INTREPIDLY, FROM BERLIN TO VENICE (Part 2): Prague Astronomical Clock

Located at the old town square area of Prague, the Astronomical Clock is definitely the star attraction in these parts, judging from the throng of tourists holding their tablets and cameras, and eagerly awaiting the coming hour. 

First, a bit of history. It was built way back in 1410. One of the (false) legends was that a certain Master Hanus built this clock, and the city councilors were worried he would build another one just like it in another city. Thus, they kidnapped him and blinded him, to ensure their astronomical clock will remain the only one of its kind. 

The clock is chock-full of symbols, such as honored figures during the Medieval times - Astronomer, Philosopher, Chronicler and Angel; and four characteristics detested - a skeleton (Death), a miser with a bag full of money (Greed), a man looking in a mirror (Vanity), and a Turk (Pleasure). It rings at the top of each hour, from 9 AM to 9 PM, and provides a show as well.

 So, let's see what all these tourists are waiting for: (video courtesy of Globetrotter, via You Tube)

 

Well? Pretty UNDERWHELMING stuff huh? ;-D 

Somehow, the procession of apostles passing by the window and stiffly waving; Death ringing a bell; the golden rooster crowing, and the ringing of the huge bell at the top of the tower, etc.,  just don't seem to cut it, at this day and age.  No laser show, no holograms, no 3D, no surround sound - it's all blah, right? 

In fact, the guide of the Sandemans Free Prague Tour that i joined, a local named Filip, half-jokingly labelled the Astronomical Clock as the "World's Second-Most Disappointing Tourist Attraction". Strong words, indeed. 

I found the 'show' totally dull, and was inclined to agree with him. But he pointed out that it was really a matter of perspective. After all, for something that was more than 600 years old, the clock was definitely space-age-y during its time. 

Besides, after doing some research, interesting facts came to light. The upper dial of the Clock tells Babylonian, German, Italian and Sidereal times SIMULTANEOUSLY. (Sidereal time is time kept with respect to the distant stars) It also keeps track of sunrise and sunset, and the phases of the moon. 

Isn't this great? I'm sure none of the modern, ultra-expensive watches (yes, that's you Chopard, Hublot, Rolex, Cartier and Piaget) can do this!

Going back to Filip, guess what he calls the world's most disappointing tourist attraction? Here's a clue :D :

 I had previously blogged about it in a previous trip to Europe. Click here to find out the answer. :D

INTREPIDLY, FROM BERLIN TO VENICE (Part 1): Lake Bled & The Legend of the Sunken Bell

(I had joined an Intrepid Travel small-group tour during September-October 2014, and we had a blast going from our starting point Berlin, to Krakow, Prague, Cesky Krumlov, Vienna, Budapest, Bled, and finally Venice! 

This is the start of my series of posts; and as usual, the posts will not be in chronological order. In fact, some places i'll probably skip altogether. . .and a place or two, i'll ramble about on and on. So here goes! ;-D)

Most of the stops on our tour were capital cities. And after enjoying the cosmopolitan delights of the enormous Vienna and Budapest, a stay at the small, quiant town of Bled, Slovenia was a welcome change. 

Bled looks very laid-back on the surface; but in truth, it seems to have modelled itself to be the 'extreme outdoor activities' capital of Central Europe. If you love the water, there's canyoning, wild-water rafting, river tubing, kayaking and scuba diving. Want to get up in the air? Paragliding, sky diving and ballooning are options. Planted on terra firma? You can choose from trekking, rock climbing, mountain biking and the rather sedate horseback riding. 

But of course, yours truly did not partake of any of these strenuous activities ("umm, my travel insurance doesn't cover it" was the lame excuse proffered). Instead, a relaxing ride on the traditional Pletna boat on Lake Bled was in the works.

These are traditional wooden, flat-bottomed boats, operated by the oarsmen. Just like the gondoliers in Venice, this profession is respected, and handed down from generation to generation in families.  

Fare was EURO12.00 per person, and we (tour mates Maia, Joanne and i) sat back for the 20-minute relaxing ride. Which proved to be not quite relaxing, as the other passengers (3 families related to each other) apparently had no concept of water dynamics; and some of them got up to transfer seats, thereby tilting the boat dangerously to one side. A sharp "HEY!!" from yours truly quieted the mutiny though, hehe ;D 

And here was our destination, the island in the middle of the lake and its star attraction, Church of the Assumption:

Here's a closer look in color:

You might be wondering, what is this church all about? Well, it really has to do with a certain legend about the sunken bell. Here's the official version from the Bled.si website:

The legend of the Sunken bell

Once upon a time there lived a young widow in the castle of Bled. Her husband was killed by robbers and his body was thrown into the lake. She was so inconsolable that she gathered all her gold and silver and cast a bell for the chapel on the island, in memory to her husband. But the bell didn’t arrive there. The bell, the boat and boatmen sank during a terrible storm. 

The desperate widow sold all her property after this accident. She offered the proceeds for the construction of a new church on the island. She left Bled and lived the rest of her life in Rome as a nun. 

After her death the Pope had heard of her misfortune and of her good deeds during her life as a nun, so in memory to her he decide to make a new bell. He said that anyone that rings the bell three times and believes in God, his or her wish would come true.

