The finish line event was rather rainy and wet, so we headed into Prague and the dry shelter of a hotel for the night instead of camping out. I’ve been to many cities that have a mix of the old and new – Delhi, my hometown, for instance. This ‘taana-baana’ of the old and the new had been on my mind, but Prague really surprised me with the richness of the mix and the range of experiences it offered – from a visit to the Kafka museum to a church concert, to a walkabout the Jewish quarter, and a lovely meal shared with a new friend listening to roma / gypsy music!

Prague is an underrated gem, not known or admired enough for its immense contribution to the renaissance and other movements that propelled civilisation forward. Old cities have always held a strange allure for me, an other-worldliness, a kind of charm and attraction! But old town Prague has more than just an otherworldly charm, it is a testament to an entire era of arts and science that is barely remembered today! The era of the alchemists, purveyors of a lost art treading the fine line between magic and science. Their fundamental aim? To turn baser metals into gold, or in other words, to turn something regular into something extraordinary! Many of the monuments and locations that I saw in Prague hearkened back, in one way or the other, to the ancient art of alchemy.

Famous sites like the Astronomical Clock-tower and St. Vitus Cathedral pay homage to alchemical endeavors, and then there are also specific places, like the Museum of Alchemy, which is one of the oldest buildings in the city.