Day 3
… We missed the first day’s breakfast but the next two day’s fayre was interesting …
(This post is just one day)
Each morning we were offered two types of bread; long thin slices of white along with large slices of brown (but a particularly Czech type of brown bread). To go with these, we could have as much sliced meat as we liked (as long as we didn’t mind all the fat or its appearance), cheese and overcooked (nearly knackered) eggs – but of course we were used to knackered eggs already. The jams were interesting too, one I tried seemed to be rhubarb and apple with a hint of chilli. Very small cereal bowls were provided for the two cereals available. Coffee was left in a flask on your table at 07:00am when they opened the breakfast and bugger you if you wanted any more.
It sounds appalling when I read this back, but it really wasn’t all that bad1. The hotel was ideally placed close to the number 9 or number 4 tram line into the city and for 15p. (return, we were told) we were easily transported into the city in about 20 minutes. The trams were quite fast when they wanted to be, but only had single seats up each side as this allowed more people to get on with their bikes (and no doubt, cows, sheep and furniture when moving house) or to stand. There weren’t quite as many bikes here in Czech as we saw later in the week, and that is probably because Prague is set in a deep valley through which the river Vlatava runs, a tributary of the Elbe.
We went down into Prague (or Prag as it says on the map we have, or Praha as seen on most city advertisements) that first afternoon and looked around. There were lots and lots of tourists, many more than we had anticipated, almost all of whom were (as Stephen liked to say) “bloody loud mouthed, noisy Americans”! He would say it louder if they didn’t hear him the first time. (lol).
The weather had warmed up by now and we were quite hot. Stephen carried the rucksack around today. This contained all of our raincoats, as it had rained so much the day before. Ben carried the video camera and I had my heavy Zenith2 with me, so by the end of the day we were knackered. We decided to stay in town and look around until we fancied our evening meal. It didn’t seem worth going back up to the hotel and then back down again to eat. So, we stopped now and again for a beer. Stories had it at the time that a pint of Czech beer can be had for around 15p. Right in the centre of Prague. But, we didn’t find that. At one place, by the river we did find beer at 15 zlotaks3 for a 500ml glass (approx. 37.5p). We were happy enough with this but when we came to pay we found that the packet of pistachio nuts we had eaten, cost just over £4.00. After being mugged in this way, we were much more careful whenever we stopped for a drink.
The city centre is beautiful, with lots of old and ancient buildings. The Charles Bridge (closed to traffic now) heaves with tourists and craftsmen and women. Everyone is there to view the 30 statues that line the bridge. Some are brass and some are stone4 and stand there on the bridge rampart for all to see. They are a little blackened with age and in need of a good clean up, but are worth seeing anyway. Over and then up from one end of the bridge are the parliament buildings, via what seemed like thousands of steps. We climbed these and had a good look around the cathedral at the top. The bright and colourful windows were magnificent. These windows were brighter and more colourful than Notre Dame’s rose window which we saw in February5. We eventually walked back down and off the other side of the bridge looking for the famous Wenceslas Square, but to no avail. We did find it later in our visit – it should really be called Wenceslas Rectangle as it is just one long and wide street bang in the middle of the business district.
We did find the Old City Square, on one corner of which, is the famous astronomical clock and a massive statue to something or other on the opposite corner. This old square was surrounded by buildings with Dutch Gables, in the very eastern European style. The square also hid another church which we christened ‘golden balls’ because of the unusual decoration around its towers. We spent some time in this square, with a beer and just watching the world (and people) go by. Much to Ben’s frustration I think. He may well have been better taking his young self, off on his own at this stage but he stayed with us.
Before crossing the bridge towards Old City Square, we had decided to take a boat ride up the river. I cannot remember how many Zlotaks that cost but it was reasonable and included a coffee and a piece of cake. This was probably a local speciality, in the style of a Swiss roll and may well have been called a Czech roll. The sun was gorgeous and we were able to see lots of the famous buildings up and down the river.
As we walked wearily back from the Wenceslas Rectangle and across the now thinning throng of tourists, we started to look for something to eat. Ben had been doing this for an awful lot longer I think. Everywhere was getting full and we eventually managed to get seats at a table just vacated by an English couple who worked in Prague. The restaurant was slightly up river from the main tourist haunts and situated on a large boat on the river itself. Our table was on the top deck and we had beautiful views of the floodlit buildings on the opposite bank. The food was fair to middling and relatively inexpensive, certainly cheaper than those meals we would buy later in the trip, in Berlin.
We returned to the hotel by racing tram, had a nightcap and went to bed. Sleep came easily enough after last night but it was disturbed by the heat and general mugginess of the weather. Hot and humid.
1 – I probably typed this up originally, on arriving back home in England. I will have kept daily notes in a notebook. I’ve been back to Prague several times since this first visit and the catering has improved 20-fold.
2 – Neither video, nor photos seem to have survived into the 21st century.
3 – The Czech currency is Czech Krown (CK). We were so tired and confused this first day that none of us could come up with the same name twice. We referred to it as Zlotys, Kopeks, Marks, Croats, Kronas and eventually settled on Zlotacks as the more amusing and definitive name for a currency needing charisma. (Remember, this is all pre-€)
4 – These are gradually being replaced, to preserve the originals. http://praguemonitor.com/2016/11/14/prague-bridges-vulnerable-statues-replaced-copies
5 -I guess that this was when Stephen, Bev and I drove to Paris, to pick Emma up from her French work placement. She’d been working in a hotel in Besançon and had caught the train from there to be picked up in Paris.
Also worth a read: https://redqueenmusings.wordpress.com/2018/03/15/a-short-break-in-prague/ (thank you)
My even older Holiday Weblog 
Prague was a beautiful city and absolutely chock full of tourists as you say.
The thing that really stuck with me from the river tour was looking down from the tall river cruiser to see a group of people filming a porno on a smaller vessel.
I also remember the people watching… especially when we found that little delicatessen sat inside a small shopping arcade. We sat there drinking cheap Czech beer and munching a variety of cold meats, watching the deli counter and passers by. That may have been day 2 though, so I won’t spoil that one yet.
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