Czech Rep, Day 11 – Prague

September 2014

Quick links : Halal Food  Andel Market  Dancing Building  Kafka Museum   Petrin Hill/Petrin Tower  Powder Gate Photo spot
Like yesterday, I was out to see Prague at dawn. Today I headed the opposite direction towards Powder Gate tower. Like Charles bridge yesterday, the streets were almost empty, a stark contrast during the day.

First past the deserted outdoor Hard Rock cafe and the still shut outlet/indoor cafe. Then past the astronomical clock and the empty Old Town square and onwards to the Powder Gate tower. What a peaceful walk and the morning chill makes it refreshing.

Hard Rock outdoor cafe.

The still shut Hard Rock in the early morning.

The Astronomical clock from across the Old Town square.

Street to the Power Gate in the background.

The Powder Gate in the early morning.

After breakfast, we headed over to the Dancing Building … that unmistakable landmark of Prague. As famous it could be, there were still empty floors for rent after all these years.

Prague Dancing building.

Lots still available for rent.

Diagonally opposite the Dancing Building, on river Vltava, there were 2 floating restaurants.

Prague floating restaurant.

From here, we took the tram to the nearby Andel station crossing the Vltava river. On Fridays, there is a morning market selling vegetables, fruits, breads, flowers and the like right in-front of Andel station. A big supermarket at the station, would fulfill your other requirements.

Friday morning market in-front of Andel station.

Your week’s requirement can be gotten here.

Varieties of bread to choose from.

The flower section.

From Andel station, we took a tram to Ujezd to go up Petrin Tower on Petrin Hill. You go up to Petrin Hill via a funicular using the normal tram ticket of 24CZK each way. On reaching Petrin Hill, you’ll walk across a beautifully maintained rose garden to the tower. Entrance to the 63.5m high Petrin tower is 120CZK, and you can either walk up 299 steps or take a small lift for an additional 60CZK. We choose the lift up but for the descend, we walked down instead.

Petrin Hill rose garden.

Another view of the rose garden.

The Petrin Tower looming from the rose garden. A short walk from the funicular stop.

Closer view of the Petrin Tower.

Benches to relax at the rose garden.

The Petrin tower is definitely one of the best photo spot in Prague. Although we went up at 12:00 p.m. there were still mist in the far background. On a clear day, you should be able to get a  beautiful photograph of Prague city.

Prague castle complex from Petrin tower.

The Charles bridge from the tower.

Close by to the funicular station at the Petrin foot hill coming up from Ujezd tram stop, you’ll see these statues. The Memorial to the victims of Communism.

The disappearing man statues by David Cerny.

Concluded our Petrin Hill & Petrin Tower visit, we took tram No. 22 towards Malostranske namesti. A short walk off the Charles bridge to the left, is Frank Kafka museum. These pissing statues will be greeting you.

Pissing statues outside Frank Kafka museum.

Towards your right, from the Charles bridge just before Kafka museum, is Prague’s narrowest street … probably Czech’s narrowest. So narrow, it has traffic lights for pedestrians. You can only walk one abreast.

Prague or world’s narrowest street. See the pedestrian traffic light?

To end our day, we had a late lunch at Istanbul Kebab, a turkish halal restaurant. It’s location is right in-front of The Palladium side entrance. It’s diagonally opposite Hotel Ibis Old town close to Republiky tram stop. Muslim travelers may want to take note of this eatery or alternatively at Nordsee inside Palladium mall’s food court.

Turkish restaurant, Istanbul Kebab besides Palladium mall. Tasty food.

Location of Istanbul Kebab. Nordsee is inside Palladium on the food court level.