Goodbye, Prague

It's Friday morning and we're sitting in the waiting room waiting for our flight to Munich; around us only German businessmen, all strictly in black suits, white shirts and black leather bags... maybe it's just me but they look mass-produced... While we're travelling on the bus that takes us to the plane I remember a small oversight.... I forgot to put the name tag on the trolley we checked in... Let's hope for the best, that this isn't the time they lose my suitcase... Just this once that I forgot! The bus stops in front of a plane... are you kidding? The Air Dolomite aircraft in all its smallness is right there in front of me... lucky there are no 747s on the runway at Caselle otherwise it would seem even smaller than it seems to me when compared with the usual Airbuses.

It's the first time I've boarded such a small plane with the engines' propellers on the outside and the thing doesn't inspire much confidence in me.. what if while it's flying a pigeon ends up in the propellers? What happens... doesn't it get all mangled and slammed against the windows? Better not to think about it... The flight, apart from the swaying that is perhaps typical of this type of aircraft, is calm as far as Munich. Then from Munich, with a slightly bigger plane but still with external propellers (this detail unsettles me) we go to Prague. On the plane there are a few Italian couples who of course make themselves known right away. With the air of seasoned travellers they make ironic remarks about the type of plane and its solidity...

Too bad that the last part of the flight and the landing were very up and down and one of these travellers started screaming as if the plane were crashing! In short.. maybe it would have been better for them to keep their mouths shut before acting so clever and then making such an ass of themselves!

Having arrived in Prague, retrieved our trolley, we go looking for the office of the travel agency with which we booked the accommodation to pick up the key to our room. The guesthouse we chose already provides for a person at the reception only until 1 pm, so we agreed to pick up the room key directly at their office in the airport. These things always leave me a bit perplexed but sometimes you have to trust. Having retrieved the key, the directions on how to reach the city centre and the necessary bus tickets, we head to the bus stop for bus 100, right in front of the airport arrivals hall, and it doesn't take long to arrive. Having arrived at the bus terminus, near a huge shopping centre, there's the metro station (line B) that takes us straight into the heart of Prague passing under the Moldova. The cost is truly negligible, 12 crowns each for the whole journey.

We get off at Namestri Republiky a stone's throw from our guesthouse. Having got off the metro we have to go back up an escalator, so steep it's frightening; it's quite a sight to look back, better not to think about how one might roll magnificently all the way to the bottom if one loses one's balance. The Platan Pension is located on the top floor of one of those old buildings with a stone staircase and the lift set in the stairwell. Yet another of those old lifts that you find in the old buildings of Turin with a structure all in iron. The guesthouse is nice, quiet and silent, especially since there are only eight rooms. The rooms are clean and the furnishings seem new. Our room has a double bed with bedside tables, a table, two little armchairs and a wardrobe all in light wood. The bathroom has a shower and is very nice.

Our window doesn't face the street and this is lucky since there's a lot of traffic, but the view of the courtyard of these buildings isn't that great. In the corridor there's a fridge for everyone's use; each floor of the fridge has been marked with the number of each room so everyone knows where to put their stuff and hopefully thinks twice about eating others' things.. eh eh he eh We settle our things and go out for a walk and dinner. It's dark and it's starting to rain too. But is it possible that every time we go somewhere this cursed little cloud always has to follow us!!! I understand that maybe it likes to travel too but can't it really refrain from doing it in our company? Anyway, we walk, without an umbrella, along Celetna, full of shops and shop windows, and eat a quick hamburger at McDonalds; meanwhile the rain starts to get more insistent.

Prague, capital of the Czech Republic with a population of just over a million inhabitants, joined the European Union on 1 May 2004 (which is why a passport is no longer necessary to enter the country). It's a city rich in history, monuments, museums (the guides count more than 20) and parks where you can relax. Tomorrow we'll go discovering all of this.... Who knows how it will be.

Accommodation: Pension Platan - Revolucní 24 - Praha 1 - Staré Mesto (CK Petrs - tel. +420 224 215 050 - mail: slovan@petrs.cz -

And the day of departure has also arrived; our little holiday is about to end. Calmly we try to fit all our things, including the last purchases, into the trolley. No small feat given that we already set off with it bursting at the seams. Having left our hotel, we make one last little trip to Staromestske Square, to take a final look at the clock and to enjoy the 10 o'clock show. I also take the opportunity to grab two postcards to bring home. After that we head to the metro station. One last look at this splendid city and the same steep staircase that a few days ago took us into the heart of Prague now takes us back. We'll take the metro to the terminus and from there bus 100 which will drop us directly at the airport. In Munich, between one flight and another, we buy two sandwiches for lunch... damn it....

