Prague: It's All in the Astonishing Details

Prague is a city to love, and for someone who hates cities, this is an amazing admission.



Everything about Prague . . .



. . . is in the astonishing details . . .



. . . astonishing details everywhere . . .



. . . one astonishing detail after another.



Three days of walking around Prague made me forget the world's problems. I was too awe-struck by this city.



I forgot technology.



I felt comfortably and happily cosmopolitan here.



I'm not sure why Praha (Czech spelling) is spelled Prague (English spelling). I asked two locals (second local verified the first local) how to pronounce Prague and they pronounce it "Pra Ha" and the R is rolled like a French word.



No need for annoying taxi's in the Czech Republic's capital city.



Plenty of quiet electric trams and a fantastic subway system.



We took the subway each day.



Very clean and modern subway, too.

My sister Vicki is fortunately a systematic organizer. From our hotel, we'd start our morning at the Farmers' Market for fruits and pretzels to bring with us for the day.

Then to the nearest subway station, explore all day and take the subway back to the hotel, and if the Farmers' Market was still open, stop there again. Very cheap produce, too, and deliciously ripe!



In just three days, we saw all the major attractions. But there's more to see than just the major attractions. Each morning and evening, on our walks to/from our hotel and the subway station, we strolled through several streets of old apartment buildings in the Zizkov neighborhood.



There's a lot of pride in this neighborhood; it's not a touristy neighborhood either. In fact, Wikipedia describes this neighborhood as a bit of a bad boy; residents calling their neighborhood the "Free Republic of Zizkov".



We saw local folks at the neighborhood pubs, and walking their dogs on the streets.



Vicki and I would walk down different streets to/from the subway station each day just to gawk at the many wonderful old buildings.



In fact, there's an unofficial claim that this Zizkov neighborhood has the highest number of pubs per capita of any city district in Europe, and looking back (after visiting another two dozen or so cities in Europe), this claim is probably true.



Click here for a thorough explanation of this neighborhood. I highly recommend a stay here rather than in the more pricey Old Town neighborhood.




In the early 1900s, the neighborhood was known as the "Bohemian" part of Prague because of its artists and writers and left-wing political supporters.



Our hotel is the green building (below); our room is on the top floor, open window.



I suspect, like our hotel, none of these buildings have air conditioning. Even though it was August 2018, the hottest month of the year, the heat wasn't unbearable although it did get a bit too warm on the top floor at night.



People in Europe seem to dislike air conditioning.

One place we visited was the Strahov Monastery. It sits high up on a hill on the other side of the Vltava River.

Inside is interesting . . . a center courtyard is 4-sided by magnificent hallways.



The huge dining hall has a view of the gardens in the courtyard.



The fresco painted on the dining hall's very long and wide ceiling is called "Heavenly Banquet of the Just with Christ as the Host" (symbolism for Heaven). Each person (perhaps two-hundred?) is depicted differently; there's no repetition of any figure or human. Below photo is just a tiny portion of the whole.



The best part of the monastery is the restaurant on the patio.



It overlooks Old Town, the Castle, and Lesser Town.



Merlin time for me, their premium black stout beer. Vicki agrees it's an acquired taste.



We had a great long lunch. No one hurried us, so we enjoyed that moment, knowing this view and sisterly company would be a wonderful memory for the rest of our lives.

Coming up next, major attractions of Praha.