Taking A Tour

Today the plan was to check out a tour that was suggested to us yesterday by the gentleman we met from Bristol last night. He had told us that we could get a tour that included 3 land routes as well as a one-hour boat cruse for CZK 500. He said they were all hop on, hop off (except the boat) and I thought I heard him say that you had a 24-hour time period to use it once you started. So after a late breakfast, we headed down to the place he told us about on Wenceslas Square to check it out before heading out for our days walk.

We found the place he told us about easily with his directions, at the back of a money exchange place right next to the Evropa Hotel. As it turned out, the orange Hop On, Hop Off was actually good for a 48 hour period, so rather than doing our planned walk to Letna Park and then on to the castle gardens, we decided to start the tours today and finishing off tomorrow with a boat cruise.

We headed over to where one of the stops was in the downtown area, where two of the tours had stops, the green line running every 15 minutes and the red line, running every hour. We thought it best to take the red line first, as it was the least frequent, went to the furthest places out from the centre of town and also covered areas we would not likely walk to.  While we waited for the red line, two green lines passed through so we new that the frequency they said they had was pretty accurate. Finally, a red bus came and along with 6 other people, we were off.

This bus did not have the headsets for tour to describe where we were going, rather, the guide would give the tour to us in English only. Even though he had a script to follow, he said he would speak candidly as he thought it provided a much better tour throughout. George and I had also decided that since this route only ran hourly, we did not plan to hop off anywhere to wait for another bus. If there was anything we ‘must’ spend more time at, we could visit again tomorrow.

We started off and within about a block, we hit one of the Prague traffic jams that can occur in and around the major tourist centres. We drove past the building where the communist party is head quartered in the Czech Republic. Outside the entrance the pavement is splashed with red paint, representing the blood of people killed by them. Further up the street, was the former headquarters of the Gestapo, now used by the ministry of industry and trade.

We turned the corner past the former Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia, the Prague National Museum (which is the cultural centre of Prague) at the upper end of Wenceslas Square, then down past where we purchased our tickets, then up again to the top of the square. Turning south we passed the Church of St. Ludmila, over 900 years old. Then we crossed the Nuselskÿ most which is the highest bridge in the Czech Republic and also has two subway lines running underneath the road deck. Our next stop, after crossing the bridge, would be Vyšehrad, home of the Congress and Slavin cemetery. It was also one of the points where our guide recommended getting out and exploring if we had the time. As I mentioned, we planned to just go for the ride today and decide later if we wanted to head back this trip or another time. Just a short distance away, just past the main police station for Prague, was the next stop on the tour, the Corinthia Towers, the first ‘skyscraper’ in the Czech Republic. It was overlooking the bridge we just crossed and must certainly have some fantastic views from the rooms (it’s a hotel) atop which overlook the hills and valleys that make up the city. The area in the valley below was once only vineyards, but now completely covered by housing as one of the 50-60 districts that make up the city of Prague.

Heading back towards the downtown area, we passed the main train station, Praha hlavni nádraži, named after Woodrow Wilson which opened in 1871 and had its first run from Prague to Vienna, not a very popular run by any means with only 7 people on the train. Past the Opera house, then continued past one of their famous squares, Námësti Winstona Churchilla, named ater Winston Churchill right near the Viktoria Zizkov stadium on to the Vitkov National Memorial, which has one of the world’s largest equestrian statues. Just a ways beyond this we passed what looked like a big park on a hill, but rather turned out to be a huge underground nuclear shelter. Just beyond that, the tour guide mentioned that the area we were in had the distinction of having 1 pub for every 100 people. Now I think I know where some of that absinthe may be drank.

Onward to the Žižjic TV Tower, the worlds third ugliest building. I had taken pictures of it from across the river, but up close I almost have to agree. Built at the order of the last Communist lead of the then Czechoslovakia, it appears to some people to represent either a finger pointing and saying, ‘be good, because I will be back’ while others say it is ‘giving them the finger’. Either way it is quite ugly. We also noticed that along the sides of the tower were the same 3 'Tower Babies' we discovered in Kampa park on the other side of the river. These were David Černÿ sculptures, that depending who you ask, you will get differing opinions of what they think of them.

We also learned that the Czech Republic has one of the least religious populations on earth despite all the churches here. Close to 80% of the population is agnostic or atheist.  A lot of that was spurred from the mainstream religions killing the high priest of the Brotherhood of the Hussites, calling him a heretic. This turned the people away from religion and most still do not believe in what the other churches have to offer, saying they are still there mainly for the tourists.