In Prague with what we paid for these two measly sandwiches we could have bought sandwiches for a week! Anyway.. despite the 'propeller' planes we arrive safe and sound in Turin. And so this holiday is over too... there will be photos to develop, to label and the story to write. So for a little while longer our 5 days in Prague will remain alive and present and then... Prague too will be a sweet memory... Na shledanou Praha

Guides used: · Il meglio di Praga - Ed. EDT · Praga - city Book (Corriere della Sera) - Arnoldo Mondatori Ed.

We wake up early. The weather isn't the best: it looks like it wants to rain, just for a change. Breakfast is served directly in the room; you just need to poke your nose out of the room and let the lady know you want breakfast and in just the time it takes to prepare the tray breakfast is served. The sky doesn't promise well so we decide to start our visit from Prague Castle, where, if it rains, we can always visit the interiors. There's no one on the streets, indeed it's not even nine yet. We cross the famous Staromestske Namesti with its astronomical clock, practically deserted, and continue towards Charles Bridge, also deserted. We take a few photos and enjoy the solitude of this place, unaware of the fact that within a few hours it would be more crowded than a metro station at rush hour.

We walk along the streets of the old town, where the shopkeepers are opening their shops, to finally arrive at the square in front of the castle. The castle was founded in the 9th century by Prince Borivoj. It enjoys a beautiful position, dominating over the Moldova. They've just opened the gates and several groups, including many school groups, crowd the entrance waiting to enter. Someone takes the usual ritual photos, a bit ridiculous, with the sentries posted to guard the gates: straight, motionless, impassive. I imagine what they think when people stand beside them for the usual photo, but I'm a lady and therefore I won't say it! We pass through the first courtyard to move into the second courtyard (original these names) to arrive before the majestic St. Vitus Cathedral. The groups and people crowd the entrance and since it's drizzling we slip in too.

Depending on what and how much you want to visit in the castle, there are different types of tickets and prices.. You can decide to visit only the cathedral, only the museum, the Golden Lane, or you can take a cumulative ticket that allows you to visit all the sites (350 crowns). We choose the latter. Since we're already inside (the ticket office is at the entrance to the cathedral) we begin, like everyone, our visit from St. Vitus Cathedral. You could say it's the most imposing monument of the castle. The choir is impressive and so is the wooden panel 'Flight of Frederick of the Palatinate'. Anyway.. it deserves a good careful visit even if it's practically impossible to move without being shoved or stepped on by a myriad of tourists. Maybe it's because it's raining outside but they all had the same idea. Having left the cathedral we go to admire the famous golden gate.

After that we move to the royal palace. In the 11th century the palace became the seat of the princes of Bohemia. You can admire the hall of the Diet (contrary to what the name may suggest, it's not a hall where little is eaten but the hall of the Bohemian parliament). Very beautiful and well preserved are the various ceramic stoves placed in the different rooms... and they still work! One of these is contained in the famous room from which the defenestration took place. A peep out of the window from which, on 23 May 1618, the nobles who were protesting against the accession to the throne of Ferdinand of Habsburg threw out of the window the then imperial governors and, since they were at it, also their secretary. Indeed they had quite a jump, about 15 metres. It's said that the three guys thrown from the window were saved because they fell onto a pile of manure.

The Catholics said that this providential 'mattress' was thanks to a divine intervention... well... couldn't he have put some hay? In short, this divine intervention could have been a tiny bit more fragrant! For the record, history books say that this was the event that started the Thirty Years' War and as is obvious the term 'defenestration' was coined on this occasion.

After this history lesson we go to visit the museum in the powder tower where the uniforms used by the Czech army over the course of history are displayed. There are also some reconstructions of scenes of military life in the last century. I must admit that nobody gives a damn about this museum since we're the only ones there.

Finally we reach the Golden Lane, which I had heard so much about. It's a very narrow little street lined with a series of tiny little houses, in every sense. Very low with small doors and little windows. In short.. it could be the street where the seven dwarfs live! Currently they're occupied by souvenir shops, but come on.. I wouldn't have guessed! One of these little houses is said to have been Kafka's house. Personally I expected something different.. they're cute but nothing more.

We stroll through the streets of the old town, pass in front of Loreta and then head towards Petrin Park. We go all the way up to the observation tower, but since the weather isn't very nice we decide to postpone the climb to a day with better weather so we can enjoy the view of the whole city from above.

In the afternoon we return towards the old town. We cross Charles Bridge again, which swarms with tourists, and street artists, from painters, sketchers to musicians. Charles Bridge was until 1741 the only bridge over the Moldova, but I doubt it was as crowded as it is now! At its two ends it has two towers and on both sides it's a succession of statues. A guide is busy explaining goodness knows what to her group about one of these statues.. I hope they brought what they need to camp out because there's no way they'll get through them all in a day! We pass in front of the astronomical clock a few minutes before the hour strikes, so we join the crowd already present to watch this little show. This clock was built and then placed on the tower of the town hall in the 15th century.

