To the top of the tower on the top of the hill, I say!
With potentially poor weather on Days 11 & 12, on Day 10 I chose to do what I figured would be the least fun day to do in bad weather. Petrin Hill is a 400 foot hill overlooking the city of Prague. Up on top of it is 200 ft tall Petrin Tower. My goal for the day was to make it up to the top of the tower.
I set out from my hostel, and made my way through town towards the Vltava River. Where I crossed there was a small island in the middle that had a path around it, as well as a restaurant and what looked like in summer might be a small music stage. After a brief walk around it, I continued across the bridge. There are two smallish dams on the river through this section, and on the western bank of the river was a lock to let boats upriver. I also saw a muskrat on the the banks of the river.
A few blocks from the river is the entrance to Petrin Hill. Petrin Hill is a park with paths that crisscross the side of the hill, through orchards, gardens, forests, and vineyards. I started up the hill and about 10 minutes in, I realized that I had never stopped to get food on my way like I planned. I figured I probably needed a bit more energy if I was going to make it up the hill so I set out to find something that looked good. I walked past a place that had a sign with the words “Hot Chocolate” and “Waffles” on it, and I figured that sounded good. The hot chocolate was the thickest hot chocolate I’ve ever had. It was so good…and trust me, I know hot chocolate. I’m a connoisseur of hot chocolate. The waffle came with whipped cream, chocolate, a fruit jam, kiwi, berries, pear, and apple. The waffle was somewhat flavorless alone, but once you got the whipped cream and jam on it, it was good.
Filled up with food, I was now able to make the trek up the hill. Since I basically had all day to spend there, I was in no hurry to get to the top. I zigzagged around the park’s paths. In some places the path was quite steep. I was impressed with the parents with strollers in some of these areas. I eventually had to take off my coat because I had warmed up so much. However, as I got close to the top, the wind started to pick up and the coat went back on.
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| No, not steep at all. |
I had decided I was going to swing by Strahov Monastery first, before heading up to the tower, but when I walked into the ticket office, I found that they were about to take a break for lunch, so I decided to come back after I went up to Petrin Tower. The two weren’t very far apart.
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| Strahov Monastery |
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| Petrin Tower |
From up this high on the hill, the view of Prague was amazing. Most of the houses in this part of town have orange slate roofs, so it makes for a pretty picture from up high. I made it up to the tower, and bought a ticket to go up. It is 299 steps to the top of Petrin Tower, much like Bunker Hill Monument in Boston, it is breathtaking, as in, when you get to the top, you are gasping for breath from climbing all those stairs. It was funny because you could tell who had just arrived at the top by how heavily they were breathing. The tower was built in 1891 as a sort of rival to/inspired by the Eiffel Tower. Being up on top of a large hill, it is technically higher, but the actual tower isn’t as high. It also only took 2 months to build. It has two viewing platforms and the view from either one is fantastic.
By the time I came back down from the top of Petrin Tower and walked back to Strahov Monastery, it was back open for the afternoon. I started out by visiting the library building. There were two libraries: the Philosophical Library which carries books related to the sciences, and the Theological Library which contains books related to religion and theology. Both are absolutely gorgeous and it is no wonder they are found on lists of “The World’s Most Beautiful Libraries.” After the library, I stopped by the church, before heading to the gallery and the exhibit on the monks who lived there and St Norbert who started the monastery.
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| The Philosophical Room |
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| The Theological Room |
I once again zigzagged my way around the side of Petrin hill, trying to avoid taking the same path as I already had, if possible. At the bottom I stopped at the Memorial to the Victims of Communism. Czechoslovakia was under communist rule from 1948 to 1989. The memorial is for those who were killed, tortured, arrested, and forced to live their lives in a way that would keep them from being killed, tortured, or arrested.
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| Memorial to the Victims of Communism |
Because it was a nice day, and still somewhat early, I made my way to what they call the John Lennon Wall. It is a graffiti tribute to John Lennon that changes from time to time.
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| The John Lennon Wall...this end seemed to be rather Lennon-less, but the other end had a few murals of him. |
I then crossed the Charles Bridge which was built in the second half of the 14th century and is one of Prague’s major landmarks. I took a quick wander through the busy Old Town quarter, before heading back to the hostel for the night. And what a quiet night it was, because I had no roommates. I was the only one in a 6 bed dorm.
On Day 2 of Prague, I set out knowing that I might happen across some rain, sleet, or snow. Stop #1 was the Franz Kafka Head. I kind of feel like it is fitting that the man who wrote The Metamorphosis, has a weird mirror-like head statue in central Prague, that rotates once an hour. It is also right outside a 3-story shopping center.
From Franz Kafka, I headed down to the Memorial to the Heroes of the Heydrich Terror. The memorial consists of a plaque on the outside of the Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius, and an education room, and memorial in the crypt where the assassins of SS Officer Reinhard Heydrich, a high-ranking member Nazi official in Czechoslovakia. A group of men who had all fled Czechoslovakia in the early days of WWII because they did not want to fight alongside the Germans, parachuted into Czechoslovakia, with a plot to sabotage the Germans and to assassinate Heydrich. They accomplished their task on May 27, 1942 (though Heydrich didn’t die until June 4th). The Nazis were obviously furious and set out to find the assassins. Before having found where the men were hiding, the Nazis arrested anyone even loosely tied to the men, and massacred or arrested nearly the entire towns of Lidice and Lezaky before burning it to the ground because they thought there was a tie to the assassination. They hid in the crypt of the Cathedral of saints Cyril and Methodius in central Prague for 21 days before being informed on by a traitor within the groups’ ranks (one not hiding in the crypt). The Nazis laid seige on the church. The men in the crypt fought until it was obvious they would not make it out, and took their own lives. The assassination was a huge moral boost for the resistance in Czechoslovakia during the remainder of the war, as well as showing the Allied forces that the country did not favor the Germans.
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| Bullet damage is still visible on the outside of the Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius where those who assassinated Heydrich hid. |
From the memorial, I headed down to the Vltava River where there is an area where they have a farmers’ market…even in sleet the market was open with people there.
From the market, I continued down the river to Vysehrad. Legend has it that Vysehrad was where the first settlement in the Prague area was made, though no one can confirm that. Vysehrad is up on a fortified hill, has a number of buildings, a church, and a cemetery. The cemetery is very crowded based on the size. A number of famous individuals are buried there, though truth be told, the only name I recognized was composer Antonin Dvorak.
At this point it was only around 12:30 and I had already visited the places on my schedule for the day. I decided I was going to head up to the Powder Tower. Really, the Powder Tower is just another old tower in town, so it was a quick 5 minute visit once I got there.
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| The Powder Tower |
With nothing else planned for the day, I trekked back to the hostel. I stopped for lunch at what seems to be a local fast food place called Bageterie Boulevard. They have sandwiches on baguettes and delicious potato wedges. I got back to the hostel sometime around 2-2:30 and relaxed for a bit. Feeling like I ought to do something, I researched “Best Hot Chocolate in Prague” and set out for Chocafe which did indeed have one of the most amazing hot chocolates I’ve ever had. It was so thick! I have another place marked, to try tomorrow. With my hot chocolate to keep me warm, since it was the coldest day of my trip so far (around freezing), I headed back to Charles Bridge. It was nearing sunset and I wanted to get a view of Prague Castle lit up before calling it quits for the night.
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