St. Goar - St.Goarhausen - Kestert

Daylight saving ended in Germany today and it seems it have brought cooler weather with it. With a maximum of 4C forecast today and frost appearing on the roofs of the houses, I made sure to rug up (scarf, gloves and beanie) as I headed out today.

Today is something of a mission. I mentioned in an earlier post that Rheinfels Castle's museum actually sells scribed pages from the 13-17^th Centuries but I didn't actually buy one. Today is about remedying that situation and then heading across the Rhine to St. Goarhausen to walk another section of the Rheinsteig trail to Kestert.

Walking to Bonn Hbf this morning reminded me how cold it was and that this is nothing compared to winter in these parts. I'm currently enjoying the warmth of the train and preparing myself for the chill to come.

It’s now 17:30 or so and I'm back on the MRB 32 train to Bonn; so, for me, it's been quite a long day. First things first; success at Rheinfels! I am now the proud owner of a piece of sheet music from 1600, according to its certificate of authenticity. The text is in Latin so I assume this is church choir music (or not?). The music notation is in the old fashioned style; that is, blocks rather than round dots to show the notes. That's how old it is! It is a thing of beauty. I think I just like the idea of being able to look at something that is over 400 years old, any time I feel like it.

It also fills me with intrigue; who wrote this music for us to read all these years later? Could they read music or were they just scribing this for a job? Was the music used for study or was it sung in church or in the castle itself? Given the old style musical notation, can we read and play/sing it today? It is just wonderful.

I was on to the ferry bound for St. Goarhausen by 10:30 and then on the Rheinsteig trail before 11am.

The on-line guides I checked out this morning suggested that the best place to start would be the railway station. As ever, sign posts at the station clearly marked the direction to the Rheinsteig and, for the next five hours l, the blue and white signs of the Rheinsteig guided me with unerring accuracy and confidence, as ever.

The first climb set the tone for the day; steep and long.

Looking back to Rheinfels - the scale of the original buildings is almost unimaginably large

My scarf and beanie were off about 3/4 of the way to the top, the cold forgotten for now. At about this time, the trail split. One way followed the Rheinsteig and the other followed the Rabenacksteig. 500m or so long, the Rabenacksteig carries warnings to take great care and even specialist climbing equipment, if you're a novice climber. This sounded a little tricky for little old me so I followed the Rheinsteig and am I glad I did! Just glimpsing the Rabenacksteig from above, I could see ladders and cables to help climbers, so steep and severe were the rocks and cliffs. Thank you, no!

The reward for climbing steep trails when its only 0 deg C ...

From the top of the trail there were some amazing views of the Rhine valley with the grapevines, now bereft of grapes, leaves yellowing in their autumnal state; the coolness of the day and the yellow leaves reminding us that winter is coming. Maus Burg beckons us on from a distance. The hard climbing is done for a while and we walk along the top of the plateau, enjoying the sunshine.

More views along the valley with Maus Burg just appearing above the ridge on the right

The trails are a delight to walk and the sky is filled with birds of prey circling thermals and, higher still, airliners with their condensation plumes trailing majestically behind.

Maus Burg comes into view and it is with this vista that I decide this might be the place to stop for lunch.

Is this not the perfect place to stop for lunch?

There is a seat and the fleischwurst brotchen from Bonn taste better than usual with this view to contemplate while munching fresh bread rolls.

Heading down the trail provides this wonderful close up of Maus Burg

From here we walk down into the valley below Maus and then up (again, quite steeply) to the top of the next hill.

Now heading up the next valley, a look back to Maus Burg and the village below

I'm heading to Kestert via Pulsbachklamm. The trail to Pulsbachklamm takes in pasture and market gardens across the top of the plateau again. I love that through these fields there are walking trails. Always two people wide, they appear to be wide enough for a small cart but any wheel ruts are long gone, replaced now by the steady tread of walking shoes and boots. But I am guessing that these trails have been here for years, hundreds of them, perhaps. What I find amazing is the respect the walkers have for the trails and the farmers' fields. Rarely are there fences to mark the fields but no-one (as far as I have seen) ever cuts through the fields or even cuts a corner. The trails remain solidly walked on and the fields remain free of trodden crops.

