Old world streetscapes, taverns, towers, and tourists weekending in Prague

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Sunday morning, sitting on the bus heading from the hotel into the city centre we are quite excited at the prospect of spending the next two days exploring the Czech capital. We arrived last night but the fog was so thick that our first glimpse of the Czech republic was about 2 seconds before we landed in it. Even then, we weren’t too sure that we had even arrived at an airport (we certainly couldn’t see any of it)! The hotel transfer was much the same fog covered story so today with low cloud replacing the mist, visibility of the city is the least of our problems. At the moment it’s trying to figure out where on earth we get off this bus.

The streets are getting busier and we spot a decorative looking bridge. Based on that we decide that we must be ‘there’ and jump off. As the bus disappears around the corner we consult our map and figure out…yep, we’re about three stops too early. Oh well, we can recover. At least we’ve got the river to follow.

What we’re looking for is the Charles IV Bridge.

Walking upstream we pass another bridge (no - still not it) before arriving at a pedestrian only stone bridge, flanked on both sides by rows of statues, and protected, at least on our side of the river, by a huge stone guard tower. Behind us are fantastic olde worlde buildings cris-crossed by cobblestone streets and in front of us the leaves of the trees lining the banks of the Vltava River have turned a range of yellows, oranges, and reds. It’s safe to say we’ve found it!

We set out onto the bridge, but with a little bit of observation of those around us something becomes very clear. Everyone else seems to be in groups following something. Going to the castle is a group following a green flag on a stick. In the other direction a group follows an umbrella held with its hook handle up in the air. Resisting the temptation to see if we can start our own group by holding the camera case in the air and marching with purpose, we get on with making our way across the very beautiful Charles IV Bridge.

Our aim is to end up at Prague Castle. We don’t really know how to get there but we figure if we just follow the stream of people and generally head uphill from the ‘Little Quarter’ we can’t go wrong. It isn't long after strolling through cobblestone streets surrounded by spires, statues, domes and baroque buildings that we arrive at a massive staircase heading up to the castle.

At the very top step we take an immediate right and step through an archway, out of the general flow of pedestrian traffic, into the Palace gardens.

Aside from an odd collection of plants (including bamboo - a first for us to see at a European Palace), the gardens offer great views back over the heart of Prague. The early morning cloud that had blanked the city has lifted and we gaze out at the multitude of architectural styles and many Vltava River bridges. Unlike almost all other European cities that we’ve been to, Prague doesn’t really have a mix of old and modern buildings. They’re all old. Only in the distance do the 20th century high-rise apartment and office blocks make an appearance.

We continue our stroll around the gardens until we eventually head past some uniformed armed castle guards and into a narrow road filled with tourists. At the end of the road we find a ticket booth where we opt for the pass that admits us to half of the attractions around the castle.

The first stop is Golden lane, a row of tiny houses that once belonged to the castle’s tradesmen. After this we pass through a dungeon tower, before heading onto St Vitus Cathedral, then the Old Royal Palace.

Wanting to get away from the tour groups and feeling hungry, we venture a few streets away from the crowded Castle area and find a lovely outdoor café next to a church. This is our first time to eat out in the city so we’re keen to try some Czech cuisine. After surveying the menu we conclude that Czech food makes perfect geographic sense - it shares similarities with German and Hungarian styles and with that noted we order soup, goulash, and a basket of mixed breads.

After lunch we continue further up the hill turning off at the highest point into a park. In amongst the tree lined paths and piles of fallen autumn leaves we arrive at the Czech Republic’s answer to the Eiffel Tower. We climb the staircase to the top and are rewarded with awesome 360 degree views. We can see Prague from all angles - down over the old town, through the new town, across to the castle we’d been in earlier, and along a considerable length of the Vltava River.

Descending, we retrace our steps to find ourselves back on the east side of the river and heading towards the famous old town square. On the edge of it we pass a most complex looking contraption - Prague’s astronomical clock. We’re sure with a diagram and some English explanation it’d make perfect sense, but without either to hand it looks exceedingly difficult to figure out. We admit defeat and press on.

Just past the astronomical clock Prague’s old town square opens up before us. Surrounded on all sides by beautiful buildings, the square is highlighted by a church at both ends and a grand statue in the centre. As seems common in every good European square there is a collection of outdoor cafes right in the middle and we can’t wait to pull up a seat, order a beer, and take in the surroundings in the warm late afternoon sunshine…just as soon as Lachlan takes a few more photos.

After a round of Pilsner Urquells, and with the twilight dwindling, we head off from the square in search of a bona fide Czech dinner. We pass by numerous restaurants promising a variety of game meats in stodgy sauces and eventually choose a wine bar restaurant located right behind the cathedral. We order ‘Old Town Timber’, which comes with roast pork, smoked pork, pork sausages, roast duck, two different types of sauerkraut and dumplings (ohh, my heart) and a vegetable Ratatouille. A further highlight of our meal is the glass that Ariana’s red wine comes in. Made from real Czech crystal it looks the best part of a litre in volume! We finish our meal in quintessentially central European style with apple strudel. Tasty, but Ariana concludes that it’s not quite as good as Hungarian strudel served piping hot in minus 6 temperatures.

