Prague is
Praha in
Czech, which means "
threshold".
Despite the huge number of tourists it attracts it still manages to be a completely gorgeous city through which to wander. It is made up of a number of districts: Hradcany (The Prague Castle) housing the awe-inspiring gothic architecture of St Vitus Cathederal, The Lesser Town (Mala Strana), and the Old Town (Stare Mesto).
It also contains the Jewish Quarter in which Hitler planned to build a "Museum of an extinct people".
You can stroll for ages through the back streets of the city. It is then that you discover that despite the brightly painted buildings and pretty face Prague presents the casual tourists, Prague still has echoes of its pre-capitalism days. Off the beaten track a bit, the buildings are grey and crumbling and the back streets are dark and gloomy. Perhaps a reminder that despite embracing capitalism and its current prosperity, the Czech Republic wasn't always this way.
It's a remarkably cheap place compared to much of the rest of Europe, which makes a stay in the somewhat primitive hotels and pensions tolerable.
Prague is one of my favorite places on Earth. However if you take the trouble to visit the Czech Republic, make sure you go to other places as well, such as Cesky Krumlov and Kutna Hora.