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Published: August 19th 2014
Travel Blog Prague 4 - 8 August 2014 4 August Monday
Our hotel room on the fourth floor looked over a road to a huge park with many paths leading up the hill. After so much timetabling and early starts on the cruise, we took our time to get going today, doing emails, working out the currency and banking situation.
Dave was pretty keen to do some laundry, so after some research and also a check with the front desk, we headed off to find and check out the laundromat. We walked the 1.6 kms, on an empty stomach I might add, starting at quite touristy areas, which progressed into quite grotty looking market area, and then into even more grotty flats and bridges. And this is where we found our laundrette. Quite an unusual set up, so we almost missed it. It is a pub with a hallway that leads to the laundry, so you can have drinks and food while you wait. "Bar, Restaurant, Wash" said the sign. It looked OK although not sure it would pass the Helen standard ...
Time for breakfast to contemplate whether this was going to be the
laundrette to use. We walked back to where we had seen some street side cafes in a slightly better area. On the way, we saw an amusing beer advertisement where they had cleverly shaped each beer head into a hat sculpture representing different countries.
By now it was closer to lunch time. We were actually opposite a shopping centre which seemed to have an outside cafe on the first floor overlooking the streets. Mental note to come back to try this another day. Meanwhile we chose a cafe street side and put up with the passing cars, trams and pedestrians, and even though I have had some feedback from my blog readers, I am again going to mention the table of smokers next to us. By the way, we looked at the price of cigarettes in Europe. They are really cheap. Anyway, we enjoyed a hearty meal and then headed off to buy tram tickets. A good deal with a 24 hour ticket that you can use on any of the transport systems in Prague, and 24 hours commences from your first trip.
Dave had investigated tram routes (he did a great job of our itinerary everywhere we
went). Guess where our first port of call was? Yep, the Prague funicular! And they accepted the tram tickets too. We took a crowded carriage up the hill to a very scenic park. School holidays had started so plenty of families about. We enjoyed the beauty of the greenery and sculptures and went to see the replica Eiffel Tower. Like the real Eiffel, there were queues to go up the tower, so we decided to return at an earlier time another day. It was quite warm, so I bought a yummy Magnum ice-cream from the trolley, sustenance for the long winding walk down the hill. The path zigzagged and threaded its way through the trees and bushes with fantastic views over Prague. Along the way was a cafe perched on the side of the hill. I was amused by the dragon sculpture which had a smily face rather than the gruesome gargoyles you normally see in Europe. Unfortunately, one of the noticeable things in Prague is the high level of graffiti and it is not very arty, just ugly.
At the base of the hill, we decided to walk on to the famous Charles Bridge through some of the
main tourist areas of the Old Town of Prague. Lots of interesting sights, and plenty of tourist shops, car rides, horse rides and various perks to attract your attention, and of course great architecture of the buildings. Once on the Charles Bridge, it was a challenge walking through the crowds. Over all the time in Prague we did not see a time where there weren't hundreds of people walking across the Charles bridge day and night. Along the bridge were many buskers, including The Bridge Jazz Band, and a musical puppeteer. The bridge also allowed fantastic views across the Vltava river and the canals of Prague. You will see from the photos that the love padlocks on bridge fences are everywhere in Europe now, and even in Perth at the Bell Tower. I think it started in Paris? Recently in Paris one of the padlock covered bridge fences had buckled under the weight.
Once over the bridge we wandered through the nearby streets and stopped along the way for a beer, wine and cheese at one of the many pubs, sitting outside to watch the world go by. The cheese was a brie served in chilli oil. After our
break, we decided to walk onto the Old Town square. We came across a stall selling trdelnik. It is like bread twisted on a rod deep fried like doughnuts then coated in cinnamon and sugar. We are on holidays, so of course we had to try it. Yum, but no good for the already expanding waist line.
We wandered around the square, and the surrounding lanes of which there were many.
Our weary feet started to get the better of us so we walked back via a much quieter bridge with just cars and trams and not hundreds of people. We then caught the tram back to the hotel. No need for dinner tonight. Is that a surprise?
Dave tried out the corner store which is a Tesco. Many of the stores in Prague are common brands from UK and also known in Australia.
5 August Tuesday
Washing day, so we caught a tram to the laundrette. We got on the wrong one first, but that meant we stopped for a breakfast croissant, so all good. The laundrette worked out much better than expected. The pub had a homely feel about
Eiffel Tower in Prague?
Not quite as big thoughit and appeared to be family run. The young waiter spoke no English but was very helpful with the machines. It turns out that all those coins we thought we needed and collected this morning were unnecessary as you pay the waiter for tokens and he starts the machines for you.
So we sat in comfortable arm chairs just outside the laundry room, and enjoyed a couple of coffees. Way too early for beer. The washing was quick but the driers a bit slow, so it took just over an hour. The total cost, including coffees, was 350 Korunas ($17), the same as the cost to wash two pair of jocks at the hotel.
It started to drizzle while we were in the laundromat, so we caught a tram back to our hotel.
