Talk:Prague/Archive

Prague working Group

I've got 3 other volunteers who are going to be working with me on the Prague article. We'll be having our first meeting at The Globe on Tues Aug 16th at 1:30. Anybody else is welcome to join us. If you want to find us have a look at my page and then look for a similar face at the Cafe. Hopefully the Prague article will improve shortly. (WT-en) Aburda 03:32, 14 Aug 2005 (EDT)

Ok Kim, Alicia and Alison you can go ahead and add comments below here (or anywhere else you would like) try and add your ideas about the article here. I am still hunting for a good place to get internet connectivity so my connectivity may be a bit sporadic over the next couple of days. (WT-en) Aburda 03:47, 17 Aug 2005 (EDT)

BTW, for anybody else who wants to work on the Prague article, the group is going to start with Haje. We'll be taking a trip on Monday the 22nd to gather information. We'll be meeting on the steps of Muzeum at 9:00. All are welcome. (WT-en) Aburda 03:47, 17 Aug 2005 (EDT)

COMMENT 26.9 - You could refer to the Czech Republic page for further details - you could link the pages together - eg Stay Healthy has tips about 24-hour pharmacists, a hospital etc.,

First Thoughts by Aaron

Districts - We should get rid of using the Prague numbers, use the older region names instead and only add regions that we have good content for

Hradčany

Malá Strana

Staré Město

Vinohrady

Vršovice

Háje

Holešovice(?)

Vyšehrad

Nusle

Žižkov

(Not a comprehensive list, add more or remove if you think we should)

Does anybody have any drawing skills? We need a map (and we can't use any existing maps for copyright reasons). Just something simple that is kind of a copy of the metro map). It would have to be done in photoshop or something similar.

Understand - I hate this section We need to focus on being informative about Czech culture and not expat (although that shouldn't be left out either). As discussed, a section of 'peculiarities' that people visiting for longer term will need to get used to should be added here.

See - Most of this stuff will be moved under the District articles, anybody have any ideas as to what attractions should be put here and not under the Distric pages? i.e. do we want to have a blank 'see' section on the main page and have all content under the Districts or are there somethings (the clock, bridge, etc.) that are to universal for Prague to be put in a district?

Eat - Section totally sucks, need a better description of foods on the main page and under the Distric pages (to be created) specific restaurants (with links to mapy.cz).

COMMENT 26.9 - You could provide a link to/from the Czech Republic page for descriptions about food and drink.

Do - Pretty weak description of all of the things to do in Prague, this section on the main page (IMHO) should contain lots of information as things like Ultimate Frisbee, etc. should not be put into a specific district (even if the training may take place there). On the other hand, dancing at 'The country club' would seem to definitely belong in 'Haje'

Sleep - totally sucks we need specific info for:

1. locations of hostels, pensions and hotels,
2. specific prices, links to their websites (how to make reservations)
3. links to mapy.cz with their location (this information should be under the regional sub headings. #information about camping

Just my thoughts, in no way comprehensive, let me know what you think. BTW, if you want add a comment, at the end of the comment, to sign your name put for tildes (~) in a row and it automatically adds your name and the date and time. (WT-en) Aburda 04:52, 17 Aug 2005 (EDT)

Re the Sleep section totally sucking: in a city that is split into Districts like this is, the individual listings with locations, prices etc etc goes in the district article not in the main article. (WT-en) Hypatia 23:06, 24 July 2006 (EDT)

Origin of material

It seems painfully obvious that the information added by the first anonymous contributor was copied verbatim from a book or an online source, most likely without the permission of the copyright holder. That contribution still forms the bulk of the contents of this page. Thus, it makes sense that it is removed. (WT-en) Dpol 19:28, 7 Jul 2004 (EDT)

Dpol: this article was originally contributed by User:(WT-en) Bittergirldotcom, based on a book she'd done before. It's her own work, and not a copyvio. Good eye, though! --(WT-en) Evan 21:28, 7 Jul 2004 (EDT)

Yep! Always a good thing to keep a lookout for. That said, I think this page could use some work to move it more into our Project:Manual of style since the book she was working on had a somewhat different tone/goal than Wikivoyage. I keep meaning to get back to it... (WT-en) Majnoona 21:52, 7 Jul 2004 (EDT)

