Wofford Travels – 2018-10-15 – Prague, Czech Republic
Day 2 – Prague
After a few day’s rest, I’m up and at it again…making up the days I didn’t post. So, we’re now on our second day in Prague. We had a wonderful breakfast at St. George, starting the day at 7:30. Similar to our previous hotels in Eastern Europe, we got a full-fair meal. So, what did we have?
I’m just going to walk around the room and list the items. I can do this from memory because I see the whole room laid out: we start with a big basket of several breads; next are two jars with pears and plums, then move over to three very large bowls of yogurt, a plain, a strawberry, and another fruit…like a peach; then the muesli, a regular and a chocolate (which you eat with the yogurt mixed in rather than milk, actually, quite tasty…so much that I got addicted to it); then you move over to three juices (all with motorized stirrers to keep them fresh tasting), water, coffee, and tea; next milk, butter, and honey; and then we had a plate with a liver pâté and a hard cheese that you cut yourself; some cherry tomatoes, next four pastries and above them, four jellies and some other fruit compotes; apples (other fruits on other days…we had watermelon one day); then you move over to the hot bar where you get scrambled eggs and poached eggs, at least three different sausages, and pancakes. These folks know how to do breakfast. You certainly get your calories for trekking around town!
Our first activity (although eating seems like one, doesn’t it?) was our usual walk to Pavlova (the metro and tram stop to our hotel), and caught tram 22, riding to the end. Then we got off and started our Old Town walking tour. We had planned to use the audio guide, but I didn’t have it downloaded on my phone, so we had to read it from the tour book.
Prague was spared the devastating aerial bombing from World War II that leveled so many European cities (like Berlin, Warsaw, and Budapest). Few places can match the Old Town Square for Old World charm.
We began at the Memorial to Jan Hus, the religious reformer who had become a symbol of Czech Nationalism. Born in 1639, Hus was a Prague priest who stood up to both the Catholic Church and the the Austrian Habsburg oppressors. But, Hus was a century ahead of his time. He was arrested, charged with heresy, excommunicated, and in 1415 burned at the stake. His followers picked up the torch and fought on for two decades in the Hussite Wars, which killed tens of thousands and left Bohemia a virtual wasteland. Before Hus was the Golden Age of great kings (1200-1400). After him came centuries of foreign domination until the rebirth of the Czech nation.
Next, we see the green domes of the Baroque Church of St. Nicholas. It was originally Catholic but is now Hussite. It is a popular venue for concerts. Behind the Hus Memorial is a yellow building which introduces us to Prague’s world of Art Neauveau. Next is the large red-and-tan Kinsky Palace which displays the National Gallery’s Asian arts collection. Farther down is the towering Gothic Tyn Church (pronounced “teen”) with it’s unique twin spires. It’s been the Old Town’s leading church in every era…being Hussite at one time and then returning to Catholicism by the Habsburgs. A row of pastel houses in front of the Tyne Church has a mixture of Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque façades.
As you walk you continue to see a variety of façades, each a different color with a different gable on top – step gables, triangular, bell- shaped. A tan house has a steepled bay window with a mural of St. Wenceslas on horseback. As you keep going you reach the Neo-Gothic 250-foot-tall spire of the 14th century Old Town Hall. At the base of the building, with its trapezoidal tower, are 27 white crosses inlaid in the pavement which mark the spot where 27 Protestant nobles, merchants, and intellectuals were beheaded in 1621 after the battle of White Mountain, marking one of the grimmest chapters in the country’s history.
A big tourist attraction is the famous Astronomical Clock. It is part of the Old Town Hall, which was built in the 1350’s. Of the two giant dials on the tower, the top one tells the time. It has a complex series of revolving wheels within wheels. The two big outer dials tell the time in a 24-hour circle. The inner dial is stationary and marked with Roman numerals I-XII twice. The outer dial lists the numbers 1-24, but is offset due to the Medieval method of telling time…where the day resets at sunset, so the 1 is at the lower right quadrant of the Roman dial. The second dial, below the clock, was added in the 19th century. It shows signs of the zodiac, scenes from the seasons of a rural peasant’s life, and a ring of Saints’ names…one for each day of the year and a marker to show the day’s saint. It would take a full page to explain how all this works. Suffice it to say that it must have been a marvel in the early 1400’s when the clock was installed, considering that the sun was supposed to revolve around the earth and Prague was its center.
We stopped by the Ungelt, a pleasant, cobbled and quiet courtyard of upscale restaurants and shops which is one of Old Town’s oldest places. During the Bohemian Golden Age (1200-1400) it was a multicultural hub of international trade. Prague – located at the geographical center of Europe – attracted Germans selling furs, Italians selling fine art, Frenchmen selling cloth, and Arabs selling spices. They stored their goods and paid their customs (which is what Ungelt means in German). In return the king provided protection, housing, and a stable for their horses.
Next was the Church of King James, considered to have the most beautiful church interior of Old Town. However, when we got there, it was closed, and we weren’t going to be able to come back to it. We passed by Celetná Street, a 10th century corridor in the busy commercial quarter. You are surrounded by façades that are Neoclassical with pastel colors, arches over doorways, pediments over windows, scrollwork and garlands. It’s no wonder that when movie-makers want to film a movie set in frilly Baroque times they choose Prague (i.e., the movie about Mozart, Amadeus).
Next was the main gate and 500-year old Powder Tower, named so because it housed the city’s gun powder. It is the only surviving bit of the wall that was built to defend the city in the 1400s.
We stopped the walking tour at the Municipal House (as we ran out of time) which celebrated its centennial in 2011, and is considered the “pearl of Czech Art Nouveau.” Artistic architects used the same technological advances that went into making those huge erector-set rigid buildings to create quite the opposite effect: curvy, organically flowing lines, inspired by vines and curvy women. It’s interior has probably Europe’s finest Art Nouveau decor. In 1918, the nation of Czechoslovakia was formed, and the independence was announced on the balcony of this building. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to see the interior.
But, it WAS time to see the Mucha Museum, a quintessential view of Art Nouveau drawing and painting. Alfons Mucha (1860-1939) was an enormously talented Czech artist who wowed the art world as he developed the emerging style of Art Nouveau. Mucha’s theater posters, which graced the streets of Paris at the turn of the century, earned him international fame. He could have done anything, but chose to return to his home country and use his talent to celebrate Czech culture. He created his masterpiece the Slav Epic, a series of huge paintings depicting epic events in the lives of the Slavs. We stayed at the museum for 1 1/2 hours which included a 30-minute video.
After a long day of touring, we planted ourselves at La Gare Schwartzwald, a wonderful French restaurant with impeccable service. We ordered starters of marinated duck foie gras, elderberry liqueur, elderflower, and grilled fruit bread. Then we had zucchini salad with asparagus herbs shallots, and cream cheese. The main course for Tom was roasted calamari with paprika aioli, pressed potato salad, piment d’Espelette and spring onion. I had Corsican ragout, with mussels, prawns, and fish, on white wine with tomatoes and parsley. For desert we shared a pastry that was a combination of a chocolate cake base, with gelled fruit compote, and topped with chocolate and cream. A veritable feast, to say the least!
Then, it was the tram back to our hotel and lights out.
Tita