Legend says that in 1490 the clock was rebuilt by a master clockmaker, a certain Hanus, but to prevent him from making a similar one elsewhere he was blinded. Nice people!!! The clock's mechanism was repaired several times but was completed and perfected only between 1552 and 1572 by Taborsky; who knows if he knew the fate that befell his predecessor about a century earlier! When the hour strikes, led by St. Peter, one by one, the twelve apostles make their appearance, while the statue of the Turk shakes his head and the skeleton turns his hourglass.

Not far from our guesthouse, on the other side of the Moldova, there's another city park (Letnà). From the Stefanikuv bridge you can enjoy a beautiful panorama of the castle and the citadel. This morning the lady at the guesthouse had told us about this bridge and you can't argue with her that the view is very beautiful. The park is located exactly on the bank of the Moldova opposite the Jewish quarter.

For dinner we choose a place not far away, recommended by the guide. Apart from the name and the pizzas, it has nothing Italian about it. Right away they serve us a bowl with a ball of goodness knows what inside and some croutons. Actually we didn't order it and on several guides and forums I read that these things they serve you are charged for and often cost more than the rest. So.. we're a bit unsure whether to eat it or not. We wouldn't want this little taste to actually cost us more than the whole dinner. After some deliberation... we take the croutons and spread this thing on them..., as they say "to hell with stinginess"! It's a kind of cheese with herbs and garlic. We eat the pizza we ordered which isn't bad at all, just a bit spicy, the dessert and.... when we pay the bill the little appetiser they gave us isn't charged. Damn the guides that do all this scaremongering.

Maybe this bad habit applies in some restaurant because to generalise like this!!! Pizzeria "La Ventola" - Souk

Today's day promises good weather, it really seems like the ideal day to delight in the view of the city from above. To avoid doing the usual route and seeing the usual streets we choose an alternative route to get to the observation tower. We pass through Wenceslas Square (Vàclarskè Nàmésti) lined with historic buildings and hotels where at the top of the square the National Museum stands. On the square there's the monument to the victims of communism and also to Jan Palach, an anti-communist martyr who in 1969 killed himself by setting himself on fire to protest against communism. This square has in any case been the scene of other events linked to the struggle against communism; in 1989 the protest march against the brutality of the police and the regime took place here, which led to what was called the Velvet Revolution and which then overthrew the then communist regime.

Unfortunately for me on this square there's also a nice sports shop and Marco not only takes a peek but comes out with his nice shopping bag! To reach the observation tower we cross the Moldova on the Legiì bridge, the one exactly opposite Charles Bridge. From this one too the view isn't bad and my goodness how many little ants on Charles Bridge.

Having arrived in front of the observation tower, we buy the tickets (100 crowns) to go up this little Eiffel Tower and head for the stairs. The up and down system is arranged so that you go up on one side and down on the other, and the two staircases, obviously, never meet. We head straight to the top floor, from which you really enjoy a beautiful view of the whole city. A city that rises on various little hills. It was from Letnà Park that we spotted a monument with a guy on horseback on a little hill. We study the direction well because if there's time left we'll make a little trip there. Not so much for the monument, which we have no idea what it is, but for the little hill which shouldn't have a good view. Having finished our tour of the top floor, we stop a while longer to observe the view from the intermediate floor and then go back down to 'earth'.

In the afternoon we stroll along the park, pass through the small quarter, pass in front of the castle, where a couple of musicians (or maybe there were three?) gift the already special atmosphere of this city with a little something more that makes it special and very evocative. It must be said that the artists are really good, they go from pieces of folk or traditional music to pieces of classical music (like the Cavalleria Rusticana) with equal skill. In any case the streets of the small quarter are crowded with street musicians. It's Sunday for us too, and even though we're here being tourists we also take ourselves a relaxing afternoon in Letnà Park like all Praguers. There are many people who frequent this and other green corners of the city: parents with children, couples, people with rollers and people on bicycles.

Despite the city's traffic these parks offer a good spot to relax in complete tranquillity. A good place to spend Sunday afternoon away from the chaos and city traffic without travelling kilometres to reach them. I, who in my good tourist kit always have a book with me, immerse myself in reading, while Marco educates himself reading the pages of history of the city reported in the guide.

For dinner we return to last night's pizzeria. There are loads of people. But we immediately discover the reason. On the television they're broadcasting a game of Okay, Marco tells me, who is more knowledgeable than me on the subject, that the Czechs have a good tradition in this sport and also a good national team. That's why they're all sitting glued to the television. This evening we order a soup and a salad. We skip dessert because between the soup and the super big mixed salad there was really no room left for dessert. Having finished dinner we go for a little stroll around the city. Despite the cold, truly biting, the streets are very crowded.

