Prague
The imperial, fine and exuberant
Capital of Bohemia and the Czech Republic, it is the sixth most visited city in Europe.
Beautiful and historic, founded in the 9th century, it was a center of merchants and intellectuals.
Significant events of the last century and a half took place there: the arrival of Nazism, the persecution of Jews, the American bombing by mistake in 1945, believing it to be Dresden (the German city), the Prague Spring in the 60's and the Velvet Revolution in the 80's that ended communism.
In addition, the city transcends for being the birthplace of the short-story writer Jan Neruda, the poet Rainer Rilke and the writer Franz Kafka, where Milan Kundera grew up and where the Black Theater was developed.
Full of history, distinguished architecture, culture, music, it is a very complete metropolis.
We arrived by train from Olomouc, left our luggage at the hotel, near the station and set off to explore it.
We started walking along Vaklavske Avenue to Rokoko Passage, art noveau style, to marvel at its architectural style. Then the Světozor Passage, also art noveau, inside the former Czech Bank. There is an old cinema there and the Tesla stained glass window by artist František Hudeček stands out. Next, we crossed the Lucerna Palace and Passage, to meet the sculpture that is inside. That is Kun, is St. Wenceslas, Vaklav in Czech, Christian king of the tenth century. The daring sculptor David Cerny, whose works we discovered throughout the city, recreated the figure of the patron saint of the Czech Republic riding a horse, but with a peculiarity, he placed him upside down. His works are daring, disruptive, generating astonishment, disconcert.
Already upon seeing this first sculpture by David Cerny, we knew - as good art lovers - that we were going to wander the city in its search. Indeed, Mr. @tripticity_, who had planned the itinerary, had taken care of putting it together so that we wouldn't miss any of them.
We continued along Vodičkova Street, heading for the City Hall with its tower. There stands the Reinhard Heydrich Terror Memorial, commemorating Operation Anthropoid and the death of seven Czechs who attempted to assassinate Hitler's envoy, the “Butcher.” In revenge for their death, Hitler ordered to set up a barrier in the city until they were found, which happened there after being betrayed by a comrade, so that the seven paratroopers met their death in that place.
We headed towards the huge Dancing House, the work of Canadian Frank Gehry. Several of his works have amazed us in past trips, such as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the LV Foundation in Paris or the Marqués del Riscal winery in Elciego, in the wine region of La Rioja. It is currently home to a branch of ING Bank, formerly Nationale-Nederlanden. The static-dynamic contrast is striking. The inspiration was based on Ginger Rogers (in the glass tower part) and Fred Astaire (in the concrete part), the great film couple of the 1930s. The amazing thing is that Gehry was actually the collaborator of local architect Vlado Milunic, the original architect responsible for the iconic building. The top floor houses a restaurant and bar overlooking the Vltava River.
We returned to take streetcar 22 from Karlovo Náměstí Station, bound for Bila Hora, to the Pražský Hrad stop.
We wanted to visit the Prague Castle, Pražský Hrad. The entire complex is free to enter, and you pay for admission to its specific attractions, such as a visit to the Crown Jewels.
It is the largest ancient castle in the world.
The complex includes several attractions, such as St. Vitus Cathedral, where the royal coronation took place. It was also the mausoleum of the Bohemian kings and bishops. Of late Gothic style, its construction began in 1344. Its stained glass windows are famous for their beauty.
Also there is the Basilica of St. George, from 920, the second oldest church in Prague, with its two towers, one representing Adam and the other Eve, in baroque style.
Another highlight is the Golden Alley, Zlatá Ulička. When I first visited Prague in 2009 it was freely accessible. Nowadays, like the rest of Prague's attractions it is payable. According to legend, there lived the alchemists of Emperor Rudolf II. There are a dozen small houses, later occupied by goldsmiths and craftsmen. In number 22 lived Kafka and one of his sisters between 1916 and 1917, so it acquired great notoriety.
The Daliborka Tower was the prison of Dalibor Kozojed, a legendary peasant who led a rebellion against the nobles over their taxes. He learned to play the violin while imprisoned there and became popular for his melodies until he was killed.
