What to see in Prague

Our hotel was well out of the city centre. There really wasn't anything to see around there.

But, thanks to the wonders of the Metro system, it took us 20 minutes to get from our hotel to the city centre.

To travel on the Metro you need a pass. You can buy one of these little slips of paper in many places, including at the hotel reception desk, and they are valid for various periods of time - the cheapest ones, I think, give you an hour and a half. You validate the ticket (put a time stamp on it) in a yellow machine as you enter the metro station or as you climb aboard a tram or bus.


You can also get a pass for a number of days - we had one for our whole five days, which made travelling around the city brilliantly easy. Theoretically there are inspectors on all the transport and you can expect to see one about once a week (with reasonable penalties for being caught without a valid pass) but we never saw one.


Entering the metro station was an exciting experience for us country bumpkins. As you walk past the validation machines the ground slopes downwards and then your feet are sliding onto the fastest, longest, steepest escalator you could imagine. (It reminded me of something I saw in a TV series we see here in Istanbul called "Surface"where there is a railway heading down into the centre of the earth ... ) The other weird thing about it is when you look at the other passengers on the escalator, it looks for all the world like they are all leaning right over - those going down are leaning back and those going up are leaning forward. You had to be there ...

There are three metro lines, 'A' (red), 'B'(yellow), and 'C' (green). We travelled into town on the yellow line from Ceskamoravska to Mustek, where the yellow and green cross. Mustek station is huge - all underground, with shops and everything - and there are walking tunnels connecting the two lines and the numerous exits up to the bright streets. No matter how many times we practised, we never seemed to emerge at the same place twice.

Wenceslas Square

All of the exits come out somewhere near Wenceslas Square. From there it's easy to get to all the city sights. Nothing is very far away, but there is so much to see that I just about walked my little legs off in our five days there.

I don't know what it's normally like, but at this time the square is full of bright little Easter stalls. Quite a few of them displayed this interesting Roly-Poly sign.

The first time we went there is was right on hungry time, and Max took us straight to one of these. They were wrapping some kind of light dough around a cylinder, sprinkling it with cinnamon and other spices, and then cooking it over a kind of fire.



Then they would peel it off and hand it to you in a piece of tissue. Delicious!

Most of the stalls were selling various Prague souvenirs and Eastery items. But there was also a blacksmith at work in the centre of things. This brawny beast was allowing young skinny chaps to have a bit of a go with his anvil and hammer.

The Old Town Square

From Wenceslas Square it's not far down the narrow cobbled streets to the Old Town Square - and we just had to follow the crowds of tourists to know which way to go.



All those people that we didn't see at Ceskamoravska - this is where we were. I'm not sure if there are always lots of tourists here, or if this is an Easter phenomenon. There were individuals, and families, and tour groups with their leader holding a (closed) umbrella above their heads. Along the road are endless shops full of souvenirs, gifts, jewellery, crystal and some restaurants.

In the town square everyone stops and stares up at the Astrological Clock. Ahhh!



Someone has told people that something happens every hour on the hour - it must be in all the guide books, because huge crowds gather, cameras ready. There's a little skeleton to the right of the clock - he rings his little bell - and the two windows above the clock open and some characters go past inside the windows ... they don't even come out like the clock in Perth!

Then everyone sighs and walks away.

Climb Every Tower

We soon found that all the towers are there to be climbed, if you can just find the door and pay the fee. We went up the clock tower - chose to climb rather than take the lift - and the views were magnificent.


We took dozens of photos, of course. This one is looking back to the little street we walked down from Wenceslas Square.

Every direction ... how do I choose which view to include?