7th September 2017 published on 8th September 2017
Our campsite at Prague, Camping Prague Dzban, turned out to be a little know enclave of Denmark. Regular readers of this Blog will remember that Team Basil had problems in the Spring with huge organised touring groups of Dutch, German and French motorhomes, taking most of the spaces on sites and in once case causing us to be turfed off and sent to spend the night on a car park.
Well now that summer season is behind us presumably touring groups are back on the roads. Our site here must have close to 50 Danish vans and only 10 from other nationalities. Coaches appear to be laid on for them to get in and out of Prague.
As we walked the dogs on Wednesday evening we came across a small restaurant adjacent, but I don’t thing connected to, the campsite. When we saw the prices all thoughts of cooking in Basil evaporated. We had three large beers, Sarah had a veggie burger and I had some Czech stew with potato pancakes, all for €20 including tip! It’s great to be back in the old Eastern Bloc.
On Thursday morning we had a slow start, because it was our intention to join a free walking tour at 2pm. Sarah wanted time to look at the shops in Prague so we started off in plenty of time. For once the campsite estimate of the time to reach the train/bus/tram was accurate and so in ten minutes we were at the Metro. Then the fun and games began with the muzzles. Melek, as predicted, proved to be no problem – the muzzle went on and he didn’t touch it again until we arrived in Prague. Mabel was not quite so straightforward, but neither was she as bad as we had feared. To start with, whenever she was on the floor, she would use her front paws to remove the muzzle, but once we boarded the metro, Sarah put Mabel on her lap and Mabel seemed comforted by the that and the muzzle stayed on.
Melek demonstrating how a good dog behaves on Prague’s Metro!
The other problem on the metro were the escalators. I carried Melek, but Sarah decided it would be safer for her to carry Mabel too! Mabel weighs 17 kg and is, to say the least, wriggly, so the trips up and down the escalators were a little hair raising.
Old Town Square
As soon as we emerged from the metro into central Prague, it was clear that this is a particularly beautiful city. Grand Baroque and Rennaisance buildings everywhere and the whole place thronged with people. At this time of year it is not packed, but felt very lively.
Sculpture of Jan Huss
We met up with our guide and went on a three hour walking tour of the old town, a bit of the new town and the old Jewish quarter. Our Czech guide was particularly impressive. He managed to weave a thorough history of Bohemia and the Czech Republic into a physical tour of the the buildings. This especially suits me, as you may have gathered I love my history. We were introduced to not only great Kings of Bohemia, such as Charles IV, but also to the pre-Luther protestant reformer Jan Huss, Mozart’s three years in Prague where he premiered Don Giovanni, and of course Prague native Franz Kafka.
Houses in Prague
So far as the physical side of the city is concerned, there are not that many monumental buildings, but again it is more the feeling that the whole city’s structures have been frozen in time and are architectural coherent in a way that few British cities are. We did not visit the vast Prague Castle and it’s associated Cathedral. They are the subject of a separate tour which I may indulge in on Friday.
The Castle and Cathedral
The walking tour was a special treat for Mabel and Melek, since nearly everyone in our group seemed to have a dog they had left behind. So our two got petted for the whole three hours and we were even introduced to some of the other dogs via the medium of iPhone photographs!
The impressive looking but ultimately disappointing Astronomical Clock
Once the tour had finished, Sarah and I wandered about Prague’s lovely streets, doing a bit of window shopping, eventually stopping in a pretty little square for one of the Czech Republic’s renowned beers.
One of a few beers drunk in Prague. At just over €1 for a large one it would be rude not to.
We could not resist, on this occasion, the lure of an Indian meal and so hunted out a good example, not far off the Old Square, with outside seating. There we stuffed ourselves, as is cutomary when we are confronted with our favourite food and I may have had one or three more excellent Czech beers.
Famous Charles Bridge
The journey back on the metro was much the same as earlier in the day. Mabel needed comforting the whole way, in order to keep her muzzle on, while Melek couldn’t have cared less.