Sorry for jumping to conclusions, I had no idea that the original author had herself contributed parts of her book to the article. (WT-en) Dpol 21:15, 9 Jul 2004 (EDT)

I would like to take over the the Prague article but would like to find somebody to collaborate with on it, or at least to give me a bit of advice. All of my other articles have been just putting everything in my head down on paper, I'ld like to make this one a bit more professional. I'm in Prague and have the next month free (and can speak Czech) so its just a question of figuring out what information I should gather around the city and what needs to be cleaned up. If anybody is interested in cooperating email or skype me (info on my page). (WT-en) Aburda 07:27, 2 Aug 2005 (EDT)

Removed paragraphs

wow! this is a lot of great information! Maybe it should be organized into on of the Project:City article templates.

I removed the following paragraphs from the article because they're not relevant to travel. Put them back if you think they belong... (WT-en) KJ 21:47, 8 Sep 2003 (PDT)

I'd suggesting infoboxing these on the side, they're interesting as background info. (WT-en) Jpatokal 20:24, 7 Nov 2004 (EST)

Czech artists, writers and poets:

Franz Kafka, Jaroslav Hasek, Dvorak, Smetana, Milos Forman, Josef Skvorecky, Milan Kundera, Vaclav Havel, the anonymous Czech Gothic painter known as the Master of the Vyssi Brod altar, Baroque artists Christopher and Killian Ignaz Dientzenhofer as well as Giovanni Santini, Gothic architect Petr Parler, Karel Capek, Viteslav Nezval, Jaroslav Seifert, Bohumil Hrabal, Bozena Nemcova, Karel Hynek Macha, S.K. Neumann, Jan Neruda and Ivan Klima.

Notable books:

Metamorphosis, The Castle, The Good Soldier Schweik, The Bartered Bride (opera), The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Engineer of Human Souls, Letters to Olga, Grandmother, R.U.R. (the word 'robot' was used for the first time in R.U.R!)

The Hussites

[Removed by (WT-en) Hypatia 12:09, 7 Nov 2004 (EST)]

Depending on the sect, Hussites could be incredibly radical and forward-thinking for their time. Some sects, such as the Taborites, named after the town of Tabor where they lived, even advocated communal property, free love and the abolition of marriage! No wonder they got into such trouble. Hussitism threatened the Catholic status quo and for a time, Catholic rulers around Europe feared the Hussites almost as much as the Turks. The difference was that the Hussites were an "enemy from within." It was visually easy to tell a Turk from a Western European but not so the Hussites. Though their religious beliefs were similar to those of fellow Protestant Lutherans, for the Hussites religion became important as a national rallying cry against foreign (read: Catholic) oppression. This was the first time the Czechs chose to take a stand against those who wanted to enforce cultural values on them. The end result was the Battle of Bila Hora (see section on Hvezda above) and years of Catholic domination that was more thoroughly enforced here than elsewhere as a means of rooting out what the rulers saw as heresy and the Czechs viewed as freedom.

The Golem

[Removed by (WT-en) Hypatia 14:27, 7 Nov 2004 (EST)]

In 1580 Rabbi Loew, a scholar whose knowledge of the esoteric Kabbala interpretations of Hebrew scriptures was matched only by his leadership skills, decided the Jewish ghetto needed a protector who could be vigilant around the clock. These were dangerous times - the non-Jewish community believed Jews kidnapped and murdered Christian babies for use in their religious ceremonies, and accusations had reached a fevered pitch. The good rabbi decided to make a human-like figure from Vltava River mud which, Frankenstein-like, could be brought to life. Instead of the stereotypical lightning-bolt mad scientist laboratory scenario, the Golem was brought to life with a slip of paper in its mouth, on which a magic formula was written. One Sabbath Rabbi Loew forgot to deactivate the Golem and the monster went crazy, destroying the house and half the ghetto before his 'parent' got home in time to deactivate him.

This is probably one source of the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" story, popularised by Walt Disney in Fantasia

Photos under by-sa

Not sure if this is the place to post this, but: if anyone wants photographs of Prague (and nearby areas), my brother recently took a trip there. About 500 photographs are available at http://www.vu.union.edu/~stodolan/prague_web/ under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike license (or the GFDL). No model releases have been obtained, and some of the photos may be of copyrighted material (street posters, signs, etc.), so stay away from questionable material. Luke Stodola

Removed paragraphs?

