Strolling through Prague Old Town and a cruise on the Vltava River

3 May 2022.

We have heard from folks who have been in Prague that it's an eminently walkable city and indeed best seen on foot. Taking that thought to heart, after morning coffee we headed out. Our first objective was the old town hall and square. Since our apartment lies right on the line between the old and new towns it was a short leisurely stroll until we found ourselves meandering down narrow streets and past quaint shops (OK most were selling souvenirs of one form or another but some were genuinely quaint).

view of Narodni Street from our balcony

heading into old town

one never knows what you'll see strolling in Prague

probably but not necessarily the best burgers in town

local waffle-like street sweets

From old town we made our way to the Vltava River (old town abuts the river) and the Charles Bridge.

tower leading to the bridge

Charles IV, thus the Charles Bridge

looking back toward whence we came (on the right) - note the banner

walking onto the bridge

note the cruise boat; we'll be there later

the church in the distance and the long row of cream colored buildings are the Prague Castle

We only walked halfway across the bridge before turning around and heading back into old town in search of the old town square.

old town square

monument to Jan Hus, religious reformer

From the old town square we made our way toward the old Jewish Quarter. Walking down several blocks past the stores of the rich and infamous, we found the entrance to the Jewish Cemetery (our next objective).

heading toward the old Jewish Cemetery

the old new synagogue

To get into the cemetery one needed to buy a ticket which included the synagogue as well (which we decided to skip).

milling around outside the exit of the cemetery

Anyway, the cemetery dates back to the 14th century and was closed for burials in the late 18th century. The gravestones appear to be all jammed together and indeed they are; because of the lack of space many of the graves contain up to 12 individuals thus the closeness of the stones. 

The tour of the cemetery is self-guided but you're restricted in where you can walk and in fact you exit at a different location from the entrance.

there are also memorial stones embedded in part of the wall surrounding the cemetery

Leaving the cemetery we made our way to the river close to the Jewish Quarter where we found the dock for our river cruise. On the way we passed one of many Italian restaurants (a very popular cuisine in Prague), which happened to have a name near and dear to us: Al Forno!

Al Forno!

We found a bit of shade to wait for the boat. After about 20 minutes we boarded and off we went seeing Prague from the water.

in the distance we could see a large metronome in action flying the Ukrainian flag

the Charles Bridge

part of the river bank still retains its rustic appearance

the smallest of river cruise boats

serious river cruise, part of Croisieurope.com

and a not-so-serious river cruiser

a mirror image of our boat

the Soviet-era trams

Budweiser?

Leaving the boat we made our way past the shops designed for the beautiful people and found ourselves once again back in the old town square. 

there was no caption on this sculpture in a tiny slice of green

Making our way form the old town square back to our apartment we passed this curious bit of sculpture in front of the Estates theatre by Anna Chromy titled Il Commendatore and inscribed: "In memory of W. A. Mozart's Don Giovanni, premiered in this theatre 29.10.1787."

Estates Theatre

Back home it was time to relax, kick back and have a glass of wine. Supper would be simple and easy to make: pasta with sauce and a salad.

Tomorrow its public transport and off to the Prague Castle!