If you’ve read some of the other pages here you may be aware that I binned visiting Budapest because of a lack of time. My research on the internet shows a real split between which is best: Prague or Budapest. I don’t see it as which is best but more, which suits best for a particular purpose. For my purpose Prague got the top spot for two reasons: first, it was on the ‘loop’ heading back home; second, I understand it’s easier to walk around in Prague and see the ‘sites’; it’s more compact.
Hotel choices again. Trust little TripAdvisor.
I opted for the Pod Vezi. I like the fact that it’s nestled below the ‘famous bridge’
And the rooms look comfy:
And it’s ranked at No.3 of hotels on TripAdvisor
Our first full day in Prague began, as has every day, with a hotel breakfast. Why does one stuff oneself on such occasions with things you would never dream of eating at home? I was even tempted to cook myself some waffles when I saw the waffle machine and bowl of waffle milk. I exercised restraint.
Our hotel is built next to one of the towers on the Charles Bridge. It’s a great hotel. Comfortable, reasonable in price, roof top terrace and really nice reception staff. It makes such a difference to your holiday when you are met with nice people.
Straight after breakfast we booked on to a Segway tour around the city of Prague. This is something I did once in Rome and it is brilliant fun. If you haven’t driven a Segway you have to do so IMMEDIATELY. They are addictive. You just do not want to get off it. The other brilliant thing is that you get to see a large part of the city quickly and can decide to later go back and see things again, spending more time doing so.
Our guide, Kat, was good and seemed pretty knowledgeable. Along the way we made mental notes to go back to see some things. We wanted to climb the Petrin Observation Tower to get some views over the city. We also wanted to visit the Strahov Monastery which brews its own beer and sample the delights.
Below: A photograph of our group on the Prague City Segway Tour
The tour on the Segways was really enjoyable. 3 hours of fun which I didn’t want to end. I so wish you could use Segways in Jersey. I’m going to press for their introduction. They are clean, efficient and quiet. Why allow mobility scooters, bikes, e-bikes, skateboards, motorised scooters and really loud motorbikes but not Segways. San Fran has them; DC has them….why can’t Jersey? Anyway, want to see the Lesser Town of Prague over 3 hours in 5 minutes……click below then!
Lunch was a quick salad and straight away we headed for Petrin Tower which is located at the top of Petrin Hill in parkland. I am not going to bore you with how long it took us to walk through that park to find the entry point for the tower but, suffice to say, it was a LONG time. The views from the tower were great. Although the tower is only 60m (299 steps to the top) because it is located on a hilltop which is over 1,000 feet high the views are far and wide.
Below: the Petrin Observation Tower
Below are some of the views from the top of the tower:
After our descent, we headed for the monastery. The Strahov Monastic Brewery is located close by to the Prague Castle in the building of the Strahov Monastery, which was founded by King Vladislav II in 1142.Great beer.
From there, back into the town and dinner.
Every city has them and every tourist city has hundreds of them: buskers. When I studied in London I used to travel on the tube to university on the district line…there were a couple of guys who used to play and sing on the line from time to time and they were excellent.
Prague has some great buskers, some okay buskers and some that are just simply awful.
Here’s a video of a group of three musicians which I could have sat and watched for a very long time!
Prague is a bustling town with all the main sites in very close proximity to each other. Provided you don’t act like the total idiot tourist, the place is very safe, honest, charming and inexpensive. Again, people are generally very happy and friendly.
I got up early this morning to try and grab a few photographs of the all-too-often photographed Charles Bridge, before it started moaning under the laden weight of throngs of tourists upon it. I was out by 7am local time but obviously not quite early enough. The crowds weren’t there but there was still a few people all wanting to take photographs and all getting in the way of each other’s shots. There were a few couples in wedding attire having photos too.
After enough of that I went for a stroll around the streets. These were empty apart from people heading to work (I presume). I went to visit the Memorial of the Victims of Communism (Pomník obětem komunismu) ). Which I had seen on my Segway tour yesterday.