Heading to Pulsbachklamm, we first come on a disused coal mine, or more accurately, a disused coal car. This mine was worked from 1745 to 1961. I assume this was a huge seam of coal or the local mining practices were small enough to meet the locals’ needs. Maybe a little of each as this is an amazingly long time of be working the one mine. Even after 50 years of no mining, the spoil heaps remain in place, one of them spilling down the cliffs creating a landslide effect.

We then make it to der Pulsbachklamm; an amazing valley with sheer rock cliffs . I doubt the pictures can provide adequate feeling for the scale and size of der Pulsbachklamm. The cliffs are sheer and high. The trees are beautiful and, in the distance, you can hear the distant sound of water flowing through the base of the valley. The view is extraordinary and, as I said, just has not been captured by the pictures. Sorry. I guess you'll have to come and have a look yourself!

From here we continue on, following the trail at almost the same height for the next few kilometres. The picture below show some of the beauty of the trail and the trees this time of year.

Walking the Rheinsteig trails is an ongoing discovery filled with delight

I then stumble into Kestert and here begins my first real mistake of the day. I thought I'd read that there was a ferry at Kamp Bornhofen so I thought I would walk along the river, catch the ferry back to Bad Salzig and then the train to Bonn. But there was no ferry and even walking out the other side of Kamp Bornhofen revealed an ongoing lack of ferries anywhere in immediate view. What to do? Simple! Back to Kamp Bornhofen, find the railway station and the next train back to St. Goarhausen. With time to spare it was off to Cafe Nikenig for a pot of coffee and a piece of marzipan cake. With no one to share with, I (not too reluctantly) ate the whole thing with joy and gusto. It was good and just what I needed to get me through the afternoon.

So, back to the ferry and into St. Goar again. With less than two weeks before my sojourn in Bonn ends, how fitting that the 'Melbourne' should pass while I was watching! Fate or karma or whatever you like.

As the sun set, the temperature dropped until it was as cold as a mother-in-law's kiss. But, to cap another amazing day trip, a full moon rose over Katzenburger Castle as the train pulled into St. Goar station. An amazing end to a long, tiring but wonderful day in the Mittelrheine.

Bonn R4K Course - 14.7km of Running Pleasure

This is more for the running group back in Australia. I was trying to find a course in Bonn that would match Melbourne’s amazing Run for the Kids course (of about 14.5k). The challenge was to find a comparable distance with a hill comparable to the rise over the Bolte Bridge simultaneously managing to highlight some of the more beautiful aspects of Bonn.

Sounds easy, right?

I have mapped the course using www.runningahead.com as per the attached image. The blue numbers show the distance in kilometres while the red numbers correspond with the images below. I have tried to pinpoint where I was looking when I took the pictures. Just to provide some perspective.

The first thing was to find a great starting point. Poppelsdorferstrasse, with its wide grass avenue, beautiful border trees and tracks for cycles and runners was an obvious choice. The avenue was the original road between palaces for Clemens August, the Elector of Cologne who resided here in Bonn. He was the Bishop of Cologne as well as being king Charles's brother; so relatively well placed in society. He needed this castle we are looking at now as a residence for his mistresses (to be fair, he had a few but only one at a time) and how this reconciles with his bishopric is anybody's guess.

Of course today, his palace in downtown Bonn is the main University building while the palace we are running toward contains the Department of Zoology and the grounds are now the Botanic Gardens.

Picture 1 - it is a little difficult to see the palace at the end but, trust me, it is there! There are walking and cycle paths on both sides of the lawn.

I have added a picture I took later today, showing how it looks in brilliant sunshine. The sun isn't rising until after 8am and I began the run at 7:30 today and it was just too dark to get a good picture at that time of day.

We run directly to the palace and then left, following the moat with the Gardens now on the other side of the moat.

We track some forgettable roads for a couple of ks until we get to the base of Bonn's Anderson St. Our climb begins here.

Picture 2 - let the steady climb begin!

