City of a Thousand Weddings... er, Spires

By the time I visited Prague, I had heard so many stories of how awesome it was, and seen so many photos, that I expected to be under-awed by it, if such a word exists. Spires, red tiled roofs, more spires, cobbled streets, narrow roads, more spires. Been there, seen that, what's the big deal? After all, I've been to Italy and it can't be grander than that, right? Wrong. Prague surprised me with its awe-inspiring grandeur, with its sheer magnificence. It's the kind of city that can bring a person to their knees. The streets are winding and twisted, and on either side stretch tall, ornate old buildings stacked together in columns of different hues, each one with its own characteristic design. Similar enough to match but different, each with its own identity. This was my first impression of Prague.

typical postcard image of Prague :)

 We were four people, travelling from Berlin to Prague by a cheap Orangeways bus, as the first leg of our 4-day, 4-cities journey around central Europe (the next stops would be Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest). We boarded the bus from Berlin ZOB at a minute past midnight and reached Prague Florenc terminus at 5 in the morning. The bus ride was comfortable, though not luxurious. But hey, for 21 Euro, you can't complain. Oh, they also take a Euro for each piece of luggage, but it's still cheap. The best thing about Orangeways is that you have plenty of legroom. And that it's cheap, but I already mentioned that.

Prague manifested itself tangibly to me first when I went to the awesome toilets in the Florenc terminus. There were these ticket machines into which you had to put 12 Czech Koruna. But the machine, like most of Prague, also accepted Euros, and you get your change in Koruna. I put a Euro in, and got 12 Koruna back. (1 Euro is around 24 Koruna) Things like this make travelling in Europe so much easier. What if you pay 50 cents or a Euro? You get to go to sparkling clean toilets and washrooms, with soap, tissue, electric hand dryers, etc. And I saw so many women travelling alone with huge backpacks. Oh, and another thing about the Florenc terminus was that they had counters to keep your luggage till midnight for 1.60 euro, which was a great help, since we could just dump our luggage there and roam around the city freely. My friend Aonnu kept a keen eye on the budget, so we breakfasted on bread, spread and fruit that we had brought over from Berlin. Later we would go on to royally feast in each city we visited, or as much as our budget allowed us; food was the only extravagance we allowed ourselves, and I'm glad I experienced such different food. Aonnu, who researches on food culture, was adamant that she wanted to taste the national dishes of each country we visited. More on food later.

As soon as the sky had lightened a bit, we each took a city map from the tourist info counter and started out in search of the old town. Our first landmark was the square called Namesti Republiky; we would soon learn that 'Namesti' is the Czech word for plaza or square, and this would aid us again in Slovakia. Once we found Republiky, we could also see the twin spires of the Tyn cathedral in the distance. Walking through the Powder Tower, the gateway to the old town, was a terrific experience. The Powder Tower is a gothic structure built in the late 15th century. Initially one of the entrances to the city of Prague, it became disused and in the 17th century was used to store gunpowder.

Okay, you can see a teeny-weeny portion of the Power Tower on the left. I'm not sure what the building in the foreground is.

Walking through the Powder Gate

And soon we were in the Old Town Square, or Staroměstské náměstí. What a fairytale language, I thought. The streets had names like Celetna, Karlova, Mostecka. The lesser town is called Mala Strana. (Here's a pretty decent map of Prague.) Here are some photos of the Old Town Square, though my friend Vivek seems to pop up in front of each of the monuments! Like I mentioned in another post, my camera was lost in Bologna, and I've used all the photos from a friend's camera.

The Jan Hus memorial in the Old Town, Prague. Jan Hus, a religious reformer who was burned at the stake in the 15th century, became a symbol of resistance to oppressive regimes with a significance extending outside the field of religion onto that of Czech political history. The Baroque St. Nicholas Church can be seen in the background.

The Town Hall Tower

One of the most famous landmarks in Prague Old Town, the Church of Our Lady before Tyn, built in the early Gothic style... well, you can't see much of it here, but you'll surely recognize those spires. You must have seen them in every postcard photo of Prague.

Random buildings in Old Town Square, with its currency exchange shop and souvenir shop declaring this place as tourist-ville! Notice the designs on each building, and the different shades in which they are painted.

