript conference hotel outside the city center. We would see the sights the next morning, but I couldn’t wait. After dinner at the hotel, two of us hopped onboard a streetcar that delivered us close to the old town. Snowflakes fell as we walked along a darkened side street which opened up onto a large square.

I looked to my right and gasped out loud. On the far side of the square, towering above a row of ochre buildings which obscured the lower part of an old gothic church, were two stone towers. Multiple spires jutted toward the heavens, all painted black, each one topped with a gold ball. Against the darkened sky, the gold balls seemed to float in the sky. It was one of the most beautiful city scenes I’d ever seen.

Fast forward to April of this year, when I visited Prague in advance of a group I’ll be taking there in October. It’s tough duty, but I need to be up to date on the newest hotel options and figure out how my clients can experience the best of Prague while avoiding the hordes of tour groups. This time, my hotel was a beautiful 5-star property that was an Augustine monastery in the 13th century. One evening, after dinner, I wandered across the Charles Bridge into the Old Town Square.

There it was – the same scene (minus the snowflakes)! There are many gorgeous structures in Prague … but none more beautiful – to me – than the Tyne Church at night. Once again, it took my breath away!

Still as breathtaking as ever, especially at night – the Old Tyne Church in Prague

European cities are especially beautiful at night when their principal monuments are illuminated and the crowds have thinned out. For my money, Prague is one of the prettiest cities in the world! Would you agree?

No shortage of beautifully illuminated monuments in Prague

A water wheel casts its shadows … so much beauty here!

Other interesting finds from my “research”:

Coolest hotel discovery: The Aria.

Drawing on Prague’s musical culture, each floor of this boutique hotel is themed to a particular artist or composer. From Mozart to Beethoven, from Elvis to Billie Holiday, each room features original artwork and imaginative design.

Signage, tissue boxes, public spaces …. all evoke the musical heritage of Prague

Impressive entrance to an impressive hotel

Plus, in summer months, there is private access for hotel guests into one of Prague’s most beautiful gardens.

Vrtba Garden, a UNESCO Heritage site.

A fun way to kill an hour in Prague:

I’m always more intrigued by modern history than about what happened hundreds of years ago. And, as a kid who grew up during the Cold War, I’ve been fascinated to learn more about it from a different point of view. I had a short amount of free time, so I visited the KGB Museum. It’s a tiny, private museum, owned by an eccentric guy with a thick Russian accent who enjoyed demonstrating the various ways KGB used to kill people!

Fair warning: the museum isn’t a great place for kids. He passed knives and guns around with a warning, “Please do not touch the blade, Ma’am; it is full of Nazi blood.”

Everywhere you wander in Prague, you’ll find unexpected wonders:

This puzzled me: I understand how they could consider beer to be an antidepressant, but what’s with the zombies in the cemetery?

Amazing public art installations:

Public sculptures (clockwise from top left): Bronze Babies, Peeing Men, ?? Men, Yellow Penguins

• David Černý, a local sculptor, installed 10 giant, faceless babies crawling up a huge TV tower. He recently added three bronze babies in a local park so people could appreciate them up close.
• Černý’s 2004 “Piss” features two bronze figures with swiveling hips and moving male genitalia, from which steady streams of water write out quotes from famous Czechs into a pool shaped like the Czech Republic.
• This one? I have no idea … and was unable to find anything on the internet about these pock-marked male statues with long arms …
• The 34 penguins standing in line along the riverbank are made of recycled plastic bottles – as an example of what can be produced by recycling our waste.

There’s something beautiful in every direction – up on the ceilings and down on the parquet floor . . .

In 1988, the communist regime became increasingly irritated when young Czechs wrote their grievances on this wall. Eventually, this led to a clash between hundreds of students and security police nearby. The movement became known as “Lennonism” and Czech authorities described these people variously as alcoholics, mentally deranged, sociopathic, and agents of Western capitalism. The original portrait of Lennon is long lost under hundreds of paint layers, but the wall still represents a symbol of global ideas such as love and peace.

Aaaahhhhh, Prague …. have you been?? Did you love it??