After Nuremberg, Germany the next stop on our Christmas market tour was Prague, Czech Republic. To better explore this historic and expansive national capital we stayed two nights. Even so, when we left on Wednesday December 7th, it still felt like we had only scratched the surface of all Prague had to offer.
On Monday morning we checked out of our Nuremberg hotel and then walked to the main train station, arriving with plenty of time to spare before our 9:10 a.m. bus. During the planning of the trip I found it was actually cheaper for us to book each transportation leg ahead of time, than it would be for us to either rent a car, or to buy one of the popular rail passes that allow unlimited travel during a set number of days. The only catch with our plan was that on our travel days we had specific trains or buses we had to ride. Luckily we never missed a bus or train throughout the whole trip, and the only close call we had was catching our bus in Nuremberg.
While our mother’s sat at a cafe in the train station, Melissa and I walked to the bus terminal two blocks away, just to make sure it would be easy to find. It looked like everything was going to go smoothly, so we returned to the cafe and then guided our mothers to the bus terminal. However, when we all four arrived, we couldn’t find our bus. We checked the departure signs and to our distress didn’t see our bus listed anywhere.
Luckily English is the second language of nearly everyone in Europe, so we were able to ask two different official looking people if they knew where our bus was. It turned out the bus terminal we were at was only for private bus companies. Our bus was operated through the German state railroad company, and picked up its passengers in front of the train station—very near to the cafe our mothers had waited at. Having only a few minutes before it was scheduled to depart, we frantically rushed back to the train station as quickly as we could while hauling all our luggage. Luckily our bus was running late. We saw the crowd of other passengers waiting from across the street, and arrived just as the bus pulled up.
After the excitement of catching our bus was over with, we were happy to settle into our back row bus seats to enjoy the three and a half hour ride to Prague. It was a cold and foggy day, so our views of the German and Czech countryside weren’t far and wide, but what we did see was still pretty. A light snow covered the ground, and most of the trees we passed were also white with the frozen frost. Germany seemed to be more forested than the Czech Republic. As we passed through the rolling, snow-covered, farm fields of the Czech Republic the fog dissipated enough that we often saw groups of brown colored deer off in the distance sticking out against the white background.
Around 1 p.m. we pulled into Prague. My mother exchanged some Euros for the local, Koruna, currency, then we were off to pick up the keys to the apartment we had booked for our stay. We argued a little about taking a taxi the approximate 1 km to the apartment office, but walking won out. As we slowly made our way over the bumpy, cobblestone streets of old town Prague Janell’s suitcase could barely roll, and we started to regret our transport decision. When we eventually made it to the office we all agreed not to walk such a far distance through Prague with our luggage ever again.
At the office a man from the apartment company gave us the keys, and also gave us some sightseeing and restaurant recommendations. We then rode public transit to within a couple blocks of the apartment. As we began walking I had a paper map in my hand showing the apartments location and its street view, but somehow we still managed to walk right past the entrance. Eventually Melissa thought to use her phone’s GPS, which easily led us to the door. When we arrived I immediately figured out how we had missed it the first time. My print out of Google street view showed an old store front that was no longer at the apartment’s ground level.
Our spacious fourth floor apartment had two bedrooms, and a bed set up in the living room. The location was right in the heart of old town Prague, just a couple blocks away from Old Town Square. Since we had a kitchen, after getting settled in it was time for grocery shopping. Julie, Janell, and Melissa went off to a nearby shopping center, and were surprised to see quite a few costumed people along the way. Our first day in Prague just so happened to be St. Nicholas Day. On this day the Czech tradition is that good children are visited by St. Nicholas and an angel, while bad children are visited by the devil. As part of the fun many people dress up and act out their characters. More information on St. Nicholas in Prague.
After they returned we waited until about 7 p.m. then we left for a restaurant recommended by the rental company. We each ordered a different local dish to share, and some local Czech beers. Interestingly we found out the Czech style goulash doesn’t have vegetables. It was just beef and thick gravy served with a side of bread dumplings. When we were ready to go the bill at first surprised us when we saw 2000 Koruna. Then we remembered the exchange rate and felt better. 2000 Koruna is just under $80.
Before calling it a night we took a short walk to Prague’s main Christmas market in the Old Town Square. Once there I was first struck by all the beautiful buildings surrounding the square, including the Old Town Hall, and Church of Our Lady before Tyn which both featured the unique architectural style of adding extra spires onto their towers. At the market we saw many more people dressed up for St. Nicholas Day, a giant Christmas tree with its lights synchronized to music, and lots of stalls selling their Christmas wares. However, we didn’t see any gluhwein mugs, all the drinks were served in disposable paper cups. This was a disappointment to both Melissa and Janell who were keeping mugs as souvenirs from each market.