To regain our strength, we took a break and had a snack at the very conveniently located Starbucks on Ke Hradu Street. In its terraces you can enjoy a coffee with an extraordinary view of the city, at a normal price, which is not the case in other options nearby.
Then we walked down Nerudova street to Mala Strana towards the Lesser Quarter, which took us no more than fifteen minutes. We passed by the St. Nicholas Church, baroque style, from the 18th century, simply a masterpiece. Its dome of twenty meters in diameter stands out.
We crossed the very particular and funny Narrow Street, so narrow that no two people pass, so there is a traffic light that indicates who has priority to go through, which turned it into the material of several Instagram reels and today it is a center of visit for every tourist. They were originally firewalls, which were eliminated in the city over time.
Nearby is the Kafka Museum. Mr @tripticity_’s suggestion: rather than visiting it, it is better to read his stories.
Also in the area we loved Proudy, Čůrající postavy or The Meons, the sculpture of two politicians urinating on the map of the Czech Republic, work -of course- of the incomparable David Cerny. In this regard, a curious fact. By means of an app or via sms message (+420724370770) allows the visitor to write a name so that the Meons write it when they urinate.
Then we went down to the riverbank to take panoramic pictures of the Carlos Bridge.
Before heading back, we made another stop at the Jelinek Distillates museum, taking advantage of the cocktail happy hour (4 to 6 pm).
Mr. @tripticity_ had planned to return to the hotel by Metro, but we encouraged ourselves to continue walking, the weather was super nice and there was a lot of enthusiasm to continue discovering the beautiful Prague.
We crossed the Kampa park, where we found another sculpture by David Cerny, the Babies, giants and with a square head, made in bronze, somewhat disturbing. We crossed the Vltava River and came to another extraordinary sculpture by Cerny, the rotating head of Franz Kafka. At that, a rain shower chased us away, so we decided to make a well-deserved stop to sample Czech gastronomy. A restaurant in a basement was the chosen one, Otevreno. We ordered the traditional sausage, with bread and onions and the svíčovà na smetanē, beef stew with cranberries, cream and Czech dumplings, a soft pastry stuffed with potato.
The next morning, we had a rather intense walking tour planned to get to know Stare Mesto.
We started at the sculpture honoring Mozart for his work Don Giovanni, unveiled in the theater just across the street in 1787, and then hurried on to the famous Astronomical Clock, Staroměstský Orloj. The first sounding takes place at 9 o'clock in the morning, which we did not reach, but already at 10 o'clock, when it began to fill with tourists. Its author was Mikulas of Kadan, an imperial watchmaker. Tradition has it that when it breaks down a misfortune will happen. It is the great symbol of the city. It has an astrolabe design, the upper astronomical sphere is from the 15th century and represents the Earth and in its sky the Sun, the Moon and two superimposed rings, one of rotation and the other with the twelve signs of the zodiac. The legendary artifact indicates the time in three ways: the classic with Roman numerals, the outer ring with a local system called Schwabacher and the inner circle with the Babylonian system, which takes into account the sunrise. In addition, it has four automaton figures: Death (skeleton), Lust (Turk with mandolin), Greed (person with bag of money) and Pride (person with mirror). Through the windows appear the Twelve Apostles and a rooster that flaps its wings, then the bells ring. The lower sphere depicts the twelve months and the coat of arms of Prague, all added in the 19th century.
Then we walked around the large esplanade. The Old Town Hall, the building that houses it, was built over the centuries so different architectural styles were merged, Gothic, neo-Gothic, Renaissance. The east wing - damaged by the Nazis - remains unrestored.
To note, the Town Hall Tower has a viewing platform, with elevator, for a fee. But @tripticity_ decided to continue.
We strolled along the well entertained pedestrian street, when it was not yet saturated with visitors, to reach the majestic Charles Bridge, Karlův Most. It is the 14th century bridge of King Charles IV with thirty statues linking the Staré Mesto and Malá Strana districts. They are actually copies of the originals. The most important is the statue of St. John Nepomuk, confessor of the queen, who died for not revealing her bedroom secrets to the king. The Old Town Tower, Staroměstská Mostecká Věž, in Gothic style, ordered by Charles IV is extraordinary. While the west facade has less splendor as it was damaged in many battles. The main facade features statues of King Charles (on the left), in the center St. Vitus, the protector, and on the right King Wenceslas, Charles' predecessor. On the upper level are the Czech patron saints St. Adalbert and St. Sigismund. At the top there is a very good viewpoint.