This is a steady climb that takes us past two hospitals and hopefully there'll be no need to visit either one. The road follows the spur of the ridge so it is as comfortable a climb as the geography allows but it still brings the puffing and panting out before too long!

With about a kilometre until we reach the summit, we take the trail to the left and enjoy the woods above Bonn.

Picture 3 - it really is lovely in the woods above Bonn

This is a popular spot for walking and running and cycling so, no matter what time of day I have traipsed through here, I usually have some company.

This cairn to Kaiser Wilhelm must have some historical significance but to me it means that I am about 500m from levelling off and the hill climb is done.

Picture 4 - Kaiser Wilhelm's monument and level ground is not far away!

There is a lovely serenity here in the woods. The tracks are well made and, now that it is autumn, a blanket of leaves covers the ground making it feel like you're running on a carpet. With the noise of your footfalls smothered by the leaves, you can actually hear the birds waking up and the soft breeze in the trees. Magic!

Once on top of the hill, we need to follow the paths and trails to the next hospital. This section is a little disconcerting as there appears to be no trail running on the inside of the hospital; trust me, there is.



Picture 5 - the track really does continue to the left of the faint image of a fellow runner in blue, trust me!!

The trail runs between the hospital and the edge of hill providing some stunning views of the small villages below. It was here that I was hoping to get a picture just on sunrise.



Picture 6 - Now you begin to see how far above Bonn we have come. Note the Post Tower looming at the left of the picture

I'm writing this on the way to Cologne for some Saturday shopping (the main mission is to buy some new running shoes, believe it or not!) so I hope the picture is at least reminiscent of my mind's image from this morning. Where I took this, a young couple had dragged up a table and all the fixings for a sit down breakfast. They were enjoying a coffee as the sun was coming up; it seems like a lot of effort for breakfast but the views were worth it.

From here, the trick is to keep the hospital wall on out right and the drop to the villages on our left. The interesting part is when we run out of hospital wall. Then a little bit of navigation is required.

First, take the trail to Godesburg which is marked on a stone. About 500m further on, there is another directional stone and this time head toward Friesdorf.

Picture 7 - Directional signs carved into local rocks make for an even more natural feel. This sign (Friesdorf left and Godesburg to the right) is the second one after the hospital wall ends. Running on to Godesburg won't be too much of an issue, apart from making the run 20+k ...

This is your way down the hill.

The trail descends from the wide broad, well made trail to something a little more narrow, then to a path and then to a goat track. And all the while, the trail becomes steeper and steeper. Running becomes a distinct problem; rolling an ankle here would be painful and a long way from help. If discretion is the better part of valour and cowardice is the better part of discretion, then I cowardly walked and hobbled my way downhill as best I could.

Eventually the trail follows the fence line and then fits between two tall wooden fences with a gap of about 1.5m.

Picture 8 - The trail narrows until it's only wide enough for one person, but it does find the street.

This is still the trail and it will find the street, trust me. As you can see from the photo, finding the path from the street may be a little problematic but you're out and back on the road. Turn left and head toward the train line.

Picture 9 - I am glad I found this trail from the top of the hill; it might have been difficult finding this narrow opening (between doorway and brick fence) from the street

It is now a slightly downhill run to the train line and back toward Bonn. The run through the little village of Friesdorf is uneventful but watch for folks heading back from their morning visit to the baker and the paper shop.

The railway line is about 2k down the hill and this is a great place to gather some energy for the run back to Bonn.

Picture 10 - the occasional train makes running this pathway a little more interesting; we are about half way between Bonn and Godesburg, so the trains are pretty much at full speed here and they move very quickly!

One of the tricks is to cross the railway line when you can. There are a series of level crossing along the way and they have a tendency to stay down for seemingly minutes before the train comes along. The downside of crossing the line soon is that you miss seeing the allotments and parks on the Friesdorf side of the line. So it becomes something of a game; how long can I leave it before cutting across the train line.

You do need to cross the line as we have to cut across Adenauralle, run down Tempelstrasse (which as its name suggests contains a synagogue) and down the steps to the river.



