Prague Islands without barriers

| → National Avenue → Legion Bridge → Střelecký Island

The Prague stretch of the Vltava River is dotted with thirteen islands of various sizes. Some of them come alive in the summer months with cultural festivals, others are quiet all year round. Let’s get to know at least three of them. All of them are within sight of the National Theatre, where we will start and end the route, at the adjacent, partially accessible tram stop.

Národní třída, which divides the Old and New Town, began to emerge in the second half of the 18th century in the place of a buried fortification moat, while from 1840 the embankment was transformed by the ‘Emperor Franz I’ chain bridge, which predated today’s Legionnaires’ bridge.

The Neo-Renaissance National Theatre, built in 1881, ennobled the street completely, with its surrounding noble zone complemented by the Topič Salon art gallery, the Slavia Café, as well as the Academy of Sciences building. A memorial plaque on the façade of the Kaňka House or the Schirding Palace, as it is called, located nearby at the intersection with Mikulandská street, commemorates some key events in the modern history of Národní třída. This was the birthplace of the Velvet Revolution on 17 November 1989, after heavy-handed police treatment of demonstrating students.

Let us stop and think for a moment about the colourful and dramatic past of this place, taking time out at, say, the National Café, which, unlike its more famous colleague Slavia, has a barrierfree entrance. The establishment was founded in 1896, but saw it heyday during the First Republic, when the Czech cultural community regularly met here; be they Voskovec & Werich, Karel Čapek, Jan Masaryk or Ferdinand Peroutka, they all sipped coffee here as they collected and shared their thoughts.

We will then say goodbye to Národní třída and after taking a traffic-light crossing over to the right-hand side go on to Legionnaires’ Bridge. The crossing has slanted kerbs at both ends, but the road surface is partly made up of rough paving and, in addition, there are tram tracks to overcome. The adjacent pavement on the right-hand side of the bridge is mosaic-paved some badly damaged parts in places.

The bridge, and Střelecký Island below it, are connected by a freely accessible elevator with dimensions of 110×130 cm, to which leads a short, slatted footbridge. In front of the lower elevator station there is a park area with maintained compacted grit paths. At the northern tip of the island is an unmissable place to sit, under mature horse chestnut trees with a view of the river, the opposite or left bank with Kampa and the castle panorama of Hradčany, and on the right bank the National Theatre building.

There’s awkward paving under the bridge arch to get to the southern half of the island. There are also public toilets in this area. In the south of the island the only part open to the general public is the Classicist building of the former shooting range.

→ Janáček Embankment → Jirásek Bridge

We take the elevator back to the Legionnaires’ Bridge and cross, still along the right hand side, to the other bank of the Vltava river. A more difficult section of the road awaits us with steeper slopes of angled kerbs and coarser paving at the end of the bridge and when crossing Všehrdova and Šeříková streets, where there is only the first crossing, to the other side of Vítězná street. We will cross and return along a level walkway with adapted crossings back to the bridge and turn right to Janáček Embankment. Taking the left side of the street lined with mature trees we will go south towards the Jirásek Bridge. Along the way, we can see showy apartment buildings, which were built in this part of the embankment mainly at the end of the 19th century and are part of the Prague Heritage Zone.

After the intersection of Janáček Embankment and Pavel Švanda street from Semčice, a small park opens on the left side, from which a footbridge leads to Children’s Island, a popular resting place with a large playground and an amazing view of the opposite bank of the Vltava. However, the gradient of the access bridge and the adjoining ramp is very steep, up to 17% in places. Conversely, the wide walkway that runs like a backbone longitudinally through the island has a nice level surface made of interlocking paving.

Whether we make a stop on Children’s Island or not, our route will continue to the white water tower, first established in 1562 to supply the Lesser Town fountains. It stands on the smallest Prague island called Petržilkovský, not accessible to the public.

The slanted kerb crossing at the tower will lead us over the adjacent asphalt walkway to the Jirásek Bridge. The section can be difficult with its prolonged incline, which is not too steep, however.

→ Dancing House → Mánes Gallery → Slavic Island →|

On the left side of the Jirásek Bridge, from which another impressive view of the river and the surrounding buildings opens, we will go to the New Town. The busy intersection at the end of the bridge is fitted out with traffic lights and slanted kerb crossings. We can easily spot and head toward Prague’s unmistakable gem of modern architecture — the Dancing Building. Two interconnected towers of contrasting glass and concrete, represent the dancers Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire.

We will return via the traffic-light crossing to the left walkway of the Masaryk Embankment. In front of us we’ll see another magnificent building, the functionalist Mánes Gallery. The building connects the waterfront and the last island we will be visiting on this route. It is named Slovanský, or Slavonic, but is often called Žofín after the beautiful Neo-Renaissance palace that stands here.

The connection of the embankment and the island by the Mánes building represents a barrier with its longer staircase. This makes it necessary to walk up to the wide footbridge. That is crossed along a quiet asphalt road; the adjacent pavements have steep ramps, and the one on the left-hand side is topped by a high curb on the island side.

After a pleasant stop on Slavonic Island, we will again take the left side of the street towards the National Theatre. We cross over the coarser paving and tram tracks and find ourselves back on Národní třída.