Tuesday 28 June
On the road by 8am for a long 7 hour drive to Prague. Up until now we've taken the motorways (autobahns) and paid tolls. Being a 4.5 tonne vehicle, we pay quite a bit more then ordinary cars. So we thought we'd try something different and take the back roads to avoid the tolls. Another advantage to doing this is you get to see more of the countryside, including some surprise castles up in the hills and the local villages. The downside is you have to slow down to 50km every time you come to these villages, which generally is about every 2km, making the day very long. We were happy to arrive at the Sunny Camp Prague and even happier to see that the facilities were 100 times better then Bratislava.
The weather prediction for the next 4 days is fine, sunny and generally warm. The currency is the Czech crown of which 1 equates to around 4 cents euro.
Wednesday 29 June
We started the day off slowly, loading photos etc and deciding what we should do first as Prague has so much to offer.
Caught the local underground to the city centre for a general look around and quickly decided we needed to do an organised 2 hour tour just to get our bearings. This took us up to the Prague Castle which is immense and basically surrounded by other immense buildings forming a village unto itself. We'll return tomorrow for a better look and just took a quick peak in the church of St Vitus, wow.
The tour dropped us off at the Old Town square just in time for the Astronomical Clock (also includes a 24 hour clock and signs of the zodiac) to do it's thing at 4pm. The mechanical “dumbshow” sees the apostles shuffle past two windows and other assorted figures moving about. It's “dumb” because there's no accompanying music so to make it less boring a sole trumpeter plays a little tune throughout the performance, perched high above the crowds in the tower which is also opened to the public. Because we had missed the glockenspiel going off in Munich, we really wanted to see this one.
There was not a cloud in the sky all day and the temperature hovered around 25 degrees, so perfect for getting about in summer gear. However because there's no respite from the blazing sun, it really saps your energy by the end of the day.
Onward and upward, we ventured off to find the Charles Bridge (Karluv most) straddling the River Vltava, which for four hundred years was the only link between the two sides of Prague.
In the distance floating on a pontoon on the River, we could see a tank painted pink. This Soviet tank was painted pink in 1991 and symbolises the liberation from Nazi occupation in 1945 and the collapse of the communist regime in 1989 and is on display during this Week of Freedom.
We walked back through the side streets of the old town, where there are courtyards and portals everywhere - some with very surprising displays, like this one which was part of a free modern art exhibition.
There is so much to see in Prague.
Another glorious day with temps slightly less and a light breeze. We headed straight for the Charles Bridge which took us across to Lesser Town and the St Nicholas Church (17th century). The guidebook had recommended this one and it didn't disappoint.
The gold and marble (even if some of it was fake) is everywhere and giant statues peer down from on high, many in the act of killing some devil or other.
Enough dilly, dally, our goal today is the Castle and surrounding buildings. First port of call was St Vitus Cathedral, a 14th century Gothic church not completed until 1929.
The Cathedral is the countries largest and houses the most beautiful stained glass windows made even more beautiful when the sun shines through them. The grandest chapel dedicated to St Vitus was unfortunately closed but contains the remains of Wenceslas, (of Good King fame) the Country's patron saint. The remains of St Jan of Nepomuk (the one thrown off Charles Bridge) repose within an excessively large and gawdy tomb of solid silver, complete with angels flying on high. The Jesuits were apparently backing him as the patron saint.
A visit to the largely unfurnished Old Royal Palace, home to Bohemia's royalty from the 11th to 16th centuries was interesting but no photos allowed unless you first purchase a license!! The Vladislav Hall with rib vaulting forming floral patterns on the ceiling is magnificent, and it was here that early Bohemian kings were elected (also the odd jousting tournament). Since 1918, every president has been sworn into office in this hall.
Apart from a viewing balcony with great views of the city below, the only other room to visit was the Chancellery containing a replica of Wenceslas' crown but his original sceptre. It was in this room that laws were passed in both traditional and untraditional ways – in 1618 two Catholic councillors were thrown out of the window by an angry mob of Protestants over the succession to the throne. Lucky for them they lived to tell the tale by landing in a pile of dung in the moat below.