Picture 11 - no guesses why I love my standard run along the river; the sun is up now and the pathways along the river are just extraordinarily wonderful. The green spans of Kennedy Bridge are in the distance; we turn left up the steps at the bridge and head back in to Bonn Zentrumm

When I run my standard 8.5k run from the flat, my turn is here at Tempelstrasse on the banks of the river so the next 1.5k back to the Kennedy Bridge is very much familiar territory.

At the bridge, take the steps up and follow Oxfordstrasse back toward the main shopping district in Bonn.

Picture 12 - Welcome to Friedrichstrasse; a nice shopping boulevard; we'll cut left along here, through Market Square and on to Munsterplatz!

Cut through the market square, have a quick look at the Aldt Rathaus but head down now toward the Munster and the main square of Munserplatz.

Picture 13 - We're now just in Remiguisstrasse and the Munster steeple means we're close to the end of the run

Run up to the base of Beethoven's statue and the course is complete.

Picture 14 - Beethoven's statue out side the Postamt greets you with a stern gaze as if asking just how well did you run?

The course should be around 14.7k according to the runningahead website so might be a little longer than the Melbourne course but not by much and probably within the limits of the runningahead accuracy.

Today took almost 90minutes as I wanted to make sure the photos looked good and steady (but a few still look decidely wobbly, sorry). With only two full weekends left, I would really like to have a proper crack and see if I can beat my current best time of 77minutes. If I don't then too bad because it is a lovely run bringing (literally) the highs and lows of Bonn into play. It's a little sad that this next run will probably be the last time, so I better make it a good one!

Oberwesel Walled City and Pfalzgrafenstein Castle

The cities on the MittelRheine keep dragging me back but their features are beyond compare. Oberwesel boasts a castle lurking from the crags above the city; nothing unique here, you say; don’t all of these cities have a castle on the hill? Well you’re right but Oberwesel not only has an obligatory castle and city walls; it has city walls that you can walk on!

Looking back to Oberwesel and Castle Schonburg

But let's start with the castle. Since the castle is at the highest point, I thought it made sense to climb up there first thing. Autumn is upon us so a brisk walk will certainly warm me up!

The castle is called Schönburg, named for the family who created it. Like all of these principalities, fiefdoms or whatever you want to call them, their existence relied on taxes. Specifically, customs and levies they demanded from all river traffic along the Rhine.

Castle Schonburg from the outside ...

Like many of the castles in this region, it clings to the cliffs above the Rhine and looms large. Historically, the castle, its people and lands would suggest how important the liege lord is; so the more grand and expansive the castle, the better.

Nowadays the castle (again like many of its contemporaries) has been converted to hotel or hostel.

... Castle Schonburg from the inside ...

Staying overnight in one of these places would be wonderful, especially if a room overlooking the river could be arranged.

Pay the 3 Euro and have a look around the gatehouse museum; the curator of the small museum in the castle is a walking fount of knowledge. And a good salesman; I bought his history of the castle as well! Talking with the curator, he mentioned that at its peak, 300 people lived in the castle. This created its own problems with intrigue and bickering prevalent. Oddly enough, frequent wars and battles began to thin the ranks out; as each family leader was gloriously slaughtered in battle, the clan declined in size until eventually, all of the Schönburgs were dead by the 17th Century; however the castle itself rolled on to have a significant part to play in the 30 Years War and beyond.

... and the view from the top of Schonburg's gatehouse museum

The other insight he shared with me was that the museum is now on the site of the original gatehouse.The gatehouse had two portcullises; the first one was the standard entrance but the second one was the gate of last resort. Weighing over a tonne, it required only a single blow with an axe or sword to cut the rope and drop the massive gate into position thereby keeping out would be marauders and intruders.

This was done only once in around 1250 or so when the castle was brand new. The problem was, once it was dropped, they couldn't lift it again! Eventually they had to cut the gate into pieces and remove it that way. You only get to find out this sort of thing if you're lucky to find a garrulous curator. The museum is a treat (try the interactive catapult and see if you can destroy the castle!!) and the view from the very top of the tower is worth the admission price on its own.

