We decided to leave our early morning trip to the Charles Bridge until tomorrow as it will give us the opportunity of an early start to our drive to Krakow also.
So after breakfast in the hotel, we set off with another of Adrienne’s walking tours into Prague city. Starting across Charles Bridge, the crowds hadn’t quite built up at this stage and we were actually able to see some of the statues on either side of the bridge depicting 30 saints. One of these was St John of Nepomuk, a 14th century priest to whom the queen confessed all her sins. The legend goes that he would not divulge them to the king so was tortured and thrown from the bridge to his death. When he hit the water, 5 stars appeared signifying his purity. The tradition says touching the plaque will make a wish come true !
Adrienne trying her luck on the St John of Nepomuk statue
As we crossed the bridge, we met Jo and Steve Miller who are also in Prague with their son Daniel, and his girlfriend Christina who live in Frankfurt and were meeting up with them before they head home – the people you stumble across ! They were all set to tackle the stairway up to the castle. Leaving them, we were soon in the old city at the Old Town Square where the Astronomical Clock performs each hour. We were in between performances so went up the tower to take in the view.
Prague’s Astronomical clock – surrounded by scaffold of course !
Old Town Square from the clock tower
And would you believe it, at the top of the tower were two more couples who had been on our river cruise and were now touring elsewhere. We knew that there was a formal “addon” tour to Prague at the end of the cruise and wondered if we would come across them, but these couples were not part of that.
I had noticed that the big novelty in Prague seemed to be people – street performers – standing around blowing bubbles. Then it hit me – BUBLIFUK ! On our cruise during the “Liars Room” games night, bublifuk had come up as one of the weird words for which we had to determine its meaning and now here it was – the czech word for bubble blower ! But by the looks of it, there isn’t a lot of money to be made from bublifuk ?
Bublifuk in Old Town Square !
Through further cobbled streets we came to the Church of St James, a Baroque style church, which houses Prague’s grandest pipe organ. As we arrived we could hear it playing so we went in briefly to listen to the impromptu performance. Further on we reached the edge of the old city – the Powder Tower which was the main gate of the old town wall and dates back 500 years. It also held the city’s gunpowder store.
Powder Tower at the edge of the old city
We then walked down through part of the “new” city which is really just like any city block. We passed Wenceslas Square – the centre of the New Town – where, in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall, a student protest was violently put down and this was the last straw for the city of Prague an communism. For a week and a half the square was packed with citizens demanding freedom, and finally the end of communism was announced, to the wild joy of the crowd.
Battling the crowds across Charles Bridge
Heading back through the old town, we walked through the Havelska Markets, an open air market which has been in operation since 1232. A lot of souvenirs these days but some stalls still selling lovely looking fresh produce. Then we battled our way back across the Charles Bridge to get to an area called Kampa Island, in the “Little Quarter” down below the bridge near the river. The crowds certainly do congregate in the “tourist spots” as other areas barely a street away can be quiet havens. In the backstreets here is the “Lennon Wall” – an impromptu “peace” tribute which arose with the assassination of John Lennon back in 1980.
The Lennon Wall
With weary legs, we decided to try to find something for a late lunch, which we did just across the street from our hotel. A lovely fresh homemade soup and cornish pastie (not traditional czech fare I now) did just the trick. We then put our feet up for a while before heading out to dinner nearby.
Parts of Prague have certainly been “tacky tourist” – with numerous hens and bucks party groups, and dozens of tour groups in these areas – but the traditional/historic areas have been impressive and interesting. It is probably not a place we would come back to but it has been an enjoyable stop just the same. Tomorrow, it is on to Poland …
Today’s “Tour Trivia” – Charles IV laid the first stone of the famous Charles Bridge at 5.31 am on July 9, 1357. The notoriously superstitious king was into astrology and numerology, and chose this date because of its written form: 1-3-5-7-9-7-5-3-1 (year, day, month, time) !