Away to the north-west, the stacked-up pile of the Hradcany [castle district] with the cathedral, castle, Strahov monastery and thousands of red roofs, and to the east, the medieval towers and turrets of Tyn Church and Charles Bridge, and to the north the Soviet apartment blocks straddling the dusty hills.Like no other European capital, Prague has stayed intact, untouched by Second World War bombing and protected by communism from the commercial pressures that have spawned high-rise eyesores. It was the case with Prague's loveliest Renaissance building, the Belvedere.The St Wenceslas chapel had shed its spectators to reveal its jewelbox Byzantine decorations. Here were paintings by Durer, Rubens, El Greco and 20th-century giants to match any other gallery's. A coffee and chocolate cake took me to two o'clock and a crowd-free Hradcany. Tip: start touring Prague at lunchtime.I soon encountered another pitfall: the closed for renovation syndrome, which sometimes was true but more often meant the heritage department had run out of money.

We raced round this huge cathedral, nearly 600 years in the making Outside I caught Jaroslav's arm. "I'm going to leave you," I said."You are quite right," he said softly "My company is only here to make money They stuff culture Wait until two o'clock and start again. "Alongside the Archbishop's Palace ran a path and tucked away at the bottom was the Sternberk Palace, the national gallery, untrumpeted and peaceful. A party of Italian schoolchildren were blocking the narrow entrance into the inner chapel - not because they were stopping to admire its silverwork but because two of them had stopped to snog.By the time we reached St Vitus cathedral, we had merged with other tour groups, and even when Jaroslav was speaking English, which wasn't very often, I couldn't hear properly Tip: never take a dual-language tour. Later, I did see a Tesco superstore.Jaroslav walked us down the higgledy-piggledy streets of pink and lemon houses near the Hradcany. He admired the "grandeur" of the 150-metre long Cernin Palace, the former Nazi headquarters. Not grandeur so much as brutality, I thought.The Loreto church, the city's most ornate baroque, could not have been more of a contrast - all twirls and flourishes.

Cross a field to a stile in the far corner, which brings you out on to West Lane, where you turn left. Walk past the Parsonage Museum following the footpath signs to Haworth Moor. An indication of Haworth's international popularity is the number of multilingual footpath signs, including Japanese. It's a bracing 61/2 miles in all, for which you should allow 31/2 hours there and back, but if the Brontes managed it, then so can most fairly fit people.

Wear strong shoes and take waterproof clothing, as bright sun can change to driving rain in this bleak but powerful landscape. "But," jokes Jenny, "it was a good job, because both of them had a royal case of head lice!"Rosanna GreenstreetJenny Eclair is currently appearing in 'Steaming' at the Piccadilly Theatre.. Emily Bronte's favourite walk was over the moors to a now-derelict farmhouse called Top Withens, which is thought to have inspired the setting for Wuthering Heights. The building, even when standing, bore no relation to its fictional counterpart, but the location is right and if you have time for one walk in Haworth to escape the crowds - or at least some of them - then retrace the steps of the sisters. She says: "It knocked 40 minutes off the flight time, because if there are royals on board you don't have to circle round the airport." The only thing was, Phoebe wasn't allowed in the cockpit because the young Princes were in there.