We then walked to the Cafe Savoy, close to the river bank. It was already 3pm so we had a light lunch and we will have dinner tonight. The prices were much higher than yesterday as we were closer to the tourist area and in an up market cafe. I had green pea soup, and Dave had cheese and ham grilled bread. The service
was very slow.
Afterwards, we walked over a different bridge, and through streets alongside the river, often coming across sculptures and other interesting things to see. We wound our way through the boulevard of Wenceslas Square to the Communist Museum. The displays were quite aged, and we assumed it was probably set up soon after 1989 and hadn't had much restoration since. The history was interesting especially the protests in 1989. There were some newer displays of North Korea and they were quite confronting.
Outside the museum in Wenceslas square there was a temporary brick wall. You were able to purchase and then paint a brick to add to the wall, raising money for a charity. The result was quite artistic.
When we left it was drizzling rain again, enough that the umbrella was required.
We walked to the Old Town square where the astronomical clock features (we hadn't found it the day before). It looks great and is quite unique. No wonder all the tourist shops have so many replica clocks. The storm was setting in and with the dark skies it gave a fairy castle appearance to the buildings in the square.
There
was only one thing for it, it was time for another trdelnik!
We walked through various back lanes and then back along the river front to the bridge. We decided against catching a tram back, as the weather had cleared somewhat. We continued the walk along the river bank towards our hotel but decided to stop at the Wine Bar and Brasserie spotted earlier in the day. It was now 7.30 pm. The restaurant was totally empty which was a bit disconcerting. However the decor looked new, fresh and well appointed with a French wine districts theme. So the waiter got up from his relaxed position on the couch to show us to whichever table we wanted. We chose one near a window which overlooked the park. We discovered that the bar had only been open 3 months. We had the house specials, one pork belly with groats risotto, and the other rolled pork slice with potato dauphinois and spinach. Both meals were excellent and so were the wines we tried. And as the evening wore on, we were joined by another three tables of people. So hopefully the place will survive.
To sum up today, even though
we are in Prague, we somehow managed to have three French meals.
6 August Wednesday Prague
We started today's exploring with a tram to the outer suburbs of Prague to get to the Veletrzni Palace National Gallery. Just before entering we stopped over the road at a tiny bakery / coffee shop for morning coffee and a baked ricotta cheese cake for breakfast.
At the Gallery, we opted for the permanent exhibition entry which covered five floors. In fact, we only ended up covering three in the several hours we spent here as the floors were enormous. The fairly non-descript exterior of the gallery, and the stark staircases leading to each floor, belied the very well kept and humidity conditioned interior display areas of each floor. We saw paintings by Klimt (I do like his work), Monet, Picasso, Van Gogh, and also a floor of Czech contemporary art, as well as many others. The works included paintings, sculptures, designs, cars, motor bikes, some films, and every now and again, furniture and crockery. Perhaps Sally can aspire to an exhibition of this kind in the future? In fact, the furniture displays were a bit
weird as galleries often have chairs In the middle of the floor so you can sit to admire the paintings, but all of these had do not touch signs as they were exhibits themselves.
Following the gallery, we found a relatively quiet pub close by that had outside shaded seating (weather still warm). We had another wonderful meal where we both went for traditional Czech food. Mine was chili beef stew with sliced bread dumplings (served with a whole red chili laying across the gravy beef). Dave had flank steak strips with ratatouille vegetables and buttered toasted baguette.
We then waddled back to the tram stop and caught a tram back to the base of the hill of Prague Castle. You know what that means? More steep winding paths and steps to get to the entrance. So up we went, mostly against the pedestrian traffic coming down from the Castle. At the Castle Arch, we saw the changing of the guards before venturing inside. We wandered around the many buildings and the huge church, and alley ways. The best feature was the passage down to the gardens which overlooked the city from on high. We enjoyed some spectacular
views before we headed down a winding path through the gardens. We had one hiccup where they wanted to charge to walk down the steep steps. We decided to double back to the way we had come up the hill and walk through the grape vines. This was a great choice and half way down we stopped at a little cafe, Villa Richter, for a glass of prosecco overlooking the vines and the city.
After a short rest at our hotel, we decided to try the little Tapas Bar quite close to where we were staying. It was hugely popular but we managed to find a table for two squeezed against many other tables. This is probably the first place we have been where there was no English version of the menu. It was in Czech and Spanish. Mum, where were you? We selected several tapas dishes to share and a bottle of wine, all lovely, and very reasonable prices (only AUD 30 in total). Prague's smoking laws in restaurants are most unusual. It appears there is no smoking in the front section of the restaurant, but it is allowed in the back section. Yes, I know, talking about
smoking again!
7 August Thursday Prague
The weather was fine and warm. There was lots of indecision happening about what to do first as this was our last full day in Prague. Did we need to buy a cabin bag as we had some fragile items to bring home in hand luggage?
