Rosie and The Operator are in Prague! Winter is upon us, it’s the end of November and the festivities are kicking into full swing in this city! Rosie is excited and keen to experience a full on Christmas Wonderland which includes snow, lots of mulled wine and of course Christmas Markets.
Prague! What a city to start our wintry adventures in! We arrive in the early evening, its dark, minus -6c and Rosie and The Operator have hit the old town which is two steps from their apartment.
Everyone is wrapped up warm, there are so many fur trims and huge woolly pompoms bobbing about. Scarves cover mouths and eyes peer from above.
People talk with huge plumes of steam issuing from mouths which mingle with the wafts of steam from cups of mulled wine that they hold. Its dark when Rosie and The Operator first venture out and we cannot wait have a look around. First things first though, tis the season after all, we need a cup of mulled wine too!
Its not hard to find one, every single shop seems to have a heated urn out the front and a sign advertising the piping hot beverage. Mulled wine is totally the drink of winter! The cold around you seems to amplify the taste and it is much better drinking it here than in the warmer climes of home. Plus, its nice to be able to purchase an alcoholic beverage and be able to wander around with it like the mature adults we both are. Beware, optimum drink time though, (taking in the ambient air cooling factor), is just under 10mins per cup! No problem for The Operator.
The Old Town Square is mere steps away and this is the main square in the Old Town of Prague. Its only early evening but the sun has well set, the crowds are pretty thick and everyone is jostling to see the squares main attraction the Astronomical Clock. Like a moth to a flame, Rosie too was also standing with the throngs gazing up at it.
The illuminated clock faces look amazing in the darkness with the silhouette of the tower standing out darker than the night sky. This clock was added to the already existing bell tower in 1410. The clock still works, making it the oldest working clock in the world and the third oldest Astronomical clock. Local folklore says that the city blinded the clock maker after he finished making the clock so that the beauty of the clock could never be replicated again anywhere else.
It’s a pretty complicated clock not only does it tell you the current time in a modern 24 hour format, it tells ancient Bohemian time, sunrise, sunset, the zodiac positions in the sky and much more. On the hour, every hour the Apostles pop out of the top one by one to look out over the square as they have everyday since the 1600s when they were added. The other side statues also jerkily jiggle to tell a story of the Vanities that they represent.
Standing under the dark, navy blue sky Rosie slowly spins around doesn’t know where to look next!
The giant Christmas tree in the square is still being decorated but they had it switched on anyway and the twinkling fairy lights were amazing in front of the church of Our Lady of Tyne which was solemnly shining silver in the night sky. This is the arena for the main Prague Market which will officially come to life in two days time on the 1st of December.
The smaller Christmas Markets were already set up and running in the lesser squares and they are magical. They were operating out of cute wee pitched roofed wooden huts with stacked winter logs in the front, each had boughs of piney leafy decorations hanging from the eves and each is packed to their wee rafters full of goodies. Exactly how Rosie imagined, but so much more exciting and magical because she was there!
They looked so beautiful with the tall grand buildings of the squares behind them…and of course each square has its on Christmas tree and decorations to boot.
The small square was teeming with people. The air was brisk, cold and smelt of cinnamon, spices and sweet sugar from the dessert carts. Charcoal and roast meat scents wafted from the spit roasts cooking the famous Prague Ham and mingled with the sweet. What a delight to be out and about in amongst it all.
Rosie and The Operator just kept on walking, forgetting about the cold that was biting my nose and fingertips as I snapped away at photos. Yes, Rosie has some beautiful warm merino gloves…but she cannot operate her phone camera screen with gloves on…rookie mistake. By the end of the night it honestly felt like my fingers were going to snap off they were that cold and red raw. Rosie is tempted to cut a wee hole in the finger tip of her glove so she can keep warm and still operate her phone…but she is loath to ruin a great pair of gloves…she will give it another day.
Wandering on we find ourselves outside the Powder Tower, this ominous, black tower rose before us with eerie up lighting defining its blocky bulk.
Under the faux gas lanterns it looked like a street scene straight from a Gothic horror. Built in 1475 this tower was one of the original thirteen city gates of Old Prague, and, you guessed it, in the 17th Century it was used to store…gunpowder.
Hold on a minute, what is that Rosie sees? This is turning into a great night and its not even 7.00pm yet! Another Christmas Market in Republic Square, just around the corner from the Powder Tower, Rosie can see the lights twinkling just ahead and homes in on it.
Okay, similar format and decorations, yet just different enough to keep that festive buzz fizzing! The Operator has discovered a hot, honey wine stand…and boy is it delicious!
The man running it comes from a small town in Slovakia where he makes his award winning wine. He was very familiar with our country as his daughter lived in New Zealand for a year. He comes to Prague every year for the Christmas markets and stays for 100 days where he works his stall selling cups of hot honey wine and bottles of his wine from 0930 – 2000….seven days a week with only Christmas Day off.
We also discovered a man that sells the most delicious sugar coated almonds and another man who sells the most delicious homemade (he assures us) gingerbread….Rosie can tell you, from personal experience both complement hot honey wine so well!
Rosie and The Operator are not normally holiday shoppers. We love browsing local markets for awesome artisan and handmade products of which these Christmas are renowned for, but never do we really go into.…shops…until now.
All of the shop doors are open to the freezing cold air here, that’s strange thought Rosie, its -6, I cant believe the shop doors are open and the shop keeper is standing inside in a T Shirt. We entered the store to see what was going on. OMG – the beautiful, downward force of blessed warm wind on the threshold as we entered was amazing.
Voila, we stepped through the air curtain from polar conditions into the warmest coziest environment ever! This is the first time ever that Rosie and the Operator have ever stopped and browsed in at least half a dozen shops on the way home…the warmth was life saving! OK, a bit dramatic but man it was just lovely looking forward to bursts of warmth every 100 meters or so.
Home in our toasty apartment Rosie is still reeling from the promise of this magnificent city. We cannot wait to get out and about and explore it in the daylight tomorrow!
