TOUR OF PRAGUE / CZECH REPUBLIC: DAY 20: Prague, Old Town & New Town

Thursday, 18 SEPTEMBER 2014 [Full day in Praha capped by an evening concert]

Just 3 days remained of my tour in Praha/Bohemia and ironically I sat about in the hotel room wasting precious time brooding about how the days and weeks just zipped by and that the tour would soon be over. I flipped aimlessly at the lists of places (made before the tour) that I had intended to visit which did not yet have a check mark. Before I knew it, the morning was almost over and I had done nothing. Realising this, I forced myself out of inertia, walked across Charles Bridge and just headed where my legs would carry me - well not exactly, I did have in mind a few places and objects that I had to find.

Malé náměstí or Small Square (it's really a triangular area) in Old Town was first as it had numerous interesting house signs and an old fountain, which I had missed during an earlier walk through, not to mention I could revisit Rott House with its beautiful facade.

U Černého Koníčka (At the Black Pony) - this house sign apparently dates from the 16th century. It seems the father of music composer Franz Schubert once owned the house

At the Golden Crown. It is also known as At the Golden Eagle for another house sign above the crown

In the middle of the square, blocked from view by tables, chairs and large umbrellas (during cafe opening hours) is a 16th century iron fountain 'caged' by equally interesting grilles.

16th century fountain

From Small Square, I have absolutely no recollection of the streets I took to get to New Town, but I got there somehow. The first stop was Kostel Panny Marie Sněžné (Church of Our Lady of the Snows) primarily to see if I could locate a peculiar street lamp nearby, whose location I had made a half-hearted and unsuccessful attempt to find 2 weeks earlier. Searching in the area of Jungmannovo náměstí (Jungmann Square) I eventually located the lamp post in one rather isolated corner.

Here is the lamp post, purportedly the only Cubist lamp post in the world. It was designed by Czech Art Nouveau and Cubist architect Emil Králíček between 1911 and 1913.

Cubist lamp post

This somewhat "hidden" area, nearby the metro station Můstek B and just around the corner from Wenceslas square, has another noteworthy attraction - a medieval era type triangular tympanum and from what I can gather was part of the portal of the northern tower of the church. The tower was destroyed in 1434 during a civil war between Old Town and New Town factions (could the fighting have been part of the Hussite wars..?). The surviving tympanum was placed on the Gothic gate-entrance to a former cemetery. Not surprisingly however, given it's historical value, the one seen in the open is merely a copy. The original is in the Lapidárium.

Tympanum on a Gothic entrance

Original Tympanum in the Lapidárium

Ruin of the north tower

If you go beyond the ruin of the north tower, you will see surprise surprise, Praha residents and a few tourists having their pivo. Yes, there is a beer garden here, operated by Restaurace U Pinkasů.

Beer garden by the church

Next, to a nearby landmark - the Palác Adria (Adria Palace). I had already seen this building 2 weeks earlier but wanted to take another long look to admire its unique Rondo-Cubist type facade (see it as circular and angular shapes and other embellishments added to the relatively more plain Cubist architecture) plus, with tower-like structures on the top floor. It seems the Czech Republic is the only country with such Rondo-Cubist buildings. Located on the intersection of Jungmannova street and Národní třída, Adria Palace was constructed in 1923 to 1924 for the pioneer insurer in Italy, Riunione Adriatica di Sicurta, which is now a subsidiary of Allianz AG. The building currently houses a cafe, offices, theatres and shops. I did not enter and from some photos I've seen, was in error not to do so.

Adria Palace

From Adria Palace, I walked halfway along Jungmannova, turned into Palackého and then into Vodičkova street with the intention to enter building number 31, Cukrárna Myšák, a patisserie/dessert shop cited as a favourite of locals. The patisserie is the legacy of confectioner Fratišek Myšák who opened the store at Vodičkova 31 in 1911. It's current interior looks posh and harks to the early decades of the last century. Weeks prior to this, I had stayed only a few buildings away, at number 35, but managed to omit trying the desserts here.

By the way, number 31 is another building with a Rondo-Cubist facade (created in the early 1920s). If one persistently forgets to LOOK UP in Praha, as I did with this building, would be liable to miss some interesting, beautiful or historical facades, statues or house signs.

