We made a short shift up the freeway to Prague. Before we left Pilsen we went into a Lidl near the campground to stock up on some food, and stopped for some fuel. Parking at the Lidl was tricky as the lot was very small and parking was awkward. But in the end we have a full refrigerator and some interesting Czech foods to try. The drive over to Prague was busy, and near Prague the right lane came to a complete halt with trucks backed up for several miles. We never figured out what caused the back up.
I had picked out a campground on an island near the center of the city. After having a campground to ourselves for the last two days, I did not think to call ahead. When we arrived at the campground, the lady at the reception said they could not accommodate us for the three days we plan to stay in Prague. Fortunately there is another campground on the same island, and they had no problem accommodating us, and the manager had lived in the US and visited Oregon so we felt at home. After we settled in we headed over to the water taxi to get us across the Vitava River to the tram stop to get us down to old town. We are really enjoying Prague already because if you are over 65 all public transport is free.
Our first stop was the Charles Bridge that is a medieval bridge that is now used for pedestrian traffic, and is one of the main tourist stops in town. Despite it being April, and the temperatures in the low 40’s, the bridge was buzzing both with foreign tourists, and Czechs out for the day. Despite the crowds we enjoyed our walk across the bridge.
After the bridge we headed to the main square to check out the astronomical clock which is one of the other main tourist attractions in Prague. When we got to the clock I overheard an English speaking guide saying that the clock here is considered the second most disappointing tourist attraction in Europe. (The first is the Mona Lisa in the Louvre.)
We hung around with a bunch of tour groups until the top of the hour to watch the parade of faces that are part of the hourly chime of the clock. Since I did not have high expectations I was not disappointed.
We based a lot of our agenda for today on a blog from a local guide. We enjoyed her takes on places to go, and also places to avoid. We got a kick out of her description of a popular treat that is sold near the bridge, and around the market. It is called Trdelnik, and consists of sweet dough with cinnamon on a stick with a bunch of cream. She said in her blog that it is not a traditional Czech desert, that in fact no Czechs eat it, but use it as a sure fire way to spot tourists. Whoever invented it for the tourist trade had a sense of humor as Trdelnik in Czech means “dullard”.
But we did take her advice on a good local beer place to go to try out Czech beers. Pult was located near the old town hall, and had a small but well chosen menu of Pilsners from all over the Czech Republic. The service was excellent and the guy behind the bar did a great job of matching up our taste with the appropriate beer. We really enjoyed ourselves.
After a few hours downtown we decided to head back before it got too cold. Despite it being closer to the end of April than the beginning the overnight temperatures are still in the mid-30’s with a frost warning for Saturday. We are going thru a lot of propane keeping François warm.
