A walking tour of old Prague

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Wednesday 19th August
A walking tour of old Prague
It’s another fine clear morning and the temperature is predicted to hit 30c + again in this heat wave that Europe is experiencing.We are not finding it difficult to get around as there is not the same level of humidity that comes with heat at home.While the sky overhead is clear and immediately above it is blue when you look into the distance there is a yellow tinged haze which we accept is probably the pollution that travels around this part of the world from the large factories and manufacturing plants that dot the landscape.
Our plan today is to take in the sights that we didn’t see on Monday and revisit part of the castle as we didn’t have a walk through the gardens.That will also give us another chance to walk again over the Charles Bridge and rub the nose of the dog on one of the statues!!
With another hearty breakfast inside us we made for the station to catch the same train we did on Monday,the Nuremburg Express.Today there is more activity at the station including a large group of teenage girls off an outing somewhere who got off the train from Prague and transferred to the bus like train of two carriages that was heading off out to the country.We watched as they walked along in a group and took the underground walkway to change platforms.At least they weren’t like other people who instead of using the underground walked across the tracks!!!The station officials seemed to turn a blind eye to this carryon although there was one guy who waved his finger at people and got them to take the longer but safer way to the far platform.
The express was running 15 minutes late today but still rattled along into the city and made up a few minutes not that we were in any hurry as we had all day if we needed it and our plan was just to take an easy stroll.
We first went looking for the Jewish synagogue,which is the oldest remaining synagogue in Europe.We thought we had found it but as the building was closed we felt it couldn’t have been the right one we were looking for and it also didn’t look quite old enough.The streets of Prague were not formed in any pattern and at times you feel the directions of where they go are affected by the river that runs through the old city.A relook at the map and we decided to try a slightly different route which bought us to our destination.We knew we were there because there were two armed policemen on patrol amongst the hundreds of tourists as we guess this place could be a target for terriorists.
We paid the fee for visiting the synagogue and took a seat inside the small building that is about 500 years old.Sitting down inside was the best way to take in what was there.This place of religion was not like any others we have been to on this adventure,very plain with just the simple adornments that are used in Jewish services and with little natural light.You actually stepped down into the building which gave away how long it had stood on the site as the ground level would have been raised around it with development of other buildings,streets etc over the years.Its quite amazing to think though that this very old building survived in its original form all these years including the Nazi occupation and years of communism in Prague.
Lunchtime was approaching so we thought a walk across to the castle gardens would be a good idea and we hopefully would pass a bakery on the way to buy something for a picnic.
We wandered through the streets leading to the river admiring the huge range of different ways the buildings had been decorated with statues etc,but we didn’t find a bakery.
Never mind,there would be something on the other side of the river.
Up the steps past the odd looking mechanical gadget that turned out to be a metronome and on to the gardens.Still no where to buy food.!!Oh well there were heaps of cafes within the area of the castle so we shall do our walk through the gardens and then look for somewhere to eat.
The gardens were not about flower beds but more about the tree specimens that have been planted there over the years including a number of exotic ones that survive the climate.
There were a couple of other building to take a look at beyond the castle itself and on the way to them we found a cafe that had a spare table and a fairly simple menu.All we wanted was a roll and a drink but had a round of fries and a coke instead as they were the cheapest things on the menu.Our simple lunch was going to come to Kcs340 almost as much as we had spent on dinner on Monday when we had a couple of beers thrown in!!However we are in the tourist trap area and if you want to eat....................and our blood sugar levels had fallen significantly during the day.
While we sat there are revived ourselves we noticed that there was a succession of arguments between diners and the waitresses over their bills.We couldn’t make out a lot until we heard the word surcharge!!Had we not read the menu fully!!One group of people who seemed to switch between Czech and English(American)complained that the OJ one of them had cost more than the open sandwich.What were we in for??!!
Well it did turn out there was a surcharge but it was a tip in disguise as our bill came with an extra 10% on top but not as bad on Kcs340 than the thousand odd others were paying in their groups.A lesson learned,we should have sussed out a bakery in the city before climbing the hill.
The other main building we came to see was a small church in an enclosed courtyard called the Loretta and it is billed as a place of pilgramige where a religious object made up with over 1600 diamonds is housed.Sure enough after we visited the small church ,which had dozens and dozens of cherub type ornaments on the walls,we moved on to the Treasuary where this valuable ob jects are protected behind a door that you would find in a bank vault.It wasn’t a particulary nice object to look at but it certainly did sparkle with all its diamonds.
On the way down the hill from the castle to the old city we indulged in an ice cream to cool off.Ice cream parlours are everywhere and not just in cafes.Seems everyone wants a part of the money tourists spend on ice creams in Prague.Every shop seemed to have a few different flavours on sale and it took a few moments to decide what to have.Gretchen went for the traditional chocolate while I tried something with an Italian name I cannot remember to spell but it wasn’t that good as ice creams go.I will try something else from the dozens of flavours on offer next time!!
We joined the short queue to get into what turned out to be the most gob smacking church we have visited on the adventure so far.St Nicholas church built in the Baroque style was jusy so ‘busy’ on the inside with its statues,adornments and gargoyles that it was almost too much to take in even sitting down and just focusing on a small area at a time.
After having waited in the sun to enter the church and the heat inside I was ready for another ice cream although Gretchen reckoned she hadn’t done enough walking to fit another one in.This time I went for a fruit one which was more satisfying than the first rather non descript ice cream.
The Charles Bridge was ahead and although we had walked this on Monday we needed to stop and pat the nose of the dog and take in what we might have missed as there is so much to see and today the crowds seemed a little less.
We bade rafewell to Prague by walking back up the wide avenue we found on the first day and thought about how far this country must have come since the days of the Nazis and more recently the communists.How easy it was in the end for the people to remove who they no longer wanted in power when communism around Europe was crumbling.After all the bloodshed of getting rid of previous regimes over the centuries the last uprising was clean and simple!!
We caught our suburban slow train home and spent our last night in the Czech Republic sitting out under the umbrella as night fell enjoying a couple of beers and dinner.
We are glad we made the trip here now while it is so cheap to travel in comparison to other parts of Europe and perhaps we will be cak to see other parts of the country sometime in the future.

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Comments

[Rin]

Dog's nose
Did you know that the original purpose behind rubbing the dog on the Charles Bridge was if you had a secret that you didn't want revealed? Over time it's become more popular for it to mean you will return to Prague some day...just like throwing a coin into the Trevi Fountain in Rome - which you also have to do! ;-)