3 days in Prague, Czech Republic – Charles Bridge and Malà Strana

After the beautiful trip through the Prague Old Town, this time we are going to visit another interesting district of this charming city: the iconic Prague Charles Bridge and Malà Strana.

Here we are, in front of the Charles Bridge, with one of this tower, ready to cross it and explore it although the crowd, but since it’s one the most iconic attractions of Prague, it’s quite normal to meet there so many people.

Before crossing the Mostecka vez (Tower of the Bridge), a museum caught our eye and it’s the Museum of Medieval Torture, one of the strangest museums ever seen: It’s a 3-floor ride along the medieval tortures during the Middle Ages: a little bit creepy. but interesting and revealing the brutal part of the human nature.

However, let’s get back to the most romantic Prague and cross the famous Charles Bridge.  Built since 1357 it connected the old medieval town to the Castle. It is 516 meters long and 10 meters wide: it represents one of the most important engineering structures because of its solid architecture: a sandstone bridge with 16 pillars.

When you cross the beautiful Mosteca vez, you find a bridge plenty of statues, plenty of legends, like the one where the sword of St. Wenceslas was walled up and in case of danger he would have used to protect city, but… some children stole it so it was completely lost.

Charles Bridge shows 30 sandstone statues, but two of them are bronze statues: the Crucifixion, that you can see above.

One of the most important statue is for sure this one, representing Jan Pomuk, “vice” archibishop of Prague in 1389, that was arrested, tortured and thrown into the Moldave River by King Wenceslav VI: he became saint since he did not reveal a secret confession of the Queen Sophia. A popular legend tells that if you touch the golden cross where the saint was thrown into the river, your desires will become true.

Once you cross the highest tower of the Charles Bridge, you get to the elegant district of Malà Strana, located at the feet of the Castle. It is a baroque district that for sure inspires peace and harmony and you can have an example of that by looking at this pic:

Let’s turn the head to the main tower of the Charles Bridge before exploring Malà Strana.

Following the Mosteckà, we will get to the Malà Strana square (Malostranskè namestì), divided in two parts by the huge complex of St Nicholas (Sv Mikulas).

Walking along the Nerudova, you can first see the Petrin hill, surrounded by a large public park and with a panoramic tower and elegant gardens. 

To access to this panoramic tower, you can cross the gate of the medieval walls and fortifications and visit elegant flourished avenues and charming gardens. 

On the top of the Petrin hill, you can find the minor sister of the Eiffer Tower, the Petrinska rozhledna or Petrin Tower, built in 1891, a 60 meters iron tower. I recommend to reach the top and enjoy the fantastic sightseeing over Prague and the surrounded hills.

Close to the tower you can find a curious pavilion with its mirror labyrinth and the diorama of the battle of Prague in 1648: the Mirror Maze. If you want to change your body and play with it, this is the right place for you! 

If you go downhill, it is strongly recommended to walk along the Moldava river,a romantic path where you can enjoz the sight of the old medieval town and Kampa island, divided from Malà Strana by the Certovka (devil’s channel) with some curious yellow penguin statues.

Here we can get back to the Charles bridge to go again uphill and the visit the famous Hrad, the Prague Castle. Don’t miss it! 🙂