Wroclaw (Breslau) & Prague 7-11.4.2016

7.4 Thursday
Instead of directly going to Czech republic, I stayed in Poland and did a day trip to Wroclaw, former Breslau, where part of my family comes from. I was really curious to see how this city looks like, after the history belonging to Germany and Poland, being almost completely destroyed (65-80%) after the second world war. In the beginning of 1945, evacuations from the city started and almost 75% of the people living in the city escaped from Breslau. In may 1945 the city were given to Poland.

The route from Wroclaw to Prague. The train from Krakow (lower right corner) to Wroclaw went 8.13 and I was there at 11.31, five hours time to explore the city!

(up): arriving at the main station, Wroclaw glowny, and tried to find a place where to put my backpack. Finally found a nice hostel close to the station that were kind to keep my bag in safe for the time I spend in Breslau. The main center of the city is kind of surrounded by the two rivers Odra in the north and Fosa Miejska in the south (d.r). There are also lots of parks along the river (d.l).

The map over Breslau. 

One funny thing about Breslau is the dwarfs, polish krasnale, these small figures that are situated around the city. I actually found a map of a dwarf-route and tried to follow it and thereby find most of the dwarfs. It is a nice way of combining sightseeing and taking dwarfs by following these special maps. Apparently there are over 300 dwarfs in the city, of which I found 22. So not close to all of them. In 2001 the first dwarf was placed on Swidinicka Street, which was a symbol for a anti-communist movement. In this Street they usually meet for meetings. I guess I also found this dwarf (see next picture).

(up): opera Wroclawska. (down): at the main square in the old town. On the right you can see the town hall, Ratusz.

On top you can see one of the nice churches in the city. This church, Elizabeth Church, was one of my favorites. There is also a tower, from where you have a nice view over the city. I, however, did not have time for this, but I got to see the lovely Breslau with all its nice churches, colourful buildings (down), nice parks and old and modern buildings, affected by a lot of different countries due to its diverse history. Before the war, Breslau was one of the most culturally and architecturally diverse place in Central Europe. Today a popular tourist destination.

Apart from the old town, north of the market square, lies the soul of the city, Ostrow Tumski, or also called the cathedral island. 

I also walked east of the old town to Centennial Hall, in the hope of seeing the big famous multimedia fountain. Unfortunately there was no water at this time of year, but it was not an useless trip. The only place in the city that are labelled as UNESCO world heritage site. The zoo can also be found here. It is surrounded of beautiful parks, of which I visited one of them (d.l). This statue, called Hunting Diana, is a sculpture of the goodness hunting with two dogs. It was given to the city in 1898, lost after WW II, but recreated in 2015.

The famous bridge that goes over the Odra River northeast of the old town. (u.r): Panorama von Raclawicka. 

I also went to the tourist center in order to know the name of the street, where part of my family were living before the end of the second world war. I only knew the street by the German name, but I got help here and found out the polish name and also walked to this Street (on the pictures). In my opinion, there buildings looks so old that they could easily have been preserved after the war! If was amazing to go back and follow my family roots! 

In the evening I took the train to Prague!

The route on the map. I was lucky with the trains and got to Prague one hour earlier than planned. From my Erasmus in Hamburg I know a lot of people living in Prague. The two first night I got to sleep over in a lovely flat at Tatiana's, a super nice young woman, and at her boyfriend's place. Thanks a lot for having me and hosting me!!

8.4 Friday
Today morning and afternoon we walked in the beautiful capital city of Czech republic. Once again I got surprised how lovely these East European cities are!

The weather was not the best but it was not raining, so it was just perfect for city waking tour. We passed the famous dancing house (right) and crossed Charles bridge (d.l). Apart from example Hamburg, here the most common mode of transport in the city are the trams (u.l), which all have the same colour. The newest ones, however, also have free Wi-Fi in the tram, which I found interesting but useful.

Standing at the river with this beautiful young woman.

When coming closer to the old town and the Charles bridge, there started to be tourists all over the place. In the background (right) you can see the Prague castle with its historical buildings, such as the St. Vitus' cathedral. In the middle you can see the hill Petrin.

Before climbing up to the castle and enjoy the view, we went to a beautiful park close by. This park is situated close to the Senate palace. We were also lucky to see peacocks showing off their "tails". 

The view towards Petrin taken from the other side of the river Vltava. Note the beautiful reflections on the water!

Visiting the Prague castle and the beautiful cathedral. The castle was probably founded in 880 and is today, according to Guinness world records, the largest castle complex in the world. In this area there are also a golden Street, but unfortunately you needed to pay in order to entry the street, so we decided not to do it. For around 10 years ago it was free entrance, today all places, where there is the possibility, they make the tourists pay for it. It is sad but true.

National Opera (up). After having lunch we had ice cream for dessert. They had many interesting flavors, apart from the normal ones they had for example avocado ice cream. I couldn't decide what to take, so ended up by choosing three flavors, of which the avocado was clearly the best one!

The Czech republic is famous of these wooden toys as well as for the animated character the Mole (Krtek or Krtecek). Even I remember watching animations of the Mole as a child. Also Pat &Mat originate from here.

In the afternoon I continued my walk in the city alone, after meeting up with one other really lovely woman from my Erasmus. She is letting me stay at her place for the weekend! I also got some tips what to do in Prague. On the background you can see the hill Petrin and the Hunger Wall, that in my opinion resembles the China wall.

Before going up to the Hill Petrin I had a walk in the other part of the old town, at the old town square (see next picture) where you can find the Jewish town, churches and the old town hall and its astronomical clock, Staromestska Radnice.