Let’s now move down to the city and check out these old city walls. For a village or a town to be a genuine, fully fledged city, it required walls. So many of the cities I have visited still have remnants of their walls; given their massive size, this is not a huge surprise but the walls have decayed over the years. A combination of natural erosion and collapses combined with locals helping themselves to handy sized stones and bricks for their own homes tends to reduce the walls more often than not.

So seeing city walls is not that big a deal but being able to walk on top of them is geekily exciting for me. There is something hypnotically historic about this experience. Knowing that these walls have been here for hundreds of years allows you to imagine what they have seen; imagine the guards who once patrolled the walls; imagine the city inhabitants and how their lives have changed over those years. 'If these walls could talk ...' sounds a little trite but it feels most apt as I stroll along the parapets today.

Of course, the walls connect defensive towers and many of these also remain in place. Some seem to be in complete disrepair but others are sturdy enough to climb and take in the views down the Rhine and behind up to the hills and valleys beyond.

Oberwesel allows you to walk the length of the walls along the Rhine but you can only walk beside them for the rest of the journey. But there are still outcrops along the way that allow you to climb up and see the vistas over the city. UNESCO certification seems to bring a requirement to maintain and repair the walls; scaffolding around various sections indicates that repairs are underway as we speak. It may take years but the thought of a genuine restoration of the walls appeals to me. The walls would have always been in a state of flux since first constructed. This would be simply be the latest repair job but how marvellous to return one day and see Oberwesel enclosed as it was 500 or so years ago!

A little reluctantly, I took my leave of Oberwesel and headed back up toward the castle but turned left instead of right to follow the castle trail upstream to catch sight of Pfalzgrafenstein Castle. Built on an island in the middle of the Rhine near the village of Kaub, Pfalzgrafenstein looks astonishing sitting in the centre of the river. Even more so today as the river seems to be flowing quite quickly and high, so the island seems barely big enough to hold the castle.

By climbing the hill and following the castle trail I ensure two things; firstly I get some fantastic views from the heights of the hills over the Rhine but secondly I effectively double the distance of the walk. The trail has to cling to the edges of the hills and valleys so it weaves and wanders where the land will allow. By the time I arrive above the castle, I have walked 7.5km from Oberwesel. When I follow the direct river path back to Oberwesel (and my train home to Bonn) GoogleMaps tells me that is only 3km.

Like the customs soldiers for whom Pfalzgrafenstein was built, the only way across to the castle is via ferry. Fortunately, I don't have to row and the ferry is covered as the rain begins to fall.

From outside, the castle appears to be a single building.

Pfalzgrafenstein from the small ferry that runs out from Kaub

It is only when you get inside that you realize the tall, central tower is separate from the curtain wall. The tower was the first building; the curtain wall with its enclosed rooms was built later leaving a small courtyard between gateway and tower.

Interior of Pfalzgrafenstein showing the open courtyard and the only ground floor doorway between the two pikes

The tower is pentagonal in shape with the point of the pentagon aimed up river. The curtain wall follows a similar design, giving the building a boat shaped look. The shapes were selected to help deflect errant ships as well as ice from smashing directly into and damaging the structure. Again, with only four of us wandering around today, you can get a feel for how it must have been for the customs soldiers in the day. It would have been very isolated and dreadfully cold in the winter; its only October and it was cold enough today! A fireplace was one form of warmth for the soldiers and the building of a bread oven would have provided both warmth and fresh bread. So their pleasures were some heat and fresh bread; a Spartan existence indeed!

The joy of today was the tranquility. With the cooling weather, visitors are struggling to get out and about so there was time and space just to slow down and consider and contemplate. Think about the castle and the multitudes who called it home and their adversaries who tried to knock it down; the city walls and their history; Pfalzgrafenstein and its cold confines making life tough for its inhabitants.

Sitting on a warm train speeding back to Bonn provides an almost surreal backdrop to the places I was lucky enough to see today.



A map of the walls of Oberwesel; the green line shows where you can walk while the red shows where the walls remain



All of this is less than 90 minutes from Bonn and I'm just loving being able to get out and see and experience these wonderful places.