Accommodation: Pizzeria "La Ventola" - Soukenicka 7 - Praha 1- Cost 450 crowns

After a good breakfast and having retrieved our sandwiches chilling in the fridge we head towards this morning's destination. The equestrian monument located on a little hill. We've more or less guessed the direction. More or less because after walking a while we abandon the intention of going further and head towards the Hlàvkuk bridge where there are some islands on the Moldova. Having reached the middle of the bridge, we discover that the direction we had taken was fairly in line with the monument we wanted to reach and that it wasn't far. A bit of thinking and rethinking and we retrace our steps. Finally we find the entrance to this park and start climbing the little hill. We meet only one guy jogging, otherwise no one. It's even pleasant to walk alone in this park that rises towards the top of this little hill where this monument that could be seen from afar is supposed to be.

Finally we arrive at the foot of a flight of steps, and looking up you see the statue with a guy on horseback. Everything perfectly silent.. there's not a living soul I tell myself... I climb the steps and... talk about there being no one. A group of soldiers, complete with a band (they were taking a break, that's why so much silence) are rehearsing for some event. Quietly.. we pass by all these people and head to the balcony where the statue is and where there are already two other people observing the rehearsal. The statue is the equestrian statue of a certain Jan Zizka, while this construction is the Vitkov National Mausoleum (it isn't open to the public). For the record, this area was the scene of the historic victory of the Hussites over the Catholic army sent by Emperor Sigismund (what a name!!).

In practice on 14 July 1420 on this hill (called Vitkov) the Hussite forces, although numerically much inferior to the Catholic ones, led by this guy, Jan Zizka, defeated the Catholic army. The mausoleum instead is the symbol of the struggle for independence of the Czechoslovak people. After watching the rehearsal for a while we took a walk around the mausoleum to discover that from the other side a nice road leads up to it.

Having left this little hill, we consult the map to see which direction to take to reach Stramovka Park for lunch; we pass in front of the National Technical Museum, the Trade Fair Palace. We've really decided to put our shoe soles to the test... then with all this up and down who knows, maybe it's even good for the waistline. Stramovka Park is a nice wooded park (according to the guide this is also the meaning of the name), which is why it's not suitable for our lunch because we wanted a nice bench in the sun with a view of the city. No big deal, we return to the now beloved Letnà Park. Today there are few people strolling, someone with a dog and a few grandmothers with a pram.

Having consulted the guide I remember that I still haven't seen the royal gardens... no big deal... after lunch we set off. It's only the third time we've passed in front of the castle but... We couldn't visit the royal gardens because they're not open yet, they open in a few days. Never mind.. if we'd known beforehand we'd have avoided the whole walk here, but we arrived just in time to witness a changing of the guard. The guide said they take place at midday, but it's 2 pm... it's also true that it referred to the main entrance, here we're at a secondary one, maybe the time isn't the same. So the two guards, one of them in an advanced state of freezing, are replaced by two other strapping young men proud (I say) to freeze for their country.

Lastly, the Jewish quarter; so far we've only ever passed through it but never lingered long enough to see the Synagogue, the Jewish cemetery and the museum. And we won't linger this time either because there's half an hour until closing time and even if we wanted to we wouldn't have time to see everything. So we make a quick choice and take just a peek at the Jewish cemetery, which feels a bit ghostly with all those stone tombstones not exactly perfectly aligned, and at the façades of the synagogues.

Finally we return to Staromestske Square; the monuments may be closing but the afternoon isn't over yet. There are the stalls like at Christmas markets, all in wood, all perfectly aligned, with their objects and their crafts. At one of these I also buy the Prague Easter eggs. Next week is Easter so they're not even that out of place. At another stall instead I buy a strange little sweet, whose name I don't remember, that looks like a bracelet. A sort of biscuit, not bad at all. Yesterday or the day before instead we bought a huge round wafer. They place it on a griddle, sprinkle some crushed hazelnuts on top, close it with another disc of wafer, press the griddle and out comes a very light but very exquisite little treat.

On the square there's also a kind of podium that people climb onto to see the square a bit from above. It's pleasant to watch the comings and goings of people moving about the square. Alternatively you could go visit the astronomical clock tower from which you enjoy a beautiful view of the square and the city.

And so dinner time approaches; just to avoid getting ripped off, for dinner we return to our usual restaurant which, besides not being bad, has the advantage of being right around the corner from our guesthouse and given that today we've really walked a lot... This evening there's no okey match so the place is rather empty. We finish dinner with a dessert and then go back to the room to get our things ready.

Accommodation: Pizzeria "La Ventola" - Soukenicka 7 - Praha 1- Cost 470 crowns