Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Black and White

For Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Black and White I take you for a walk over the Charles Bridge in Prague, the oldest bridge, top tourist attraction in Prague, place that you can enjoy at nights and in winter more because it is not full of people so that you can hardly go through :-). Let’s start at the Old Town by Manes bridge with a nice view to the Charles one, I like the promenade at Aleš’s quay.

Aleš’s quay, in summer full of artists

We enter the bridge at the Křižovnické náměstí, through the Old Town Bridge Tower (more about it next Monday in my tower’s series). The water level is quite high these days.

Water and gulls sitting on wooden ice-breakers

At the bridge you can find people having their businesses there, mostly stalls with hand made products, jewels, photos, paintings. Very nice collection indeed.

Sellers and customers

During winter you can also meet warm-blooded people crossing the bridge.

I was cold!

But the most important activity at the Charles Bridge is taking pictures. Picture of oneself, of the view, of the statues, of my friends, of the water, of oneself (again) together with friends.

Photographers

St. John of Nepomuk, golden details

When making pictures, don’t forget to look at the statue of St. John of Nepomuk. It’s the oldest one on the bridge and it is the only one made of metal (it’s green), others are from sandstone. It’s also the most occupied statue, as everyone want’s to touch the reliefs at the bottom of it :-). The lady on the right side will fulfill your wishes, the loyal dog on the left will bring you back to Prague. Not far from there you can find a special small bar at a place where John of Nepomuk was dropped to the water.

After crossing the bridge you can walk also under it on Kampa island or at Little Quarter, don’t miss the Café Kafíčko I wrote about at the end of my previous post Prague Towers (5) – Little Quarter Bridge Tower, which is nicely warm specially in these winter days.

Crossing the bridge under the bridge in snowy weather

And when we are in Little Quarter, we don’t forget to visit Museum of Music in Karmelitská street. There are beautiful old instruments, the next collection fits topic black and white perfectly.

Fingerboards of pianos and cembalos at the Museum of Music