To save time, we caught a tram to the shopping centre. Plan A was to go to the upstairs outside cafe we had spotted on our first day in Prague. It turned out to be a Pizzeria, So Plan B required as this was breakfast we were after. We decided to investigate the shopping centre first. On level 1 we found a coffee shop inside but with an outlook over the street. We had a great breakfast at Coffee Day. It was the breakfast deal with fresh squeezed orange juice (and it really was), coffees, and then two platters of ham, boiled eggs, salad greens, cherry tomatoes, sundried tomatoes and a cheese and chives dip with various breads. Yum, more like brunch.
Over breakfast, we decided that we didn't need the cabin bag which negated the trip to the shopping
centre in the first place. Oh well at least we saw what a large shopping complex was like in Prague, and guess what, just like any shopping centre you would find anywhere else with many small stores just the same as we have, a large Tesco food store, and on another level a Tesco General store and C&A which are equivalent KMart and Target perhaps.
While I am on similarities to the western world, there are McDonalds and Starbucks everywhere you go in Europe, plus similar chains to The Coffee Club and so on. However, the thing that amused me was when there was an attempt to advertise in a western way that got a little lost in the translation, eg the "Steaky Burgery".
We purchased another two 24 hr transport tickets, then headed back on the tram to go to the Jewish Museum in the old town. Dave was just saying we are on the right tram if it turns left, when it turned right, so we hopped off that one and were about to catch another when we decided that the exercise wouldn't do us any harm. After a few bridges and many street blocks, we
arrived at the Jewish Museum and a very long queue to gain entrance. Hmph. We decided to try later, and instead cross the river again to the island that houses the Franz Kafka Museum.
What a strange museum. Dave loved it, but it did nothing for me. Mind you, Dave is reading The Complete Novels of Kafka, so it meant more to him. The Museum had some innovative ways of displaying the artifacts of Kafka's life, but basically it was a collection of his notes and drawings spread across varying types of display cases in several rooms. Of interest, was the sculpture out the front of the museum by David Cerny of two geometric urinating men, with hips and penises that moved as they were peeing water on a map of the Czech Republic. It is appropriately called "piss". A little boy filled his water bottle up from one of them. I do hope he wasn't going to drink it.
We then walked on through some of the rest of the island. We came across a tiny walk way with steps so narrow that it required traffic lights to indicate if you could enter the lane. This would
have been good at Scott's Tower in Edinburgh!
We happened across a garden and went for a wander through it. It was the oldest orchard in Prague with lots of pear, apple, plum and other fruit trees. We saw some wasps and also a peacock enjoying the fruits on the ground. There were quite a few homeless people sleeping in there too.
We wandered back over the bridge and back to the Jewish Museum which still had a long queue. We opted out and went in search of a place to have a beer sitting outside. We stopped at a couple of antique second hand stores for a look on the way. Outside seating was elusive today for some reason, either full or non existent. We came across a Beer "Museum" which was basically a bar that had forty beers on tap, and a beer garden out back. We had a beer, wine and a snack of French fries. I must have forgotten that what passes the lips goes on the hips! We had just about finished when it started to rain, a good reason to move on. We had no umbrella with us, so we were lucky
that it was nothing more than a sprinkle.
We explored some of the tourist shops then headed home as we had weary feet.
Later in the evening we retraced our steps to The Wine Bar and Brasserie just a few blocks from the hotel. On the way we tried a different street and found a major shopping centre only about half a kilometre away. We will investigate tomorrow.
The Wine Bar looked as if it was closed as we were approaching, but luckily it was open. Funny thing is that it was a different maître de and a different chef. Main courses were quite restricted in choice, and one of them was the same as two nights ago. We both chose the special of gnocchi with pork mince with a ratatouille of veggies, which turned out to be green peas, raw garlic and some slivers of mushroom. Quite delicious. The serving was not huge, so we ventured into the cheese platter. Two of the cheeses were excellent, but the third made Dave pull faces I have never seen before. There isn't much that Dave doesn't like to eat. I didn't like the taste either, but apparently it
was an acquired taste / speciality. We declined and left the special cheese on the plate much to the horror of the sommelier.
All in all, a lovely last evening in Prague. I am sure we will visit again in the future. It is a beautiful city with plenty to explore, and the food and wine prices are exceptionally low compared to most places we have been.
8 August Friday Prague
Just a foot note, as basically this was just a day of packing for our early afternoon trip to the airport.
When we went out for a quick bite to eat, the funny thing was that we discovered that the Shopping centre we had spotted last night turns out to be the same one we had been going to, but at the other end of the complex. It was much closer because we had taken a back street direct route instead of the meandering main road further afield. So, it turns out we had basically been catching a tram to the end of the shopping centre that was furthest from our hotel, which is really weird as it was a bit
like catching a tram from one end of Carousel Cannington to the other! Not that far at all if we had found the closer entrance from the first day.
We had a lovely surprise when we boarded the flight as we had been upgraded to business! Shame it was on the five hour leg and not the eleven hour.
Well we are safely home now and back into normality. Time to plan the next holiday. I hope you have enjoyed the blogs. Please don't hold your breath for the two week cruise section of our trip. It was 15 days of highly timetabled activity and is all a bit of a blur, but a wonderful experience and I would highly recommend it. I will at least choose some photos and write a few lines, but it may be a while before I get around to it.
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