The Seven Small River Islands of Prague

 Sunday 26th July 2015

 

We flew to Prague for an international folk assembly with more than 70 groups from many countries. We had a fantastic time meeting many lovely people. Prague was especially vibrant and very hot!  Our North West Morris team was on Czech TV and we were made to feel like celebrities, as in colourful kit and face paint (despite our senior years), crowds of people took our photos. We stayed on after the event to see more of the sights and decided that we would walk the 7 islands on the river Vltava. As they are so small we thought we would count them as one.

 

We stayed at a hotel in Wenceslas Square. An all day public transport ticket costs 110kc which I think is about £3 and this saved us a lot of time and money. We took the no.3 tram and just got off when we thought we were far enough down the river. There were plenty of cycle paths here, but roads in the city were more of a free for all. These cycle paths doubled as footpaths and there were plenty of fast cyclists to avoid as well as adult scooters and roller skates!

 

It wasn’t very pretty at first but certainly quieter than the city. We went over the bridge to Veslařský Ostrov, our first island. There were plenty of well fed ducks and swallows dipped over the water. We passed a floating restaurant cum hotel and turned left behind it. It wasn’t far to the ferry point at the islands end. The small boat left every 20 minutes to the opposite side of the river and was well used by families of cyclists as a route to the cycle path we had been walking on.

 

There were plenty of fishermen towards the other end of the island. An alarm went and one rushed to reel his line in for what looked like a whopper, judging by the bend in the rod. He nearly finished reeling when the line went slack and it was an anticlimax – bait gone but an empty hook! Pike was on the menu boards in several places so we think that’s in the river.

 

Further up was a smart building, the police social club. It looked like a hotel. Beyond this was a high metal fence that might have been electric and though there was a path through the trees this was not for the public. From the other bank this bit looked really pretty with willows hanging over the water and underneath a heron hunted fish.

 

We turned back noticing the numerous apple trees and some deep blue wild flowers though the right colour, definitely not cornflowers. A really huge flying insect, maybe a hornet made us jump. Throughout the week wasps became quite a problem and several of our Morris team were stung.

 

Off the island, unfortunately back the way we came, we walked back towards the city stopping for coffee at a lovely place labelled Rest. It was windy and cooler in this shady spot than the 30 degrees when we arrived and we were brought blankets.

 

We walked on down to another ferry point where we took a boat to another island, Cisařska Louka.

The ferryman was dressed in a white sailors outfit and the boat could fit around 8 people. We were able to use our all day transport ticket. A Czech cyclist came over with us and said that what we thought were city walls is the site of Prague’s other castle, the one the Czechs prefer to go to( not so many tourists) We couldn’t see how to get up there today but we made it on our last day in Prague. It had a wonderful Art Nouveau church up there though not much to show there was a castle. This was better than the cathedral for us and we enjoyed the views over the river.

Back to the island! The ferry man took us over the other side then back to where we started then eventually to the island which seemed to be mostly a camp site. It was pleasantly relaxing on the water. There were more swans here than anywhere.

 

There were lots of leisure facilities like the golf driving range which was fairly exclusive labelled private so not many people were using it. Likewise were children’s play areas, and empty cafes. We could see back to the “police” island and the fenced off area looked like it contained an electric generator. We walked about a mile till we came to some boat houses, colourful though one must have had a fire judging by the piles of charred wood. Then it was over a little bridge by offices and we were on the less touristy side of the river.

 

 

After crossing the road we took a bus (using the ticket) but it only went as far as the bus station. We walked towards the main part of the city where 3 bridges later we should be able to get to island 3 but, rather hot, we opted for taking the metro 2 or 3 stops where it looked as if everything was closed with very few people about. It was Sunday. We spotted an area with a few shops and restaurants so we got off and found a friendly Italian restaurant. This was the only place we were given a free bread basket (with a garlicky cream cheese) while we waited for our meals which only cost us an equivalent of £6 each including beer.

 

 

 

 

At the bridge before Charles Bridge we came to Détsky Ostrov, island 3. This comprised of a park and restaurant but unfortunately the park was locked up we think for refurbishment but it was looking overgrown. There was a good view of the dancing building (1996) from here- the narrow waisted glass tower against its formal ,upright ”partner”. This island took only a few minutes to look round.

 

Between island 3 and Kampa, island 4, there were tour boats queuing in the canal beside the river to go through the locks. This is known as the devil’s stream. It hardly seemed like an island as we suddenly seemed to be on it. We walked by a graffiti wall then there were 3 upright tree trunks I believe to be named Titans. This was certainly the busiest island with a lot of unusual sometimes grotesque modern artwork displayed around it. There is a museum devoted to 20^th century and contemporary art from central Europe. It is housed in a renovated mill building. We didn’t go in as we were put off by the sculptures outside it, like the wolf tearing the adult head of a baby (grotesque in itself) in glorious technicolour- pools of blood!

