Petrin Lookout Tower
The tower is one of my top ten of Prague. Not because of the tower itself, but because of the views acoss the city. The views and photos that can be taken from here are fantastic. In addition it is a beautiful walk up to the tower from Prague Castle or from the Lesser Town by a short hill tram, as the walk from the Lesser Town side is very steep.
The tower is a 60 metre high steel framework tower in Prague, which strongly resembles the Eiffel Tower. Although it is much shorter than the Eiffel Tower, it stands atop a sizeable hill, Petrin, so the top is at almost the same altitude. The Pet?ínská rozhledna was built in 1891 and was used as an observation tower as well as a transmission tower. Today the Pet?ínská rozhledna is a major tourist attraction. If you go up the hard way, the hill is roughly a half-hour walk up paths that get quite slippy when it snows, and the tower is a shorter but fairly tiring climb; however, the hill is served by a frequent funicular and the tower has an elevator for disabled persons.
On clear days, the tower offers a good view of the Prague skyline.
It is open from 10am to 7-10pm every day from April to October and only at weekends from November to March, from 10am to 5pm. There is a gift shop and a small cafeteria on the main level. On the lowest level is a small museum of Jára Cimrman.
Petrinska rozhledna versus Eiffel Tower
Pet?ínská rozhledna is often described as small version of the Eiffel Tower. This is however not correct, because in contrast to the Eiffel Tower, Pet?ínská rozhledna has an octagonal and not a square cross section over its whole height. Further, it does not stand, as does the Eiffel Tower, on four columns of lattice steel. Its design more resembles that of the Observation Tower Height of Goetzingen near Neustadt/Saxonia than the Eiffel Tower. However in contrast to both towers the whole area under its legs is covered with the entrance hall. A similarity between the Eiffel Tower and Pet?ínská rozhledna is the design of the lowest cross beams in the form of round bows.
The two observation platforms are accessible via lifts and stairs, with two sets of stairs, one for ascending and one for descending, running around the inside of the structure. A nominal entrance fee is payable to access the observation platforms.
Prague City Street
This is one of the great pleasures in Prague, I can wander in the city and still find streets that are completely empty, even when you would think that every street is jammed with eager tourists snapping away. I tell friend not to stop at the main tourist area for coffee or a [...]