The Ham Nomads

28 Jul 2015. <CZ> Prague —

Today we took the tram into Prague, to the Staroměstská tram stop (a short walking distance from Staroměstské naměsti (the Old Town Square). Instead of going there, however, we went towards the Charles Bridge (Karlův most). Here we went into the Charles Bridge Museum shop, which doubles as a tourist information office, to get a good map of the old part of the city. While there, we had our morning coffee in its little Baroque café, and we were tempted into getting tickets for a 45-minute cruise in a historical boat through 'Prague Venice and water underground of Old Prague'. This cruise was a delight, with our captain supplementing the recorded English commentary with a Czech one for the few Czech passengers, and a lot of personal commentary about the history of Prague — he was rather philosophical about the numerous invasions by stronger regimes from neighbouring areas — but today Prague and the Czech Republic are finally in charge of their own destiny! He gave us great detail about the Vltava flood of 2002, where the water level reached about 10 metres above where we were sitting in our little boat!

Charles Bridge is well defended
against debris coming downstream!

After the cruise, we went into the Museum — the ticket was included with the tour — and found a fascinating display on the history of the Charles Bridge itself. There used to be another bridge across the Vltava, the Judith Bridge, but it was swept away in a flood in 1342, leaving only one span standing. This span was incorporated into the Charles Bridge, and we saw it from the boat on our cruise. There is a Franciscan Church by the museum, and in the museum (which runs under the church) the old Baroque church has been recreated. The whole place is associated with the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star, a Bohemian Military-Religious order dating back to the eleventh century, mainly offering medical care. Their symbol is on the church, and set into the pavement outside.

 
Baroque grotto church in the basement of the St Francis of Assisi Church

The Charles Bridge today is a purely pedestrian bridge, swarming with tourists. There are 30 statues along its sides, mostly Baroque -- although today virtually all of them are reproductions of the originals, which have been moved to the safety of museums. There is only one bronze statue, that of Bohemia's favourite saint, Johann Nepomuk (Jan Nepomucký), easily recognised from a distance by the five-star halo encircling his head. Having been cast from this bridge to drown in 1393, he now lives on in bronze! We enjoyed walking the bridge, listening to the buskers, watching the portrait artists and exploring the little stalls all along its length.

Statue of Charles IV at the eastern end of Charles Bridge

The statue of St John of Nepomuk on the Charles Bridge

The hands of the faithful have polished the bronze!

Copies of the same plaques in the Prague Bridge Museum.

Then we walked up Mostecka Street (where most of the buildings were built in the 14th century) up to St Nicholas Church (Malá Strana). ('Malá Strana' just means 'Little Quarter'.) This is one of the most over-the-top Baroque churches you could ever hope to see. We remembered it from the last time we were here, but were still blown away by its magnificence when we went inside! The Baroque organs inside were apparently played by Mozart in 1787, and his Mass in C was first performed here shortly after his visit!

We then went up Nerudova to the Golden Star Restaurant, where we paused for a late lunch. Then onwards, up Ke Hrada to the Castle, only to find that, if we wanted to use the audioguides (which take about 3 hours), we had only 90 minutes before we would have had to return them, at 5pm — so we decided to put off the Castle until tomorrow.

The front of the castle is under wraps,
with huge renovation works under way.

Marionettes are big in Prague

The National Theatre seen from Charles Bridge

Plan B — retrace our steps to the Staroměstská tram stop, and then walk up to Staroměstské naměsti. Good plan — the square was humming, with buskers, other street entertainers, food stalls, people getting on with enjoying themselves. It was nearing 5pm, when there was to be a concert in St Nicholas Church (another St Nicholas Church) on the square, with organist Michael Hanzal and a mezzo soprano from the National Theatre, Yvona Škvárová. The program included Bach, Händel (Caro mio ben, from Xerxes), Dvorák (Biblical songs) and Mendelssohn (two arias from Elias). We went in, and enjoyed an hour of wonderful music. They were performing from the organ loft, at the back of the church, and virtually out of sight — it's rather strange sitting facing away from the performers, but the acoustics were magnificent, and seemed to focus the sound near the altar in front of us. Eerie!

Musically sated, we made our way back to the Riverside Camping for the night.

Distance driven — today, nil; to date, 24,619 miles ( 39,621 km )