The astronomical clock on the Town Hall tower. Apparently the four figures on the top, two on either side, represent Vanity, Greed, Death and a Pagan invader while the four figures at the bottom represent a Chronicler, an Angel, an Astronomer and a Philosopher. (All wisdom gleaned from Google)

From the Old Town Square, we walked up to Charles Bridge or Karluv Most spanning the Vltava river, through this street called, no surprises here, Karlova! Behold the awesome Bridge Tower, the entrance to Charles Bridge: 

Ok, this is me with Aonnu. The scarf is a gift from my friend Soumya, who has more awesome photos of Prague in her facebook album. Aonnu is wearing an "Itali" headband. Behind us, you can see the Vltava river and the red-roofed buildings of Mala Strana (Lesser Town), as well as the Prague Castle. On the left, you can also see the Charles Bridge. The entire bridge is flanked by these baroque-style statues which, according to Wikipedia, are all replicas, but I would have never guessed.

One of those famous statues depicts the crucifixion, with words in Hebrew written above and below, and on the sides. 

Charles Bridge is a veritable marketplace for handicraft vendors and portrait painters. There was a very postcard-perfect Asian couple in wedding outfits posing to be painted. Later, when we crossed over to Mala Strana, wherever you turned, there was a newly wed couple in tux and gown! I don't know whether they were all getting married there, or whether they'd come to the St Vitus cathedral for a pilgrimage. Seriously, wherever you turned, it was tux, white gown, limo, flowers, tux, white gown, limo, flowers. 

After crossing over to Mala Strana or the Lesser Town, there was another bridge tower, followed by this extremely touristy road. 

View of Charles Bridge from the Mala Strana side, close to the Franz Kafka museum

The peeing statues outside the Kafka museum. I don't know what they are called, but I overheard these guys talking about it, and the guide seemed to be telling the others that these guys are pissing into a pool shaped like the Czech republic!

More Kafka! This time, the birthplace...

Synagogues are a dime a dozen -- or a koruna a dozen -- in Josefov, the Jewish quarter of Prague, which we visited on our way back from the Lesser Town. This one (in the foreground) is the Old New Synagogue. Check out the weird building in the background! This one and the synagogue near the Old Jewish Cemetery, as well as the cemetery itself, were closed when we went there.The Old New Synagogue apparently houses the Golem of Prague in its attic!

The entrance to Prague Castle

The changing of the guards at the Prague Castle

St. Vitus Cathedral, inside the Prague Castle

We walked all around Prague, missing only the New Town, I guess (and the interior of every museum, palace, castle and cathedral where entry was paid for; ah well, one day when I'm a rich gangster...). Some day, I'd like to go back and see Wenceslas Square and the Dancing Buildings, Ginger and Fred! We spent quite a bit of money on food. We'd heard that the Czech beer was cheap and good, but we somehow ended up in places where it was at least as expensive as in Germany! My friends tried out the national dish, pork with bread dumplings and cabbage, while I tried to be smart and ordered potato dumplings. I thought I could taste a bit of their food, and order something cheap for myself. Was I surprised! The potato dumplings were... er, a memory I could avoid. Moral of the story, buy what your friends are buying. That way, if you get an unpleasant surprise, at least you have company. And the national dish they had, that was awesome! Poor things, they felt rather guilty seeing my woebegone dumplings and shared a lot of their food with me.

Weary indeed we were when we returned to Florenc by eleven thirty, since we had to take our luggage from the storage locker before 12 midnight. Dinner was chinese, cheap and reliable, and I tasted duck for the first time in my life. Yum yum. Always travel with a coupla boys with a voracious appetite; they will end up ordering more than they can eat, and be generous enough to share even otherwise. Prague glittered in the golden lights as we were borne away by our Student Agency bus to Vienna (departing 00.30, arriving 05.30), and I realized I'd forgotten to taste absinthe! Clear and green and bright, little bottles of absinthe mocked me from shop windows, along with elaborately crafted spoons. 70% alcohol, someone told me. How on earth was it possible? Another reason to come back to this magnificent city dripping gothic grandeur at every street corner.