One thing that Hotel Lippert does excel at is continental breakfast, and I definitely partook both mornings I was at the hotel.
Once done with breakfast, my main tourist goals for the day were to get out of Old Town and visit some things on my list I missed last time: the Vyšehrad fortification + Basilica of St. Peter and Paul and the Emmaus Monastery.
I took the tram a few blocks to get closer to the Vyšehrad, which turned out to be another trek up stairs and ramps. It wasn’t too bad, but it was also trying to rain, which didn’t make it any more pleasant.
On top of the Vyšehrad is the Basilica, graveyard, and what looks like a restaurant, though it was not open, and there is a lot of wide open spaces for people looking to enjoy the day. There are also amazing views of the surrounding city.
Of course, I was going to pay the around $6.25 to get into the Basilica, and it was another amazing church to add to my list. Dating back to 1070, it is one of the oldest churches in Prague, and while it is neo-Gothic, it has an art nouveau interior.
It was pretty small compared to some of the churches I have been in, and since there was a student group, it made it a little harder to snap pictures. I have become adept at the “clean-up” feature Apple put into iOS a couple of years ago.
The cemetery was next to the church was appropriately moody and ostentatious. Antonin Dvořák is likely the most famous person interred there, but like an idiot, I didn’t find that out until after I was I left the cemetery. Research, FAIL!
After the cemetary, I walked around a bit on the grounds around the church. There were some fantastic sculptures and a tiny outdoor cafe. I decided to get some water, and as I was walking up, I saw something that I recognized — an ice-cream cone with a very tall tower of ice cream on top of it. As I was doing my research, of course, my algorithm was flooded with touristy things for all of my destinations, and the “Tallest Ice Cream in Prague” was one of them. Being lactose intolerant, I didn’t even make note of where it was, but I figured this encounter was enough of a reason to try it. Since it was a soft serve, it is probably more a mix than a creamy ice cream, and thankfully, there were no immediate after effects.
I then took in the views of the south side of Prague, which is almost completely unfamiliar to me. It is easy for someone to just stay in the Old Town area hand have more than enough to do for a few days in town, but you sometimes forget that there is a whole other city out there. I should probably stay out there next time.
I got a little lost going down the hill, and I ended up basically in someone’s backyard. I quickly walked back up (more stairs; more ramps), and then walked down the way I came up. I made my way to Emmaus Monestary, which is something I recall from my college term paper nearly 30 years ago.
Emmaus is a Benedictine monestary founded by Charles IV in 1347, where it grew to be the center of Slavic literature, theology, and art.
During World War II, the Gestapo seized the monastery and sent many of the monks to Dachau, and in 1945, an American bombing raid destroyed the roof and the original baroque towers. Prague did not receive a lot of damage during the war, which is why there is so much original architecture to see, but this is definitely a case of where the war did impact them.
In the 1960s, renowned Czech architect, František Maria Černy (no relation to David Černý of the rotating Kafka head and several other art installations around the city) designed a modern concrete roof, which wasn’t completed until the 1990s.
Due to the damage during WWII, a lot of the art and frescos in the church has been damaged, but they remain on the walls for viewing. It was about $4 to get into everything, and in a city overrun with tourists, I was the only person inside, though I did get surprised by a nun while viewing one of the chapels. This is a much more austere building than I usually see, which is befitting the monastic history of the structure.
After exiting the monastery, I walked towards and along the bank of the Vltava river for a bit and made it to another thing that had popped up on my algorithm, the (A)void Cafe built into one of the old cargo tubes along the river. It is best known for a gigantic round door the swings open to allow people and air into the venue. I sat there for a while and enjoyed some coffee, food, and a cocktail, though the barista/bartender was surprised I would follow a double espresso with a gin & tonic. Hey, I’m a professional!
Since it was nearby, I walked by the famous Dancing House, which is an example of Prague’s embrace of modern architecture to compliment all the old buildings, and then I made my way towards the old Mǎj department store, which has since been turned into a mall and food hall. As I was walking, I stopped in my tracks, because the Prague National Opera was putting on my favorite opera, Puccini’s Turandot, that evening at 7:00. I certainly didn’t have grand opera on my agenda when I packed, but after I decided I needed to get a ticket (about $30 for a remaining nosebleed ticket), I cobbled together something nicer than shorts and a tee shirt.
Before I went back to get ready, I did take a quick walk across Charles Bridge to the Malá Strana, or Lesser Town, around the palace district on the side of the bridge from Old Town. I spent a lot of time in this area in the previous two trips, and while I couldn’t do much this time (Sorry, St. Nicholas church), I wanted to go to Pernikovy Panacek, literally Gingerbread Man, a little gingerbread shop I stumbled upon in 2018. I love the shop SO much, and I make a point to visit it when I am there.
After picking up some goodies to eat and take back with me, I stopped by a chocolate shop to pick up Prague’s addition to the hoard, and then I went back to the hotel to get ready to go to the opera.
The grand National Theater was great to see inside, even if the height of my seats made for a very warm viewing, but I enjoyed the opera immensely. The staging was not as grand as some I have seen, but the sopranos and the 60+ chorus members made it pretty great. Unfortunately, the tenor was a little weak, which is pretty unfortunate for an opera that Pavarotti made famous, but it was still an enjoyable enough presentation.
While sweating my ass off at the opera, I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that I might have forgotten to put deodorant on, and since I thought I might want to go have a cocktail, I ran by a store to get some deodorant. Ironically, where I ended up was the mall that had the rotating David Černý Kafka head. Since I had gotten some good photos and videos last time, I didn’t spend the time to watch the whole cycle.
After deciding that I wasn’t going to stop off at a bar, I decided to make my way back to the hotel. In 2018, I got some amazing pictures at sunrise on the Charles Bridge, and I wanted to do that again, even though the May sunrise is a lot earlier than September.
I got up at 4:30 to make my way to the bridge, and except for some revelers who hadn’t been to bed yet, there were few people on the streets. I love Prague when it is quiet like this, and I just soaked in the otherworldliness of it all.
I was the first person on the Bridge, but I was quickly joined by a boisterous group of Gen Z, or maybe Alpha, who had been up drinking all night. They were there to congregate and recreate the cover art of the 1987 Depeche Mode album, Music for the Masses. Since I had barely slept and am now an aging Gen Xer, I was suitably annoyed. They were all bedecked in mom jeans, baggy clothes, and even a member’s only jacket, and they were “ironically” taking their pictures with an old digital camera like they were the most edgy and original people to ever live. One of them asked me if I knew about the album, and since I was 12 when it came out, I just basically said, “Yes, I was alive when it came out.”
As the sun began to rise, more people came on the bridge, and I even got harrumphed at by someone for being in their shot. Yes, I am spatially aware enough to get out of the way, but also, I had been there an hour before him. I hope he enjoyed my bright red hoodie in all his shots.
Several people, from internet “models” to Gen X parents and their 20-something son came by to do the same album art photoshoot, and since it was a bit cloudy, I decided to just call it a day and go back to the hotel.
I had one last breakfast at Hotel Lippert before getting to the Prague train station to move on to Berlin.
I barely spent two days in Prague, and while I might regret a tiny bit repeating myself three times now, I have such a sense of calm in Prague. After what I have done over the past week and a half, it was a good reset for the rest of the trip. I did take some time to say my silent goodbyes to the city and the statue of Charles IV just outside the Charles Bridge. Unless my dream of retirement in Prague comes to pass, this could very well be the last time I set foot in the city. I have a lot of places I want to visit, but Prague will always have a big piece of my heart.