When we were satisfied with our meanderings through the Christmas market aisles, we returned to our apartment to rest up for our next day of sightseeing in Prague…
Our plan for Tuesday December 6th was to see it all in Prague. To cram as much as possible into our short time we had booked spots on a six hour walking tour called the ultimate tour. At 10:30 a.m. we met our tour guide, Nina, in Wenceslas Square as well as a Canadian couple, who were the only other people on our tour. The day was cold enough that my fingers would get numb shortly after removing my gloves to take pictures, but that only meant that the weather was like a spring day in Minnesota.
As we walked along Nina informed us about the sights we passed and often inserted jokes with a dry sense of humor. The theme of Prague’s history that stuck with me the most was how brutal it all was. At Wenceslas square Nina told us about St. Wenceslas, the patron Saint of the Czechs, who was murdered by his brother, as well as about Jan Palach who set himself on fire in the square to protest Soviet Union occupation.
Our tour then took us to the Old Town Square where Nina told us about the world’s oldest still operating astronomical clock. In addition to telling the hour the clock also tracks the sun, the moon, and the zodiac, as well as having figures around the clock that move on the hour. Legendarily the town council blinded the clock maker after it was finished in 1410 A.D. so that he wouldn’t be able to make another one, but before they did this he was able to disable the clock in such a way that it took 100 years to repair.
We then walked through the square, and made sure to tip toe around 27 crosses marked with white stones in the cobblestone street. Nina said it was bad luck to step on one of the crosses, placed to mark the execution site of noblemen during the thirty years’ war. We stopped for photos of the two famous churches in the square, the Gothic Our Lady before Tyn, and the Baroque Church of St. Nicholas, then our tour took us to the Jewish quarter of Prague.
Very few Jews remained in Prague after World War II, and many of the historical buildings were demolished and replaced in the 20th century, but it was still interesting to see the Town Hall, the Synagogue, and to learn about the Old Jewish Cemetery where Nina said up to 100,000 bodies have been buried over the centuries stacked on top of each other.
The next stop on our tour was an approximately one hour boat cruise along the Vltava river. It was nice to be in the warm deck of the boat, and to be seated while we passed by all the historical sights. The most interesting sight to me was a giant, functioning Metronome placed on a hill overlooking the river. The Metronome symbolizes the passage of time, and is on the former sight of a giant monument to Stalin which Czechoslovakia had destroyed in the 1960’s. The tragic story of the sculptor of the Stalin monument was that he was so ashamed of it he donated all his payment to a school for the blind, and killed himself before it was unveiled.
After the boat ride our tour took us to a traditional Czech restaurant where I ordered goulash, Janell ordered a pork dish, and my Mom and Melissa both ordered a breaded and fried cheese dish native to the Czech Republic. We had a nice conversation with the two Canadians sharing the tour with us, then before we knew it, it was time to start walking again.
The next stop on our tour was the famous Charles Bridge. This bridge spanning the Vltava river is the oldest bridge in Prague. According to superstition the bridges long life is attributed to its construction beginning at 5:31 a.m. on July 9th 1357 A.D. This date when written year, day, month, time, forms 1357 9 7 531, a numerical bridge said to give the actual bridge added strength. Along the pedestrian only bridge are 30 evenly spaced large statues of saints and other religious figures, eerily colored black with age. The statues were originally added around 1700 A.D., and periodically replicas have replaced all the origninals. Even though the statues look a little creepy to me they’re not as bad as the middle ages when Nina said the bridge was decorated with the decapitated heads of executed people.
Once across the bride we saw a different Baroque church also named St. Nicholas’ Church. Interestingly the tower of this church was used during the cold war for Czechoslovakia to spy on the comings and goings from the American, Yugoslav, and West German Embassies. From the church we rode a tram up to Prague castle, the largest ancient castle complex in the world.
At the castle entrance we found a long line. This unfortunately held us up just long enough that we missed the opening hours of St. Vitus Cathedral on the castle grounds. However, we were still able to walk around all the castle grounds, and see the cathedral from the outside. The castle complex has a long history dating back to the 9th century. It grew in step with the growth of both the city of Prague and the kingdom of Bohemia. Currently there is no royalty in the Czech Republic, so the castle is instead home to the country’s president.
Around 4:30 p.m. our tour was coming to an end, and the sun was setting. Our last stop was checking out the commanding view of Prague from the castle wall, then we said goodbye to both Nina, and the Canadians. We took trams back to our apartment, where we stayed for a little while trying to warm up. At night we walked again to the Christmas market in Old Town square. There we enjoyed some food, but didn’t stay too late because our next day was another travel day with the final destination of Vienna…
