We didn’t set an alarm this morning, but still woke up before 07:00. We had the muesli we bought last night for breakfast. However the “milk” we got turned out not to be milk, but a sort of drinking yoghurt. I’d scanned two different bottles of milk with Google Translate and determined that both of them were apparently full fat milk (so I don’t know what the difference (was). But then we spotted another carton next to them that looked to be the same amount for a slightly lower prices we grabbed that and went. We didn’t bother to scan it to translate the Czech text, and so ended up not getting milk at all! Nevertheless, it was fine and delicious.
The first stop this morning was Havel Market, supposedly touted as the best street market in Prague. It was only a couple of blocks away. We got there just after 09:00, but they were still setting up lots of the stalls, even though the market is supposed to open at 07:00. Also the variety of stuff there wasn’t great and the whole market was pretty small. Overall it was pretty disappointing and we finished scanning up and down the stalls in about 20 minutes or so.
My wife had also found a Saturday farmers’ market, held on the bank of the Vltava River, a bit of a walk away, past last night’s restaurant. We went there via a different route and ended up walking along the river bank on a promenade near the water, below street level, which was nice. This market was much better than Havel. It had many more stalls, all actively preparing food or selling items, and a buzzing crowd of both locals and tourists walking to and fro. My wife stopped for a coffee at one of the first stalls. They gave her a plastic cup which had a 50 koruna deposit, so we walked down and came back later to drop it off.
Across from there was a stall which had a huge queue, maybe 30 or 40 people long. They were lining up to buy bread spread with pesto. They had five or six different types of pesto and most people were having a huge slice of rye bread with stripes of the slightly different greens spread on them. It must have been good! There were also stalls selling bread, cakes, nuts and dried fruits, meats, cheeses, fruit and vegetables, and cooked food including grilled meat, sausages, potatoes, and things like tortilla wraps, pizzas, and so on. And there were craft stalls, clothing, beer, wine, mead, chocolate and other sweets, and more. The stalls went for maybe 300 metres along the river. We bought a large chunk of a slice made with seeds, nuts, and dried fruit as a snack to keep us going.
At the end we turned around and walked back the way we’d come. We exchanged my wife’s used coffee cup for the 50 koruna deposit and then went looking for a stall where we could spend the coin on something. We found a guy with baklava who had a chocolate and pistachio version for 48, so we gave him the whole coin for it and shared bites. It was melty from the heat, but delicious. We walked back to our room via a (mostly) different route. M. stopped in at an art supply shop that we’d spotted on our way out near the Tesco’s, to briefly look at sketching and watercolour books.
We rested in our room for about half an hour out of the heat of the day and prepared for our afternoon expedition to Prague Castle. On the way walking there we stopped to get some more sustenance. I got some hot chips with cheddar cheese melted on top from Fæncy Fries Kaprova, while M. grabbed an iced coffee from an adjacent Starbucks. Then we continued, walking across the Mánesův Most bridge, north of the more famous Karlův Most. From there it was an uphill hike to Prague Castle, mostly against traffic of people coming down. As we figured out, most of the people visiting the castle were going in the opposite direction to us, entering by the gate we exited at, and departing by the gate we entered.
Once we had climbed the hill we entered at the eastern end of the castle. I didn’t realise that anyone could enter the castle grounds freely. You only needed to buy a ticket to gain entrance to specific attractions within. We had the basic ticket, which allowed us into the Golden Lane, St George’s Basilica, St Vitus Cathedral, and the Old Royal Palace. The first one we came across was the Golden Lane, but unfortunately it seemed all the attractions had been routed to be convenient for people coming from the west entrance and leaving the way we’d come in. We had to walk in a fair way, then backtrack around through the Golden Lane and then retrace our steps again to continue.
The Golden Lane is a narrow laneway lined with tiny medieval houses which apparently housed precious metal and gem workers. A few of the houses had been converted into shops, while some had been made into museum displays of old tools and furniture, as though the workers still lived and worked there. It was cramped in there and we had to wait for others to shuffle in and out. And I banged my head on the low lintel coming out of one.
From here we went to the Basilica of Saint George. The exterior is a rich salmon pink colour and of a style that looks only a few hundred years old, but the interior is obviously much older, being mostly bare limestone, pitted with age. It was consecrated in 921, so is well over a thousand years old. It was a very interesting look at a medieval style basilica, with faded paintings on some of the walls.
Next was St Vitus Cathedral, a much larger Gothic style cathedral, the largest church in the entire Czech Republic. I took photos of several of the external gargoyles before we headed inside. This was very impressive, with some amazing stained glass windows, some of which looked quite modern, and a soaring ceiling high above the vast interior. Around the back of the main altar was a giant reliquary or something made of enormous amounts of silver.
Our final call was the Old Royal Palace, attached to some buildings that looked like a more modern palace. The old palace also looked close to a thousand years old, and consisted mainly of the large Vladislav Hall, with some adjoining rooms. One of these contained the window where the two Catholic lords regent Count Jaroslav Bořita of Martinice, Count Vilem Slavata of Chlum, and their secretary Philip Fabricius were defenestrated in the 1618 Defenestration of Prague, triggering the Thirty Years War.
After touring these sights, we left the Castle via the west entrance and walked back down the hill towards the river. We crossed on the Charles Bridge (Karlův Most), taking our time to admire the statues and views from this historic bridge. It was pretty full of people walking in both directions and the sun was hot in the afternoon. Just before crossing we stopped at a gelato place and got cups of gelato to cool ourselves down and stave of any hunger until our dinner.
We rested in our room for about half an hour and then it was time to go out for our dinner. We had an early reservation for 17:30, since the Restaurant Zvonice said that they were booked out later. We walked over to the Jindřišská Tower (or St Henry’s Tower), a clock and bell tower, the tallest in Prague. The restaurant is on the 8th floor, surrounding some of the bells, making it a really unique location, with old medieval wooden beams and views through the partially shuttered windows to the rooftops below.
The place served traditional Bohemian cuisine, and also had some decent vegetarian options. We chose the goat cheese terrine appetiser, my wife had the truffle risotto, while I had wild boar with blackberry sauce, potatoes, and mushrooms. The food was really good and the atmosphere couldn’t be beaten. Definitely a good choice for our last dinner in Prague!
On the way home we took a slight detour to go see the Old New Synagogue. This is the one where the legendary Golem of Prague is supposed to be slumbering in the attic. There is an external ladder on the side of the synagogue leading to the attic, which made a good photo. After this we returned the short distance to out room for the night.
