Cruisin' down the river on a Saturday afternoon.....

Our last day in Prague was a warm, relaxed, cruisey one (literally). We wandered down to the Vltava River and joined a relaxing hour-long cruise up to the Charles Bridge, in the shadow (almost) of Prague Castle, going through a lock on the way there and back. The Vltara was, historically, extremely important in the development of Prague, placing it directly on the trade routes, as it joins with the Danube and eventually reaches the Baltic Sea.

On our return to shore we came across a local farmers’ market right at the river’s edge and had a cheap bur delicious meal of home-made sausage, mustard, shredded cabbage and roll, from a hot food stall, As we sat there enjoying our lunch and the view, we couldn’t think of anything else we’d rather be doing. It was another perfect day.

Tonight – our last meal in Prague, then on the train the in the morning for the 7-hour journey to Budapest.

Culture, contrasts and surprises - Antonin Dvorak, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and John Lennon

Friday was a beautiful, warm day in Prague, in contrast to the icy chill of some previous days. We set off early and walked to the Antonin Dvorak Museum. Saw displays of orginal manuscripts, concert programs, family photos and viewed Dvorak's own piano, at which he would have composed many great works.Bought a CD of a Czech performance of his Stabat Mater. Then another long walk to the Vyšehrad, the cemetery perched high on a hill and overlooking the river, containing the ornate tombs of Dvorak, Smetana, Dusek and other Prague notables.

After lunch we made our way across the river and hopped on the Petřīn Funicular Railway.At the top is the Petřīn Lookout tower (a 62 metre high Eiffel Tower lookalike, built in 1891 for the Prague Exposition).We had a long, rambling walk among the gardens before rejoining the road below Prague castle and making our way down to St Nicholas Church (another St Nicholas, not the St Nicholas in the Old Town Square that we referred to a few days ago). This is a real 'wow' church and is regarded as one of Europe's finest baroque buildings. It is absolutely stunning. Completed in 1755, it contains Europe's largest ceiling fresco and countless oversized statues - you are almost blinded by the colours, especially the gold leaf over so much of the ornamentation. Mozart himself played the 2500-pipe organ when he visited in 1787 and was honoured with a requiem mass after his death in December 1791.

Next we went looking for the John Lennon wall and on the way stumbed across a little bridge over the Čertovka tributary, adorned with hundreds and hundreds of padlocks placed there by young couples as a sign of their enduring love (echoing Rome's Ponte Milvio). We then found the John Lennon wall, commemorating the man who became a pacifist hero for young Czechs after his murder in 1980.

Back home across the Charles Bridge, then out last night for a delicious meal in an open-air restaurant, before some night shots of the Charles Bridge and the castle, then back home to bed. Today - a last look around this wonderful city before our 6 hour train ride to Budapest tomorrow.

Kutna Hora - a hoot, just round the corner

Just 65 km out of Prague - a one-hour train (or more precisely trains, plural) trip - is Kutna Hora, a city that once rivalled Prague for importance in the Czech kingdom. Originally settled in the 9th century, Kutna Hora has made an important contribution to Czech history. It rose to prominence following the discovery of silver in the region. The silver deposits were so large that at one stage, in about the 14th century, the Czech king was the wealthiest man in Central Europe. Kutna Hora, a relatively small city by modern European standards, has some outstanding features. Perhaps the most impressive structure in terms of history and scale is the exquisite cathedral of Santa Barbara, the construction of which began in 1380 and which still contains frescos from that period. It dominates the city skyline and is approached along a broad boulevarde flanked by statues of the saints connected with Kutna Hora, including Saint Barbara herself.

But the real standout point of interest in Kutna Hora is All Saints Church, some three kilometres outside the city itself. In 1870 a woodcarver was permitted to get creative with the skeletal remains of some 40,000 people (some of whom had died from the various onsets of the plague over the centuries). The result is a church that is absolutely filled with human bones in all sorts of configurations - pyramids of skulls, coats of arms,chalices, crosses and a giant chandelier that hangs from the centre of the chapel. It is all so creative that, as you enjoy the spectacle, you almost forget that these were once living, breathing human beings. We did try to find poor Yorrick among the skulls but, alas, with no luck.