• Resulting riot was not great. Destruciton of Aeroflot's window is believed to be at least partialy provoced by secret police agents and served as pretence for opression by Soviet occupants.

• children are mesmerized by it astronomomical clock - not only children :)

Lol, yeah. I've got a photo of 500 tourists all staring at the clock (need to scan it in ;P - would be quite a funny addition, maybe not completely on topic).

• Turk was always a Turk. There is different figure, shaking pouch, which was called Jew and represented greed and usury. After WWII it was slightly changed and named Niggard (Greed).

• Charles Bridge is not so popular gathering place in Prague during warm weather, because its absulutely crowded by tourists. Only in the meaning that hords of tourist are gathering on Charles bridge.

• No Czech national heroes are on the bridge. Only Bruncvik fits that cathegory and he is only statue out of bridge, on separate pillar.

• Nepomuks tongue is not so interesting for beeing perfectly preserved after drought, but beeing preserved up to now. Although sceptic scientis say its wizened Nepomunks brain, legend is that the reliquia is tongue.

• Hus he was not burned by the express wish of the emperor.

• Name Prazsky Curak - name unknown in Prague. Maybe some personal word play with Cukrak.

• Prague Experience.com - list of restaurants (Removed in keeping with our policy of only linking to primary sources. May be useful for compiling listings) (WT-en) Thewayoftheduck 00:42, 21 July 2006 (EDT)

Districts

I'm going to start splitting Prague into districts, starting with Praha 1: Old Town, New Town, Lesser Town, Jewish Town, and Castle. I'm not using the Czech names for them since the tour guides largely don't.

I'm not doing the other numbered districts at the moment, but they can be added in future, I presume -- (WT-en) Hypatia 11:11, 7 Nov 2004 (EST)

OK, changed my mind about the other districts, since there are actually some attractions outside Praha 1 ;). I've divided them into four, one for each cardinal direction. I suppose they can be divided again if they get too big. -- (WT-en) Hypatia 12:11, 7 Nov 2004 (EST)

I took a stab at moving the remaining sleep listinging into the district pages but I can't always work out which part of Praha 1 they're in. Could someone who knows the city centre better than me move the rest of them? Thanks (WT-en) Thewayoftheduck 02:35, 20 July 2006 (EDT)

Praha 1

There's a really good list of attractions by quarter at http://www.prague.cz/prague-sights.asp -- (WT-en) Hypatia 12:11, 7 Nov 2004 (EST) Sleep - ads Why were the following paragrpahs removed? Are they against some policy (ads?)? --Prokonsul Piotrus

Jeruzalemska apartments, Jeruzalemska street (office address: Africká 16/616, 160 00 Praha 6). ph 0602 210 716. fax 0602 673 858. email dasha@accommodation-dasha.cz. Prices for these apartments for two people range from €65 (Christmas, Easter and August), €55 (April - July, September - October), €45 (other) per night for a single room in a shared apartment to €150 (Christmas, Easter and August), €130 (April - July, September - October) and €110 (other) for a large apartment. Wireless broadband is available in the private apartments for €4 per day. http://www.accommodation-dasha.cz/ + Mid-range accomodation can be found in most of the Praha 1 quarters: check in particular the east bank: Jewish Town, Old Town and New Town. Prague Room Apartments. email pragueroom@runbox.com. Reviews describe these apartments as excellent accommodation for the price. The Prague Room rooms and accommodation are very close to the city center and five minutes from the tram stop. Prices for two people range from €37 per night in summer and €28 per night in winter for the smallest rooms to €87 per night in summer and €64 per night in winter for a luxury self contained apartment. http://www.pragueroom.com/ Those look like perfectly appropriate sleep listings to me (we have listings, not ads). I think they should probably go onto the correct district page. -- Mark 08:39, 10 Nov 2004 (EST) They weren't removed, they were simply moved to district pages: look in Prague/New Town for the first one and Prague/Lesser Town for the second. Hypatia 09:59, 18 Dec 2004 (EST

Advertising

81.27.192.66 removed the walking tour chunk of the page on an 18th December edit, with the message "- advertising". This doesn't make sense to me. We provide contact details for commercial services for travellers. That's what being a travel guide is about. In this case, we're providing details of a commercial provider of walking tours.

