A city destroyed by tourists

The title gives it away really, I can feel a rant coming on!

But it would be rude to start that way, not with such a beautiful city like Praha, or Prague to the Brits. This is another city I visited while inter-railing. When I was back then it was Czechoslovakia, it was communist, although all that was about to change. Unlike Budapest, I remember Praha, or I thought I did.

Maybe it has changed a lot.

We spent a quiet night in the suburbs. In the morning we drive Dora a little further in, until we find a tram. It is the weekend and there is an abundance of parking. A local shop sells us four tram tickets, less than a euro each and we are off to Praha. The tickets allow changes, so as soon as we can, we hop onto the metro which brings us up into the centre of town.

First things first, a bit of architecture. The home of the Praha symphony orchestra is at Municipal House, a turn of the century art nouveau building. We book in for a tour and have lunch while we wait.

Just outside is a market, unfortunately it has been touristified and now sells overpriced organic venison to the unwary. You can also get beer at London prices, and copious amounts of generic multinational tasteless food; like pizza, burger or hot dog, and this isn’t even the rant yet.

Instead we head into the supermarket and for the price of a single hotdog we get enough food; sandwich, drink, fruit, for both of us. Ah, but was it organically reared you might ask. Well as organic is a meaningless piece od pseudo scientific non-sense, probable not, it was also not charmed by crystals, had a taro reading or were we aware of its astrological symbol. We ate well.

Mini rant over we are now fed and ready for our tour.

The building is stunning, particularly the level of workmanship and the quality of the materials.

The level of detail is also stunning, patterns run through from the wall coverings to the curtains to the flooring.

Sometimes the quality of light is rather beautiful.

But it is still hideously over decorated for my tastes.

Yes, I can appreciate the time and effort and the artistry,

It is just all a bit too much and it is such a dust trap, so difficult to maintain.

And it often renders the building pretty much unusable. ‘We are now entering the parlour and the tables are original, so don’t touch anything’ what is the point in that, they are so delicate they are now untouchable!

Yes times have changed. Presumably this was an establishment primarily for the upper classes with little sense of taste or value, so you plaster everything with as much bling and decoration as you can muster.

Found this image particularly disturbing, wouldn’t fancy my G&T sitting underneath that.

Obviously I am exaggerating and there are some lovely details, but overall excessive.

The utility of the basement started to get somewhere closer to clean lines and simple materials, but still, gold, hand painted tiles and wavy floor tiles.

Ever heard the saying ‘less is more’. Well, no they didn’t, that came twenty years later.

Here, more is more!

And the outside is as opulent as the inside.

We take a wander into town.

I also came to Praha, in 1993. I don’t remember very well either. I vaguely remember, though, being surprised by the different architectural styles. SM

In my ignorance, I was expecting to see a true soviet capital city, with colossal, box-shaped, gloomy buildings, proper of a totalitarian state. Instead, I found a bohemian, artistic and exuberant city. SM

And eventually arrive in the main square.

Now we have seen these things in quite a few cities- segways.

It appears that they have no other commercial use than as a tour around a city. They may be fun for the user but they are a considerable liability to other pavement users, yes they go on the pavement rather than the road. They belong under the tire of an articulated truck if you ask me.

So you have a group of people careering around on a device they have no hope of controlling, in a crowded tourist area, it all makes sense doesn’t it.

And they often swarm in large packs for maximum danger!

What I don’t understand is what levels of laziness have some of the human species stooped to. What are those bendy things hanging off the end of the torso for. It is not as if these machines are quicker or more nimble or more energy efficient than legs.

But what I find most perplexing is these people look utterly ridiculous, teetering on two wheels with their cycle crash helmets on, surely the sheer embarrassment would put most people off. Only while on holiday you might say. They aren’t even that cheap at €45 for a two hour tour.

And we still aren’t at the proper rant yet.

The astronomical clock,

we didn’t get to see the show, instead we headed up the tower.

They have installed a rather nice lift up the centre, with a really complex tubular steel curved lattice supporting the guide rails. The structure looked really delicate.

The lift wasn’t working. Instead we walked the several kilometres up the spiral ramp.

And what views.

The panoramics across the square are amazing.

And what a roofscape, no wonder Praha is seen as such a beautiful city.

This is all picture postcard stuff.

But it is when you look down that you appreciate the sheer volume of visitors that are attracted to Praha, all wanting a bit of that picture postcard stuff and plus of course the segway tours and cheap beer, which isn’t that cheap after all.

Down at ground level and the crowds are immense.

But there are major bits where they really flock to.

This isn’t true for parts of the city, which at times are pretty much deserted.

Quite liked the natty structure of this department store, but it should have ‘floated’ a bit more at ground level.

And this beautiful little infill of balconies creating a hanging garden.

Here it is suffocating, you can hardly move. Yes I know we are getting to peak season, but this is highly unpleasant.

And one of those is the bridge. The Charles bridge. Here there are so many it is quite intimidating.

It is impossible to appreciate really.

Not like this, maybe we need to return at three in the morning.

Things have certainly changed since I was last here, back when it was communist. I remember the queues in the supermarket. They queued to get a trolley. It was cheap back then, and when I visited the bridge on a summers evening, I was pretty much on my own. This is partly down to the fragility of our memory of course. I went there for the communist experience and that’s the bit I remember. Praha is certainly not cheap anymore, there Czechs have learnt about capitalism pretty quick, and why should they not.

But this place used to be beautiful and it isn’t anymore, it is horrendous.

Not because of the sites, they are still there and still pretty.

Not because of the locals, they are charming, helpful and courteous. But because of the tourists. Just the vast number of them, like some swarm of locusts destroying the crops it visits.

And we are part of them.

This city is just a caricature of what it used to be.

GDR