Prague Blog

When you are tired of sightseeing, when it´s hot and the city dust is cleaving on your body from all sides, if you desire to have a rest from crowds – then the ideal choice is to go to the Prague Zoo.

It is situated in Troja, a border city quarter, but it is well accessible from the center. From the underground station on route C – Nadrazi Holesovice, take a bus number 112, leaving many times per hour, but it is often very full. For the romantic souls there is another possibility how to reach the Zoo – by the steam boat leaving from the waterfront (Rasinovo nabrezi). If you have a sport spirit, take your bicycle. In front of the Zoo is a free parking zone for bicycles.

Before we step into the world of wilderness, let me tell you couple of information. The Prague Zoo belongs to our most beautiful and biggest gardens, there were first visitors already in 1931. First inhabitant of the Zoo was the wolf Lotty. During the whole twentieth century new occupiers from animal kingdom were increasing. In 2002 a big disaster hit the garden – flash flood which washed down more than half of the garden. Thanks to sponsors and donators things are now working as they should.

Now lets meet the animal inhabitants of the Zoo. More than thousand mammals are sheltered here, as well as over 1300 birds and almost 800 reptiles. Then also fish, amphibians, shells and insects. It is not possible to write out all, come to see and you sure won´t be dissapointed.

If you still have a free space in your heart, and you don´t know how to fill it, try to adopt one animal for one year. You become adoptive parent and a label with your name will be placed next to the animal´s location.
Isn´t it attractive to be a mother of an elephant or a father of a leopard ?

You can launch out to the Zoo daily from 9 AM, during the summer it is opened till 7 PM. The entrance fee is 70 CZK for students and 100 CZK for adults. Children up to 3 years have a free entrance. In the Zoo is also a lift railway and a small train. These are both paid separately.

This famous bridge has just celebrated 650th birthday!! How cool is that! That is hell of a lot years, don’t you think? Just think about it: in 1357, English poet Geoffrey Chaucer was only 14 years old; the Hundred Years War between France and England was about to end in next 96 years; Columbus was about to discover America not sooner than 135 years later; Pilgrims celebrated their first Thanksgiving after long 264 years… Jeez, do you know any older bridge that serves thousands of pedestrians every day?

It is truly amazing that the Charles Bridge has survived all those floods and wars it had to undergo over the time. Many legends about its incredibly good condition surrender the bridge from the very beginning – the date and time for the launch of the construction was chosen very carefully.

The first stone was laid in the year 1357 on the 9th of July at 5:31 in the morning. This exact timing forms the sequence of ascending and descending odd digits: 135797531. I was speechless when I found out. The Emperor, Charles IV, believed that this magical combination of numbers would protect the bridge. And maybe it did in deed.

Another legend says that during construction, real eggs were added to mortar to strengthen the bridge. It is to say that eggs are not really typical addition. The eggs were collected from villages from the whole kingdom. People in one village, however, were afraid that the eggs would break on the way and so they sent boiled ones. Everyone in Prague laughed at them but in the end those eggs served as a good snack for the workers.

So what made the difference? The eggs or the timing? Who knows! But what I know is that the “birthday party” for the Charles Bridge was huge!! However, in order to celebrate more of its anniversaries in the future, complete renovation of the Charles Bridge is in progress. This renovation will take many years, but don’t worry, the passing will be permitted.

Gothic Jindrisska Tower (Jindrisska vez) is situated in Jindrisska street which has connected the three important Prague squares – Wenceslas Square, Charles Square and Senovazne Square – since the 14th century. Jindrisska Tower is 67.7 meters high, which makes it the highest separate belfry in Prague.

The tower itself was built in 1472 – 1475 beside the Church of St Henry and Cunigunde (Kostel sv. Jindricha a Kunhuty) and it has undergone several damages caused either by foreign military troops (such se Swedish troops in 1648) or by weather (a big storm broke the high Gothic roof in 1801). The tower clock was added in 1577… (read more)

In the Czech Republic, June 27 has been declared a day of remembrance in honor of the victims of communism. Why this day and not any other? Well, it is all related to the history and one exceptionally sad story of one incredibly strong woman.