So, this is what we (or most tourists, for that matter) came here for - to ring the wishing bell three times, and make our respective wishes!!

Ah, there is the matter of an entrance fee of EURO6.00 though. It does include admission to an exhibit of the national costumes of all European Union members, as well as to the church tower (warning: 99 steps!!!) 

It did feel a bit like a rip-off, but Joanne and i duly coughed up our money. Maia was likely much wiser than us, and laughingly demurred.

Here's Joanne getting ready to pull the bell cord:

 I took my turn thereafter, and silently made my wish. Nothing like the sound of bells ringing for that sense of instant gratification - it makes you feel like your wish will indeed be granted! Immediately! Right now!


(Postscript: Two months after. My wish hasn't come true yet.)

TUMATAMBLING SA TAAL VOLCANO CRATER

Bubbly Sh., Newman and i decided to take a day trip out of the metro, and do some trekking at Taal Volcano. 

Yours truly did the research, and booked a Taal trekking banca and guide with the Taal Lake Yacht Club (TLYC). Whilst this was more expensive than the touts flashing 'boat ride' placards around the Tagaytay rotonda, we were enticed by the fact that TLYC's boats came equipped with life vests (as their website sternly intoned, "NO LIFE VEST, NO TRAVEL"!) and fire extinguishers; and they have back-up boats, if needed.

Plus, they have free parking and free shower facilities. As events later in the day proved, one needs a good shower to get rid of the muck and mud from the volcano trek.

We took the scenic route via Sta. Rosa-Tagaytay Road, and faithfully followed the directions given by the affable people of TLYC. Turned right at Ligaya Drive, which proved to be a steep, rather challenging road to navigate. And we eventually turned into the TLYC's sloping, narrow dirt road driveway.

To the banca! We excitedly climbed our motor boat for the day's adventure (TLYC has a total fleet of 6 bancas). 

The boat ride proved to be a pleasant one, with a balmy sky and gentle breeze blowing, and took around twenty minutes. We arrived at the Taal Volcano Island, where the visitors' center was located.

Our guide tried to hard sell us to ride horseback going up the crater (Note: To be technical about it, we were going up one of the craters. There are 47 of  'em in total, of varying sizes). He mentioned that it was a difficult uphill trek, yada yada.

Of course, being the undaunted adventurers that we were (!), we didn't give it a serious thought and decided we were gonna go on foot. Riding horseback was for faint-hearted tourists, ya know.
Or maybe we were just cheapos. Haha!

First part of the trail proved to be rather steep, and dusty (especially as numerous other tourists riding on their horses walked past us, kicking up billowing clouds of dust); and it was indeed difficult to maintain one's footing as the sand kept on shifting underneath one's weight.

                                    (photo taken by Hello Newman)

And as Forrest Gump used to say, when there are horses, there's sure gonna be horseshit. Clumps of them! So mind your step, and be careful not to step on these land mines. And the smell is as can be expected. Here's a particularly festive bunch:

Along the route, we also came upon an active volcano vent, with sulfur (smells like rotten eggs) vapors wafting out. Very hot to the touch!

The huffing and puffing did take its toll, and we got all sweaty and thirsty. When you ask the guide how near the crater was, they just invariably say, "it's near"; so no other choice but to keep on walking. Here's Sh. taking a rest (and more likely than not, wondering what on earth convinced her to wake up early and expend so much physical effort, being the notorious non-exerciser that she is :-D)

The trail became faster at the midpoint. Newman observed that the tourists going down on horseback all had a rather pained look on their faces (with glazed eyes). "Parang natatae" were his exact words.  Why? They didn't enjoy going up the crater, and they were disappointed?  They got vertigo from the jostling and swaying of the horse? 

 

Towards the final stretch, the trail became steep again so we made one final push. And wallah! Here was the sight that greeted us:

                                  (photo taken by Hello Newman)


Beautiful, huh? I'd say it was definitely worth the effort. 

But after a few minutes of admiring and taking photos, what does one do while up at the crater viewing area? 

Errr, nothing much, i'm afraid. WARNING: There is NO toilet here. You are welcome to pee into the crater, though. Hahahaha! 

There were lots of Korean tourists (with a Korean-speaking local guide, to boot). 

And oddly enough, one can choose to play golf. Yup, this lady holding an iron, with her bucket of golf balls, will let you whack a ball into the crater for a handsome fee. Easiest hole-in-one in the world, huh? 

Here's the 'Wi-Fi' zone, and here's some hapless tourists waiting for the very slow, non-existent signal. Zero mbps! 

Our guide revealed, with a wide smile, that it was just a sign. Apparently the locals take delight in tourists who fall for it hook, line and sinker. Haha. 

We decided to start trekking down eventually, due to inevitable hunger pangs (and zero Wi-Fi!). Going down was actually not as easy as one would think, as one misstep can result in a rough, not to mention dusty, tumble into the dirt path. 

Then it dawned on us why those visitors on horseback looked the way they did. They weren't natatae, after all; they were hanging on for dear life!




Check out the website of Taal Lake Yacht Club for full information regarding their volcano tours, at www.tlyc.com.