Rotweinwanderweg (Red Wine Trail) - Altenahr to Ahrweiler Markt

What an amazing hike! Folks at work had told me this was a 'must-do' and they were right. With autumn now upon us, it won't be long until it will be simply too cold to get out and do these sorts of walks.

But today was marvellous ... eventually! The morning was quite cool (about 3 degrees C) and misty but it was almost as if the sun decided on having one last surge of warmth before autumn really kicks in. It broke through the clouds, burnt off the mist and it was actually warm on some sections of the track; perfect weather for hiking. So loaded up with a couple of salad rolls from Bonn, I climbed aboard the RB30 train and headed to Altenahr. A little research on the Web showed that Altenahr is the start if the Rotweinwanderweg (Red Wine Trail). I found it a little difficult to get a lot of info on the trail but was encouraged by what I found.

This sign is a little more exotic than the standard Rotweinwanderweg notices but this one marks the formal start of the trail in Altenahr

For all you budding hikers don't be worried! Simply get off the train in Altenahr, walk to the left hand side of the station and there you will see the first of many Rotweinwanderweg (Red Wine Trail) signs. They are simply everywhere along the trail so there are no real navigation issues to worry about. Follow the signs and they will guide you to your destination.

The other thing you can't fail to miss as you head up the main street of Altenahr is the ruined 13th Century castle that dominates the main hill at the end of town. The trail takes you on a circuitous route to the castle but it does eventually get you there.

The route may be a little circuitous but with paths like this, it is difficult to complain!

Alternately, you can climb straight to the castle and then head off to the trail. But in either case, you must check out the castle! What remains only hints at the scale of the complex it must have been. Remnants of the chapel are still in place and the views from the summit back down the valley are stunning. This was still early in the morning and the sun hadn't poked through the clouds yet. As such, the mists were swirling in the valley and providing an eerie backdrop to the town below.

The village of Altenahr lies in the valley below the ruins of Burg Ahr, dominating the rocky tor at the left of the picture

The castle began its life in 1244 but had a series of renovations through until the 1400's. The ruins suggest immense power and control over the valley and its inhabitants. A continuous and imposing edifice, reminding the locals just who really was boss!

Back on the trail and we head off toward Mayschoss.

Mayschoss appears through the edges of the forest on the Rotweinwanderweg

Although it is called the Rotweinwanderweg (Red Wine Trail), there are no signs of grapes so far; instead we are in forest. As I said earlier, autumn is upon us and the trees are beginning their transition from green to golden yellows and russet reds. But the foliage is still heavy enough to shield the village below. But I know it is there as the Sunday morning church bells peal their entreaty to the Mayschoss locals; reminding them that the sermon will begin in 10 or so minutes.

The village then peeks through and the vines begin to reveal themselves. For the rest of the trail, it is grape vines that dominate the terrain.

The trail is lovely in that it winds itself around the hills, about one half to town thirds up the side of the hill. This provides a wonderful view of the local villages, the river and the railway line but comes at a physical price. You're rarely walking on level ground; it's either up or down so the walk can be heavy going.

As I'm about to leave the Mayschoss valley, the church bells have stopped but a brass band is now wailing away, providing an enthusiastic rendition of 'Bill Bailey Won't You Please Come Home' with just enough tuba to give it a real ‘oom-pah band’ feel. I can't see the band but the acoustics of the valley deliver the song as clear as the church bells earlier.

The other neat part of a wine trail is that I must have passed seven or so wine vendors along the trail. Actually, to be fair and accurate, I stopped at three of them and passed the other four!

Local wineries set up tents like these all along the Rotweinwanderweg; a wonderful break from walking and a more robust form of rehydration than just water!

I tried a non-alcoholic sparkling red which was nice and refreshing, having just come up a serious ascent along the trail. The other two red wines I had were sweet but good; really hitting the spot after a little exercise. 100ml samples seem to go for between 1.5 and 2 Euro.

