Old Town Prague, Land of 100 Spires
Monday, September 22, 2025
Off we go on yet another of our adventures albeit a most
different one for us. This time we are
taking part in a Viking River Cruise where we will be sailing up the Danube
from Budapest to Amsterdam. It is a 14-day
cruise, and we will be making many stops along the way. If that isn't enough, we are including a
3-day stay in Prague. Prague is the
capital city of the Czeck Republic. We
obviously have not been here before, but we have friends who told us about it,
so we are excited to see the sights.
From Nashville we fly to Toronto and then take the long
flight to Frankfurt and then the last leg to Prague. The middle leg to Frankfurt was
excruciating. Seven and a half hours of
being a sardine in a can of sardines.
Not only that but going through customs there was an arduous
ordeal. But probably no worse than what
the U.S. is putting people thru when they come to the states. It was a long hard day, but we finally made
it. Time to rest.
First day of Prague, Tuesday, September 23, 2025
After a very long day of travel and a well-deserved long night’s sleep, we got out and did a walking tour of Old Town Prague with our guide, Dana. (Vi likes that name .... very Bohemian!) And when they say "old town," they mean "OLD town." Pick up a rock and throw it in any direction, and you will hit something very old.
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Old Town is mid-evil established in the 9th century. Records show that dating back to 1100 AD, every Saturday a market was held on the marketplace and included large military gatherings. It used to have a large moat surrounding 13 gates and was thus very secure. Old Town was surrounded by the new town of Prague, and the moats and gates gave way to new roads and new settlements. But Old Town still exists, and it is not uncommon to see houses and buildings dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries.
Old Town consists most notably of the Prague Castle, the Old Town Square, Jewish Town, the Charles Bridge, which connects the Lesser Town of Prague to Old Town.
Prague is known as the city with a hundred spires and there are actually over 300 churches in Prague, most of which are Catholic. Prague is also one of the most secular cities today with only 9.3 percent of Prague being Catholic. The Church of Our Lady Victorious of the Infant Jesus of Prague is perhaps the best known.
Some of the other highlights include the Powder Bridge and one of Vialula's favorites, the Municipal Library of Prague, which has a support column built of books!
One of the major draws to Old Town is the astronomical clock that dates back to 1410. It still strikes every hour on the hour and is astonishingly accurate. Supposedly built by the clock master Jan Ruze, legend has it that Ruze was blinded on the order of the Prague Councilors so that he could not repeat his work. In turn, he disabled the clock, and no one was able to repair it for the next hundred years. It has obviously gone through many repairs over the years but today it is still striking out the hours and doing so right on time! Every hour on the hour a procession of figures, including the Apostles, process with a skeleton ringing a bell, representing death. Very unique!
That is probably enough of my babbling. Vialula only took a couple of hundred photos
today so I will let her show you the magnificence that is Old Town Prague.
We did, of course, find time to enjoy some of the local delicacies and brews. Pilsner Urquell is the local have-to-have beer as the town of Pilsen, which is the home of Pilsner beer, is only an hour away. This beer is best served with a large head of foam, and it goes down quite nicely. Many local cafes and restaurants serve only this way. We did our best to experience it the correct way.
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