Onward we passed the Hilton hotel, one of the most expensive hotels in all of Prague. It is also where many dignitaries have stayed when the come to Prague for meetings, including the former President, George Bush. Snipers were found on every rooftop surrounding it. I’m not sure how they all missed him, but that’s another story. We then moved on past Pragues second train station.

Then it was back to the downtown stop where we would wait to catch a green line bus. The tour guide we had was fantastic throughout the entire tour. He had all the information about each of the stops and places along the way. He would also throw in a few extra bits of curious and funny facts about various places along the way. We chatted a bit after and like most places we have travelled to, they also see and have a different view of Canadians than they have of our neighbours to the south. Each time I hear the talk about the differences, it makes me proud to be a Canadian.

When the green line arrived, the guide inside didn’t even bother to check our tickets, as he somehow remembered us from earlier when he was at the stop while we waited for the red line. Did we really make that big of an impression? We hopped onto the bus where there were 6 guys from Spain and 2 others already aboard. Grabbing our seats we noticed how stifling hot the bus was, not air conditioned like the last one. The guide said that this particular bus had its air condition not working, so we decided we would see how far we could handle it. If it got too hot, we would just get off and wait for the next bus in 15 minutes.

Starting off down the same street we hit the traffic jam on proved to still have the same traffic jam, only worse. Before we got to the end, the Spanish group bailed as they couldn’t take the heat. I also think the wafts of B.O. from the driver didn’t help matters. We stayed on hoping to make it across the river at least before transferring. As the bus moved it did seem to cool a bit and as it turned out, we made it up past the castle and to the point where we walked up the old stair route the other day. We had decided to get off here and buy some more ‘ice water’ to take back with us as we walked to check out some shopping downtown before heading back to the hotel.

I must say that on the green line where we started listening to the tour on the headphones, it was not nearly as interesting as listening to our previous guide. With all the traffic, the timing of each played piece of information never seemed to coincide where we really were. Fortunately for us, since we had walked past most everything earlier, we knew what they were talking about. But the descriptions throughout were again, not nearly as entertaining.

Once we made our way across the river to the downtown area (and having nearly finished the entire 1.5 litre bottle of water myself (George had his own)), we found our way into a store called the New Yorker. I think this is Pragues version of Primark in the UK. The New Yorker is actually a German store and the deals here were great. I ended up buying a couple shirts and a hat for CZK 600 (around $30.00), while George got a couple shirts, jeans and a scarf for CZK 800. We will likely be back here again tomorrow when our hands are not so full of maps, cameras and dripping ice water bottles. It also didn’t help that we were still quite warm from our last bus ride. On the way back to the hotel, we made a quick stop top join the lineup at our new favourite bakery and deli for dessert.

For dinner tonight we had not plans so decided to wander around and see what we found. We checked out a few menus at some restaurants, but they didn’t really appeal to us. We had walked around a bit and George suggested heading down this one street a block and turning towards the main area if we didn’t find anything. It looked like a pretty quiet street, as no umbrellas and tables anywhere along the way. We passed a doorway into a what looked like a book and magazine shop but we cold also see a restaurant further back in the building. Sure enough, there was a menu posted by the entrance and it looked reasonable even though they had a fair wide range of foods in their offering.

We walked inside of what appeared to be a bit of a Bohemian folk style restaurant. A few tables downstairs, some up the stairs, and another section out on the courtyard patio. We took a seat and when our menus were brought over we noticed that the server had a much better command of English that other places we have been to.

We each ordered a Greek Salad, George a fettuccine and me spaghetti and meatballs. The salad came first and it was a huge plateful each. It was delicious. Normally I avoid eating olives, but like one of my favourite Greek restaurants in London, the olives here could not go uneaten. When we were done, the waiter brought out our big bowls of pasta. Fresh and delicious and one hundred times tastier than the previous nights dining experience.

We were noticing that the other patrons coming into the restaurant/bar all spoke English. I wasn’t sure if they were Canadian or American though. The gentleman that appeared to be the proprietor also spoke English. I finally asked our server where the owner was from and he said he was American. In fact, most partrons that ended up coming to the restaurant were American or Canadian. They even had an entertainer playing for a couple hours who set up his system in the corner and he started out with some folk-like music. If anyone comes over here, I highly recommend this restaurant. It is called ‘The Globe Bookstore and Cafe’ and is located at Pštrosova 6.

Thus ended our evening. A short walk home with a stop at the grocer store for some bananas and more water then it was time to call it a night. Tomorrow is the boat cruise and I think we’ll try out the yellow line on the Hop On, Hop Off tour. Until then, hope you had a great day as well.