The magical mystery tourist bus; or how to get to places when the funicular track is being renovated.

Wednesda

View from Petrin Hill, funicular track in foreground, River Vltara & Charles Bridge (centre)

Woke up to a chilly morning, 1 degree. Down for breakfast then out to get Hop On Hop Off Bus tickets as an alternative to get close to the Petrin Tower, due to the funicular being closed until June/July due to maintenance. Got on the Green Route bus at the Dancing House then alighted at Central Station to wait for and board the Red Route bus, which would take us up Petrin Hill so we could get closer to the Tower. We hopped off at the Strahov Monestery and followed a couple uphill for a few hundred metres, then spotted the Tower behind a castle wall.

The Petrin Tower is an interesting structure & one of the most prominent landmarks of Prague. Built as part of the Jubilee Exhibition in 1891,it's a loose copy inspired by the Eiffel Tower (at a ratio of 1:5). It is 58.70 metres high, with 299 steps leading to its peak, which is at the same altitude as the real Eiffel Tower. And therein lies the interesting bit. The Tower is 58.7 metres high and the hill it sits on makes the tower the same overall height as the Eiffel Tower, so you can see this tip of a tower from afar but it's not until you get to it do you realise that it's only 58ish metres, not huge.

Nonetheless, I bought the ticket and took the ride up in the 5 person elevator, reached the top and perused the vista of Prague. It is a really big city stretching in all directions; in one direction an untold amount of apartment (I assume) towers, views over the inner city and river, 2 stadiums on the hill, one old and the other newer. And it's a great day to be up there.

Mandy stayed at ground level with a coffee while I enjoyed the view, the slight swaying of the tower and taking the below photos.

Kind of a panorama from the Petrin Tower

I headed back down, after chatting with the elevator driver about Austria and Australia, then collected Mandy and we headed off down a track that traversed the hillside until we were, finally, at ground level in Lesser Town. We came across a Trdelnik kiosk with a lady looking a bit quiet. Trdelník (also known as trdlo or trozkol) is a popular sweet pastry from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, made from yeast-based dough. The dough is rolled into a strip, wrapped around a cylindrical cooking roll or stick, coated in sugar, and baked over charcoal, a gas flame, or in a specialized electric grill or oven. Once baked, Trdelník has a crisp, caramelized exterior and a soft, fluffy interior—similar to the Hungarian Kürtőskalács, also known as chimney cake. In fact, you can get them in Crows Nest (next to where we live at home) at a pastry shop that does amazing treats that people call in and collect as desert for their night out.

Trdelník with various outside coating, cinnamon, sugar, & other diabetes inflicting goodies.

We decided to give her some trade and ordered a small one with pistachio drizzled on the inside. Onwards, towards the river, where we walked passed a Rolls Royce Spectre, currently 2024 model price 9,569,820 CZK, 382,793 Euro (for a second hand one), conveniently parked blocking traffic, because it could. Incredible car, just had to take a photo.

Crossing the Most Legii (Legii Bridge) we walked along the river to our hotel.

I was waiting until 4:45pm so I could walk 150m to the New Town Hall to do the Paternoster Tour, for the opportunity to ride in the first paternoster lift in Prague. Advertised on the Prague website as 'One of the phenomena illustrating Prague's technological sophistication during the last days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is the paternoster lift in the New Town Hall' I wanted to check this out and ride it. I've never seen one before and was itching to get onto/into it. One giant step for man.

The Paternoster lift that wasn't at the New Town Hall

Off I headed only to find that renovations were being done and the entry had temporarily moved, I found the ingress and walked up 2 flights of stairs only to be told that it wasn't there but opposite the Charles Bridge at the Clementinum, the National Library. To say I was annoyed would be a fallacy. Oh well!! $11 wasted.

Back to the hotel and grabbed Mandy, walked around the corner to have dinner at a traditional Czech restaurant, U Sedleru, where the waitresses spoke very little English but we spoke even less Czech, so everything was balanced as best as it could be.

We both ordered drink and Mandy's wine was 100% on the river boat chardy from the other nights experience (or lack there of). We both ordered Pork Schnitzels 'XL', which they were, and managed to devour about a 1/3 each. Finished with a beautiful caramel creme sandwiched in a large profiterole, delicious!

The caramel creme sandwich & a 1800's photo of the park across the road and the New Town Hall

We watched the 3 guys beside us tuck into a 1Kg Crispy (though crispy doesn't apply) Roasted Pork Knuckle (each) served with Sauerkraut, Apple Horseradish and Mustard. Lovely blokes, one looked as though he could eat 2 of them with a huge smile on his face. We said our good-byes, left a tip, that nearly bought tears to the girls, and made our way back to the hotel for some sleep.

Wednesday 18 March

Up and at 'em, washing to the laundromat then breakfast. Mandy wasn't 100% so an hour or so on charge & we were off to the Dancing House & the HOHO Bus stop, on our way to the Prague Castle. It's more like a city than a castle. It serves as the official residence and workplace of the president of the Czech Republic & was most likely founded in around 880 by Prince Bořivoj of the Premyslid Dynasty (Přemyslovci).

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Prague Castle is the largest coherent castle complex in the world, with an area of almost 70,000 m². A UNESCO World Heritage site, it consists of a large-scale composition of palaces and ecclesiastical buildings of various architectural styles, from the remains of Romanesque-style buildings from the 10th century through Gothic modifications of the 14th century.

There are also amazing gardens including the Royal, The South, Hartig, Garden on the Bastion and a plethora of others covering the 7 hectare site.

Hopped off the bus at the Castle entrance and made our way through the gardens meandering along until we found the entry to the main church area & the forum outside. Thousand of our closest friends must have had the same idea as us, so we ducked into a cafe for a quick cuppa, while letting the people, school groups and associated jetsam go into the main church, St. Vitus Cathedral, the largest and the most important temple in Prague. Hit the link to learn more.

As we walk around the church we enter another forum, complete with cafe and also a Starbucks, we note; subtle sign on a centuries old facade (couldn't just taking a photo). We keep strolling for another hour or so before realising that we are castled-out & make out way back to the bus stop. The bus led us passed the incredible Strahov Stadium. The stadium was opened in 1926 on the occasion of VIII. Sokol meeting and its capacity is an incredible 280 thousand people!!!

Strahov Stadium|Photo: Vít Pohanka, Radio Prague International

The Spartakiads (The Spartakiads, or Spartakiades in Czechoslovakia (Czech and Slovak: Spartakiáda) were mass gymnastics events, designed to celebrate the Red Army's liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945. The name refers to the 1921 Prague Spartakiad organised by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia) were held here before the stadium was used for concerts. For example, the famous Rolling Stones concert in 1990 was attended by 100,000 people, five years later, 127,000. 115,000 fans came to see Pink Floyd in 1994. Currently, the stadium is rented by football team AC Sparta Praha for training purposes until 2030.

The bus winds its way down the hill, though areas filled with beautiful houses, which the communists look over, and made our way back to the Dancing House to wander to out hotel.

We're a bit tired now so that will be all from Prague, so until Vienna on Saturday we'll say goodbye. Oh, and we're going back to our favourite Tapas place tonight so I might slip in some pics later tonight.