Ok, let’s get the big four out the way first:
- Wenceslas Square – just don’t bother. It’s a big shopping street. If you must ‘do’ it, get off the metro at Muzeum, pop your head up, go “ooh” at the statues and the big museum thing at the top end, and then leave. The rest of the square is just covered in expensive street cafes and western shops. Move along, there’s nothing to see here.
- Charle’s Bridge – yes, it’s very pretty. Yes, the statues and gatehouses are very impressive. But so is the rest of Prague. Walk across it once, ignore all the little stalls, and then take photographs of it from a distance. It’s always rammed with tourists, and if you want your wallet nicked, you’re in the right place.
- Old town square – home to some of the most impressive architecture in Prague, and a very cool astronomical clock. Also home to all the tourists – and, in particular, all the stag groups – in Prague. You’ll inevitably pass through it several times as you wander around the city. Take your photos, have a look in Sv Miklaus Church and move on.
- Prague Castle – now this one is actually worth seeing. It’s big enough that the huge numbers of tourists crawling all over it aren’t actually much of a problem. You have to pay for all the interesting stuff, though, but you can wander round the grounds, some of the Cathedral and gardens for free. Don’t bother with the toy musuem, though.
Fortunately, because these four things (along with Josefov, more of which in a moment) take 90% of the tourist traffic in Prague, nearly everything else is pretty much empty, pretty much all of the time – wander off the main tourist trails and you’ll find buildings, museums, churches and all manner of interestingness easily as pretty as the main sights, but with far fewer people.
We decided to visit the Astronomical Tower in the Karolinum on a whim, but it turned out to be one of the highlights of the week – the tour lasts less than an hour, but takes in an utterly incredible Baroque library (which holds over 6 million ancient scientific texts) and some old (and fascinating) astronomical and meteorological instrumentation. Tours leave on the hour, and are 180Kc per person.
On a similar note, the National Technical Museum is worth popping along to if you’re of a geeky mindset. Housed in a big old Soviet concrete, it’s got a huge collection of old vehicles, and several other smaller (although still very comprehensive) exhibitions, including a history of film and photography, timekeeping and (bizarrely) irons. English translations can be a bit thin on the ground, but are by and large adequate, and for 70Kc, it’s barely worth complaining about. It’s a bit out of the way, but the map should help.
Back on the tourist trail, Josefov (the Jewish quarter) has been turned into a combined museum of Judaism in Prague (with all the exhibits housed in working synagogues) and powerful memorial to the Czech Jews killed in the holocaust. A ticket to see all the sights isn’t cheap at 300Kc, but there’s a lot to see, and it’s all fascinating and, on occasion, very moving: the impact of walking into a synagogue whose walls are literally covered in thousands upon thousands of names – a tiny fraction of the total – of Czech Jews who were murdered in WW2 cannot be understated.
Valdstejnsky palác in Mala Strana has one of the most impressive gardens in Prague – a formal garden very much in an Italian style, with a huge loggia decorated with frescoes from the Trojan War at one end, and a bizarre and somewhat ugly (but fascinating) “dripstone” wall on one side. The palác itself now houses the Czech upper house, and you can go on a tour on weekends, but the gardens are the main focus here.
Naturally, there’s far more to see and do in Prague than I can possibly write about here – and the utterly indispensable Rough Guide To Prague does a far better job of it than I do – but the key to really seeing the city is to step off the tourist trail and do a bit of exploring yourself. It’s far more rewarding than any overpriced tour group will ever be.