The memorial was unveiled in 2002. It comprises a series of sculptures set on a set of large stone steps of a man who slowly decays in each one. The decay is the effect of living under communism; the continual and gradual decay of man over time. The first statue the man is whole and then little by little he disappears until the final sculpture is just a foot. Running alongside the sculptures, there is a strip (brass I think) set into the steps which reveals that under the regime between 1948 and 1989:
- 205, 486 people were arrested for political crimes;
- 170,938 were forced into exile;
- 4,500 died in prison;
- 327 were shot trying to escape; and
- 248 were executed.
There is also a plaque which reads, “The memorial to the victims of communism is dedicated to all the victims not only those who were jailed or executed but also those whose lives were ruined by totalitarian despotism”.
The imagery is very powerful. I love it. Below are some photos.
The Whole of the Memorial viewed from the bottom
The Individual Stages of ‘Decay’ (click on an image to enter the gallery; click ‘x’ in the top LEFT corner of the gallery to exit it)
The Plaque at the Memorial:
I spent a good two hours walking around the streets of the ‘Lesser Town’ taking advantage that they were much quieter. Below are some pictures I took along the way.
After returning to the hotel for breakfast it was time for yet more walking. Along the way I couldn’t resist paying the small price to visit the Sex Machine Museum; three floors of mechanical and electrical devices. The third floor appeared to be dedicated to household items which have been adapted for sexual use. Amongst them, a rotary-hammer drill, a cross-trainer and a bicycle. I have taken some video which I will share with you later.
Just down the road is a hotel/pub/restaurant which is VERY popular. Beer is about £1.10 a pint. It often gets full so people simply sit on the roadside to have their refreshments. We did exactly that. I love the place. Why something like this can’t work in Jersey I’ll never know. At about 8.30pm the two streets that run alongside Lokal is lined with people sitting in the road, on the pavement and all drinking beer. I didn’t see any fights, I didn’t see anyone being sick, but I did see people really enjoying themselves and not causing any trouble to anyone.
Prague is just like every other city: full of souvenir shops selling the same items. There are a couple of decent ones selling wooden toys; I have an attraction to wooden toys. They are no plastic mass produced items (although I guess many wooden toys are mass produced now) and are little works of art in themselves. They feel beautiful to the touch. When they age they age gracefully and have a nostalgic appeal. After you have walked the streets, there is very little else to do unless you really immense yourself in concerts, museums and history. So, we decided to take another short tour of some of Prague’s underground places: buildings which years ago were the original Prague but have since been built upon. There was some interesting titbits learnt along the way and gave us the opportunity to see some things we wouldn’t otherwise have known existed.
There are bakeries on every street corner. They produce tons of this sweet swirly doughnut type snack which is actually quite addictive. The pastry is called trdelnik and is served warm. In most cases it is covered in a sweet sticky coating with nuts and a little cinnamon. Some bakeries sell it with chocolate. I understand the pastry actually originally comes from Slovakia. Below is a picture of one such bakery with the instantly recognisable giant trdelnik pastry hanging above.
While Prague is a ‘can do’ place, by which I mean it is relaxed and you can do most things without being told off/refused I had to take this photo of the entrance to a shop. What the hell ARE you allowed to do?
Because our hotel is right next to one of the towers on the Charles Bridge we get a pass to climb the tower free of charge. Since we’ve climbed nearly every other structure we have found on our travels we had to climb this one too. It was another opp to take those all important photos.
Prague’s skyline looks like a Walt Disney theme park. It is Cinderella-like. The skyline is beautiful and everywhere you turn there is another spire, another turret, another steeple. As we headed back to the hotel from our final night out in the town one of the spires was lit up like a fairytale castle with the moon right above. It was like something from a children’s film set. It had to be photographed. Good night Prague.
2015 Euro Flight 