Introduction to Prague

Prague is an ancient city steeped in history, art, music and culture. Its population stands at just over one and a quarter million. Under the communist thumb for forty years the city has recently started to come into its own. Prague is divided in two by the River Vltav, with the steeply inclined left bank dominated by the castle district of Hradcany, which contains the city's most obvious sight: Prazsky hrad or Prague Castle. The city's twisting maze of streets is at its most confusing in the original medieval hub of the city, Staré Mesto - literally, the "Old Town" - on the right bank of the Vltava. South and east of the old town is the large sprawling district of Nové Mesto, whose main arteries make up the city's commercial and business centre. The cities outer suburbs, where most of the population live, are typically Eastern European, with seemingly half-built, high-rise housing estates, known locally as paneláky, swimming in a sea of mud. However, once past the city limits, the traditional, provincial feel of Bohemia (Cechy) immediately makes itself felt. Many Praguers own a country cottage somewhere in these rural backwaters, and every weekend the roads are jammed with locals heading for the hills. For visitors, few places are more than an hour from the city by public transport, making day-trips relatively painless. Popular destinations for foreign day-trippers are the castles of Karlstejn and Konopiste, both of which suffer from a daily influx of coach parties, but make up for it by being surrounded by beautiful wooded countryside. In contrast to the city's ancient past, Prague's social life is a youthful mix of young Czechs in search of urban adventure with crowds of 20-somethings in search of the romanticism of Golden Prague. These days it is not unusual to see groups of more western European youths joining the Czechs in their search for fun.