Throughout Europe, we've seen many statues and fountains of St George killing the dragon. Here, he finally has his own church (10th century). It's a fairly simple affair but does hold a replica of Ludmilla (grandmother of Wenceslas) in eternal repose. Right next door is the Czech art collection including amazingly well preserved furniture and clothing of the 19th century, ceramics, paintings and statues. For our first art gallery on our adventure, we found it to be really interesting and worthwhile.
A visit down the Golden Lane showed how life was for lesser beings in those times. Everything from the bakery, tavern, blacksmith as well as an interesting collection of body armour and weaponry (love the gun/hatchet), and of course the dungeon complete with implements of torture.
The last thing of interest was the Powder Tower displaying the uniforms and a bit of history of the Czech guards who even today guard the President and the grounds of the Castle.
Not having walked enough we took a final stroll in the Castle Gardens which also house the Summer Palace (it's not that far from the other one so who knows why they needed it).
Throughout the day the weather had become more overcast, windy and cold to the point that when we got home we quickly put the heater on in the van. It's so strange how things cool down extremely here as soon as it becomes overcast.
Friday 01 July
Today we celebrate 17 years of being together (not our wedding anniversary, the anniversary of our meeting). It's also the day the public transport fares go up, but only by 10 CZK (around 40 cents euro).
With Bill's mum's 80th birthday being celebrated in Mackay this week-end, we recorded a special message and posted it on YouTube together with some highlight photos of our trip so far. Then we decided to get off the regular tourist trap and visit the eastern suburb of Zizkov. The 100 meter TV tower was built specifically to jam TV transmissions from West Germany. Building commenced in 1970 but only became fully operational in 1990. Locals hate them but we loved the statues of giant babies crawling up the tower and the 360 degree view of Prague from the 8th floor (80+ meters up) is spectacular.
What the communists didn't destroy of a Jewish cemetery serving the community from 1787-1891 is just below the tower. The gates are locked and without any flowers decorating the graves, looks very sad and forgotten.
By the time we reached the Military Museum at the base of Zizkov Hill, it was 45 minutes before closing time. We were told in no uncertain terms that we were “very late” and we and our “rucksacks” (which we had to check into the cloakroom) had to be out the door by 6pm. This was a shame because we could have spent much longer here checking out the exhibits and reading about both Wars. This may be as close to seeing exhibits of World War II as we get, having decided not to visit Krakow, and it's probably enough. Europeans are not backward in displaying real horror images.
The final thing to see at the very top of Zizkov Hill is a massive monument built between the wars of a Czech Legion who fought against the Habsburgs. Unfortunately it was covered in scaffolding but the kind that shows the image being covered up so we got an idea of what it looked like.
The day had once again turned overcast and cool so we called it quits, but it was good to get out of the city centre and see some different sights in the suburbs.
Saturday 02 July
Did a Skype call to Mackay for Bill's mum's 80th birthday then we headed off to what is known as the Bohemian Switzerland to the north near the German border. This is a National Park featuring a valley of sandstone outcrops and dense forests. The drive was pleasant enough through some lovely villages but we should have known to be weary of the campsite called Camp Mosquito but the guidebook raves so much about this nature wonderland we thought we'd give it a go. In some ways it's worse then Bratislava but there is toilet paper if not locks on the toilet doors and the three available showers did have curtains but water pressure a mere trickle. There aren't many sites for campervans but heaps of cabins which seem to contain two double bunks, and amazingly all of them are full. The locals must know something about this place that we don't. There doesn't seem to be enough facilities to cope with the amount of people here, but for our purpose, we'll be using the onboard shower for the second time tonight. People are lighting fires here and there to cook and there is much frivolity about even though it's cold and drizzling. The plan had been to stay here for a couple of nights, go for long nature walks and just chill out in the country, but we'll see what the weather brings tomorrow and decide.
More photos of Prague here.
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