We also visited the former 17th century Jesuit college,now an art gallery. Our final destination was the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, which was the first stone (as against timber) cathedral in Bohemia, built in the 14th century (and recently restored as a UNESCO protected site). We were able to climb the stairs into the area under the roof and view original stone work, as well as having a bird's-eye-view over the nave. We also saw the skeletal remains of another saint who was connected with this church and whose remains were returned to the church by the reigning Pope in 1720. The skeleton is laid out in a glass case, fully dressed and with a face-mask over the skull, but with most of his bones clearly visible.

All in all, it was well worth the effort (a three-kilometre walk each way to and from Prague Station, five trains and a bus)to visit this world-heritage listed royal medieval mining town.

Tomorrow - the Dvorak museum and a visit to the graves of Dvorak and Smetana.

Chilly dawn, delightful morn, totally worn......out.

A brilliant start to the day - up at 5.30am for a walk across the famous Charles Bridge, with only the eerie fog and the 29 statues adorning either side of the length of the bridge for company. Since 1657 the statues, including Christ on the cross, St Wenceslas and St Augustine have adorned the bridge. Many have been replaced as their original sandstone succumbed to the relentless cold and wet, however they create a wonderful avenue for the stroll across the Vltara River. Not content with that, we decided to savour the solitude of this early hour and revisited the Old Town Square and then ventured further to St Wenceslas Square. In all, about seven kilomeres of walking before breakfast!
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Then a walk back across the Charles Bridge and the tram to Prague castle - the largest ancient castle complex in the world, covering a total area of more than seven football fields. Although there are many interesting sights to see - the old palace, the Basilica of St George, the powder tower, Vladislav Hall and two magnificent art galleries, the standout feature is St Vitus Cathedral. St Vitus was quite a notable; he is entombed in his cathedral and as well as being the patron saint of Bohemia, he is a patron of actors, entertainers and dancers, and is said to protect against lightning, dog bites and oversleeping - a very handy saint to have around when you're on the move. The cathedral also contains much evidence of the region's silver, a local commodity that has supported the economy and attracted trade for many centuries.
We had decided to forgo a walk through the Royal Gardens, however when we attempted to purchase tram tickets from the machine outside the castle we found it to be out of order so, rather than risk being pinged for fare evasion, we set out on the long walk back home through the gardens, through the streets below and finally back over the Charles Bridge - overall, another 7 or 8 kilometres of walking. Back home for a very late lunch, then a relaxing late afternoon, dinner and soon we'll be off to bed (it's 10pm as we write this). Tomorrow - on the train out of town to Kutna Hora to see the ossary and other sights.

Pretty, Pragmatic, Pricture-Prerfect Prague

A most beautiful city, but cold and rainy today. At about 9 degrees for most of the day, we succumbed and bought gloves and umbrellas before setting out exploring. We had a taste of Prague last night; we went out for dinner and experienced the magic of all the old buildings around the Old Town Square (just metres from our apartment) lit up to create a really beautiful atmosphere. We also found a delightful restaurant in a building that dates back to the 13th century - an old malting house -and had roast duck and goulash, preceded by a local liqueur aperitif and washed down (for John, anyway) by the local beer. Today we visited the old town hall, which has a Gothic astronomical clock on its tower (lit up last night). On the hour, death rings a bell and inverts his hourglass and the twelve apostles parade past the windows nodding to the crowd and finally a cock crows before the hour strikes. We then ascended the tower for a spectacular 360 degree view over Prague. This allowed us to witness the pragmatism of the Czechs - a beautiful church dating back to the 16th century is now literaly enclosed by a number of more modern buildings, including a school.

We visited this and other churches (as we love to do). Two of interest were the Church of Our Lady of Tyn, containing the tomb of a Danish astronomer who apparently died, in 1601, of a burst bladder whilst attending what Australians might refer to as a royal piss-up - he was too polite to leave the table to relieve himself. Another church was the Church of Saint James, built in the fourteenth century and containing a shrivelled human arm hanging off the wall. Legend has it that a thief tried to steal jewels from the statue of the Virgin and she grabbed his wrist so strongly that his arm had to be lopped off. Whatever the legend, it certainly looks like a shrivelled human arm hanging out from the wall, high up, just inside the church entrance.

