CHARMING PRAGUE

The moment you wake up at 4 am to drink some water and in half an hour, you grab your camera and find yourself in the city centre… This is true for everyone because all the best moments of any journey begin with the words "Well, you did not come to sleep here, huh?".

Historical love story

So, I’m in Prague. The Charles Bridge. Just before the dawn. The link between the left bank with the Prague Castle and Mala Strana and the right bank with the Old Town and Nove Mesto. For centuries, the bridge has served as a royal passage with the leftovers of aristocrats and poor artisans, merchants and priests, crusaders and Hussites scattered all around the area. Many famous writers such as Franz Kafka, Jaroslav Hašek, Karel Čapek, Marina Tsvetayeva, Milan Kundera, composer Antonin Dvořák, film director Miloš Forman, astronomers Kepler and Tycho Brahe, alchemist Edward Kelly and many others have been repeatedly admiring the river from this spot. The paving stones still remember the Prague Uprising of 1945, the Prague Spring of 1968, and the "velvet revolution" of 1989. The legendary Charles IV laid the foundation of the bridge on July 9, 1357 at 5 hours 31 minutes (this place attracts everybody in the early morning, you cannot help it!). And now, standing in the very heart of Prague, perhaps the first and last time in your life, you try in vain to grasp the grandeur and inexorability of the Time with your sleepy and hungry consciousness. The seconds languishing in oblivion day after day and burning the stones as dark as gore. They are everywhere...

Alas, your desire to meditate miserably fails when you realize that this is perhaps the most popular and crowded tourist spot of the Czech capital at any time of the day and in any weather. Under a milky glow of the morning sun, at least a dozen photographers are already lined up trying to catch a successful shot. "Good gosh, what are they doing here?!" you think looking at a smiling couple photo-shooting their love story with the Vltava River in the background. Despite a rather chilly morning, the bride confidently demonstrates her neckline and bare shoulders. Love warms up. But she is not alone - a group of barely dressed young people, apparently clubbers hanging out all night, is heavily breathing with fresh air. Several elderly couples speaking German are walking carefully squeezing cups of coffee in their hands. Street artists lay their easels. Somewhere below the river steamers return to shore the latest (or very early) birds. Swans are peacefully snoring on the dark water, having curled their necks. Meanwhile, the sun is ceremonially rising above the spires of buildings and bright red roof tiles. Prague is preparing to meet a new day. Soon crowds of people will merge into one large multilingual, colourful and noisy hive.

Fairy tale in reality

The capital of the Czech Republic is one of the most attractive tourist destinations in Europe. According to the local statistical bureau, it was visited by 7.07 million tourists in 2016. Most visitors come from neighbouring Germany and Slovakia, but the proportion of tourists from Asia, and especially China, is growing steadily. Incidentally, the Czechs living in other regions of the country also visiting their capital city. It is not surprising that the average duration of trips is also increasing, as Prague has a huge number of places where one wants to stay a little more with each visit. Prague is really an ideal city for tourism. It is incredibly beautiful and romantic for loving couples, safe (you can hardly see policemen in the streets) for those walking with children, cheerful and accessible with a huge number of studio apartments, hostels and entertainment facilities for young people, cosy for the elderly people, and, finally, just a treasure for all beer lovers. The latter deserves a separate conversation anyway…

The entire historical city centre is well known for its postcard views of the Charles Bridge, St. Vitus Cathedral (yet another famous landmark visible from different parts of the city), Powder Tower, the Prague Loreta, Strahov Monastery, Kampa Island and so on. On the Old Town Square, you can sit on any curb, and even by the monument to Jan Hus (our old friend from schoolbooks) and enjoy the views of surrounding buildings representing an intriguing mix of different styles from the Gothic and Baroque to occasional Renaissance, or listen to the chime of bells on the nearby cathedral. You can also join the crowd gathered under the famous astronomical clock, Prague Orloj. Every hour, the upper windows open, and the wooden figures of the twelve apostles appear. One of the Spaniard tourists easily identified and named them all by name, but the tourists from the post-Soviet space will definitely recall the closing scenes of the last episode of The Adventures of Elektronik. Associations is an amazing thing, you know…

It is difficult to name all the beauties of Prague. It is simply crowded with palaces, towers, cathedrals, synagogues, churches, museums, and theatres. In the dark, the masterfully chosen lighting equipment renders all buildings and statues a volumetric effect and liveliness. They seem glowing from within. As a result, streetwalkers look like the characters of a historical film or fairy tale. Even the titles of houses sound magical: Golden snake’s, Stone mermaid’s, The golden well, The three roses, The five crowns, The three bells. Walking away from the hiking trails, you can soon find yourself near the catacombs of the Old Town Hall, in the old chapels, at the backyard courtyards and the secret alchemist street, or visit the dark passages and dungeons, numerous 300 years old breweries and mills. It seems that you can even see the shadows of the long-dead dwellers of Prague. You no longer doubt that these brutal-looking pavements still remember the roaring hooves of knightly horses and the scraping noise of carriages.

