Prattling around Prague

Prague Castle is the biggest castle in the world.  Did you know that?  It’s also where the Bohemian Crown Jewels are kept, and is, in fact, a collection of buildings, not just one big stone fort topped with flags.  These buildings include a riding school, ball game hall, and something called the Powder Tower – a stumpy column topped with a conical hat which looks like a rocket that might launch at any moment.

In short, it is an interesting place indeed.

But the city has plenty else to offer, along with a plethora of Prague hotels that ensure there’s a place for people of every age and disposition to rest their head.  Charles Bridge, for example, is a romantic half-kilometre stretch that connects Prague’s east to its west, crammed with hawkers and buskers vying frantically for the patronage of tourists who swarm the attraction every day.  Completed around 1400, the bridge was commissioned by Charles IV in 1357, and has straddled the Vltava river resolutely ever since.

The Astronomical Clock that sits in Prague’s Old Town Square is a sublime example of an art that has been in existence for centuries: clock making.  The first mechanical clocks can be traced back to around 1300, while the first known mention of the term ‘clockmaker’ occurred in 1390, which, coincidently, falls shortly before Prague’s masterpiece was created.  The Astronomical Clock’s dials represent, among a variety of astronomical constellations, the sun and moon, and, rather delightfully, 12 apostolic statues make an appearance on the hour, every hour, creating a quaint spectacle that never fails to impress gaping tourists.

It’s difficult to visit Prague and miss Wenceslas Square, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that began life as a horse market, before being transformed into the impressive expanse we see today in the late 18th century.  An imposing horse statue presides over the square, which was named after Saint Wenceslas, the patron saint of Bohemia, and was, fittingly, the site of the proclamation of independence of Czechoslovakia in 1918.

And there is, of course, plenty of food and drink in Prague to sate the appetite of weary tourists and locals alike.  Be sure to try cabbage soup (sounds gruesome, tastes delightful), sirloin of beef (classic dish with a Czech twist), and a hefty helping of apple strudel (have you ever met someone who doesn’t like strudel?), as well as a selection of squidgy dumplings.  Wash the lot down with the national drink: beer (try Kozel, which is Czech for ‘he-goat’, a beverage which rather polarises opinion!).