Prague for free

It seems that phone booths are pretty much dead in the 21st century. Sad? Maybe, but that is called progress, my friend. Just think about it – when was the last time you used a phone booth? I can’t even remember. Can you? And I am one of those whose memory works well.

Nowadays, everyone has a cell phone or two to call from when in need of a conversation. Whether that is a good or bad thing, I leave up to you. What I want to write hear about is a quite unique exhibition which changes unimpressive and dull phone booths into pieces of art.

It is a matter of fact that many phone booths in the Czech Republic, and especially in Prague, are absolutely redundant all year round. They are nothing but hurdles in a way. What to do with them? Someone had a great idea – Let’s turn them into something beautiful, something that calls for attention! And so bunch of artists did as that person said. They changed completely 17 useless phone booths and made them attractive for people again.

This special exhibition takes place on Kampa Island till 25th of August. Whether you can still use those extraordinary phone booths for calling, I don’t know. And how to get to Kampa Island? It’s between Charles Bridge and tram station Ujezd (trams 6, 9, 22, 23). You don’t have to pay a thing to see this exhibition.

You so have to see this! I am not exaggerating when I say that this is the best exhibition in Prague taking place this summer, maybe this year! And I am not ashamed to say that those are the best photos I have ever seen.

I am talking about the Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s large format photos that are now exposed to curious visitors of Prague’s park Kampa. The exhibition is called “The Land of the Beautiful Unknown” and is introducing 120 large-format images taken from helicopter. And when I say large, I mean 180×120 cm.

Yann Arthus-Bertrand, French photographer, started to take those pictures now shown in Prague in 1990. Since then, over half a million photographs have been taken in more than 100 countries. All from above. That is why this exhibition is also known as Earth from Above. And only 120 of those pictures were chosen for the exhibition. They are really the best of the best!

This Arthus-Bertrand´s exhibition has already been to about one hundred cities around the world. So far, nearly 60 millions of people have seen it. Arthus-Bertrand´s aerial photos bring us really unusual view on things. He documents the endless beauty of Earth and shows us how small we are compared. It is truly fascinating to see all those magical colours!

The exhibition is no doubt breathtaking. It’s open for public for free 24 hours a day until October 31 at Prague 1 – Kampa Park, Lesser Town. You can reach it when taking the stairs from the Charles Bridge. It is worth going both during the day as well as at night!

As tourists are usually mad about Prague, they – unfortunately quite often – tend to forget to buy a ticket for their ride. But this pettiness can, at the end, cost you a fortune!

If you are lucky enough to meet a controller when travelling with public transportation without a valid ticket, you can get a fine amounting to 950,- CZK! For that price you could buy yourself about 40 pints of beer!! If you pay the fine off hand, it will be reduced to 400,- CZK, which is definitely better than the first option, but still is quite a money.

So why to risk the unpleasant acquaintance with the controller? One ticket for an adult (non transfer) costs only 14,- CZK and is valid for 20 minutes. For a ride that last up to 75 minutes (on weekends and past 8 p.m. it´s 90 minutes) you pay 20,- CZK. That´s not even one beer!

Now, tell me, isn´t it better to pay 20,- CZK and enjoy the ride with the bus, tram or subway than to be worried all the time when on the public transportation and risk the penalization?

And where do you buy the tickets? You can buy the tickets by the bus driver for a slightly higher price. However, you can´t buy them in trams or when in the subway. So what to do? You can find them nearly in all stores where they sell cigarettes and newspapers. They are called „trafika“ over here. Or you can buy them near bus and tram´s stations, and in all undergrounds – look for yellow boxes. You just choose the ticket you would like, press the button as many times as how many tickets you want, and then put in corresponding amount of money.

When on the tram, bus or when entering the subway station, don´t forget to mark the ticket! Holding a ticket that is not marked is the same as travelling without one!! So don´t fail to put the ticket into the little yellow box inside the bus, tram or when entering the metro station. The yellow box prints the exact time and from that time on you can travel anywhere for 20, 75 or 90 minutes, depending on the ticket.

If you assume you will use the public transportation a lot or will stay for more days, it´s worth it to get a ticket that is valid for the whole day (24 hours), 3, 7 or 15 days, a month or more. Those „special“ tickets you can find at Information Centres (Informacni stredisko), e.g. at metro station Muzeum (line A and C) and Mustek (line B).

It is really smarter to buy yourself a ticket and mark it right after you get on a public transportation, so you can enjoy the holiday at full.

It’s been a while since I didn’t get to write anything for Prague.net or blog… Exams period, a new job and spring in Prague is a bit too much to handle. I finally have some free hours, so thought I too a look at Prgue blog and give you folks some tips on Prague transport system.
These days some friends from home came to visit Prague and they were really impressed with the public transport system here. Come to think of it, who wouldn’t?
Just imagine: underground, tram and bus stations where you can see exactly when the tram, bus or train arrives, how much it takes to get to your next destination and everything just for a few crowns! Yes, if you compare it to the taxi prices it’s almost for free.

And almost forgot… everything is on the web, on a program where you just state the station you are departing from, the station you want to get to and time. The program tells you the connections, the time it takes, number of km and price. Wonderful…
But if you want to make it even more efficient, just by on the first day a short-term ticket (according to the length of your stay: one, three, seven days), validate it the first time you get on a means of public transport and you won’t have to worry about buying tickets any more…
Maybe it’s good to know that the public transport system works also by night. The normal, day links are functional until midnight.