We crossed the bridge again to an alley to discover another amazing sculpture, Embryo. It is David Cerny's most puzzling, a fetus with a beating red heart illuminated at night.
Then we headed to Klementinum, the former Jesuit university, now the National Library. It is the second largest building in the city, after the Castle. Just across the street the municipal library has the instagrammable infinite book tower. Idiom is a well made up of eight thousand books, a 1998 work by Slovak Matej Kren: it materializes the infinite reach of human knowledge. On the other side of the square, the City Hall has a Paternoster, a cyclical elevator named after its resemblance to a rosary... But it was closed for repairs.
We returned via Karlova to the Old Town Square, the center since the 10th century. The 14th century Church of Our Lady of Týn is located there. Other attractions in the Old Town are the Powder Tower, built a century after the Old Town Tower, which was a gunpowder depot and the starting point of the royal march of new monarchs to the Castle; the Church of St. James the Great, from 1700, in which hangs on the front a supposedly mummified hand of a thief who tried to steal the statue of the Virgin and was caught by it to the chain, so it had to be cut off and there it remained forever; and the Church of St. Nicholas, Baroque style, built in the sixteenth century after the triumph of the Catholic army over the Protestant, highlighting its Column of the Holy Trinity, erected in 1715 after the Second Plague and because from there began to broadcast Radio Prague in the year 45.
We continued along the avenue of the big fashion brands to the Josefov Quarter, preserved by Nazism for a project that had been developed to make a Museum of the Extinct Race. There six synagogues and its Jewish cemetery stand out. To the right on Siroka Street the Spanish Synagogue (which has a decoration reminiscent of the Alhambra in Granada); then the High Synagogue of Renaissance style; the Old-New Synagogue, the oldest active synagogue in Europe; the Klausen Synagogue, with an exhibition on Jewish traditions; the Old Cemetery, with twelve thousand stone tombstones and one hundred thousand bodies; the Piskas Synagogue, with a monument with the names of eighty thousand local Jews killed in the Holocaust; and the Maisel Synagogue (simple but with a large library inside).
At the Havelske Trziste market, in operation since 1232, we delighted in the glorious red fruits of the region. A delight.
Then we went down Platnerska street, as we still had another Cerny masterpiece to go. A must-see. This is Hanged, Viselec, a 2.20-meter sculpture of a Sigmund Freud hanging from a beam. Perhaps the pinnacle of his black humor.
Since the day before we had not been able to fully enjoy the performance of K, Cerny's own sculpture of Franz Kafka, we decided to return on that sunny afternoon to admire it in its full projection. It is located right in front of a shopping mall, the one that commissioned its manufacture. Just across the street another convenient Starbucks offers a place to rest until the hour is up, as it runs for fifteen minutes every hour. Although in truth, the best place to follow the cycle is from the top floor of the neighboring McDonald's. The sculpture is made of forty tons of stainless steel and is inspired by Kafka's Metamorphosis.
Just around the corner from there, in another shopping mall, Mutant Butterflies with Airplanes, the last play by the great Czech that we were able to enjoy, was already running.
By then, we didn't know whether or not to attend a black theater performance. The Jiri Srnec, the first black theater in the world, was very close, so we decided to come, but the play scheduled for that season, about Africa, was not tempting so we decided to make another long walk along Vaklavske Av. to Náméstí Míru, the subway station with its endless escalator. Since it was in the area, we made our way to YMCA or Czech Radio as there is another Paternoster there, but it was also closed.
On the way, we passed the impressive New National Museum and the Národni Museum.
For the end of our visit to beautiful Prague, we decided to be tempted to eat at the famous Výtopna Railway. This is the restaurant, which Instagram made trendy as it carries the orders, both drink and food, in small model trains. While the hamburger was not memorable, the truth was that seeing the whole system in perfect operation seemed most attractive.
And so ended the intense tour of the city, muse of gloomy novels, of puppets, of black theaters.
Truly impressive!