Prague, Czech Republic

On Monday 15th July 2019 I took a train from Poprad, Slovakia, to Prague in the Czech Republic. My train departed Poprad just after 4pm in the afternoon and I arrived at 10:19pm that evening. It was lovely being met at the train station by Will. Will was in Prague for the GECCO conference (Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference) which is one of the two big international conferences he attends most years. He had arrived in Prague on the Saturday. I had pretty much planned my whole big 6-week trip around meeting up with Will for a couple of days in Prague! I had chosen to spend most of my time in Slovakia because it was the only country in close proximity to Prague that I hadn't visited before. I had booked Will a nice apartment-style hotel room just a few minutes walk from the conference venue.

The next day while Will worked, I had a big day exploring Prague. I had visited before, but only during the winter. Summer in Prague is a whole different story! There were masses of people everywhere which was quite over-whelming, particularly after the peace and quiet of my week in the mountains. We were staying in the Vysehrad area, which is a historic fort. Close by was the neo-gothic Saint Peter and Paul Basilica. The colourful detail on the doors was stunning.

I then walked along the Vltava river into the city centre proper. Even though it was still fairly early in the morning, the temperature was definitely starting to heat up.

  

I headed up to the castle which I hadn't explored on my last visit to Prague. It was set up on a hill (as all good castle are!) so it was a decent slog up. The reward, however, was very nice views.

I managed to catch the changing of the guard. The statue above the guard-house in the bottom pic is rather brutal!

 

The castle area was very cool to wander around.

I paid the admission fee to go up the tower as I do love a good view from above!

The St Vitus Cathedral was very impressive.

The views from the Great South Tour of the cathedral were also impressive, well worth the 287 step climb!

I then spent some time people-watching and enjoying the views from the historic Charles Bridge. Construction started in 1357 and it is the oldest bridge still standing over the Vltava river, and the second oldest in the Czech Republic.

There are beautiful bridge-towers at either end of the bridge, and one of them is open to the public.

I paid the small fee and climbed the 138 steps to the top. I was definitely getting a work-out from my sight-seeing! There were lovely views over the Charles bridge, looking back to the castle where I had been earlier in the day. It really is a beautiful city, although in the future I would probably avoid visiting during the heights of summer.

From here, I headed to the main square in the middle of the old town. I went straight to the Old Town Hall for, you guessed it, another aerial view! This time an elevator took me to the top of the clock tower, so no stair-climbing required.

From here I got a great view of the beautiful 'Church of Our Lady before Tyn'.

The clock on the tower was installed in 1410, making it the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world, and the oldest one still operating. I made sure I was back down the bottom in time to catch the hourly 'show' which is a short animation where the figures of the Twelve Apostles move while 'Death' rings the clock.

I then spent a bit of time hanging out in the square, enjoying the afternoon sunshine. It's not every day you see a giant polar bear in the middle of summer!

I was now ready to head back to our accommodation. I was a little weary after my big day on the tourist trail, so I walked to the 'Museum' metro stop, where seeing the rather grand museum building was an added bonus. from here it was just a couple of stops on the metro then a short walk back to our room.

It was a glorious evening and from our balcony I got a lovely view of the spires of the Saint Peter and Paul Basilica silhouetted in the setting sun.

On Wednesday morning Will had his last few hours of the conference in the morning. That afternoon we flew back to Stanstead Airport in the UK together and spent a night at Geoff's place. The next day I saw him off at the train station as he was heading to Oxfordshire to spend two nights with his mum, before flying back to NZ on the Saturday. I had one last day in London (including one last catch-up with Nicola) before flying to Singapore early on Friday morning, ready for the last leg of my adventure.