Prague Day 4

Breakfast today was vegemite on the extra bread from meals yesterday. We learnt from Kai to always squirrel sustenance as you never know when it will be needed in one's travels.
We walked to Vyšehrad, passing the palatial buildings along Mala Strana foreshore. Notable was the 16th century, Lichtenstein Palace, Prague’s most extensive baroque construction. It was home to one of the cruellest and most ruthless men in Prague’s history, the “Bloody vice-regent” Lichtenstein who ordered the deaths of 27 leaders of the Hussite rebellions in 1621.

As we detoured from the route by Google, we found a Hussite church (Monastery Praha Emauzy) and the Botanical Gardens with lots of kids on excursion. One little girl quickly scoffed a pretzel that was bigger than her face. The kids were mesmerised but 3 screechy white cockatoos. We thought Kai's tiny humans followed us here.

"According to ancient legends, Vyšehrad is the oldest seat of Czech princes; in fact, the local settlement was established in the mid-10 th century. Situated on a rocky promontory above the Vltava River, it offers stunning views of the city, and the park area holds hidden architectural treasures including the neo-Gothic Church of Sts Peter and Paul, the national cemetery Slavín, and the underground casements housing the some of the original Baroque statues from the Charles Bridge." (official Prague tourism website).
We found the graves of Dvorak, Planacek, and Sturska.
We didn't make it to the Romanesque Rotunda because I got hungry.

Ruby found a quaint restaurant in the area where we could have local Czech fare. We had the yummiest grilled pork knuckle ( they call it pork knee) basted in black beer. Ruby had fried grunion fish (like big whitebait) on salad. With my pork knee order, the waitress asked if I wanted potatoes , bread or fries. When a big plate of boiled potatoes arrived, we realised that it was not part of the pork knee dish, but an added extra. Nevermind about vegetables, must have the carbohydrates. The meal was washed down with black beer. Pork knee was melt in your mouth, fall off the bone yummy. Fish was crispy and tasty. It really makes a big difference to venture outside the tourist areas for food. Much cheaper, much more delicious, and above all, much better vibes. No tourist pollution, local air there was clean.

After lunch we dropped off our overnight bag to our next Prague accommodation. The host kindly agreed to lighten our load and hold a bag for 12 days as we explore northwards. We will return to Prague to watch an opera before heading south of Czech Republic . When we got to the ticket office of Klementinum National Cultural Monument, we found that we could only book the 5pm time slot for the guided tour. Since our butcher was just round a few corners, we visited it to get a big meatball, a rollmop, and some fennel salad for afternoonses at our accommodation and we rested till the tour.

The Klementinum National Cultural Monument is the seat of the National Library of the Czech Republic, constructed between 1578 and 1726. Most valuable document is the Vysehrad Codex which is valued equal to the crown jewels. Since 1775 the temperature and precipitation has been measured in the Klementinum without interruption, making it amongst the three oldest in Europe.
The library was amazingly well preserved with beautiful frescoes on the ceiling. The Klementinum Astronomical Tower provided 360° breathtaking views of Old Town, New Town and across the river to Lesser town (Mala Strana, where our accommodation is). From the tower, we could see the crowds on Charles Bridge and it's surrounding streets. Crowds are a great deterrent for further venturing, so no burcek drink tonight. We took the lesser bridge across the river and headed straight back to our accommodation.
Our restful, take it easy day was a mere
15.2km.Read more