I was the one who added those particular walking tours. I have no association with the company. I'm happy to see them removed for any of a number of reasons (they're really bad, they've gone out of business, whatever). I'm happy to see competitors listed, and for the existing entry to be shortened. But I don't understand how it's an ad, or at least any more of an ad than any other listing that provides contact details for a travel-related service. I've reverted the edit for now. (WT-en) Hypatia 09:59, 18 Dec 2004 (EST)

It seemed to me overly enthusiastic in describing the services of one of dozens ...-tours companies. Ok, it was lack of judgement. Anyway, I'm not conviced detailed information such as where the tours start or what did it cost are so useful here. The company has a webpage, where the info propably will be updated.

--81.27.192.66

Generally the "you can just look at their webpage" argument doesn't work around here, because of the "we want to create printable guides" goal. That said, probably the best thing to do is trim the description and list several other tour companies. You're welcome to have a go (of course). (WT-en) Hypatia 17:02, 18 Dec 2004 (EST)

Yep, you're right. I should have better studied the goals. I'm affraid several aspects of Wikivoyage are so tiresome I'll go somewhere else. Be it a goal "we want to make it printable" (IMO bad one, there are good printed guides, and causes more harm than good, e.g. need for strict hierarchization even if the hierarchy is completely unnatural, or this particular example with including details propably nobody will update). Or little but annoying things like "the american spelling is the right, because we are americans and we decided so" and subtle dislike of wikimedia. --81.27.192.66

Definately. The whole guide could be reduced to 'look at this city's website for accomodation', 'look at this site for things to do'. The whole point of a guide is to bring all these seperate facts together, with personal opinions of people who've been there, and have it in one place. The goal of 'making it printable' is useful, because it gives us an idea of what should be on the page and what should be linked. Eg 300 years of Czech railway history wouldn't be that useful for the traveller, so that's fine to link to (if there's a page on it). But info about when/where a service is provided is obviously exactly what should be in the guide --(WT-en) Lionfish 16:04, 8 Mar 2005 (GMT)

Understand

I'm not a big fan of the understand section. I think the whole thing about foreigners is not really appropriate. We're trying to understand Czech's not the role of the expat community in Prague. There is no group that likes to complain more about itself (IMHO) than the expat community in Prague does. If the info is important it should get a subheading somewhere towards the bottom of Understand but even then it should probably be done more neutrally. The expat community has a lot of negatives about it but like any minority in a society also plays a valuable role. So request for comment, if I don't hear anything I'll modifty it. (WT-en) Aburda 18:02, 4 Jul 2005 (EDT)

Minor attractions

I removed the links to the minor attractions (in the "See" section), as each one deserves to be expounded upon in this article, but none deserve their own stand-alone article. I don't mind adding some background and history to many of the locations, but it will have to wait until I finish my clean-ups of Jerusalem and Jerusalem/Old City. - (WT-en) Cybjorg 02:01, 5 May 2006 (EDT)

Budget sleeping

Anybody having any idea what the suggestion "...or just go to Hlavni Nadrazi (main train station) and take a private sleeping place with a person you find trustworthy (price will be approx the same)..." in the "Budget" sleeping section means? Is it meant seriously? Hlavni Nadrazi is known for its abundance of various suspicious characters and only the very adventurous (and desperate) people should try that. I suggest removing that part of the sentence. 128.6.75.172 15:19, 6 July 2006 (EDT)

I've changed this to reflect safety concerns rather than advising travellers to go this route. I'm sure some people have enjoyed a 'traditional' experience with a Czech family but you're right - they def. need to be alert. (WT-en) Thewayoftheduck 02:26, 20 July 2006 (EDT)

There's an hotel/hostel booking agency on either the first or second floor of the main station in Prague. It's hidden down one of the hallways, but the are plenty of ads for the agency that it isn't hard to find the place. Sometimes it's a bit hard for them to find a room, but they'll usually be able to pull something off, however, don't be surprised if you staying on the outskirts of town. They put me up in a clean private room in a shared two room apartment for three days for about $15 a night, but the hotel was quite far from the city center. -- (WT-en) Andrew

Address Conventions?

