So, after day one, the main things left on my little ‘must do’ list was Petrin Hill and the lookout tower, Charles Bridge, and the Jewish museum, with new entries on the list from what I discovered the day before, Marksmen’s island (the leaves were turning with Autumn colours), further exploration of the old town area, and more cubist art installations.
Normally, when I travel, I don’t sleep in and try to get up and into it to get as much as I can out of the day. My theory is: ‘you can sleep in at home, but you won’t see the sights at home’. However, my bed was SOOOOOOO comfortable, and the coffee good that I didn’t get out of the hotel until almost 10am!
Once again, I took a tram from out the front, over Legion Bridge, to Ujezd. There are many routes that go in that direction from Jecna. All the trams have recorded announcements to advise each stop. Not only that, after a day in the city, you are more oriented to what things are where etc.
Ujezd is at the base of Petrin Hill. There is a funicular (sort of tram) to take you up the steep hill. I took a minute to take some photos of a sculpture with some curious men sort of walking down the stairs toward the city (maybe someone knows the artist – but cubist for sure). The funicular wasn’t too far from where I got off the tram, so I made my way over following the signs and then………. tragedy! It was closed until November. The only way to go up was on foot.
OK. We can do this. I’ve been called many things, but my closest friends call me the ‘walking freak’ – not because I’m a weirdo or anything, but because of how much walking I tend to do at home and just everywhere. A little hill was nothing! My map informed me it was about 1 km to the top through windy paths. The sun was shining (side note – the weather in Prague was sensational every day I was there with clear skies, heaps of sunshine, probably 22 – 25 Celsius, with slightly cooler evenings), the park trees were changing colour for winter, and I was ready.
After half an hour of gentle walking (read this as steep tracks, stairs, with lots of huffing and puffing), I was at the top, and the base of the tower, which is a replica of the Eiffel tower, just smaller. 100 crown to go in – no problem, but guess what? No lift - you have to climb all those stairs to get to the top. Right, I can’t come all this way and then not go up… 62 metres, 299 steps, but the view was superb! Lucking out with the weather, I could see far to the horizon in every direction. Many photos, half a bottle of water and a snack later, I made my way back down the stairs. Tip – don’t be an idiot and make sure you take the ‘up’ stairs when you’re going up, and the ‘down’ stairs when going down. They are clearly marked. The stairs are very narrow, and go round and round, so having someone coming the other way is pretty awkward… and there was more than one person who couldn’t read the sign.
All this walking was making me hungry… A quick check of the map, and I could see I could just walk over towards the castle, take Uvoz back to Neradova street where I knew there were lots of cafes etc. I had already decided not to do the mirror maze, so walked along the ‘Hunger’ wall (appropriate name for me at this time) and saw many of the ancient stone fortifications (apparently built in the 1300’s).
This area is just lovely, and not as full of tourists. Great views over to the river and city, and gorgeous buildings and cobble stone streets. I wandered through Strahov monastery, but was too hungry to stop for long. One thing to note, there was a really good ‘electronic sign’ with numbers corresponding to different features of the monastery, all listed in English and shown on a map. You pressed a button on the keypad, and recording gave you full details about the selected feature. The castle should invest in this sort of thing!
Lunch was at a little café – not memorable, but chosen because it had a special of a spinach crepe with salad for 120 crown. While eating, I looked at my LP guide and noticed that I had missed the Lennon wall, the Maltese Square and Wallenstein garden, all close by. Change of plan, I’d do a loop through the streets to each of these, and end up back along the river to go over to the island.
You would miss the Lennon wall if you didn’t look out for it – and I loved all the colourful graffiti. Next block down was the Maltese Square, and there was nothing much to report except more lovely buildings, an old church, and a statue. But the Wallenstein garden was worth the detour. Gorgeous gardens with walkways, lake and fountains. White peacocks (as well as normal coloured ones) walking around with chicks in tow. Statues of roman gods (?) and the weird ‘stalactite’ wall. Just a little peaceful oasis walled off from the traffic and bustle of the city.
Back out toward Charles Bridge, but took a small street off to the side to walk under it. Great viewpoint of the bridge and away from the crowd. Kampa island, dubbed Prague’s little Venice, is a nice stretch of mainly parkland separated by the canal. In my mind, a must do area of Prague as the park and lovely vista over the canal and river, not to mention some more cubist installations (i.e. big black babies, weird tree carvings that look like Picasso style faces, a man shaking his fist at the tourists over the river, and a line of 50 yellow penguins marching toward the weir toward Marksmen’s island). Lot’s of locals enjoying the late autumn sunshine, children feeding ducks, and young lovers kissing on park benches. Really nice.
