Euro Trip : Day 8 & 9 (Prague)

It was Day 8 and it was time to move to our Vogue destination – ‘Prague’. Early morning we packed up, took one last glance at Vienna and drove towards Prague. During our initial planning we decided that a smart way to explore Prague was by taking up a walking tour on the first day and then the next day we explore it ourselves all by foot. Prague is probably the one and only city which everyone would think of visiting when they think of Czech Republic. Prague is a city with an old worldly charm, incredible cobblestone streets, rich in history, has amazing cheap beer and gorgeous night life, basically a city which is oh-so-easy to fall in love with. Driving on Autobahn is great but we did take some coffee breaks in between. Four odd hours later, we reached Prague at around 12.30 pm. We had a quick lunch and started looking out for the walking tour. To our surprise there were a ton of them around. Since my sister had already tried the Sandeman Tours before and she highly recommended it, we decided to go with them. We met our guide Jirca near the Old town square and our walking tour started at 2pm.

The approximate route of walking tour was Republic Square (Old town)-> Franz Kafka-> Jewish Quarters and Cemetery-> Karolinum-> Wenceslas square-> Old town square-> Astronomical Clock-> Pinkas Synagogue-> House of Black Madonna-> Charles bridge. The first impression as we arrived at the Old town square was ‘Wow!!!’. The place was super touristy as we had imagined. It is said that this part of the city was untouched since 12th century. This place is full of life. It has musicians, vendors and different kinds of street performers showcasing their talents. The place looked very lively and refreshing. We walked further through the narrow streets and passages and saw the very famous monument of Prague: the Franz Kafka Monument. Franz Kafka was a very famous Jewish German writer of all times. He later died of Tuberculosis and was buried in the New Jewish Cemetery. There is a statue dedicated to him which is close to the Old town square. It is a monument where Kafka is sitting on shoulders of a headless person who shows him which way to go.

We then we saw 2 famous Jewish landmarks one is the 12th century Jewish Quarters, oldest active synagogue and other was Jewish Cemetery: a layered graveyard from 15th century. According to the Jewish laws, neither the graves can be destroyed nor the tombstones removed. So they had fill in new layers on top of existing graves and now they have as many as 100,000 buried bodies, layered one upon another. Next we visited one of the oldest surviving Baroquial universities in Europe: the Karolinum or the Prince Charles University from 1348. This place is also used for various ceremonies and gatherings. We then took walk down the massive Wenceslas Square, a monument of capitalism was a place where many demonstrations and gatherings were held. This was a famous square where the fall of communism was announced in 1989. This is the centre of Prague’s New town which connects numerous passages and buildings and is the heart of night life. We took a short break after this.

We got a short break for about 15 mins. We decided to try the famous ice-cream at the street side near Old town square. We also booked the cruise tickets for the next day. Once we regrouped after the break, Jirca took us to probably the most swarmed spot at Old town square, the astronomical clock. It is one of the most sophisticated medieval constructions with12 medallions that bear the 12 zodiac signs. Let us come back to the story of the clock a bit later. The clock has a lovely show every hour and its age old marvel never fails to amaze the endless crowds that gather here. We dint wait for the hourly show since it was 4.15 and we had to wait for another 45 minutes to view the next show. We made a mental note to come back here again tomorrow. On our way to the famous Charles Bridge we saw Pinkas Synagogue - A Jewish museum built in 15th century by Aaron Meshullam which later became a memorial to Czech and Moravian Jews who were victims of Nazi persecution. Another interesting place which caught our eye was House of Black Madonna - A multifunctional building with numerous shops and is also known as Black mother of lord. It is an architectural masterpiece which houses Czech cubism and has a very stylish cafe inside. The walking tour was almost ending as we came towards the much awaited and one of the most famous destinations in Prague - the Charles Bridge. The history of this bridge dates back to 13th century where Charles IV laid the first foundation stone to build this stunning bridge which is a historic landmark now. Though Sandeman walking tours are free tours, it lived much above our expectations. We learnt a lot of history and comfortably explored key areas of Prague. We thanked and tipped our travel guide for an amazing 3 hour tour and spent the rest of the evening wandering around clicking some pictures. We thoroughly enjoyed the diverse breath-taking architecture of the Bohemian era ranging from Gothic to Art Nouveau architectural styles.

If there’s one thing I can confidently suggest about Europe: Walking tours are the way to go! We were very hungry and we decided to try some Indian food today. We stumbled up this neat little place called Indian Jewel; turns out it is a famous restaurant in the neighborhood. Fantastic ambience and great food! The tiredness from our travel and long walks through the day was catching on us. Nevertheless, we went to bed thoroughly satisfied with the day.

