"The City of Prague" a Prague Travel Page by cocoandsami

I have just come back from a week (5 days) in Czech Republic, and managed to spend the weekend in Praha (or Prague, as we know it) exploring this beautiful old city. I had a wonderful time in Praha, it is truly worthwhile visiting, however, I also feel that most people only come to Praha, and miss out on the other parts of beautiful Czech Republic, that I managed to see, thanks to work.



I took myself off to see the Opera on Friday night - not much else to do, and the theatre caught my eye. Unfortunately non of the photos really worked out as it was too dark. Nevertheless, I managed to get a ticket in the front row on the Balcony - for about 900 Cz - about Euro 30 or $45. I thought that was pretty good value for a last minute ticket The opera (Il Travatore) was a little shorter then I remember, and I think I just enjoyed sitting in the lovely theatre more then the opera. It was the most ornate building I have seen (inside). All gold, with paintings on the roof, red velvet seats, chandelier and rather small and cozy.



On Saturday I took a 6 hour tour of Praha - by foot! Well, some of it was on boat for a hour or so. We walked around Old Town (Stare Mesto), the Jewish quarter (Josefov) and around the Castle (HradCany and Mala Strana). We had a typical Czech lunch (can pass on the food thank you, all a bit stodgy for me, a bit of meat, lots of gravy and the strangest dumplings I have ever had) included. On the tour there were 6 Aussies, 2 Kiwis amongst the 30 odd people on the tour. It was fun to listen to an Australian accent again. I didn't realise that with all the history of Praha, that Josefov is extremely well preserved, and there are a tremendous amount of Jewish relics and artifacts there. Apparently Hitler was planning to make this area an epitaph (is that the right word) for an extinct group of people, as he saw it, the jewish people. It is also rather surprising that with all the churches (and its history of Protestants and Catholics) in Czech Rep., that in today's society most people are either non-religious, or follow small secular groups - a very small percentage are Catholic, and even less Protestant.



The Castle, apparently the biggest in Europe, is a collection of many different buildings. Nothing like a Castle that one would see in England. In the centre is the most magnificent Neo Gothic Church, St Vitius Cathedral. Inside, it has huge stain glass windows, and I do not remember seeing anything like it. Here King Wenceslas is buried - but just his head. Apparently many other churches have other parts of his body. Actually apparently Wenceslas was actually never a king, but a Duke (something to do with not actually being crowned a King), but we all know him as King Wenceslas.



Charles Bridge (Karlùv Most), is something to admire. They call it the most beautiful bridge in Europe - I am not sure if it is (I haven’t seen all bridges), and I wouldn't say it is "beautiful", rather it is impressive. All along are statues (which were actually added a few centuries after the bridge was built) or kings and religious figures. I think I included a photo of it, if not, I will send some more.



On Sunday, I decided to just wonder around the old city on my own, looking at buildings and taking photos. Again, I probably spent 3 hrs doing that - needless to say, my legs are sore!! I really enjoyed just walking through the streets, looking at the lovely buildings. Some of the photos capture it, but nothing compares to being there and really feeling the place.
It is very touristy - something that I did not encounter in the town of Karlovy Vary and Frantiskovy Lazne.

I found a little hotel on the web, not cheap, but I had left a little late, and I found out later that Praha is not cheap for hotels if you want to stay in the old part of town. The hotel was in Mala Strana, the section of town just below the Castle. Only a 10 min walk to Charles Bridge (Czech’s refer to it as Karlùv Most, which is a very famous bridge built between 1357 and 1390’s. It has over 30 statues along it (the bridge is about 500m long.

For work, we needed to visit some of the other towns within Czech Rep. One of these towns was Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad is the German name for the town). It is famous for being a Spa town, and over the years (hundreds of years), this area was visited by the Aristocracy. You can try the spa water for free - just need to buy a mug (a nice porcelain mug with a picture of Karlovy Vary was all of about $3!!). The water comes out at three temperatures (42F, 52F and 62F I think). I tried the 62 F water. It did taste rather strange (not just because it was hot). This water is supposed to help with all sorts of ailments. I have attached a few photos of Karlovy Vary.
I also visited another spa town - Frantiskovy Lazne (or I think the germans called it Frantsbad??) It is also a very famous place, but here, the only tourists are Czech or Germans. I doubt many people even know about this place. It is really pretty, and once again, you can drink the spring water. I did see many elderly people wandering around with their cups. I passed on trying this spa water – it looked a tad brown for my liking!
If you are ever in Europe, Czech Rep it is a country well worth visiting, even if it is just Praha. Truly a beautifully preserved old city. A good website to visit is www.visitprague.cz