Next was a visit to the old Jewish quarters and museum which consisted of six Jewish monuments including various synagogues, including the Spanish Synagogue (see photo), the ceremonial hall and the oldest surviving Jewish cemetery in the world. The Jews settled in Prague in the tenth century and have made a significant contribution to Czech culture and commerce. The Pinkas Synagogue contains wall-to-wall inscriptions of the names and dates of birth and death of 77,297 Czech victims of the Nazis, as well as drawings by children held in Terezin concentration camp - so very tragic and moving. The cemetery, founded in the early fifteenth century, contains 12,000 crumbling gravestones and beneath those are 100,000 graves piled in layers.

Tonight we've had a nice home-cooked goulash, with a local red, and we're hoping for better weather tomorrow as we visit the magnificent Prague castle and gardens.Until then Na shledanou (goodbye).

Mayhem in Malacca

Sunday turned out to be a bit of a disaster. We had booked to go on a full-day tour to the historic seaside town of Malacca to explore its colonial past - colonised by the Portugese, the Dutch and the English over a span of about four hundred years, up until Malaysia's recent independence. Unfortunately, and unknowingly, we didn't take into account that today (Monday) is the Labour day holiday in Malaysia, which means a long weekend and thousands upon thousands of people streaming out of Kuala Lumpur to Malacca (and other places). An eight-hour tour turned out to be an incomplete twelve-hour excursion, much of it spend in bumper-to-bumper traffic. We simply couldn't get to many of the places on the itinerary. Instead we were confined to seeing an old, run-down (and uninteresting) Buddhist temple, the ruins of the old St Paul's church with its statue of St Francis of Assissi (who died in Malacca, was interred there but exhumed nine months later and re-buried in Goa, India), a walk across a couple of bridges spanning the canals that were such an important part of trade in earlier centuries, and a walk through the crowded Jonker Walk street markets. We even came across a statue of Malaysia's Mister Universe 2008 - reminded us of Tom. On the way back we looked to be in danger of not getting to the airport in time for our flight to Frankfurt, however the driver who was allocated our transfer from the Traders Hotel to the airport used some initiative in collecting our suitcases and meeting the tour bus outside Kuala Lumpur.

So we made it on time and had a pleasant 12 hour flight to Frankfurt - managed to get a few hours sleep and had a breakfast on board of scrambled eggs and a 'frankfurt' - then a quick flight to Prague, where we are now ensconced in our very comfortable apartment right in the centre of the old town and walking distance to everything. Early night then start exploring this beautiful city in earnest tomorrow.

Kosmopolitan, Kultured, Kaotic Kuala Lumpur

Selamat pagi. Arrived at the Traders Hotel, Kuala Lumpur at 11pm Thursday after a pretty good flight with Air Malaysia. Superb hotel and our room looks directly across to the imposing Petronas Twin Towers, as featured in the Sean Connery / Catherine Zeta-Jones film "Entrapment". (We have a new respect for the stunt men and women who did the scenes on the tension wires under the sky-bridge.) At 4,519 metres tall and with 88 floors, the towers are the second highest buildings in the world. They are spectacular at night when they light up and they have some lights that flash on and off.
Friday morning we took a city tour with two other couples (from Perth) and our Indian guide Raja. We learnt that Kuala Lumpur literally means "muddy estuary" and it is a truly cosmopolitan city with Malays, Chinese and Indians the dominant races making up its 2 million population. Raja provided us with a comprehensive briefing on Malaysia's history and culture. We visited a batik factory, a pewter factory, the National Museum, the National Monument and lake garden, the Royal Palace where we watched the changing of the guard (incidentally, the Malaysian throne is shared among the nine provincial royal families, who take turns at occupying the central Malaysian throne for a five year term).
The evening was spent again with Raja, first battling bumper-to-bumper traffic,and then enjoying a buffet dinner at a Malay restaurant and watching a floor show of traditional dancing. After dinner we went to Chinatown for a look at the night markets. All in all a fun day; good weather at 35 degrees and only one brief shower that we managed to avoid.
Today we had nothing specific planned, so we caught the hotel shuttle to the Petronas Centre and then a train to the Central Markets and Little India area. We were impressed with the clean, efficient and easy-to-use rail system and had no problems getting around. We enjoyed a few hours pottering through the markets, ate a a delicious Malay lunch that cost us four dollars each including drinks.
We're going to find a local restaurant for dinner tonight, then off to Melacca on the west coast for the day tomorrow, then fly out at midnight. Next stop - Prague.