Things to Do in Europe

Prague's central boulevard and largest public square, Wenceslas Square (Vaclavske namesti) has been the social and political heart of the city for hundreds of years and is home to some of the city’s finest works of architecture. Originally laid out in the 14th century as the centerpiece of King Charles's Nové Město (New Town), the square was used as a horse market until being renamed after the patron saint of Bohemia, Saint Wenceslas, in the 19th century.

Today Wenceslas Square is the commercial center of the city, dominated by grand monumental buildings and making the perfect starting point for walking tours of the city’s attractions. At the top of the square looms the striking neo-renaissance façade of the Prague National Museum, with its iconic dome marking an important strategic landmark. Other notable structures include the famous Art Nouveau style Grand Hotel Evropa, the early 20th-century Palác Lucerna and the neo-Renaissance Wiehlův dům (Wiehl House), along with the iconic St Wenceslas Monument and the poignant Memorial to Jan Palach and Jan Zajíc, legendary victims of the Soviet occupation. Many of Prague’s hotels, shops and restaurants are also concentrated on or around the boulevard, along with a central strip of greenery that makes Wenceslas Square the ideal place to meet for coffee or take a break after a long morning’s sightseeing.

The historic square has also played a key role in shaping the history of Prague – this was the location where the First Republic was declared in 1918, where the notorious 1969 protests took place against the Soviet occupation and where the 1989 protest marches kick-started the Velvet Revolution and ultimately the end of the Communist era.

Equally as renowned as New York’s Broadway Theater District, London’s West End is widely acclaimed for its award-winning theater productions and vast variety of shows and musicals. Seeing a ‘West End Show’ is a popular pastime for tourists and locals alike, with regular performances of a number of world renowned titles like Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Blood Brothers and many award-winning film actors from both England and the United States choosing to take to the West End stages. Recent hits like The Lion King, Mamma Mia! and We Will Rock You, have helped increase West End visitors to over 13 million annual show-watchers.

The West End has a long history with theater - the first venue opened on Drury Lane back in 1663 and today the area boasts around 40 theaters, many housed in beautifully preserved Victorian houses. Today the West End, sometimes referred to as ‘Theatreland’, spans the areas of Oxford Street, the Strand, Regent Street and Kingsway in Central London, with venues including the Theatre Royal, the area’s oldest theater; The Coliseum the largest in the capital with its 2,358 seats and the prestigious National Theater on Southbank. It’s an area that encompasses many of central London’s key attractions, shopping districts, restaurants and nightlife, making an evening show in the West End a popular finale to London tours.

The political and cultural centre of Poland until the end of the 16th century, Wawel Royal Castle, also known as Zamek Wawelski is, like Wawel Cathedral, the very symbol of Poland's national identity. The original, rather small residence of the Zamek Wawelski was built in the early 11th century by King Bolesław Chrobry beside t he chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary (known as the Rotunda of SS Felix and Adauctus). King Kazimierz Wielki turned it into a formidable Gothic castle, but when it burned down in 1499, King Zygmunt Stary commissioned a new residence. Within 30 years a splendid Renaissance palace, designed by Italian architects, was in place. Despite further extensions and alterations, the 3-store Renaissance structure, complete with a courtyard arcaded on three sides, has been preserved to this day.

Repeatedly sacked and vandalized by the Swedish and Prussian armies, the castle was occupied after the Third Partition by the Austrians, who intended to make Wawel a citadel. Their plan included turning the castle into barracks, and the cathedral into a garrison church, moving the royal tombs elsewhere. They never got that far but they did turn the royal kitchen and coach house into a military hospital and razed two churches standing at the outer courtyard to make room for a parade ground. They also enveloped the whole hill with a new ring of massive brick walls, largely ruining the original Gothic fortifications. The castle was recovered by Poles after WWI and the restoration began immediately and continued up until the outbreak of WWII. The work was resumed after the war and has been able to recover a good deal of the castle's earlier external form and its interior decoration.