The Tram System
….Fantastic! At 7-minute intervals, trams on 4-5 different routes go through one stop, showing timetables for each route including evening and weekend times. And they are on time. The courtesy shown to older and handicapped people; being helped on and off, always given seats, is considerable. We always marvel at the trams and look forward each trip to our first tram ride. …will it still be as good? It always is. I’ve been to many cities in many countries but never come across a city transport system that compares……and Prague has an underground and buses too!
By contrast the railway system is like going back to the dark ages….ancient engines pulling ancient carriages on ancient tracks through ancient (mostly-closed) stations and beyond the rattling windows a landscape littered with rusty disused sidings, disused lines, rolling stock, dilapidated buildings and trains that suddenly come to a complete standstill for no apparent reason! The streamlined double-decker train though, what a difference!
Food
Being a ‘careful’ Scot, I do not frequent the upmarket fashionable restaurants common to all Capital cities, but have found a multiplicity of places with good food and drink (especially beer), though I’m sad to find that La Casa Blu may not have its lease renewed by the City Council after 13 years in its current location. Great food and atmosphere, it will be sadly missed. We have enjoyed many good meals there and in the many wonderful restaurants and bars across Prague.
People
Well, there’s a language problem at first, but English, a bit of French, German and a pair of hands and contact is made. You begin to realize that Czechs are not at all dour and insular despite the dark clothes and seemingly glum faces, and it is nice to find recognition on return visits from the locals we have met. Camaraderie exists; it just takes time to grow.
Dogs
I love dogs and it’s good to be able to take them into restaurants and pubs and on trams. This trip I think I’ve seen more dogs than ever before. Prague must be Dog Capital of the world per head of population …unfortunately Prague is also in the running to win the title Dog-shit Capital of the world. The city streets outside the centre are less than desirable for walking on!
Buildings
Prague has wonderful old buildings that never cease to amaze me, some interesting new ones, and great statues. On successive visits I look upwards more and more and return to some of the centuries-old great churches, appreciating yet again the magnificence of the building itself and decoration within. I cannot visualise how the roof paintings in the Church of St. James were done; they are fantastic and they had more impact on me than the Sistine Chapel, which admittedly, I saw over 50 years ago!
Special Tip for Tourists
Keeping fit as a tourist is easy. Just try to cross the street on a pedestrian crossing before the green man turns red!