Europe 2019 - Day 30 (Part 4)

5 June 2019, Wednesday

Then we went to Wenceslas Square, the main boulevard and the most famous public space in modern Czech history. Most major events in Prague’s history traces back here. When Czechoslovakia declared independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, it was proclaimed here. The Prague Uprising that drove the Nazis from German-occupied Czechoslovakia, and even the famous self-immolation of Jan Palach, a Czech student protesting the Soviet invasion during the Prague Spring, boiled over right here in Wenceslas Square. But of course - tourists again! (I know I’m one of them). Never a moment of peace! 

Then we walked back to the Prague Castle, but this time we took public transport so we avoided the uphill walk and entered the Prague Castle complex through another entrance. The Prague Castle was used mainly as a royal residence until 1918, when it became the seat of the President of the new democratic republic. In the complex, we saw the White Tower stand out as the most massive of all 4 Romanesque towers, and was originally built as part of the walled fortifications in the Romanesque period of rebuilding Prague Castle in 1135. 

Then, for me, the most beautiful building in the whole of Prague - the St. Vitus Cathedral. It was founded in 1396, and its Great South Tower has 287 steps with a lookout point at the top, at 56 metres high. The Czech Republic’s biggest bell is also found here in this tower. Legend has it that the bell predicted the disastrous flood in Prague in 2002 because on 15 June 2002, during the pealing on the occasion of the feast of St Vitus, the clapper cracked - a sign of upcoming disaster. The floods occurred in August 2002. But of course, we didn’t see the interior of the church (including the bell) because it was already closed when we got there.

We saw part of an original gate dating back to 1333 which was formerly used as a gate penetrating a fortified wall which used to surround the castle. We also saw a portal with the emblem of the kingdom of Bohemia, built sometime in 1629 and has the figures of St Peter, St Paul and the Archangel Michael in the central relief panel. Lastly, we took a stroll along the Golden Lane, a narrow medieval street in the northeastern corner of the complex that was once home to Franz Kafka. 

And then finally, we were done. We did Prague in a day (almost 15 km of walking). What a tiring day! My impression about Prague is that it is highly touristic. Too many tourists everywhere. Good is that most people can speak English and we were well informed about all the famous tourist sites. Bad is that it is crowded everywhere! The public transport is very good, frequent and covers almost all of Prague. But they don’t accept cards everywhere, which is a bit of a bummer because then you need to carry a lot of cash around. 110 Czech Crowns is about RM20. But the things here are not cheap, I bought an ice cream for 50 Czech Crowns which is already about RM10. 

Then back to the hostel area where we went to the same Chinese restaurant nearby (food is tasty and beer is cheap) and very luckily for me, they had chillies! Then back to the hostel to shower and sleep.