Prague — Art Nouveau Cafes

Posted on November 12, 2013 by Ginger

We were looking for the most beautiful cafe in Prague. This is hard work, since so many of Prague’s cafes might, in one respect or another, lay claim to this title. Besides, there’s no way we could check them all out in only three days in the city, not to mention the harmful effects of the caffeine overdose.

Fortunately, we had a tip from one of our guidebooks–Obecni Dum is an Art Nouveau gem. Located on the ground floor of the Prague Municipal House on Republic Square, the cafe looks out over the vibrant street scene. And it is elegant in its grace and proportions, and in its understated Art Nouveau ornamentation.

We also came upon the nearby Cafe Imperial, a much more wildly decorated Art Nouveau gem. Alas, we were by then all “coffee”d out. The scowling waiters did not seem to take kindly to tourists coming in to photograph their establishment without partaking of its fare–but I was able to get in a few apologetic shots.

Three markets in Prague

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Ginger

Crazy as Dan and I are for markets, it should come as no surprise that we stumbled upon not one but three of them while we were in Prague. One–the Havelske Trziste–is a permanent fixture of the Old Town. The other two, lacking names, seemed just to spring up, dare I say, to welcome us?

The Havelske Trziste (Havel’s Market) is a permanent market of fruits and vegetables, flowers, knick-knacks, and souvenirs. It’s small and charmingly situated in the middle of a pretty street. It seems to cater to tourists as much as to locals. While we were charmed–as we usually are, by markets–it wasn’t one of those ones that would knock you off your feet.

On our way to the palace compound, we stumbled upon a kind of French market in the Na Kampe Square just across the Charles Bridge in Lesser Town. There is no regular market in this square, although on July 14th they hold a French market here, across from the French embassy–as you might expect. This one, in early September, must have resulted from an excess of Francophile enthusiasm. We could have bought everything from olive oils to olives to grilled-vegetable wraps to lavender sachets and woven goods. There was even free music.

The next day, earmarked for exploration in a section of the old city known for its art-deco buildings and ornamentation…

…we came across a market that offered, among the fruits and vegetables and tourist goods…

…some interesting crafts. Here we watched a woman making hand-blown glass beads;

a stall selling sausages of venison and wild boar;

a stall selling home-made honey mead;

a craft brewery offering its wares next to a stall with hand-sewn cloth dolls and other items;

a woman weaving light-as-air shawls and afghans on an old-fashioned loom.

And–of all things–a team of people determined to make the Guinness Book of World Records with the World’s Largest Salad.

All of their work seems to be paying off: They’ve brought out the scale.

76.4kg!

And it’s beautiful!

Prague — the Charles Bridge

Posted on November 10, 2013 by Ginger

We decided to walk across the Charles Bridge, or Karlovy Most, a beautiful pedestrian bridge across the Vitavy River in the old city of Prague.

View of the Charles Bridge

We, that is, and about ten thousand other tourists.

You can see a good number of them in this view of the Gothic bridge tower guarding the Old Town end of the bridge.

The views across (and up and down) the river are lovely.

The Manes Bridge

The Lesser Town (with St. Vitus Cathedral)

Old Town with painted house

Old Town with churches

The bridge is adorned with thirty mostly Baroque statues–replicas of the originals, which are now housed in the National Museum.

On the day we were there, it was also adorned with a talented band of jazz musicians.

Prague — St. Vitus Cathedral

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Ginger

Since I’ve gotten on the topic of beautiful churches, it’s natural to turn next to St. Vitus Cathedral up in the Royal Compound. Like all of the tourist attractions in Prague when we were there, it was, well, full of tourists. Despite which, the soaring nave was awesome and stunning.

Outside of the space as a whole, I most loved the stained glass windows. Many an ancient European stained glass window was lost in the bombings of World War II, so it was particularly gratifying to see many of St. Vitus’s windows intact.

St. Vitus Cathedral also contains the tomb of King Wenceslas I of Bohemia, a.k.a. “Good King Wenceslas” of Christmas carol fame. In fact, he was a Duke, not a King, but was posthumously elevated to kinghood. Son of Vratislas I, Wenceslas ascended the throne in A.D. 925 at the age of eighteen and was the founder of the cathedral dedicated to St. Vitus. He was murdered by his brother Boleslav the Cruel in A.D. 935 at the age of 28. Wenceslas had a reputation for princely character and strength exceeded only by his piety. He was elevated to sainthood shortly after his death.

The chapel containing his tomb is beautiful.

Prague — the library at the Strahov Monastery

Posted on November 6, 2013 by Ginger

Some people say it’s the most beautiful library in the world–but it’s not on our tourist maps. The maps focus on the central areas, but the Strahov Monastery is farther out of the center, outside the borders of the maps. But we manage to determine from a very small map in one of our books the approximate location–at least good enough to figure out which train to take. We have three-day unlimited train passes, so getting on and off trains is very easy for us. And after all, once you’re on the right train, a monastery of such significance should be easy to spot, right?

Wrong.

So somewhere near the end of the line, when the car is almost empty, an elderly gentleman asks if we are lost, and can he help us find something. We tell him we’re looking for the Strahov Monastery, and he tells us that we’ve gone too far, and exactly how many stops we have to go back (three). We do as told, and find the monastery, which from the outside is quite modest. Only the spires of the church are visible from the street below.

We pay the fee to enter the library, which is on the second floor of one of the buildings. And indeed it is beautiful.