Does anyone know what the stardard format for Czech addresses is? I took a (preliminary) stab at cleaning up the sleep listings but the order seems to differ throughout the article and on external pages. Also, it's been so long since I was in Prague that I'm more than a little fuzzy on the districts. If I edit the sleep listings from the main Prague page, can someone with more local knowledge please move them into the correct districts? Thanks (WT-en) Thewayoftheduck 03:10, 19 July 2006 (EDT)

Pasted from my talk page: "I believe Czech addresses are written in this manner: Place, Street 334, Praha 12, Telephone, etc., etc. -- Andrew Haggard (Sapphire) 03:17, 19 July 2006 (EDT)" (WT-en) Thewayoftheduck 02:27, 20 July 2006 (EDT)

Tourist trap section

Does this belong in Understand or in some combination of Stay safe, Stay healthy and Cope? (WT-en) Hypatia 23:04, 24 July 2006 (EDT)

I think a combination of the latter. I just moved it from the Czech country page this morning, and was going to have a go at working it in now. What do you think? (WT-en) Thewayoftheduck 02:18, 26 July 2006 (EDT)

Prague 360

I apologize for creating problems on the Prague page. I was only trying to help by adding decent content, removing inaccuracies and offensive material, and adding links to immersive imaging. The latter is the best form of armchair travel I've ever seen. It's a shame the external link policy does not allow this. So, good luck, and if anyone has questions, ask me :-)

Prague 360

So, as I've received a bunch of annoyed mails from what I presume to be Prague360's webmasters, I'll account for my actions here.

Wikivoyage is supposed to be better than this.

I've spent hours revising this guide, and I put some useful links also to my own organization (which itself spends more time than probably any other in providing useful and original information about Prague the Living City, and some person in Singapore (or somewhere) tries to keep removing it.

I could revert all the text to the previous incorrect xenophobic version, of course i won't, but that's the direction that "jpatokal" wants to take it.

Getting tired very quickly of helping to make Wikivoyage something useful.

One of Wikivoyage's basic policies is that we don't link to other travel guides, which includes Prague 360. Your contributions are welcome and very much appreciated, but no, there is no quid pro quo for your (or any other!) organization: The traveller comes first, not your agency.

If Prague 360 is a primary provider of something useful, like guided tours etc, then you can enter it once under "Do". But the other links have got to go. (WT-en) Jpatokal 01:53, 11 November 2006 (EST)

Just to add some support for Jani, I've also reverted the Prague 360 links a couple of times. The problem we have is that it is very, very difficult to figure out where to draw the line between link spam and useful links. Project:External links has several discussions on this matter, and if there is a suggestion as to how links such as Prague 360 could be incorporated into Wikivoyage guides without opening the floodgates to all sorts of unwanted links, please discuss on that page (but please read existing discussions first). At the moment our policy of "primary sources only" seems to be working well, although there have been calls to make exceptions for event guides and other tools that are too fine-grained for a travel guide. -- (WT-en) Ryan 02:00, 11 November 2006 (EST)

Ryan, try looking at the links, footnotes mostly, to landmarks, which I've inserted. There is nothing "spam" about it. There isn't even a company logo on these pages. It is more image than can fit on the screen at one time, in fact! That's spam? --(WT-en) Prague 06:01, 11 November 2006 (EST)

Please read Project:External links. Our external links policy was created (in part) because "it is very, very difficult to figure out where to draw the line between link spam and useful links". As a result, not all external links that are reverted are spam, but all reversions are done according to the current policy, which says that the only external links allowed are to primary sources - a hotel's web site, the official tourism site for Prague, etc. I'm sure your web site is great and offers tons of good information about Prague, but understand that link spam has been a problem for us, and unless you can propose a way to clearly allow sites like yours while at the same time preventing the vast hordes of booking guides and other spam sites, someone will eventually come along and remove your links according to policy. Project:External links is the place to further discuss this issue, but please read the existing discussions on that page first.

