Prague was one of our very favourite stops on the trip. We had the good fortune to visit during a brief dip in the summer heat, with daytime highs a very-pleasant 25ºC during our stay. The first week of July also happens to contain a couple of Czech national holidays, which is perhaps why everything seemed distinctly less busy (fewer cars on the road, lots of families seemingly off work). Everything, that is, except the zoo, which was teeming with families enjoying the first days of school summer holidays! At any time of year, the sights are very compact, so

There is so much Jewish history in Prague, with a wealth of sites clustered in the Old Town. Six different synagogues, and a remarkable cemetery, all brought together by the Jewish Museum in Prague, giving a detailed picture of the rich Jewish culture that existed in the city for centuries, before being shattered by the Holocaust. As with other sites, we had to get up pretty early to avoid the cruise ship crowds (as everywhere in the centre of Prague), as all the locations are small, but it was certainly worth it. Not pictured is the upstairs gallery at the

Before visiting Prague, I had formed the impression that it was a destination overrun by tourists, something guidebooks and the web reinforce. Still worth visiting, of course, but not nearly as great as if you had the good fortune to visit 20 years ago, when it was just emerging from communism and not yet a regular stop for cruise ships and tour groups. It is true that in the middle of town, in the middle of the day, there are large groups being led around a circuit of top sites. Many of the storefronts in the centre of the old