Cukrárna Myšák interior - the upper level has a better selection of desserts

And here's the house speciality - caramel sundae.

After wolfing down a fairly large sundae and two rich cakes, it was time to burn off some carbs. The Jindřišská věž (tower) was conveniently located about 8 to 10 minutes away and I thought the perfect venue to get some exercise. Entrance fee to the tower was 90 Czk.

Jindřišská věž aka Saint Henry's Tower

Unfortunately, for my belly, there was to be no stair climbing as the tower was fitted with a high-speed lift (true, it was fast) that could reach any of the 10 floors, including the top floor where the observation area was located. To be honest, with the lift, I didn't bother to look for a staircase ... Anyway, here are several photos taken from the tower - not as picturesque as the views from the other towers but interesting enough.

View of Jindřišská street towards Wenceslas Square

One of the offices of Česká Spořitelna (the largest Czech Bank by number of customers), with a nice facade

The Czech Central Bank (main entrance faces the Powder Tower, which is visible in the photo) is one massive block of offices and includes this building.

Some exhibits in the tower

From the tower, it was back to Wenceslas Square where I had a final look at the place. In hindsight, there were some buildings here (e.g. Grand Hotel Evropa) that I should have entered, if possible, to view the interiors.

Looking into busy Vodičkova street with the New Town hall tower visible at centre

Regret that I did not try to get a photo with these guys :)

From New Town, I meandered back to Old Town for more sights and to look for a particular building of interest - U Kunštátů. Along the way, came across some interesting places.

Absintherie on Jilská street .. if I didn't have other plans for the evening, I would have bought a tub of absinthe ice cream to eat in the hotel room, fully prepared to be knocked out

U Tří Růží (At the Three Roses) on Husova street - microbrewery/pub and restaurant. Another pub in Praha that is centuries old. Quite recently renovated

Finally, arrived at U Kunštátů with its full name being Dům Pánů z Kunštátu a Poděbrad (House of Lords of Kunštát and Poděbrady). The significance of this building is that it has some of the oldest and well preserved Romanesque rooms in the city, dating to the 13th century. The rooms are located in the basement but in medieval times were almost at street level. The well known 15th century Hussite king of Bohemia, King Jiří (George) of Poděbrady once stayed here as it was then a royal residence. U Kunštátů is today a cafe-bar (beer tasting) and periodically holds small exhibitions of contemporary art. The building takes a bit of searching and can be reached from Husova (via a quite narrow passageway) or via Liliová.

U Kunštátů on Řetězová street

The well preserved Romanesque rooms, about 8 centuries old

The variety of beers & other drinks at U Kunštátů was impressive. Some do not look like regular beers, perhaps from local micro-breweries

I had part 2 of my lunch at U Kunštátů, comprising pickled cheese, a latte and a small glass of Ferdinand beer - the latter was on the house! Now if I could drink, would certainly have tried some of the other beers. The Ferdinand was quite good.

Next, I returned to Choco Cafe on Liliová street to grab another few handfuls of chocolate bars - folks back home often expect you to bring something back ...

Shopping done, it was a brisk walk back across Charles Bridge as I decided to attend a Baroque music performance at 6pm, held at the Church of Saint Nicholas in Little Quarter. Price of a ticket was 490 Czk which I acquired at the church entrance facing the square, 10 minutes before the performance.

The programme comprised 10 Baroque music pieces (religious and secular) by composers including J.S.Bach, Vivaldi, Telemann, Couperin and Frescobaldi and performed by a duo - a violinist and an organist, both of whom are regular performers at this church. Both performers were quite impressive and executed the pieces brilliantly, at least to these untrained ears. That was also the first time I had ever heard a grand organ played live and there are simply no words to express the feeling and impact of the sounds. Would be super to be able to hear such performances a few times a year at least ......... guess will just have to make do with recordings.

As for the church's High Baroque interior, it was easily one of the most ornate (in a fascinating way) church interior that I had seen during my tour. You can easily Google for pictures.

With the performance over in 55 minutes, I did a little more sightseeing in the Little Quarter Square before calling it a day.