We do appreciate content you are adding to the guide, but please understand that a Wiki is a collaborative effort. We don't want to discourage you from contributing, but we do ask that you read the existing policies, which were crafted over the last few years with the input of many, many people. -- (WT-en) Ryan 13:19, 11 November 2006 (EST)

Reply from Prague 360, the only ones who have actually offered useful content

VR images are like this: http://www.prague360.com/360/html/generated/news_2006_murakami_kafka_prize_fs.html

they allow you to see a space in a way that is not possible in any other way. As a producer of this under-utilized and largely unknown medium, to which the first response from *every* person is "Wow! How come I never saw something like this before?" I am doing my damndest to make these more widely known and expected.

The response from the "wiki-nazis" has been to delete these "footnotes" which I find to be rude - never mind the fact that I correct at least a hundred mistakes, errors, and xenophobic/hateful comments that were the last incarnation of the "prague" page.

If wikipedia is to be so closed as to not allow readers the chance to SEE the places it talks about using (arguably) the most exciting visual medium available on the internet, then those contributors (who also have verbal knowledge to offer) will take their knowledge elsewhere.

There appear to be people here discussing what to write about on the Prague page yet don't know the city and haven't actually contributed anything except deletion of our link. I meanwhile have actually contributed something, and also offer a link to our site which offers many things that can't be put into wikivoyage. If you find that to be link spam, then I'll remove all of my content and leave this page to to xenophobic bloggers and clueless prague poets.--(WT-en) Prague 04:30, 11 November 2006 (EST)

Do you really think insults and empty threats are going to win over people here? (And calling Wikivoyageers "xenophobic" is kinda funny!) The content you contributed has been contributed to the Creative Commons, and is no longer yours to remove.

As for the link, look at Project:External links, and tell me which category Prague 360 belongs in. If you can't find any, then sorry, it doesn't belong here. (WT-en) Jpatokal 04:49, 11 November 2006 (EST)

I called the previous text "xenophobic" because it advised people to "be very careful of groups of gypsies because they might rob you". Yes?--(WT-en) Prague 14:58, 11 November 2006 (EST)

Another note: See: Charles Bridge: <- Does this not let someone "see" what charles bridge looks like, better than any other photo??

What is "link spam" about this?!!!!???!!

I find it hilarious that this Prague page seems to be written by a bunch of people who haven't been there for years and spend more time deleting my content than adding to it. Is this really productive?

Finally -

Hi. I agree that the Prague 360 links are very nice, but we've spent years developing our external links guidelines (see Project:External links) and for these wiki guides we really try to concentrate on primary sources -- links to official web sites for cities, hotels, museums, etc.

We're working very hard on ways to collect useful links that aren't primary sources. I think it's an important part of travel, seeing blogs, personal web sites, and third-party tools that give a deeper view of a place. But trying to work out which are worth having and which aren't in a wiki format simply doesn't scale. --(WT-en) Evan 15:07, 11 November 2006 (EST)

I've had some time to look over the current issues regarding Prague360 and I want to reply to several comments that have been made.

First off, personal attacks (i.e. "wiki-nazis") are uncalled for and I'd like all parties involved to remain kind and docile.

Secondly, I think the VR images that Mr. Martin has created kick-ass, for a lack of a better phrase, and it would be great if we worked toward one day incorporating them into Wikivoyage, but sending users away from the site is a no no according to policy. The battle that's being fought over this page does not belong on the Prague talk page, but rather the external links policy's talk page because this affects policy.

As I state above, I think the VR images are really cool and do offer a new experience that we should pursue at some point. I don't think this is a big priority because the biggest priority for me, and I assume for others too, is filling guides with immediately useful content such as listings and descriptions of the listings. Once we've done that and made a good number of high profile destination guides useful then we can look forward to other fields. -- (WT-en) Sapphire 21:59, 12 November 2006 (EST)

Hello again Jeffrey. I'm sorry that my email to you didn't clarify our External links policy enough. I think there are two issues in your posts; 1)that you would like to link to your 360 images and 2)that there are currently problems with the content of the Prague guide.

On the first issue, I think that our current policy is very clear. Part of what has made Wikivoyage work is our focus on creating great open content guides that are useful both on and off the web. Our policy backs this goal, though anyone is free to discuss it on the policy talk page.

On the second issue, I think most people would agree that the Prague guide could be improved upon (there's even a notice on the page that it does not meet our guidelines). Your contributions and edits to the text are of course welcome. I'm afraid rolling back the addition of so many external links also removed your content edits-- but they are not lost! You can take a look at the page history if you'd like to select some of your changes to add back in.