Old town square. Also here the buildings have the similar style as it was to be seen in Poland.

Climbing up to the hill Petrin was really worth it! There are actually five good places in Prague where you can have a nice view over the city, depending on what you want to see. This is the view towards the river from the view tower on the hill Petrin. From here you can see everything except for Petrin. In order to enjoy the nice view you need to climb up 299 stairs.

View towards the Prague castle from Petrin. I spent here a long time just enjoying the view!

(d.l): view tower on the Petrin. It looks like the Eiffel tower but is much much smaller then the real one, but big enough for this purpose. (Up): Petrin from down. (d.r): on top of the hill, close to the tower, there was a labyrinth. I wanted to go and have a look what it is like, but it was really easy to find your way out. It was though nice to see the funny mirrors.

Around eight I climbed down from the hill, following these meandering roads to Andél, where I met two of my Erasmus friends, Tatiana any Betty, and we spent the evening there in a nice bar/restaurant. I really think by doing a trip like what I am doing now, after an exchange period, you can just visit those lovely people again and enjoy spending some more time with these wonderful people before having to say good bye.

9.4 Saturday

Today in the morning we went to a farmer's market (up). In Prague there are two of these markets, one at the river and one more further away. We decided to take the other one, that would not be that crowded with people. They sold lots of food from local farms, for to take with you home and also some other stuff. It was pretty small but cosy and nice to see. It is a tradition here on Prague that people visit these markets every Saturday. It was situated close to the technical university and they showed me around in the area, also the library. It was a really interesting building with small details, the inner walls were kind of old, from outside it looked modern. Really interesting but I guess a good place to study. Afterwards we walked to Letna park, had a beer and enjoyed the view from the Letna hill (d.r). In the summer people come here to have a beer in the biergarten, today it was pretty empty. In the park was also this interesting Pendle (d.l). 

In the evening, after moving to my new place to sleep over in Prague, I met another guy, Adam, from the Erasmus with his girlfriend in a bar/restaurant close to the river. Also in the evening Prague is lovely!! (up). At least the bridges and the castle look really nice in this lightning. We walked down from the Charles bride to an island, that lies in the river. Even though the rainy weather it looked beautiful here with these small houses and the evening light (down).

From this island you could walk to the watermill (right). This island, Kampa island, is easily reached from the Charles bride, just walking down the staircase and you will find yourself in one of the most peaceful areas in center places of the city. We also walked here and they showed me the mill, this mill is located at the devil's steam. According to a legend, at this mill there is a creature, that represents a guy, who sometimes was a bad guy, grabbing on boats and turning them around, so that the people drowned. On the other hand, he could also be nice and help people in need and safe their lives. I think all cities have their own legends or stories about something, which I find fascinating. On the Charles bridge (entrance in d.l) there are also icons, which by touching some certain spots in the pictures it will bring you luck. My friend told me, at one point people started to touch the icon close by, with a dog on it, instead of touching the "real one" that would bring you luck (u.l). I decided to go for the real one.

They took me to the best bar in Prague, local bar, where you apparently get the best beers. The good quality of the beer comes also from the habit to store the beer, in these big metal containers (u.l). I found it interesting that you could order beer with 90 % of foam! We ordered the middle one (u.r), and it was so tasteful! You had better drink it really fast in order to get to enjoy the foam. So cheers (down)!

 10.4 Sunday

Today in the morning I went for a long run to a park close by and ran around a lake. It was wonderful! In the afternoon I decided to visit the Prague Zoo.

There was bus connections to the zoo from either one metro station or one tram station, so getting there was not a problem. The establishment of this zoological garden started already in 1881. I wanted to go and visit the zoo, because I heard it is one of the most famous ones in Europe. There are too be seen rare loins, the biggest salamander, ice bears... This garden occupies an area of 60 ha, 50 ha for the animals. I was really curious to see what animals they have and in what cages they were keeping the animals. Some had huge areas to live in, others, such as eagles of other bigger birds, did not, in my opinion, have enough space to fly in. The cages were just to small and to low for flying. But I really liked the part with the penguins and the seals.

The main eye-catch for the zoo for this summer must be the newborn baby elephant that was born on April the 5th in 2016. The mother of the baby, Janita, gave birth to her after 639 days of being pregnant! That is like almost two and a half years! He is actually the first baby who was, apart from being born, also conceived at Prague zoo.

The ice bears I left for the end of my visit at the zoo, because I was mostly interested in seeing them. Like preparing myself to go to Svalbard and study for the fall semester in 2016. I think they could also have had a bigger place to live in, but in the other hand, they also had some snow there so the zoo really tried to make it comfortable for them. The zoo is a nice place to just walk around, there are 10 km:s of walking routes for the visitors. The park is also nicely made and you can easily spend many hours just buy walking there.

As mentioned before, there are a few hills from where you can have a nice view over the city. In the evening I visited Vysehrad, which is a historical fort, build in 10th century on a hill at the Vltava river. On the pictures you can see the main gate and the Basilica of St Peter and St Paul. The view from here were absolutely astonishing (see next picture)!

In the evening I wanted to go and try out the famous fish dishes of Prague, but unfortunately the one I was recommended to visit was closed and I found myself in a Chinese restaurant. It was really good and got good sushi with a really cheap price. 

11.4 Monday
I had a great time in Prague, visited many places, saw a lot and met a lot of friends from Erasmus, except for one who unfortunately was sick :( hope to see you in Finland then ;)
My favourites in Prague: the different hills: Petrin and Vysehrad, the view over the city from the castle, beer.