 

 

We liked the huge baby sculptures that children enjoyed climbing and the bronze shone where hundreds of hands have rubbed over it. I would have preferred them to have faces though. David Cerny, the sculptor of many controversial pieces around the city, had given them imploded slot machines instead of facial features.

We came off the island by a collection of 17^th century houses, one a marionette shop/ museum that was shut today. A tiny bridge took us onto Charles Bridge which crosses the northern side of Kampa. Locals call Kampa the Venice of Prague because it is prone to flooding but it is also romantic and peaceful. The crowds and noise of the bridge was shocking after the relative quiet of the morning.

 

 

 

Still Sunday, we took a tram back to the hotel for a short rest. We were certainly getting our pound of flesh from the use of our ticket as we metro-ed back to the river. Crossing a bridge, Hiarvkus-Most we went down some steps at the petrol station here to take us on to island 5, Ostrov Štvanice. It looked a bit rough as we started off, passing by teenagers in an area designed, though roughly, for BMX bikes. Despite looking less than inviting we spent a while watching the river from the island’s far end and were surprised to see a few people out walking it. It was nice to be away from crowds. A powerful weir crosses the river to the right and just below it stood a lone fisherman, water to his thighs. We couldn’t see how he had managed to get there with banks of concrete around the edge. I thought he was a quirky statue at first but we saw him cast his line. He really is there but you can't see him in the picture.

 

We walked back in the direction that we had come, but on the weir side of the island, which took us under the road and on until we came to iron gates. Confusingly we could see someone lying on the grass, through the bars. Beside this were skips full of disguarded revolving doors of different designs. On our right seemed to be a football stadium and we walked up beside this to the water on the city side, aware of a loud rolling noise becoming ever louder. It was a prefabricated skate board park. A kiosk here was selling beer and though there was a huge disparity between ours and the average age here, we were served the cheapest brew that we had had so far. Obviously we weren’t to be trusted with glasses (we had plastic disposables!) like the others but we were happy to sit on a shabby settee on the dirt path and watch some of the skateboarders. There had been a competition in October last year and the prize put up was the equivalent to £1000. What we saw today was a bit tame though!

 

We could get down to the end on this side and there were a few collections of people in sunbathing costumes. We went under another tunnel and as I tested for echoes- luckily not yodelling this time- I disturbed a “down and out” sleeping up under the railway. There were quite a few here by the signs of al fresco living- cooking pots and sleeping bags were left around. One man looked very organised in his space under a tree, a proper bivouac! It was sad to see another rooting through the rubbish sacks. There seems to be tolerance though as no one was moved on.

 

We saw a lovely Painted Lady butterfly but not many suitable butterfly flowers. We watched a tour boat in the lock as it slowly went down with the water level. It looked almost empty but then we noticed most people were eating below deck- the weather was still glorious despite it being evening now. There seem to be too many cruise boats for the number of people using them.

We passed empty tennis and netball courts as we walked back towards the road via a pedestrian and bike tunnel.

 

 

Tuesday 27^th July 2015-08-01

 

There were 2 tiny islands left to complete. We took the little bridge from Masarykovo onto

Slovanský Ostrov, island 6.  This is where most of the pedalos on the river are hired and the designs are quite bizarre like giant swans and vintage cars. There is a little replica Victorian train running and enclosed by box hedge for small children. They have their own kiddie bar! We could just see the dancing building from here. There are trees around the edge of the island and we were amused to see a sign depicting “no peeing in the park”. It took us about 20 minutes to walk round.

 

 

We crossed most of the Vitezna Bridge till took the lift down onto Střelecký Ostrov, island 7. There is a stage, closed up today but Sunday we could hear Jazz coming from here when we were on Kampa and as we looked across we could see the 3 trees.

There was play equipment for 8-15 year olds and rules and regulations everywhere. There was a nice feel to the park though and good views of the river. Several jackdaws seemed tame they kept so close. The wind whipped up the sandy path into whirlwinds. We won’t take a pedalo today!!

At the far end is a gourmet restaurant and behind it tennis courts. At the island’s edges it is left natural and people were kept off. There were some unusual wild flowers. Again it took 20 minutes to walk round.

 

We enjoyed our island walks and despite there being little to see on them the views were different and pleasant and we were away from the crowds of tourists. It was certainly worth doing!

Here is Bob's Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOVl-JV90kU