I hope you can find a way to work with us-- you seem to know a lot about Prague and we'd like your help in working towards our goals! Thanks (WT-en) Maj 22:47, 12 November 2006 (EST)

Hello! "wiki nazis" are people who spend time enforcing rules instead of actually contributing. Pardon me for my indiscretions, however, it's not very satisfying seeing a few hours' work ruined because someone didn't like my footnotes.

What can footnotes possibly refer to, but something else that is on the web, but not on wikivoyage? It's rather insane actually, if you don't mind me saying so: External links are forbidden, and a nice button for FOOTNOTE is there. Ok, Whatever :)

I went into contributing to the wikivoyage page because I thought it would be a fruitful collaboration between two entities, Prague 360 and Wikivoyage. Obviously that is not the case. So, enjoy! When you need to check your facts, don't hesitate to visit us :-)

Train travel confusion?

"...for example you have to change at least two or three times to get to Paris, and the journey takes more than 13 hours...."

How can this be?

There are direct services from Prague to Berlin, and direct services from Berlin to Paris, so sutrely there's only one change, maybe two?

(WT-en) Chrisboote 09:13, 20 August 2007 (EDT)

The claim sounds odd, but somewhat to my surprise the DB route planner backs him up -- the fastest connection it finds takes 12 hours and requires 4 (!) separate trains. A 13-hour connection needs only two changes (at Nurnberg and Stuttgart). (WT-en) Jpatokal 10:06, 20 August 2007 (EDT)

But if you search for Praha -> Berlin, that's only 5 hours, and it's less than 9 hours from Berlin to Paris

so 12 hours . 4 changes, 13 hours 2 changes, 14 hours, 1 change (and nicer trains as well)

I know which one I'd pick!

(WT-en) Chrisboote 04:56, 21 August 2007 (EDT)

DB gives actual travel times including waiting time, so is the hypothetical Prague-Berlin-Paris connection actually doable in 14 hours? (WT-en) Jpatokal 05:09, 21 August 2007 (EDT)

Whats the matter ? The shortest connection Paris Prague takes 12hours 10 minutes and is of course with some changes. Who would do that anyway, far to expensive. Whats the problem with changeing the train by the way ? 84.56.90.191

Districts are wrong

The district information is completely wrong. It states there are 15 districts, but this is not the case in any of the systems being used. There used to be 10 nubered districts Praha 1 - Praha 10. These old districts are still used for some purposes (post offices AFAIK), but since 1990 a more complicated system was introduced. I live in Prague since then, but I have to admit that I am completely confused in these matters. There are municipal districts and different administrative districts. For example, "Praha 4" can be an "old-system" district, an administrative district, or a municipal district - in each system, Praha 4 has different size and different borders. Huh! There is an article on wikipedia, I hope information there is right.

What is needed to be done: 1) rewrite the information about districts or just delete the wrong info and link to Wikipedia. 2) define the areas (North... ) properly in one system. Define which system is being used. 3) probably include a map with the areas, minimizing any confusion.

What do you think? --(WT-en) Kyknos 16:15, 24 March 2008 (EDT)

Plunge forward! But please suggest the new split here on Talk first. (WT-en) Jpatokal 04:33, 25 March 2008 (EDT)

The problem is that I do not know a good solution. All the official district systems (except maybe the old 10 district system) are confusing even for people living in Prague - even worse for travellers. Than there is another problem with them - the article uses traditional city quarters in the city centre - this is imho a good thing - the problem is that this "traditional quarter system" is completely out of sync with any of the districts systems. For example Hradčany are partially in Prague 1, but partially in Prague 6. Nové Město is in Prague 1, 2, and 8.

So when defining area like Prague/West, it should state that it includes Prague 6 except Hradčany... pretty complicated and confusing, in my opinion. But may be we should do that.

How many areas we need? I think that having more that twenty areas (there are 22 administrative districts and even much more municipal districts) can be to much. Wouldn't it be better to use the traditional quarters in the city centre (Hradčany, Malá Strana, Nové Město, Straré Město, Josefov, and may be even Vinohrady, Žižkov, Smíchov, Vyšehrad, Bubeneč, Holešovice) and divide the outer parts along some natural borders like the Vltava river (and probably distinguishing North and South part of each side)?