Mysticism: from myths to modern times

For all fans of mysticism and urban legends, Prague is a paradise, where ancient Slavonic traditions are intertwined with Gothic stories and Masonic mysteries. It gives you the creeps especially on Petřín Hill, a popular place since the pagan times where the people worshipped Perun, the Slavic god of thunder and lightning, and where the legendary ancestor of the Czechs, queen-prophetess Libuše founded the city. The gloomy stories about the witch Dragomir, who strangled her mother-in-law and fell into hell, date back to almost the same period. Perhaps it was just a household quarrel, but for centuries, the locals have been supporting the "horror stories" of their city, and most of the guests readily believe in them although they understand that these are nothing more than myths. Time passed but the famous clay giant Golem, whom the righteous Rabbi Loew created to protect the Jewish people, the gloomy merman Kaburek, who loves beer, fishing and strolling on Kampa Island in the night, Dr. Johann Faust, the Iron Man, infernal dogs protecting the treasure, numerous ghosts of unhappy knights, kings, priests, prostitutes and alchemists continue to faithfully serve the travel companies. And it seems nobody minds them.

Perhaps there is a good reason for it. During the reign of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II (July 18, 1552, Vienna - January 20, 1612, Prague, Bohemia), the alchemists, doctors, scientists, and even charlatans from all over the world invaded Prague. There was even a street where they all settled. Rudolph, who was also very interested in Kabbalah (a mystical medieval teaching in Judaism preaching the search for the basis of all things in the numbers and letters of the Hebrew alphabet), sheltered many Jews who fled Spain and Portugal at the end of the 15th century. It is believed that the shadow of Golem still can be seen in the attic of the oldest synagogue in Europe, Staronova. In general, the Jewish Josef Quarter in the heart of the Old City is the keeper of infamous history of the Jewish ghetto and contains many religious objects.

There is some kind of mysticism in a way how historical monuments (one can find thirty of them on the Charles Bridge only) are adjacent to modern art. These include many works of a flamboyant sculptor David Černý: Inverted Horse (a parody of the equestrian statue of Saint Wenceslaus), Embryo (imagine a building where a drain pipe looks like an umbilical cord), Empty shroud (dedication to Mozart’s Don Juan), Franz Kafka's Head, Hanging Man, who is indeed hanging from the house roof and often taken for real), penguins made from recycled plastic bottles and marching through Vltava as a symbol of protest against irrational use of natural resources, memorial to the victims of Communism (seven bronze figures at the foot of Petřín Hill), Harmony (a man meditating in traditional Indian clothes), faceless creeping Infants in the Kampa Park protesting against abortion, the John Lennon Wall on Kampa Island. It all started with a graffiti fan, who had once put his work on the wall soon after the death of the legendary musician. Some had tried to paint it over until the French ambassador, an avid fan of the Beatles, supported the initiative. The people are still leaving there wishes of love and requests to make the world a better place. So, that is the moment when a usual piece of concrete turns into a cult place bookmarked in all guides of Prague and attracting the fans, pacifists, hippies, street musicians, artists and just passers-by from all over the world. Unbelievable but it seems the wall radiates some kind of tranquillity making your soul relaxed. Yet another proof that a popular or energetically strong spot becomes such one as a result of collective good and positive thoughts.

Again and again

The trams are especially charming in Prague. They are convenient and fast, can easily squeeze into the narrowest streets and fly through numerous bridges. There is even a special night tram, which can take you to an aimless ride around the city. It's better to do it in a company, but silently, without even really thinking about what's going on outside the window, to hide your phone and camera, just to stare and absorb the atmosphere. Also, it is also impossible to imagine a city without a river with such an affectionate name, Vltava. It is quite clean for a river running through the city, with a lot of walking steamers, boats and catamarans, swans and islands. But it is best to admire Prague from the numerous viewing platforms, most of which also host magnificent parks. I was a bit unlucky as I could get only to the observation deck near the Prague Castle, where one needs to scramble to a fairly high wall in order to get the most advantageous point of view. The moment you realize that if you get up at 4 am and go for a walk in full strength and mood, you feel reluctant to overcome any more obstacles after some time.

There are cities that you still remember but you put a tick that you have been there and soon get relaxed. But there are cities that attract repeatedly. Like Moscow or Istanbul. You want to see them in different seasons or with other people, to add the emotions of your beloved ones and friends to yours. The Czech capital is one of them for sure. It is believed that the Charles Bridge is even more beautiful under the snow, and the whole of Prague on Christmas turns into one continuous fairy tale. But in autumn when the leaves fall and fogs are usual, the degree of mysticism and romance gets higher.

Gustav Meyrink, an expressionist writer, playwright and mystic who used to live in Prague for many years and who had literally made the city a character of his novels, once wrote that Prague "manipulates its inhabitants like a puppeteer from their first to their last breath". Perhaps a similar fate awaits the guests of this magnificent city. By the way, maybe that is why there are so many puppets sold in souvenir shops of Prague? Mysticism? Maybe…