On this day, in 1950, Milada Horakova, a Czechoslovak politician was executed by Communists because of a false accusation of treason and espionage. The trial of hers and her twelve colleagues was nothing but a show trial. It was broadcasted on radio and people were forced to listen to it when they had breaks; before every movie in the cinema there were short versions of the trial. The evilness of the regime didn’t stop at nothing and so there were even letters from little children petitioning for the death penalty for her!!!

In spite of efforts of famous names such as Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill or Eleanor Roosevelt, who asked for her life, Horakova was sentenced to death along with three of her colleagues, and hanged. She was only 49 years old.

She is regarded as a symbol of anti-Communist resistance for her firm and courageous stance during her trial. She was fighting for the truth till the very end although she had to go through some tough communist interrogations repeatedly. She was defending herself in front of the “judges” with her head held high even though she knew she was fighting windmills.

This monster trail was here for one and simple reason. Unfortunately for Horakova, somebody had to die so that people would be scared and obedient. And after her execution, they really were. For many years…

You can commemorate this terrible event when visiting the Memorial of the Victims of Communism in Petrin Hill. But think about all those other people who suffered or even died because of the communistic regime. There were many others like Milada Horakova and we shall never forget them.

Maybe you have noticed memorial wreaths when walking around Petrin Hill in Prague lately. They are laid in front of the Memorial of the Victims of Communism. It is a truly magnificent memorial. A sad one, though.

It is a modern memorial, from the year 2002. It contains seven “phases” of a man living in a totalitarian state – from the first statue being a full man, up to the last statue where only a part of him remains. This evaporation represents the gradual physical and psychical destruction of a man who is ruled by any undemocratic regime. The man disappears due to censorship, secret police, no freedom of thoughts and expressions etc.

On huge stairs leading to the statues you can read a line saying the terrible truth: during the years 1948 to 1989, 205 486 people in the back-then Czechoslovakia were found guilty for political reasons, 248 were executed, 4 500 died in prisons, 327 died when trying to run away from the country and 170 938 people emigrated. I think there is even an English version of it on the left side of the memorial.

The memorial is visible all the way from the National Theater although it is located on the other side of the Vltava river. You can reach it by taking trams 6, 9, 12, 20, 22, 23. Station Ujezd.

Maybe you noticed well-dressed children all with flowers and bouquets last Friday morning. What a surprise, right? And at around noon you could see some women hardly carrying all those various bouquets. What was all this about?

On Friday, June 29, it was the last day of this school year for all Czech pupils. On this day, all children received their school reports. It is a Czech tradition to bring flowers to the class teacher in order to express their thanks to them (or maybe to apologize for their bad behavior throughout the year).

This special day means not only the beginning of summer holidays for all Czech children but also complications with public transportation for many. Trams, buses but also subways will have longer intervals, so be aware of it when traveling through Prague in summer months!

Pay attention now anytime you will use the public transportation because in summer months many reparations take place and so some trams drive through different stops and some tram stops are even temporarily out of order!!!

On one side, it is really stupid to repair the streets in summer because it is the tourist season and Prague is filled with tourists. And tourists can get easily lost in a foreign city. On the other side, it is understandable because it is time for locals to take holidays and children are out of the city and thus less people use the public transportation…

Anyway, if you see a yellow sign on a tram or on the tram stop, this means that it follows a different route! So be careful and enjoy the summer in Prague.

Standing on one of the bridges before the Charles Bridge or sailing on the Vltava River, you’ll definitely notice Old Town Water Tower (Staromestska vodarna) on the right bank of the river on the place called Novotny Footbridge (Novetneho lavka). Old Town Water Tower used to supply the Old Town’s fountains with water, even though it had to ‘struggle for its existence’ several times during its long history.