The trail is a delight. Each corner provides a new vista over a different village. Grapes were still being picked even today and I got to see some of the machinery used to haul the tubs of grapes up to the trails. It seems that the grapes themselves are still cut by hand so there's no getting around the difficulty of negotiating the steep slopes that dominate the terrain but at least they're able to drag the tubs up mechanically.

Here's a look over Dernau; note the leaves on the trees along the road near the left of the photo; the colours don't really cut through in the photo but I can assure you that autumn is now 'on' in the Ahr valley

I made it as far as Ahrweiler (the subject of an earlier blog) and headed down and caught the train back to Bonn. The little guide I downloaded suggests that I covered about 20km of the total 35km for the Rotweinwanderweg (Red Wine Trail).

This is not an easy walk. As the photos suggest, there is plenty of undulation on the journey. Apart from a few sections where the trail narrows to single file, it is invariably wide and paved about half of the time. There are no stairs but there are also few sections where it is flat. You're usually going up or down! But these views are sensational.

The other neat part is that you follow the Ahr river which the railway also follows. Walk until you get tired and then simply catch the train back to your car or (like me) back to Bonn.

One of the great day walks I have done; enjoy the views, the history and, of course, the wine!

Prague

Prague is beyond words!

A city that can trace its origins to 880AD and appreciate its growth through the reign of princes and kings while still maintaining its history and significance is extraordinarily rare in any part of the world.

Yet Prague does this in spite of its seemingly unlimited number of visitors and its unending souvenir shops (and I don’t need to see that toy ferret chasing the ball in the front of a shop ever again!)

We spent a good portion of the first day simply walking the streets of Prague; getting a feel for the sights, sounds and smells of this amazing place. It almost defies belief how little was damaged during the Second World War; while other European cities were being decimated, Prague’s main destruction was to its beautiful town hall and tower. But the tower has been re-built, even if the rest of the hall itself has been destroyed and replaced with an open square (where we purchased a beautifully barbecued pork roast), The original statues adorning the clock tower have been restored and now reside within the basement of the tower while facsimiles adorn the exterior of the bay window today.

One of the tours we did was through the basements of the town hall tower and this is a tour I would heartily recommend. It seems that these basements were in fact the original houses in the centre of old Prague. But the city was prone to flooding from the nearby river so the citizenry, once they received permission from their liege lord (who was a Luxembourger by all accounts) dug a moat around the entire town and used this spoil to raise the height of the town by 10 metres (according to the guide but this does seem quite high …) thereby overcoming a lot of flood issues but also sealing their town from easy egress to would be marauders. When you go under the tower, you actually walk back in time; to when these stone houses had their own private wells (so as to reduce potential poisoning from bands of invaders). You can even see an original street that remains paved and in situ. These cellars have been used as storage areas and prisons. Most prisoners were only kept here for a week or two as it seems most crimes resulted in execution or removal of hand(s) etc. This kept the town’s executioner very busy.

Later still, it seems that Charles IV was the visionary who began the transformation from town to city to seat of civilization. In the mid 1300’s he began construction of the University, the Cathedral and of the iconic bridge that now bears his name. Since then, beautiful buildings have been created; the Klementinum; the theatre next door to the University now famous for where Mozart directed the world’s premiere of ‘Don Giovanni’; the massive towers that sit at each end of the Charles’ Bridge.

Charles was, apparently, a great lover of astronomy and had an astronomer as an adviser. It is perhaps this wonderful combination of University (which attracted some of the great academics of its time) and the King’s love of astronomy which may have been the genesis of the Astronomical Clock.

Where to begin to describe such an amazing piece of engineering? It was first constructed in 1410 and the legend (according to the underground tour guide) was that the creator was actually blinded at the instruction of the town council to stop him from designing another similar device for another town; apparently by blinding him, he would still be able to repair the Prague clock. This was fine until the builder himself understood the councilors to be responsible for his wounds and so he went and broke the clock! It stayed broken for more than 100 years until some ingenious fellow was able to work out the intricacies of the design and get it going again.

The clock itself has two faces; the upper face is able to tell the time in old Czech time as well as in ‘normal’ or standard time as well as track the phases of the moon as well as track the sun over the course of the 4 seasons.

