Prague Day One

Day's summary
"Moved the camper to have breakfast next to the river, Checked in to the campsite and then went to the city, crossing the river by the local ferry. Started off at the old town square before making our way to the rotating Franz Kafka head and stopped to have coffee and get orientated at McDonalds. We then went to the enormous Wenceslas Square before exploring more of the old town and Jewish quarter. We then crossed the Charles Bridge to the other side of the river. It was very vibrant with lots of tourist activity. From there we caught a tram up to the castle, almost a town in itself, before walking down the hill to get the metro to get back to our tram stop. This took us back to the ferry stop at Vyton. We had supper at a local restaurant before getting the ferry back to the campsite"

We woke up after an uneventful night. No one bothered us and the weather looked promising. We decided that as we weren’t sure how naughty we had been and that we had better leave early, have breakfast just up the road next to the river and then come back to check in. It was a very active scene on the island with rowing on the river, a golf driving range, dog walking, cycling and of course the yacht club that ran the campsite. We went back to the camp site and checked in at reception. The very pleasant young chap at reception spoke quite good English. He had learnt it at school. We discovered that we could have opened the boom and it was quiet usual for people to go in after hours if they arrived late. We moved the camper to a pleasant level site site. There was a road between us and the river, but hardly any traffic came by. We were away during the day anyway. We also found out that there was a ferry across about 200m away and we would not have to walk all the way to the metro on the other side of the island.
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We walked to the ferry – cute was the only way to describe it – and crossed the Vitava River, getting off at Vyton. Working out how to get the tram to town was tricky, but we were helped by a pretty blonde girl to buy 24 hour tickets at the vending machine. Thank goodness she helped as we needed change and making out the directions was really tricky! We also discovered that there was a discount of 50% for 65 plus's, which included us!

We got off at Staromestske near the the centre of historical Prague and made our way to the old town square (Staromestske namesti), the most significant square of Prague founded in the 12th century. This is an amazing place with beautiful buildings and statues, namely the Old Town Hall, St Nicholas Church, the beautiful twin towered Gothic Church of Our Lady before Tyn and the imposing Jan Hus Monument in the middle of the square. We got some useful information from the tourist office, took lots of pictures and set off to find some coffee. This proved quite difficult as we were very much in tourist territory. We spoke to a young fellow from Cape Town who did decorative sewing. He sewed Marianne’s name freehand on to a piece of paper using a modified machine. He said that there were no cheap places and no McDonalds. We wandered about looking and enjoying some stunning streets and buildings and came upon the statue of Franz Kafka, a famous Czech author who lived in Prague in the square in front of a modern shopping centre. A massive 11 m high silver sculpture consisting of 42 moving panels align to form his face. It is quite mesmerising to watch the metamorphosis waiting for the right alignment and see his face emerge. It is quite a technical marvel and is the work of artist David Cerny. Inside the Quadrio shopping center we found a McDonalds. It was a real thank goodness moment! We had stopped to look into some places to have coffee, but the prices had been astronomical. It was just about lunchtime so we had chicken burgers and chips and coffee, and followed it up with a shared cheesecake. We spent some time recovering and working out our orientation.

After leaving the center, which was very typical of modern shopping centers, we walked to Wenceslas Namesti. It is enormous and very much a rectangle rather than a square. We walked about 150m towards the museum at the far end and turned off into a very posh shopping arcade coming out on a major pedestrian street that lead us to the powder tower and the city hall, a beautiful art nouveau building dating from the turn of the century. (municipal house 1905-1911) It was certainly a contrast with the Gothic powder tower which it abutted. There were lots of statues both traditional and modern along the way, with another of Franz Kafka, seated on the shoulders of a headless man. We then went towards the Jewish quarter, walking past down a street of grand buildings, dating from the early 1900’s into the much older area where the synagogue and old synagogue were. Then it was to the river, reaching it at the Cechuv Bridge. The walk along the river to the Charles Bridge was lovely going past the Rudolfinum (the home of the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra) and some weird modern sculptures. There was lots of boat activity on the river, even big river barges going past, although most were tourist boats and ferries.

Charles Bridge was very busy with tourists. There were also lots of stalls on the bridge selling tourist stuff and lots of artists offering portraits and charicatures. Some of them were very good indeed. With so many people on the bridge the 30 beautiful sculptures of saints and apostles (dating from 1683 to 1938) tended to get lost. Some had been restored, but some were very dark from grime and other pollution and were seriously in need of attention. It was really a case of pushing one's way across the famous bridge way to cross the river – our first time by bridge. The arrival on the other side was impressive, as we found ourselves looking down onto canals and classical houses interspersed with pavement and garden cafes and coffee shops, all with tourist prices. The bridge terminated in a dramatic arch through which we walked, one of our finest views in Prague. We went into what looked like a tourist info office, but it turned out to be a backpackers and was pretty useless. The castle was a long way up the hill so we decided to catch a tram and went on to Namostranska Nam, the bus, tram and metro hub. A tram soon arrived and we were whisked up to the castle stop, where we got off and walked the short distance to the castle entrance where there was a security check. The castle is the seat of the Czech government. It was a bit easier than the checks we had in Rome though and we were soon inside.

It was unfortunately getting a bit late at this stage and the castle complex is big. There are a number of courtyards and many museums and gardens. We entered into courtyard two, a very formal classical space with a central fountain and a circular chapel in the corner opposite the entry. Then it was through a narrow passage to courtyard three and as we emerged the imposing St Vitus Cathedral was in front of us. Sadly, they had just closed the door and we were too late to go inside. We saw soldiers marching to change the guard, but we could not wait. Everything was closing. We went under an arch and came to the Gothic old royal palace dating back to the 1500s. It was interesting to discover that the castle contained a collection of very different buildings covering a period from the 12th to the early 20th century. Some are Gothic, some Renaissance and some Classical revival. But the views of the city from the castle made it very worthwhile. We passed the St George Square, went past the Convent of St George and then the Romanesque Basilica of St George (the oldest Romanesque structure in the Czech Republic, but now largely a reconstruction dating from the end of the 19th century) and the Classical All Saints Chapel. We decided to walk back down the steep hill and left the castle down a street that lead to the Black Tower. The terrace here was the place for photographs of the old city as it looked down upon the Charles Bridge and there were wonderful views downstream. Then it was down lots of steps to the Namostranska Nam where we caught the metro that went under the river to our morning metro stop at Straromestske. We found a number 17 tram very quickly and were soon at our ferry stop. We decided to eat out and found a local restaurant a short walk away from the tram stop. It was very local and I ordered schnitzel and potato salad and Marianne pork roulade with potatoes. And of course cold local beer! It was very good. Then it was a walk back to Vyton, a short trip across the river on our little ferry and then a walk to the camper. We were exhausted. I missed my shower as my “coin” didn’t work. Marianne’s did, but it was very short and she finished her shower with cold water. Oh dear! (one needs coins which one pays for at reception to shower) But it had been a good first day in Prague and it was almost impossible to process all the impressions.

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