The first records about the tower (originally made of wood) date back to the beginning of the 15th century. As the workers in the tower used to use open fire to melt frozen water in the pipes during winter, the tower has been damaged by fire many times. But fire was not the only element the tower had to fight against. The others were floods and icebergs as well as attacks by foreign intruders… (read more

Those two places are fun! Because they are located right next to each other, you can choose whether you enter the heaven like sweetshop or the devilish bar. What suits you best? Only there YOU can make the decision if you will go to Heaven or Hell. Isn’t it great?

If you choose the Heavenly Sweetshop (Nebeska cukrarna in Czech), you must step up a few steps, while if you choose the Devilish Bar (Pekelny bar in Czech), you must descend, of course. The interiors of both places correspond perfectly with their names. I really like the whole idea!

In the Heavenly Sweetshop you will eat surrounded by white clouds and eating godlike sweets. I have great experiences with sundaes and tarts, which many people buy there as a take-away. The place is, however, rather small. This can be a problem if you want to go there as a group.

The Devilish Bar, on contrary, is pretty big and really scary. Since you are underground, the lighting is dull, walls are red and black, and chains are hanging everywhere. Their offer of cocktails is incredible. It took me some time to figure out what I wanted because everything sounded so good! In this bar they often have live DJ shows at night.

The Heavenly Sweetshop is open daily till 8 pm, which is a great time to move into the Devilish Bar next door. You will find both in the street Na Belidle 38, not far from the subway station Andel (yellow line B), trams 4, 6, 9, 10, 12, 14, 18, 20.

Every summer, especially if it is hot like this year, I feel like I don’t need to eat anything else but ice-cream. I know it is a dull idea and all doctors probably cry out with despair but I just don’t feel hungry and all I need is something that cools me down. And that task can best fulfill ice-cream, the sweet and delicious cream.

Although the best ice-cream is said to be in Italy only, there are places in Prague where even Italians would please their taste buds. The place is not far from Wenceslas Square. It is called Hajek and it is in Vodickova street, with other stores around Prague.

It is truly the best place to go to when you are longing for an ice-cream. They serve everything from ice-cream to cones, Sundaes of your wishes, to little or big tarts, and even sandwiches. The selection is really great. I always have problems to choose what I actually want.

They are open daily till 8 pm. You will find it in the arcade from Vodickova street right at the tram station Vaclavske namesti (trams 3, 9, 14, 24). My recommendation to you is to buy some of those ice-creams and continue walking through the arcade till you enter the Frantiskanska garden. Take a seat at one of those numerous benches and enjoy your ice-cream together with the beautiful roses which are now in bloom.

The traditional musical festival United Islands of Prague starts today! You can choose from 60 interprets, not only Czech ones but from other countries as well, in 20 places all in Prague. And this year, you can enjoy the music even better since all performances are free of charge! Isn’t it great?

So, the opening session is today at 8 pm in Rock Café, street Narodni 20, not far from the subway station Narodni trrida (yellow line B), trams 6, 9, 18, 21, 22, 23. Nevertheless the program will run at many other clubs starting at 7 pm already! To name some of them: Lucerna Music Bar (Vodickova 36, near Wenceslas Square), Klub Vagon (Narodni trida 25, near subway station Narodni trida), Popo café petl (Ujezd 19, near tram station Ujezd 12, 20, 22, 23) and many others.

But the best part of this musical festival, in my opinion, comes on Saturday, June 23. This time all performances will be held under the sky. It is really great to experience open air festivals in Prague! You can choose your island with your favorite music style and spend there the day away.

The program starts from around noon. In Slovansky island there will be Jazz and Blues open air festival stage. In Detsky island you can listen to hip-hop groups from around the world. In Strelecky island you can enjoy the ethno and folk music. Do you have your favorite island already?

On Saturday, Prague will be filled with music! So, let’s hope it will be nice weather on Saturday!