Monday morning starts weather wise much the same way that Sunday had. So we decide that until the early morning cloud clears we should find something indoors to see and seeing as Bohemia has always had a large Jewish community it seemed appropriate to spend the morning educating ourselves about their history at the six synagogues, halls and cemeteries that make up the Prague Jewish Museum.

The last of the six sites that we visit is the ‘Spanish Synagogue’. The interior of the building is a complete contrast to all the previous ones. It is also the youngest - being rebuilt in the 1800’s. Wandering around, mouths open, it reminds us of the synagogue that we visited a couple of months ago in Toledo (well obviously it wasn’t called the Spanish Synagogue for nothing!) except this one is grander in almost every way.

Leaving the synagogue, and on the lookout for a good place for lunch, we spot a café sign in an arched courtyard entrance. We duck through to find a cosy, out-of-the-way café and we promptly pull up seats at one of the outdoor tables. To keep us energy filled for the rest of the afternoon we order some good Czech dishes - roast pork with sauerkraut and dumplings and roast beef with potatoes and dumplings.

Over lunch we decide that this afternoon we should find the less touristy side of the Czech capital. So on finishing our meals we pop back out through the ‘hole in the wall’ onto the cobbled street and head towards the old town square.

On the other side of the square, as we pass the astronomical clock, we notice a large crowd of people have gathered around staring at it. At first we assume that they too must be trying to figure out how you’re supposed to tell the time on the strange device, when it dawns on us that it’s five to the hour. Ahhh, it must do something.

So we wait what is a fairly slow five minutes, then the hour is hit with a hollow pitch of a small bell. The skeleton figure beside the clock face on cue starts pulling on a chord and a set of wooden shutters above the clock face opens up. Then a series of 2D characters slide past the window opening and after about two minutes, the window shutters close to conclude the show.

Completely baffled as to what we just witnessed we consult our tourist information for advice.
‘Oh, they’re supposed to the 12 apostles. But hang on, this is interesting - those four figures by the face of the clock are supposed to be vanity, greed, death, and a Turk.’
‘A Turk?’
It seems a little disproportionate that the next worse thing that you could be after being dead is a Turk. This cracks us up, and we wonder what the Czechs would put as bad trait number four if they were to rebuild their clock now.

Leaving the square we turn down a couple of side streets before finding ourselves passing plenty of Czech pubs. This is where we wanted to be. Czech people drink more beer per head of population than any other nationality on the planet (including us Aussies, the Brits and the Germans) so we can’t pass up an opportunity to drop into a local tavern.

We step off the street into a warm, smoky, welcoming tavern with low ceilings and the stainless steel vats of its microbrewery standing behind glass panes. After looking over the beer menu we notice that one of their brews is the world’s strongest beer weighing in at 13.5%. Serious stuff. We decide that it’s a bit much for an after lunch refreshment so we order a couple of Bohemia’s local beer - the original Budweiser - Budweiser Budvar.

If we had another day in Prague we might very well have stayed put for the rest of the afternoon, but we’re determined to see some more sights before catching our plane later tonight. So we bid farewell to the smoky Tavern and head for the river.

Regaining our bearings, we meander back downstream towards the Charles IV Bridge. On reaching the castle side, instead of heading into the Little Quarter like we did yesterday, we take some stairs off to the left and head down towards the banks of the River Vltava. Our plan - a river cruise.

We pick a boat and are welcomed onboard by our Czech captain. He doesn’t have much English but he smiles from ear to ear and hands us a blanket to keep our legs warm on the open top deck. The boat loops out in front of the Charles IV Bridge before heading downstream. We pass under a further four bridges before turning around and motoring back.

Back on land again, and running low on time, we grab a quite bite to eat and jump back on the bus heading towards the hotel. We pick up our bag and find out that it is actually the young bloke from the hotel whose dropping us back to the airport.

Our last part of our weekend in Prague is spent on the drive to the airport chatting with the friendly clerk from our hotel. It’s interesting to hear what he thinks about his hometown and what it means to be Czech. He is very proud of his country, and even in the new almost boarderless Europe, he has no plans to move anywhere else.

And frankly, why would you? The old world city of towers and taverns, right in the heart of the continent is beautiful - even if it is full of tourists.

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Photos

Prague
The view from the Vltava River in the late afternoon.

Size does matter
Person, statue, beer... and in that order.

Golden Lane
No it's not a photo of a big women, it's a photo of a small house (really...)

Prague from up high
View from the Petrin Lookout Tower

Prague Old Town Square
One of the best in Europe...

Old Town Square
A perfect spot for a beer

So what time is it?
Astronomical clock, old town square

Riverside
On the east bank of the Vltava