sogno: Praha and group tours

I had been to Prague before, but honestly I did not remember that it was just SO strikingly beautiful. The architecture, the view across the city from one of the many hills that surround it, so many beautiful roofs and houses, baroque and art nouveau. And I was wondering whether those cities that were destroyed during the war, had been equally beautiful before. A view over roofs and rows of houses reveals a lot…. But I find it somehow hard, to paint a more detailed image of Prague. On the one hand, as a tourist, I was mostly moving among other tourists. And somehow this city is just too full of them. On the other hand, and now we are coming back to the principal problem which was also the principal pleasure: I was there with 20 of my colleagues/class mates. And we were in fact moving around mostly in a group of 21 people.

This means basically no letting yourself go and float through the little streets just the route you feel like taking, but follow the crowd. And not visiting the sights that you had written on a note before leaving, but do whatever the others want to do (or fall from grace). Therefore the library of Strahov Monastery, and the Old Jewish Cemetery still need to be visited. And the same is true for the biggest stadium of the world, which is not in use anymore, but recaptured by nature. It also means that one can’t really eat and drink where one wants, and believe me, it was just like back at high school trips, we were walking for ages until we found a place (restaurant/bar/club) we could agree on entering. And of course there is just very little spirit for photography.

Still we mostly had a really good time together. From the things I actually did I quite liked taking the funicular railway up into the hills, walking around there in the nature (and to the Eiffel Tower), enjoying the views and walking back into town. And – as you will see when you have a look at my pictures – quite liked all the doors, passages and art nouveau.

Finally I’d like to recommend the Marina Grosseto restaurant. It’s located on a ship on the Vltava just north of Charles Bridge, with an amazing view to the castle. But – as the name suggests – it is an Italian Restaurant, so no typical Czech food. Another nice place and more traditional: The 500 year old U Flecu Brewery. They offer group visits, have a pretty big beer garden off the main tourist routes and apparently a very large restaurant indoors. According to the internet it gets very crowded, don’t know, it was pretty quiet when we were there…. And finally I had drinks with an amazing view at the restaurant in the chateau-like Hanavsky Pavilon at Letna Park.