On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
I love this unique view of Prague that I doubt we would see in any guidebook!
It was six months ago yesterday that we lost Alain. I like to think that he would be pleased that On The Road lives on, and I have a feeling that Alain would have particularly loved this quirky set of photos from Gin & Tonic.
In case anyone wants to revisit our memorial to Alain: Fly Away Home
Gin & Tonic
Was sorting through my (many) photos and came across a set from a visit to Prague one summer a few years back. I’ve loved Prague for years, but so, unfortunately, have lots of other people, and it’s really overrun with drunk tourists, at least Staré Město (Old town.) I much prefer Malá Strana anyway, (the other side of the river). And I won’t bore you with pics of the Charles Bridge or the Prague Castle which you’ve seen a million times. Note that a couple of years after my visit, there was a huge flood on the Vltava, and I haven’t been back since, so I don’t know how they’ve rebuilt.
The Jazz Dock, a cool little club at river level. Ended up largely under water, but I’ve read that they re-built.
The lock operator’s booth.
One of several facades I shot.
More facades.
Mason wanted.
Crocheted car.
Penguins.
The famous statue.
Roses.
Quiet neighborhood.
The Presidency of the United States Has Been Penetrated By Russian Intelligence: The US Intelligence Community Determined That Rudy Giuliani Was the Target of Russian Intelligence To Use Him To Influence The President & the President Was Informed of That Finding In December 2019!
JanieM
Nice pics. That last one is especially enticing — a peaceful place to hang out would be nice right now.
Mike in NC
We spent a few days in Prague enroute to a river cruise on the Danube in 2010, a million years ago. Loved it.
sdhays
My wife especially wants to go to Prague. It looks beautiful.
WaterGirl
@JanieM: When I read your comment I was thinking that the last picture was the one with the guy peeing. I kind of did a double-take and then checked on the last picture.
JanieM
@WaterGirl: So you’re confessing that you had gotten stuck on the one of the guy peeing…. ;-)
Gin & Tonic
@JanieM: So that’s a very short canal called Čertovka, which delineates a neighborhood called Kampa, about half of which is taken up by a museum by the same name. Very quiet and secluded, and just a stone’s throw from the old city.
I was there during the 2010 World Cup, sitting in a quiet courtyard in Kampa having a glass of wine, and could hear the roar of all the Dutch fans in Old Town when they beat Uruguay in the semi-final.
Gin & Tonic
@WaterGirl: Didn’t you say the canal one was your favorite back when I submitted these?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
just an incredible city, I’ve been there twice, in 1989 and 2019, both times for very short stays. It’s definitely a city that merits more time. According to one tour guide last year, it’s very popular for young Brits on drinking vacations.
DaveInOz
We started our European holiday with a few days in Prague two years ago. Agree with you over the crowds but you can get away from them. I’d recommend Vysehrad Castle (the other one) overlooking the river a bit upstream. We virtually had the place to ourselves unlike the other castle.
I’d also recommend doing a Taste of Prague tour. Lots of interesting food and you get to meet some really interesting people.
PJ
The big flood was in 2002, which I had the fortune to witness. The Jazz Dock is still there – I saw Chuck Prophet there a few years ago.
WaterGirl
@JanieM: No, I suspect it’s because that was the 8th picture, which is all OTR normally allows.
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: It absolutely is! Keep in mind that by the time these post, I have probably seen the post 4 times.
Gin & Tonic
@PJ: There was another in 2013.
JanieM
@WaterGirl: You know I was kidding, right?
@Gin & Tonic: I don’t know much about Prague…are there lots of canals? Can you get a boat/cab ride to or through places like the one in the picture?
Gin & Tonic
@JanieM: There are not a lot of canals, no. There is a large river, the Vltava, that flows through the center of the city. It later flows into the Elbe, and thence to the North Sea. The one I pictured has no boat traffic. There are tour boats on the Vltava, but I didn’t take one.
WaterGirl
@JanieM: Of course!
randy khan
This brings back great memories. I loved Prague when we visited. One reason is that the city retains a lot of its character because it never got a bunch of Soviet-style buildings despite being in the Soviet bloc after WWII. I think we saw one while we were there (and a fine example it was, too, flanked by two Soviet realist statues of workers who, having flung off their (metaphorical ) chains, struck heroic, bare-chested poses). Another is all of the cobblestone sidewalks, seemingly in dozens of different patterns of dark and light stones. I seriously think I took 25 or 30 photos of them.
PaulWartenberg
oooh, Prague is one of the places I’d LOVE to go, if I could ever afford the trip. /sigh
Go hang out with the Golem, get involved in spy intrigue (or is that Vienna?), get into an argument over my terrible German translation skills, the usual…
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
I was in Prague in 1998 and really liked it. One surprise was that it was in Bohemia and had a history of being “Bohemian” and artsy. While researching before going, I learned the word “defenestration” and was astonished both that the word existed and was such a major part of Czech history. There was a lot of great classical music concerts available, especially Mozart, who has major ties to the city. I particularly remember a great museum on the same square as the gothic cathedral, which contained icons amd medieval statues among other art.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@PaulWartenberg: I don’t know what it is like now, but in 1998 everything was amazingly cheap.
