Page 56 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Prague

54  INTRODUCING PR A GUE

Average Monthly Rainfall Rainfall Chart
Prague has plenty of
MM Inches rain throughout the
120 4.5 year. The wettest
months are October
90 and November, but
3
there are frequent
60 light showers in the
summer months
1.5
30 as well. Winter
snowfalls can be
0 quite heavy, but they
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec are rarely severe.
popular with children, these
Autumn competitions are open to
When the gardens below anyone with a kite – young
Prague Castle take on the or old.
shades of red and gold, and St Wenceslas (28 September).
visitors start to leave, the city A sacred music festival is held
gets ready for the cold winter for the feast of the patron saint.
months. This is also the trad­ Běchovice-Praha (last Sunday
itional mushroom­gathering in September). This 10­km
season when you encounter (6­mile)­ road race has been
people with baskets full of Cellist performing at Dvořákova Praha in run since 1897. The race starts
freshly picked mushrooms. the Rudolfinum from Běchovice, a suburb of
Market places are flooded Prague, and ends in Žižkov.
with fruit and vegetables. The September Strings of Autumn (September–
tree­lined slopes above the Prague Grand Prix (first or October). This music festival
Vltava take on the beautiful second Saturday in September). blending tradition and
colours of autumn. September Running competition in innovation takes place in
and October still have a fair the centre of Prague. various venues around Prague.
number of warm and sunny Dvořákova Praha (dates vary),
days, although November often International music festival in October
sees the first snowfalls. Football the Rudolfinum (see p86). Golden Prague (time varies),
fans fill the stadiums and the Kite competitions (third Nová Scéna of National Theatre.
popular steeplechase course Sunday in September), on International TV festival of prize­
at Pardubice reverberates to Letná Plain in front of Sparta winning programmes.
the cheers of fans. Stadium. Despite being very The Great Pardubice
Steeplechase (second Sunday
in October), held at Pardubice,
east of Prague. This horse race
has been run since 1874 and
is considered to be one of the
most difficult in Europe.
The Day of the Republic
(28 October). Despite the
splitting up of Czechoslovakia
into two separate republics,
the founding of the country in
1918 is still a public holiday.
November
Velká Kunratická (second
Sunday in November). Popular,
but gruelling, cross­country
race in Kunratice forest. Anyone
can enter.
Celebration of the Velvet
Revolution (17 November).
Peaceful demonstrations take
place around Wenceslas Square
A view of St Vitus’s Cathedral through autumn trees (see pp144–5).

054-055_EW_Prague.indd 54 20/03/17 11:14 am
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Seasonal template “UK” LAYER
(SourceReport v1.2)
Date 2nd August 2012
Size 125mm x 217mm