The second (and lower) face shows all 365 days of the year; the dial remains fixed and the disc moves thereby working as an annual calendar.

On the hour, two windows open and a procession of figures representing the twelve apostles move past the windows and turn, seemingly to nod or bow to the street below. Eight statues adorn the clock; the upper four are vanity (a figure looking at himself in a mirror), avarice (a figure holding a bag of gold), death (as a skeleton) and the Turk showing pleasure and entertainment. On the hour, Death’s hand can be seen pulling a cord that sets the clock’s bell ringing.

Another beautiful artifact is that, again on the hour, a trumpeter plays a short musical piece from the four sides of the tower and then waves his voluminous red and yellow sleeve like a pennant at the end of each piece.

The clock itself has been maintained for the last 600 years but it was in 1945 that the most serious damage (as opposed to neglect) was seen. When the tower was bombed much of the clock was destroyed but it has been straightened (where possible) and repaired/replaced (when the damage was too great) to now work and move wonderfully well.

Within the Klementinum (another campus of buildings built by the Jesuits) there is another astronomical tower. This tower has been used to faithfully record the temperature, air pressure and wind speed since about the time Australia was first visited by Cook! But at the top of the tower, still preserved to this day, they have a string line to match the prime Prague meridian. They set up the tower as a ‘camera obscura’ so that only a single dot of light could penetrate the tower. The theory is that once that dot of light hits the string, then it is midday. Once this happened, the attendant would open the door, wave his flag in the direction of the Town Hall tower where more flags would be waved, trumpets sounded and even canon fired to allow the Prague citizenry know that it was midday. This went on at every midday until 1918, apparently. The only thing that changed was the colors of the flags which changed depending on which country was currently ruling over the city.

With all of this astronomical observance going on, it is no surprise that two of the best known astronomers spent significant time in Prague; Tycho Brahe was here for years and now even has a large church named after him. As well, Johannes Kepler lived in Prague for 12 or so years. Kepler is best known for his three laws of planetary motion and how lovely that his laws are derived from Brahe’s observations.

Churches dominate; there are two beautiful churches for St. Nicholas; on in the Old Town and another across the river in the Lesser Town; these churches were each designed by a father and son from Germany.

Another guide assured us that only 25% of the population would ascribe to being ‘religious’; about 70% would be ‘atheist’. Perhaps this is a link to Prague’s more recent socialist past but there is seemingly a church every 50 paces and each one seems more ancient and picturesque than the next. Those 25% of the populace are well served for places of worship!

The Jewish quarter is similarly wondrous. I love the idea of the ‘New Old Synagogue’; the ‘old’ synagogue was built in the early 1200’s while the ‘new’ addition was build about 80 years later. How can a structure now some 800 years or more old still be referred to as ‘new’; everything is relative, I guess.

Another highlight was attending a short (1 hour) concert in the Klementinum’s Mirror Chapel. Having first climbed the Klementinum’s astronomical tower we also visited the Baroque Library Hall. What a room! Now the Czech Republic’s archive this place is a scintillating combination of design and construction that reeks of excess. From the parquet floor to the frescoed ceilings; from the heavy paneled shelves where rows of books dominate all the walls from floor to ceiling to the myriad of globes showing the world and the heavens. This is a room for looking in; none of us on the tour were actually allowed to set foot in the place.

So to the Mirror Chapel where, to be honest, the number of mirrors in the ceiling seemed small. But this goes to a time when mirrors were exceptionally expensive. The floors here have a stylized star pattern; the idea being that when you look up at the mirrors in the ceiling, you can see the stars reflected as if they were actual stars in the firmament.

And so I could go on. Everything you‘ve heard about Prague is true. If you haven’t been, make sure you go. If you’ve been before then I’m sure there’s something you’ve missed. It may have been the Temple church near the Charles Bridge or climbing to the top of the 1/5^th scale Eiffel Tower on the hill overlooking Prague. Or it may simply have been to sit and enjoy a coffee and simply soak up the atmosphere and history that can only be attained by being in a 1200 year old city.