Mary G
Another place high on my bucket list. I spent several hours on day “walking” around Prague on Google Earth. The architecture is fantastic.
cain
I was in Brno and then Prague for a conference and then kicked off a month long vacation visiting many places. It was fun. It was one of the few times that my ex-wife and I didn’t fight while we were on ostensibly having fun. Anyways, one thing was that the drinks were sooo cheap. I had some great stuff and it hardly cost me anything.
Going to Czech Republic is definitely easy on the money.
The people were stoic for the most part. But they took community seriously, helping the elderly and all of that. Good people.
Steeplejack
Damn it, Gin & Tonic, I was hoping you would slip a “Czechia” in there somewhere.
randy khan
@PaulWartenberg:
Outside the Jewish cemetery, there are stands selling golems. We bought a couple – one for us and one for my father-in-law. And the rabbi in the golem story’s headstone is right by the path you take through the cemetery, so it’s naturally got a lot of stones on it.* **
*It’s not a coincidence that it’s right by the path – the headstones are not over the actual graves in most cases. The cemetery is actually several layers deep because Jews weren’t allowed to buy property in Prague for centuries; when the cemetery filled up, they took out the tombstones, added a layer of dirt, put the tombstones back and started burying people again.
**For people who might not know what this means, there’s a Jewish tradition of leaving a pebble or small stone on a grave when you’ve visited.
scav
I swear there are parts of Prague that conform to Esher’s geometry. Also, at least when
I was there, the castle cleared out at night. We could wander over and look over the city at night and I was once in that Golden Lane when it was absolutely deserted.
BigJimSlade
@PJ: Chuck Prophet?! I saw him in DC, well, Arlington, VA, in a small bar – what a lucky show! His most recent album was Soap and Water, so it was a great show (that’s my favorite album of his). Afterwards when he was signing stuff and talking to the fans, he had a funny riff about Texas. He said something like, “they’re a little too into themselves, they have Texas chili, Texas football. We have football in California. You know what we call it? Football!!!”
The year I was in that area, I saw 9 or 10 shows! Like you saw CP in Prague, I had a chance to see Joan As Policewoman in Rome, but eventually ended up catching a TINY show in DC – it was great more soulful than I realized her music was – I loved it!
BigJimSlade
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): When I first heard there was a word for throwing someone (or something?) out of a window, for a moment the world became a little more bright and wonderful – I just couldn’t believe there was a word for that! And a little more horrifying if it was ‘someone’ as opposed to ‘something’.
Calouste
Prague. Been there twice, still need to go back to see it by daylight.
Mike in NC
In 2010 one of our tour guides stated that Prague was a very drab city during the Communist era. To understand that, see “Operation Daybreak”, a WW2 film made on location in 1975.
CaseyL
I visited Prague back in 2005, and adored the place. Prices had gone up considerable since the 90s – locals complained about inflation quite a bit – but were still inexpensive on our scale. Had one of the best meals of my life for about nine bucks.
What I most remember about running around town was the sheer beauty, the artwork everywhere. I remember turning a corner and seeing a gorgeous, gilded and painted statue in a niche on a street corner. It was unexpected, unheralded, no fancy plaques… just an everyday thing, no need to pay special attention to it.
Another thing I remember was going to the Muchas museum. I was excited, because I love Muchas’ art. And when I went in, I was… underwhelmed, because the museum had none of his more well-known works. Mostly sketches, some furniture… it was all the stranger because I had, just a few months previously, gone to a Muchas exhibition at the Fry Museum in Seattle, which was so excellent I didn’t want to leave.
I wasn’t with a tour. My aunt knew some women who liked to plan overseas trips, and we went with them. So we did some of the touristy stuff, but also had a lot of time to go exploring on our own.
We stayed in a guesthouse, where breakfast was delivered every morning: a sizeable basket of incredible home-made pastries and breads (and, if I remember correctly, yogurts). We took public transit everywhere and had a glorious time.
YY_Sima Qian
Wife (girlfriend then) and I had a wonderful time at Prague (and Czechia in general) in 2017. October is a great time to be there, especially when the sun shine through between the rain showers. As it was during China National Day Golden Week and Mid-Autumn Festival (which is also celebrated in Korea), the place was absolutely overrun by Chinese (from the Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong), Koreans and Japanese. Cesky Krumlov was even worse. Karlovy Vary was filled with Russian tourists. On the other hand, Olomuc, Brno and Plzen were practically deserted, and were quite charming. Probably an unexpected comment for Brno, but while there we happened onto the practice of a girl’s choir at Brno’s cathedral (for that evening’s performance), it was heavenly.
We took the trains going from place to place, really enjoyed the Bohemian and Moravian countryside. However, we (and other passengers) were constantly told to get off the train half way through the journey, and herded onto busses to complete the journey. Never figured out why.
Sm*t Cl*de
Thanks for all these. I am fond of Prague (despite the Staré Město congestion). A family member spent time there in the late 1930s liaising with the people who would later become ÚVOD, so we all think of the Czech lands as one of our homelands.
Lapassionara
@Mike in NC: we were there in 1972, and we loved it.
Freemark
Was in Prague in 2003. My absolute favorite city. Want to go back there again so badly.