A few days in Prague

We’ve just returned from a few days in Prague.  Never having been before, the city was as beautiful as we’d expected.  We used the bus and the tram from the airport to the city (cost £1) and were delivered safely just a few feet from our hotel at about 3’o clock in the afternoon.  That was early enough to get settled into the hotel and for the short walk across the bridge to the old town in the evening.

One of the very large locks (yes we have to get one in somewhere!)which allows boats to pass down the River Vltava.

James, on our first evening, crossing the river with the Old Town, and Charles Bridge, in the background.

On Monday we did a lot of walking and sight seeing . We went up the Astronomical Clock Tower in the Old Town square to get an awesome view of the city.  It’s a very long way off the ground and James is having to get used to heights these days!

A view from the Clock Tower with the Old Town Square below and the fantastic towers of the church of Our Lady Before Tyn (the Harry Potter church as we liked to call it!).

The Charles Bridge – the most frequented place in Prague.  This is where the Royal Road crosses the river on it’s way to Prague Castle and the cathedral of St Vitus (up on the hill, right of centre).  It’s a spectacular medieval structure with it’s many huge stone statues. Spot the bloke in the yellow hat!

Close to our hotel was this very thought provoking monument in memory of all those who lost their lives, or had their lives ruined, by communism.  The statue is repeated on each step but less and less of the man remains as you walk up the steps.

Prague Castle and St Vitus Cathedral at night.

The “Harry Potter” church at night.

On Monday evening we went to a classical music concert in the Smetana Hall which is in this beautiful Municipal House.   

Wherever we go we like to get off the tourist trail and experience the “real” thing.  For about 50p you can get a tram out of the city centre to where people actually live and where the bars and restaurants offer great food, great atmosphere, amazing prices and where the people are really surprised to see two crazy English people!  We had some interesting experiences!  

On Tuesday we had a wonderful surprise ourselves – it snowed!  In fact, for a while it obscured the fabulous views of the city during our visit to the castle.

The man with the yellow hat again! – getting towards the top of the steep climb to the castle.  The view should have shown the Lesser Town, the river and the Old Town in the background, which we did eventually see when it stopped snowing.

In the centre of the castle complex (which is absolutely vast) is the Cathedral of St Vitus (which is absolutely vast!)

A frozen guard at the one of the entrances to the castle.

After our visit to the castle we walked back into the Old Town to see it in it’s snow covered beauty.  Surprisingly, the cobbled streets and pavements are lethal in the snow – even worse when they use their big motorised brushes to sweep it away.  James survived intact despite several collisions with the ground!

We very much enjoyed our three nights and four days.  It’s a very lovely city with all the buildings being exceptionally well maintained.  It’s just a pity there is so much graffiti in places.  We had an enjoyable flight home during which we had an interesting and informative conversation with Honza, a very pleasant young man from Prague who was destined for Falmouth in Cornwall to meet up with his girlfriend and who will be delighted to read about himself here. 

We now have a few days at home and then we’re off on Monday for a week in New York to celebrate Doug’s birthday.  Hopefully we’ll be able to blog while we’re there this time.