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An expatriate institution, the English-language Globe moved here from its original home in 2000, leaving backpackers with outdated guidebooks stranded in Holešovice. The café is attracting a local following. Chances are the people at the next table are eager to talk to you about their travels, for better or worse.

Castle goldsmiths, such as the ones who worked at this house in the 17th century, paid fees to the city, unlike their colleagues who lived in the castle’s Golden Lane. As such, they were entitled to advertise their wares, as preserved today in this building’s façade.

Another alchemical symbol, the wheel represents a stage in the magnum opus , the process by which lead was purportedly turned into gold. Modern day alchemists – yes, they still exist in some quarters – are more interested in the meditative aspects of the art, however.

Rabbi Loew created his clay robot to help out around the house. When the creature raised a ruckus on the sabbath, Loew was forced to deactivate him and stashed him in the attic of the Old-New Synagogue (see Attic).

Who knows what they were thinking when they hung the crustacean above their door. Probably trying to keep up with the neighbours at the Pendant Parsnip at No. 39.

Believing his fiancée had been untrue, a knight called off his wedding. After she drowned herself in grief, he realized his mistake and hanged himself. Every 100 years he “appears” in Platnéřská Street, hoping to find a young woman to free him. His next appearance is due in 2009.

The onion-domed white towers of this 17th-century church complex are like something out a fairytale, but it’s up to you whether you choose to believe in the reconstruction of the Virgin Mary’s house, the Santa Casa, at the heart of the building.