Day 2 in Prague- We wanted to revisit few places from yesterday. Although we got an overview on all the important places in Prague the previous day, we decided to walk through the city again today all by ourselves. Today’s plan was clear: we would first visit the Charles Bridge, then the castle & walk back for the cruise and finally a short walk around the astronomical clock and the city. Doesn’t seem like much, but when you’re in Prague and every nook and cranny is jam-packed with such stunning architecture to see and marvel at, it really is a lot. We were all pumped up as we walked towards one of the most visited bridges in the world - the Charles Bridge. We came across 30 different statues and a dozen of vendors selling paintings, photographs and accessories. The statues reveal the harsh realities people faced during the medieval era. In spite of the mad touristy crowd, we were excited to walk on the bridge from one end to other savoring the view every step. There was a very small bridge next to the Charles Bridge which was less crowded and filled with love locks. This was one of my favorite landmarks.

Once we crossed the bridge, it was a small fun trek to the castle. We passed through beautiful small lanes and saw a cute tram move around the township through zig-zag roads. Prague castle is situated on a small hill overlooking the lesser town on the banks of Vlatava River. As we entered the area where the castle is, we realized it is not quite what one might expect. It was a large area which was more of a castle complex with an array of cathedrals, royal residencies, gardens, palaces and buildings and did not have any perfect fairy-tale castle look that we were expecting. The large towering structure which took 1000 years to complete is an architectural achievement - yes it is the world famous Gothic Saint Vitus’ Cathedral dominates the place. I was able to fathom how vast 750,000 square feet could be after visiting this place.

Watching the ceremonial changing of presidential guards was an interesting activity. There was a small musical performance and a parade follows as they switch their duties. There are so many small narrow lanes with small houses and huge castle walls on both sides. Apart from this there are so many museums which exhibit the things from the times of World War I. As we walked further we saw huge Royal gardens spread across. Since it was the fall season the colors looked pretty and the view of the Prague town from here was stunning.

With plenty walking done so far, we felt it’s now the time to go for the cruise. As we walked towards the cruise, we finally grabbed some Trdelník. It is a specialty street food in Prague. A donut like sweet pastry baked with caramelized sugar and cinnamon on metal rolls. They are served by filling ice-cream inside them and are also called as chimney cakes.

We got into the cruise and headed to the top deck to get the best unobstructed views of the city. It was the perfect place to watch the sun go down and enjoy the brilliantly lit Charles Bridge and medieval architecture of Praha! We enjoyed the light music along with evening snacks & coffee as the cruise passed under Charles bridge then around the Prague Castle and beautiful lesser and old town. Taking the cruise helped us gather innumerable memories of Bohemia across Vltava River.

We now headed towards the last chapter in Praha’s journey. On the way back we tried capturing some beautiful pictures of Charles Bridge at night and walked towards the old city square to catch one last glimpse of it along with the much hyped mechanical performance of the astronomical clock. The old city square looked perfect at night. We did a bit of shopping at street side vending shops.

We were now standing in front of the astronomical clock which was built by a famous veteran clock master Hanus. Going back to the intriguing history of the clock, it is said that once Hanus completed building the clock, the King damaged Hanus’s eyes so that he wouldn’t ever make another such clock for anyone else. Later Hanus took revenge by walking to the top of clock tower and killing himself and thus stopping the clock for almost a hundred years. It was later when Jan Taborský repaired it in 1552 and it started working again. In the past 600 years, the clock has stopped working several times but it is undoubtedly the world’s oldest functional clock. The background of the large dial is the view of the sky. The blue circle in the centre is Earth while the upper blue portion represents above the horizon and red-black area below is below the horizon. The sun is over the blue part when you visit in the morning hours and on the black part at night. The Roman numerals indicate the current Prague time and the outer ring which is made up of Schwabacher numerals indicate the old Czech time. Inside the dial you can see the moving circle with signs of Zodiacs; this represents the movement of Sun and moon throughout the year. Below that there is a calendar dial which represents days of the year along with 12 months represented by medallions. Every hour the door opens up and small allegorical figures appear to come to life and begin moving about the clock, signaling the start of a new hour. Once they finish their journey the golden rooster come out and crows then the bell rings and clock chimes. The four figures who adorn the outside of the clock represent vanity, greed, death, and lust. The astronomical dial is quite interesting and it is undoubtedly a tourist magnet. The spectacular 45 second show transported us to Old Prague for some time.

We roamed around the Old Square trying to bask in all the beauty around. Prague was lit up to celebrate their 100 years of Republic and it was the best time to be around. Prague is opulent with architectural landmarks and is abundant with love all around. Its incredible charm captured my heart. It is definitely a perfect touristy place.

Tips:

Prague Castle is one of the largest castle complexes. So it would take at least half a day to explore the entire place.
Prague Castle tour costs 350 CZ/EUR13If you plan to spend time inside the castle, plan to spend one complete day and buy your tickets in advance.
Best time to visit the Charles Bridge is at dawn, far less crowd than other times of the day.
If you plan on staying a couple days in Prague, take the walking tour on Day1 so that you have a clear plan for further days here.