Gallivanting through Prague

After breakfast in our hotel, our morning began with a 4 hour tour of the city of Prague by foot.  

We had chosen the tour that began by bus. Just the thought of having to hike up the hill to the castle seemed too overwhelming.  So, a bus transferred us to a place near the top and we found ourselves walking the downhill along the way, weaving through various streets, and ending, finally, at our hotel.

Our guide's name was Lyuba, and she was a delight: informative, entertaining, and full of energy, which resulted in some fast paced walking during the tour. 

Once we were dropped off at the top, we found ourselves above Prague castle.  We passed a statue that held likenesses of Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler, astronomers from the early 17th century. Both had been born and lived in Prague.

We walked past a hotel that was once the part of a monastery.

Around the corner was a plaza with the statue of the second president of Czechoslovakia, Edvard Beneš.

Beneš was exiled from office during the Nazi occupation and during that time, he secretly orchestrated  a plan to assassinate  Reinhard Heydrich, the acting Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia while he was traveling in an open car through the streets of Prague.  The incident was carried out on May 27, 1942 and Heydrich died a week later. 

The Nazi regime was so outraged by this boldness that they issued orders to destroy the entire village of Ledice. 

All men over 18 were executed,; most women were sent to concentration camps,  and 88 children were murdered in gas chambers.  The village was then burned to the ground and razed.  This was a random village that the Nazi leadership picked to destroy in retaliation.

Beneš would be judged harshly for his role in the assassination that resulted in the deaths of so many innocent lives. 

Just below the statue is this beautiful view.

We walked along the cobblestone streets taking in the sites along the way.

This view gives an idea of just how high up we were.

This beautiful lantern structure stands in a middle of the square near the presidential residence. 

There was a plague statue devoted to the blessed mother in the plaza. 

Finally, we were at the gates to the palace.

But we couldn't enter that way.  We needed to go around the corner through a side entrance.  There was a lovely plaza in the center with the presidential apartments behind. 

Just through an archway stands the one end of St. Vitus Church.

Here is a partial view of the front

and just to the left is a statue of St. George.

The views from here were stunning. 

We worked our way along the perimeter of the gardens

admiring the beautiful rooftops along the way.

At this point we walked down over one hundred steps to make our way to the Charles Bridge. 

But first, we stopped in the plaza where we were given some time to grab a quick bite. 

We ordered a "small" cheese tray.  As time was limited, Marty ended up stashing some of the goods into a napkin for us to enjoy later. 

As we walked to the bridge, I noticed this interesting panel on a house nearby.  I would not have expected to see ostriches. 

Finally, we were crossing on the Charles IV bridge. 

This is a pedestrian only bridge, with statues erected along both sides, and beautiful vistas to view while crossing.   But I couldn't take many photos to show the entrance,  or most of the statues as there were crowds and crowds of people. 

But I did manage to get this photo of Marty in front of St. John Nepomunk.  This man lived in Bohemia in the mid 1300's and is considered to be a beloved patron saint. 

Apparently it is considered to be good luck if you rub the bottom of the statue.  I'm not quite sure what the history is behind that, but Marty seems to think that it was worth trying. 

As I had mentioned the streets were buzzing with crowds of people, so I wasn't able to capture many photos as we walked along.  Lubya took us to the little square plaza where the astrological clock stands. 

Every hour, a bell rings, the twelve apostles, 6 on each side, make a circle in the little openings above the clock, and a rooster sounds announcing the new hour. 

We did not have the opportunity to see it work as Lyuba kept us at a pretty fast pace.  This clock is the oldest one of its kind in the world. 

From here we continued to the Powder Tower.

The man responsible for designing it was sure to put his own face above the arch.

One more stop to admire the mosaic that sits in this large building next to the powder tower.  It really was stunning. 

From here we ventured down a street to a hotel where apparently Frank Kaftsa had lived.  I honestly don' t know much about the man.  Even Lyuba commented that people know the name but have never read his books.  It appears that his books were published posthumously by his friend who had been instructed to destroy Frank's writings.  Obviously, that did not happen. 

By now we were pretty tuckered out.  We had walked for 4 hours, with a short break in the middle, and had covered quite a bit of ground.  Marty and I relaxed for awhile in our hotel room, finishing the cheese that we had grabbed from our quick stop. 

Before we knew it, it was 3:00 and time for Czech beer tasting.  Our guide, Marseille, walked us the 5 minute distance to the brewery known as Fuze.   We had three beer samples to taste.  

That beer had foam that had reached the top rim, which obviously disintegrated because I took only one sip.  I'm just not a fan of beer. 

There were two other options:  a smoky brew, and an IPA.  None of them appealed to me. 

All of them appealed to Marty. 

And we had a blast sharing our time with Bob and Carol, the extremely entertaining couple who are celebrating 62 years of marriage.  They were a hoot. 

During the tasting, Marseille explained the process of making the beer today. Then, as have all of the other guides, he began to describe his personal family history of life under the socialist, then communist regime.  His stories repeated many of the facts which we had heard from the other guides.  They seem to really want people to know how their countries suffered.  A comment by Marseille that really struck me was, "You are all familiar with Orwell?  Well, you know about him.....we lived it."  But these people are so grateful that they have been truly liberated and are able to reap the rewards from this type of enterprise. 