A little hop further over Legion Bridge is Marksman’s island. Again, another peaceful sanctuary, and pretty much un-discovered by tourists. And probably one of the best views of Charles Bridge looking down the river. I was accosted by a family of swans, clearly expecting a feed, who quickly swam away once they realised I had nothing.
All peace’ed out and ready for the throng, it was time to ‘do’ Charles Bridge. Throughout my wanderings, I could see the constant stream of people and knew it was going to be crowded – but hey, when in Prague, you cross the bridge – right?
At the end of the Legion Bridge is a road and footpath along the river, with another small park with statue of the good king, mounted on horse. The views over the river to the castle and Charles Bridge were great, and probably the best viewpoint in the city. Just as you get to the bridge, the path takes you through a gauntlet of souvenir shops – lots of trinkets and the crystal…. I love glass and crystal, but I had to resist – too much already purchased from my previous 3 weeks in Hungary and Austria – but that’s the subject of other trip reports.
So what’s the big fuss? An old bridge with statues. Nice – sure. But it didn’t help that there was works going on so half of it was blocked off. By this time, it was mid afternoon, and the foot traffic was ridiculous! Wall-to-wall you’d say. I enjoy a good statue as much as the next person, but trying to get close without either a) being swept along by the crowd; or b) approached by the stall holders to buy a painting or portrait or whatever…. Not my favourite – but it had to be done. One highlight – an organ-grinder, complete with ‘oom-pah’, circus style music, grinding as the instrument played its keys (but only toy monkey). He was very obliging with smiles and posing for a photo – so I emptied all my change into his hat.
From the bridge I wandered up the narrow street through lots of shops and restaurants and browsed at my leisure. Then I reminded myself of the cubist Cerny sculptures around the place and got out my map. Not far up was “Hanging out” -a piece with a Freud look-alike hanging above a lane by one hand. Though not by Cerny, the cubist lamppost was just up a block and a little hard to find – but no-one even paid it attention except me. Last on my Cerny list was the “Horse” installation, with the good king mounted on a dead upside-down horse in Lucerna passage. The passage is an art-deco shopping arcade, and the piece is, well, its just out there, and I really liked looking around this nice little mall. Once again, no-one paid the sculpture any notice – and it was pretty cool…
With my cubist art hunt over with, clearly it was beer time – in fact, I was quite buggered and beer was overdue! Now… yesterday I paid 30 crowns for 2 beers at Hard Rock café – you can’t go past it really – so I headed directly there (with a quick look at the astronomical clock doing it’s thing again in the town square) Ahhh, load of my feet, thirst quenched, and a chat with my friendly bar tenders and other tourists…
Now what? Hmmm food. Didn’t fancy the idea of eating at the HRC, so moseyed along the side streets, back toward the bridge where I has seen so many places to eat. I chose an Italian style place in a good spot for people watching – as there are just streams of people walking by constantly. Ordering a pasta dish, I discovered some Aussies at the next table, and we exchanged trip stories. My meal was delicious and cheap. Thankfully I didn’t get double charged for service etc that I’d read on this forum, and I’m sorry I didn’t note the restaurant’s name, as I would recommend it. All I know it was on Karlova, with lots of outside tables dressed with checked tablecloths, maybe near the corner with Liliova.
By now, the evening was totally dark, my feet ready to be put away for the night, and I knew I had to be up and at it the next morning, as it was my last day before my long haul flight home. But let’s not rush this, I told myself. A gentle meander through the streets and shops toward Narodni trida (which is the road at the end of Legion bridge that has lots of trams running along it), I knew I could jump on a tram that took me all the way back to my hotel.
Prague at night is gorgeous, and views across the river stunning. Though alone, I could feel the romance from the other couples walking around hand-in-hand around me. So with that, I hurried back feeling lonely, but satisfied with a great day out!
No part 3 but will write up and tips and bits post with more useful info soon.
Enjoy!
- k
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I just love your report, keep them coming..299 steps? Did you count them?
Your report made me smile...Keep writing!
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you are an excellant writer kgb 4 ,very interesting report ..do come back sometime..
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great part 2.
your style gives all the information but at a pace that people should do prague make a few mistakes and see where you end up.
you should turn this into a real tourist guide
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I felt as if I was with you every step of the way!!
Thank you .
TORII
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Super great trip report. A few minutes of Prague in my day. Awesome.
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