Moje návštěva Prahy

Once I had woken up and got ready for the day, I decided to head into the city centre and get the City Sightseeing bus. This is not an easy bus stop to find. Not. At. All. I had to ask a policeman for help and it still wasn’t clear. You have to go into the station and up a level and out the other side to get to the other side of the main road to pick up the bus.

I got there and found there was a 45 minute wait for the bus. I looked on the website to try to figure where and when I needed to be to pick up the bus, but the website is so rubbish.

The service is so rubbish too. They have 2 lines and they only run every 45 minutes. There are only 4 services on the blue line and about 6 on the red line no matter the time of year. I would suggest you find a much better company for your tour of Prague!

The bus finally arrived and I did a once round loop so I could scout where I wanted to go. I managed to do both lines that day. The commentary is only on the red line and it is a terrible 2 person commentary. Truly awful.

The places we stopped were:

1. Old Town Square
2. Masarykovo Nadrazi
3. Malá Strana
4. Prague Castle
5. Strahov Monastery
6. Strahov Stadium
7. Kampa Island
8. Hlavní Nádraží

I got off the sightseeing bus in Staroměstské náměstí and had a bit of a wander around.

I then jumped on the tram and decided to explore the city myself. I went out to the suburbs and I was good to see what the real Prague looked like and how the locals lived. It was very evident that this was a former communist country from the architecture in the suburbs.

I went back to the Old Town Square to a concert at St Nicholas’ Church. It was much like the one we visited in Vienna – an amateur group. It was a wind quintet. A nice break from sightseeing.

I stayed out until about 21:00 and headed back to the hostel.

Here are some pictures from my first day

Once I was ready, I hopped on the tram to the city centre to pick up the sightseeing bus again. I got on and knew exactly where I was heading to so it was an easy way for me to get where I wanted to.

I stopped off at Pražský hrad & Katedrála svatého Víta. One of the things I noticed was how much like Cologne Cathedral this was.

I didn’t go right into the castle, but went onto the grounds. I was trying to get a lot in while the weather was nice (it was due to rain later in the day).

After I was done here, I jumped on the tram and went to the end of the tram line to see what was there. The place we stopped was called Bílá Hora (not a mountain in sight though). At the end of the line there was a little church there called Kostel Panny Marie Vítězné. I had a quick look around but couldn’t see that it was open. There was a little monument there that was dedicated to the fallen and the executed of WWII.

I headed back into the centre of town to wander around there. I went and had a wander over Karlův most. They say if you rub the statue of the lady you will come back to Prague. They also say that if you rub the statue of the dog you will also come back to Prague but will get pregnant. I didn’t touch the dog statue so I guess my pregnancy will never be realised! LOL.

I then hopped back on the tram and got off a few stops down and stopped by the Tančící dům – so called as it looks like a dancing couple (Apparently not liked by the locals). There was a building there until it was bombed by the Allies. It was designed by Frank Gehry.

I then walked up the road and stopped by Chrám svatých Cyrila a Metodeje. It was here in 1942 that Czech and Slovak patriots assassinated Reinhard Heydrich. They then took their own lives to avoid capture. There is a plaque where there was a windows where the attackers were cornered. There are original bullet holes surrounding the plaque.

There is a museum in the crypt of the cathedral dedicated to the patriots.

I then headed back to the Old Town Square to pick up the bus to get to the boat. There was about a 45 minute wait for the boat. It was a nice ride down the river admiring the view. I listened to Moldau whilst we were sailing down.

Here is the piece I was listening to

I got off the boat and jumped back on the tram to try to find somewhere to eat. Once I found somewhere, it had started to rain. I sat in KFC for about 45 minutes in the hopes the rain would stop. It hadn’t so I rushed over to the tram stop and got on the tram to head back to the hostel as I was quite tired by this point.

The rain stopped, so I decided to head back towards the castle so I could go to a vantage point to get some pictures of the Prague skyline (not from a bus this time). Once I had got these, I headed back to the hostel to get some sleep.

Here are some pictures from today

This was my final day. I was led to believe that the weather was going to be a bit crappy. I dressed accordingly and decided that I would just surf the trams and see the city whilst sitting down.

Well, I got fooled by the weather yet again. I got the tram a couple of stops down and stopped at Výstaviště Praha Holešovice.

I then got back on the tram and I have no idea what happened. I fell asleep and ended at the other end of the line. I even managed to get a good nights sleep so I was confused even more as to why I was so tired. I put it down to the sun stroke. I got really badly burned the first 2 days.

I spent most of the day on the trams and falling asleep. The rain didn’t really come until much later in the day. Oh well. It was good to sit and do not a lot.

I went back to the hostel and had an early night since I had an early start the next day.

I took some pictures from today