22nd Sept 2015
Incredible city,
but SO many people !
We were a bit
slow to get moving this morning, partly due to good wifi, and partly due to
people coming over to chat about our journey and our car. But as both of these are “good things”, it
was no problem that it was near 11 am by the time we headed out to catch our
number 9 tram into town. It is literally
a 3 minute walk to the tram stop, but it took about 5 minutes more for us to
work out how to get a ticket, and which ticket to get, from the machine ! (Can you read Czech ?) Once worked out, it was easy, and our tram
soon came along (yup, it was a Skoda ! what else in CZ !), and off we went into town.
We tried to follow our route into the Old City (Stare Mesto) on the map
so we got off at the correct station, and must have done a good job, because we
found ourselves exactly where we expected !
Getting better at this public transport lark !!
We exited on Vaclava
namesti, and up to our right was Wenceslas Square, founded in1348 as the centre
of the town, with the bronze statue of Vaclav (St Wenceslas) astride his horse,
in front of the imposing National Museum.
But we turned in the opposite direction and set off towards the Old
Town, not quite sure of what we were going to find.
Well, the first
thing we found were a whole lot of market stalls, and those that were cooking
food had some mouthwatering aromas coming from them ! Eventually we settled for a cone of crisps
that were freshly made from a finely sliced potato, and set off down some
narrow winding streets enjoying them !
After only about 5 minutes we went through an archway and came out into
an absolute sea of people all standing in front of what we found out later was
the Astronomical Clock in the Old Town Hall.
The sheer number of people made it difficult to even move around, and it
really took us aback after the quiet towns we have visited over the past couple
of weeks, especially since it is now Sept 22nd and not exactly peak
season. I would hate to be here in July
or August !!
Our first target
was to find the information bureau in order to find out what was where, and
having done that, we stood and looked around the old town square, with its
incredible buildings on all 4 sides. Well, 3 ½ sides, because a Neo-Gothic part
of the Town Hall was destroyed during
the Prague Uprising in May 1945. But
what a place ! In order to escape from
the crowds and enable us to work out a plan of attack for the next day or so,
we jumped on a little tourist tram that drove us around for an hour, seeing all
the key sites. Unfortunately the
commentary was not very good, and combined with all
After the tram
tour, we went back to some of the market stalls and bought a kebab and a local
sausage for lunch, washed down with some local beer. Fortified, we set off back to the Old Town
Square, enjoyed some of the busking bands playing around the area, went into
the Church of our Lady before Tyn, and then noticed even bigger crowds than
before over near the Astronomical Clock.
We realized it was 2 minutes before the hour, and everyone had gathered
to watch it strike the hour – That explained the crowds at this spot when we
first arrived in the square ! The 66 m
high Tower was built in 1364, and the clock created in 1410, and its mechanical
performance has taken place every hour for hundreds of years. The 12 Apostles
walk around in two windows, a skeleton pulls a bell on a string, and after the
crowing of a golden cock the clock strikes the hour. Quite a performance !
From there we
headed west down narrow lanes, past an Italian Gelati shop which required a
stop, until we reached the Charles Bridge, which was built in 1357 after its
predecessor, the Judith Bridge, was washed away by a flood. At the Old City end of the bridge (where we
were) is the Old Town Bridge Tower and the Church of St Francis, and then you cross
the bridge and on the other side is a similar tower called the Lesser Town
Bridge Tower. In between is the bridge
that is the most visited monument in Prague.
And yes, it was packed – not
We walked across
to the other side, looking up to Prague Castle, the Royal Palace, and St Vitus’
Cathedral, standing high on the hill overlooking the city. We will visit these
tomorrow. We crossed back over the
bridge into the old town, past the St Francis and St Salvator churches, and
then found a puppet shop with some beautiful puppets on display. In talking to the owner we were told that
puppets are a part of the Czech culture, (there was a puppeteer on the bridge) and
he makes them all in his factory. A
fascinating time in his shop looking at his many puppets. We then moved on, past the
National Theatre,
where we saw one of the “old” cars that take tourists around for a fee (they
are new cars underneath !), and back to Vaclava namesti where we had started.
By now we were a
bit pooped, so we stopped for a while and had a coffee in a café on the corner
of the road, and people watched for a while.
We then wandered up the hill to Wenceslas Square where the statue of St
Wenceslas stands. We took a few photos,
watched a balloon maker entertain some schoolchildren with his oversized
balloons, and then we set off back down the hill to catch our tram back to the
camp site. We did this OK, and after a
quick visit to the supermarket, headed back for our supper and some rest before
we tackle the next part tomorrow !
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