This is the “Philosophical Hall,” built in the late 1700s. My pictures gives a good idea of the room, but you can find the Picture To End All Pictures here. Zoom in for close-ups of the ceiling or of the books. Somehow, these old volumes tied a knot in my throat that doesn’t seem to want to go away.

There was, it turned out, also a second library room, known as the “Theological Hall,” that was built a hundred years earlier. If not so gracefully proportioned, it was most wonderfully decorated.

The monastery church, the Basilica of the Assumption, has been rebuilt a number of times and now looks to be of a similar Baroque vintage as the Theological Hall.

After enjoying these sights, a nearby restaurant offers a view of a different kind.

We had a dinner reservation elsewhere that evening, so we planned to go back for dinner the next evening. Alas, the weather turned cold and windy and rainy. But someday–who knows?–we may yet return. Especially now that we know where to get off the train.

Prague – streetscapes

Posted on November 5, 2013 by Ginger

I feel a need to get out of the details for a while. So let’s look at these buildings in context–and in the city, that context is the street.

Come take a walk with us…

And finally, a street in the local neighborhood of our hotel, the excellent Louren Hotel, not in the tourist area but in District 3, a neighborhood just a couple of metro stops away from the city center.

Prague – Building details

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Ginger

Prague buildings are to architecture as Viennese pastry is to food.

Beautiful, sweet, and delicious. Hard to carry on without other things in the diet, too. Maybe now I have to visit some ugly city just to cleanse my palate.

Okay, that was a joke.

I know I said I wasn’t going to do any more posts about the human figures on Prague’s buildings. But. I can’t not. They really are everywhere. However, in this post I will focus on ornamental features found near the tops of various buildings, including (where it happens) human figures.

Some of this ornamentation is quite ornate.

It can be sculpted or painted.

We saw a lovely sundial…

…and elegant second- and third-floor bridges between buildings.

This crowded boat looks like it might have some allegorical significance–but what?

Best of all, these rich buildings seem content to live together side by side. It’s like having all the helpings of dessert you want and never getting sick!

Prague — human figures are everywhere, part 4

Posted on November 2, 2013 by Ginger

This is the last post on human figures on Prague’s buildings, I promise. (Though not the last on other aspects of Prague’s buildings, to come.)

You may remember the courtly gentleman and lady in yesterday’s post. Today, we have a pair of farmers near the top of this much-painted building.

Here are some close-ups.

I’m sure there’s some allegorical significance in the figures on the next building. The man on the left appears to be holding a hammer; the woman on the right is holding a basket, perhaps for harvesting. But what to make of the central figure? She wears a crown and carries a sword, and the infant beside her has a shield. (Don’t look at me; I’m just the reporter.)

I’m not going to be much help with the next building, either. Perhaps the central figures are Adam and Eve, with a golden apple. At the left, a young man watches a flight of giant swans; at the right, a young father points out some pretty futuristic buildings to his son.

The next building has a row of pictures all along the roofline…

…but what I really want to show you is the lovely naked people (at first I thought they were angels, but that appears to be fabric, not wings) at the corner…

…and (this is really too much) cute little cherub heads in the stonework just below.

Finally, we come to a building whose figures I do understand. And I can get with its program. I cannot vouch for the Hotel Koruna as a hotel, but it appears to be advertising its Happy Hour…

…with Bacchus presiding up above…

…and one of his Bacchae, somewhat disheveled, carrying a jug of wine just below.

Prague — human figures are everywhere, part 3

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Ginger

Everywhere you look in Prague, there are people.

With so many visitors everywhere, even in the off-season, you would hardly think the buildings need to add more people of their own.

But they do. And delightfully so. Today, let’s just take a look at one building.

Up on the top floor there seems to be some kind of motto, flanked by a man and a woman.

I wish I could read it, but the letters are so old-fashioned I can’t quite make them all out.

I do know, however, that the man and woman seem gentle, courteous, well-brought-up. The kind of people you might like to get to know.

And, as if this weren’t enough–take a closer look at the corner of the building.

Here we have a woman framed top and bottom like a saint, offering the ends of her headscarf as if it were some kind of benediction.

Casablanca, looking over the old medina

Posted on January 6, 2013 by Ginger

We booked a luxury hotel in Casablanca (the Hyatt Regency) for our first night, using Dan’s accumulated points. Our excuse for this indulgence, besides for the fact that it was “free,” was that we were bound to be exhausted from our flights and wanted to immerse ourselves more slowly into Moroccan culture. We were given a room on the sixth floor looking out across the old medina toward the Atlantic Ocean, which could barely be made out through the haze. The view took in the famous Hassan II mosque as well as the working port.

Now maybe, like me, you’re focused on the main attractions–the mosque and the port–but maybe, like Dan, you’ve noticed something odd about the rooftops of the old city.

Have you ever seen such an array of satellite dishes? How are all these people in this (presumably) poor section of town getting the money for satellite dishes? Many days later we learned that there are organizations who will give satellite dishes to those too poor to buy one for themselves. As for a TV, however, the people are on their own. How many, we wonder, have them? Is that what our juvenile “guides” are saving their tips toward?

G. S. Kenney Author

Thousands of words, millions of words' worth of pictures

Tag Archives: photographs

Prague — Art Nouveau Cafes

Three markets in Prague

Prague — the Charles Bridge

Prague — St. Vitus Cathedral

Prague — the library at the Strahov Monastery

Prague – streetscapes

Prague – Building details

Prague — human figures are everywhere, part 4

Prague — human figures are everywhere, part 3

Casablanca, looking over the old medina

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