The tasting lasted a little over an hour, and then we made our way back to the hotel.  We had one more event for today and that was a traditional folk dinner.   So, at 7:00 pm, we once again boarded a bus, this time traveling past where we had been dropped off this morning for our tour. 

Once inside, it was obvious that this was going to be something far different from anything we'd ever experience. 

And I must say....entertaining it was.  Not only did we have a tasty Czech dinner, but the performers had us laughing and clapping through the entire evening. 

 

They even managed to get Marty on the dance floor....twice!

It really was the perfect ending to the day, and the last event that we would spend with fellow travelers. 

So, I may I say, Na Zdravie!  Cheers to your health. 

Until next time...

Prague Prelude

This morning we were up bright and early to have a small breakfast in the ship prior to disembarking. We had chosen the Prague post cruise option, so we boarded a bus with a good number of fellow cruise  travelers to make our way to the capital of the Czech Republic.

But first, we stopped in Regensburg to break up the drive a bit.

This is a beautiful city, known as the City of Towers as it once had 60 towers. 20 still remain. 

Our guide escorted us along the cobblestone streets towards the old city. It is Saturday and the place was filled with bikers who seem to think they have the right of way. There were no designated biking lanes, making being a pedestrian rather dangerous as it seemed as if they came from every direction!  So there was some careful maneuvering as we followed our guide along the way. 

She pointed out this former hospital that now stands as a retirement home.  Everyone of the residents receives a Bishops's Beer each and every day.  There is apparently a long line of people waiting to be admitted. 

We crossed the bridge over the river that leads to the Old Town.

There was no missing the Cathedral with its Gothic Spire in the background. 

Along the one side of the bridge stands the Brickmandl (Brick Man).

He's been there since the 12th century. 

At the end of the bridge is the toll  tower.  One had to pay toll at the bridge in order to enter the city.

One could easily see the Medieval landscape of this side of the city.  It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site designed to preserve its unique style. 

Regensburg was founded in 179 where remnants of the Porta Pretoria still stand. 

At one time 6000 Roman soldiers were living in a community here and one can still see the remnants of the large stones used to build the walls.  While the Romans inhabited this area, Germanic tribes were living across the river. 

In the 5th century, the great migration began and Regensburg became instrumental in the shipping of salt from the mines in the Swiss Alps to Passau.  If you recall from yesterday, salt was known as "white gold" due to its value.

The present day visitors center was once the holding chamber for the salt. Note the steeply pitched roof. 

Behind this building one can find the oldest sausage sandwich shop in the city having been erected in 1135.  We chose to pass on trying the delight but there was a long queu waiting to purchase their specialty. 

The sausage shop plaza offers an amazing view of the stone bridge that we had just crossed over. 

Regensburg at one time had 60 towers in the city.  They are reduced to 20.  We had seen one passing the bridge, and here is yet another that was built in the 13th century.

We enjoyed walking through the streets and admiring the ornate buildings. 

On a side street in the town is a plaque on the wall commemorating the fact that Emilie Shindler had lived in that place for a year following the end of World War II. He is credited with saving the lives of 1200 Jews during the Nazi occupation. 

We stopped for a brief respite, then headed back to the meeting place where our bus would be waiting.

The views going back were equally enchanting.

I failed to mention that this city is known for its beer.  There had been 200 churches in this city, each with its own bishop,  And each bishop had his own brewery by the 7th century.   So variety abounds!

We boarded the bus for the 4 hour trip to Prague, arriving just prior to 4:00 pm.  Marty and I had decided to attend mass since there was a church, Our Lady of the Snows, a short distance from the hotel. 

It was obviously a very old building and the altar background certainly had a LOT of adornment. 

I'm fairly certain that is St. Michael the Archangel overlooking the congregation, and above him, near the tip of the dome, is a crucifix.  One could probably sit there for hour attempting to study the symbolism in just that one piece. 

After dinner, we headed to a restaurant just around the corner that Veronica had recommended.  Marty had attempted to ask for a "booking" on our way to the church and the man at the desk just said no.  So, after mass, we headed back and I politely greeted him "Good evening" in Slovak, which is similar to the Czech language.  He gave me a funny look.  Then I asked him (in Slovak) if he spoke English.  He looked at me straight in the face and shouted, "WHAT DO YOU WANT?".  I was a bit startled, and asked if we could please have a table to for two.  He claimed they had none (although there were a lot of empty tables) and told me to talk to his colleague about sitting outside.  So, I politely asked the woman if she had a table outside. She said, No, all of the tables are inside.  She said on the ground floor, in the bar, on the second floor. I asked if I was just to seat myself, and she directed me back to Mr. Grumpy.  I decided that I'd had enough and we left. 

We walked a few hundred feet to another restaurant, and asked if they were serving dinner.  The waiter was delightful!  We set outside next to this lovely flower garden.

Marty ordered Czech beer 

And, much to our excitement, there was Bryndza Halusky!  Our favorite Slovak dish!

We both ordered it and enjoyed it immensely.

So, it appears that we certainly ended up with the MUCH better deal. Great food, great service, and a lovely evening to enjoy it!

Time for sleep.  We'll be heading out on a tour of this lovely city in the morning. 

I'll be sure to keep you posted!

Until next time...