Prague,
queen of central ...
July 13 to 20, 2019
From what angle, from which end to discover, to visit Prague?
First of all, what a priori?
A city appreciated worldwide, especially for its culture, its famous 18th century cafes, with an impression of shiny paving stones for passers-by in a hurry at night under the wan lights, but also of youth parties and hot chocolates, dark neighborhoods like ghettos where prowling the Golem, a heritage still fresh from the Soviet era, unparalleled architectural riches in a dense urban city, almost suffocating.
That was before , in the hazy twists and turns of memories of readings, films ...
Then what impressions on arrival ?
The river, with its 300 meters to Charles Bridge , and more than 400 meters at its widest, open to the sky, peaceful, flows north then slowly forks downstream to the east at the foot of large hills.
It is the Vltava (go and pronounce such a name!). which in German is none other than Moldau, a name - because it is German - that the Czechs find it difficult to accept.
It is a tributary of the Elbe into which it flows downstream at Melnik, some 30 km north as the crow flies.
Long afterwards, the long Elbe River flows into the North Sea in Hamburg.
B
D
TO
VS
Within the vast historical perimeter, we gradually understand that districts are differentiated by their geographical location, but also by their own history.
The river is above all the axis around which they were formed through the ages.
The four main districts are gathered administratively in 1784 to form what is today the limit of the old town. That of the modern city now extends far beyond.
We will use systematically and to simplify typography and alphabet french :
A - Hradcany and the castle to the northwest
B - Mala Strana (the "Petit Côté" in French) on the left, therefore western bank of the Vltava, at the foot of Hradcany; it was founded in 1257.
C - Staré Mesto , the Old Town, on the right bank, which begins to form in the 11th century and which encloses the Jewish quarter of Josefov
D - Nové Mesto , the New Town, created in 1348
Crossed by multiple stone bridges, its banks are adorned with a row of tall and delicate Art Nouveau facades, light raspberry pastels, pistachio, coral, salmon, saffron.
But that can be savored in many other streets of almost every neighborhood, with extraordinary extravagance.
The oldest historic districts retain superb Baroque houses, some of whose facades (if not having entered them) are true wonders. Not to mention the countless churches - historic Prague is called "the city of a hundred spiers" - from the same period, typical silhouettes on the outside, intense decorative load, sometimes kitsch, on the inside.
Successive waves of blossoming artistic find their roots in the history of the city, Bohemia and Europe. See " Four epochs of artistic development ... ".
Besides the famous Charles Bridge which unites the two shores, Prague is rightly proud of two famous and remarkable sites, each of which concentrates a major part of its history and are therefore intimately linked to it.
These are prague castle on the hill in the Hradcany district on the left bank to the northwest, and the Old Town Square in the district of the same name on the right bank to the northeast. See also " Other fragments of history ".
Prague is also famous for its cultural life, which again finds its source in its long history, but also in its central European geographical location.
A fruitful tourist vein is of course associated with it.
See "Touristico-cultural patchwork and other originalities " .