I am not sure. --(WT-en) Kyknos 07:29, 25 March 2008 (EDT)

Less districts is more. If we split up too much, it becomes very hard to maintain the mess and find anything. (WT-en) Jpatokal 09:00, 25 March 2008 (EDT)

So, I like what you've done with the center of the city, but I do not like using the raw numbers for districts 3 and up -- labels like "north" and "west" are a lot more intuitive. Can't we give descriptive names and just define them in terms of the districts? (WT-en) Jpatokal 03:41, 12 May 2008 (EDT)

Yes, we can. I am still thinking about it how to do it best. The advantage of combining them is that probably except Prague 7, which is quite interesting, other high numbered districts contain only few points of interest. The disadvantage is that information such as get in data will be more fuzzy, the city is big and so are the districts. Anyway, the high numbered districts are not very interesting destinations, but information about them may be useful for someone who is stuck there for some reason (eg. a week in a hotel in Prague 9 on a bussiness trip). --(WT-en) Kyknos 14:53, 13 May 2008 (EDT)

What I even thought about is to make an article "attractions outside the centre" (outside the important historic quarters) which would concentrate on what is worth visiting outside the centre - I think it would be material for one nice article - leaving more detailed information of these areas to articles that would be read only by people who are staying there for some reason. But that is probably against the guidelines and would involve some information duplication. --(WT-en) Kyknos 15:02, 13 May 2008 (EDT)

I have a proposal for the districtification: three parts in the historic centre, each composed of two historic districts: 1) Old Town and Jewish Town, 2) Lesser Town and Castle 3) New Town and Vysehrad, two areas close to the historic center which may be of interest to travellers: 4) Bubenec, Holesovice, a Troja (basically the official Prague 7 district), 5) Karlin, Zizkov, Vinohrady, Vrsovice (and may be Nusle) - this is a very good area to find a good pub. The remaining peripheries (very large, not of much interest to travellers) divide into two (west and east, divided by the river) or four (divide each part to north and east section). That would make for 7 or 9 districts. The only problem I see that it is hard to find a name for some of these areas, most notably for Karlin, Zizkov, Vinohrady, Vrsovice (and Nusle) - putting all those names in the page title seems like a bad idea.(WT-en) Kyknos 01:57, 29 April 2009 (EDT)

Having never been to Prague, I can't comment on the proposed districts themselves, but from a WT content organization standpoint, this looks ideal. --(WT-en) Peter ^Talk 02:34, 29 April 2009 (EDT)

This proposal from 2009 is definitely better than what we have now. There are too many districts, it's especially visible in Prague/Vysehrad and Castle. Jjtkk (talk) 20:26, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

making content more concise

Having used this guide on a recent trip to Prague I wanted to make some amendments. There are a few typos/grammatical errors - but my main issue is sections are a bit flabby - they could do with a nip and tuck.

Before I do any changes - I also wanted to get some feedback on more significant edits:

• "Chaty" - this section is interesting but not vital. Do we really need this? Can it be moved to a less prominent position within the guide?
• Transport sections - need cutting down. A couple of pars about rip-off taxi fares is enough. "Tram & Metro" needs some amendments - a table of fare options would be clearer. Need to remove detail about the Prague Card as it is covered elsewhere.
• SEE - should we specifically mark up those attractions which are free? Just a thought.
• Sightseeing Passes - this entire section is confusing and needs some editing. My understanding is the PRAGUE CARD is the all-inclusive card for attractions while the Prague Pass (also called the Transport Pass) is purely an optional extra ticket that gives you unlimited travel around Prague. This is not what the wikivoyage article implies. Can anyone clarify this detail? The text also needs chopping down / it appears to be a cut'n'paste from some promotional material.
• Stay safe - the concerns about currency exchange scams seem valid enough - but does not need to be so lengthy. There is yet more discussion about rip-off taxi fares here - which I think we should delete - this has already been covered in the transport section and is also not a safety issue.

What do people think? (WT-en) timbo 16:47, 25 April 2008 (EDT)

Talk section

Slovak is not an official language of the Czech Republic, it is spoken in Slovakia. As written in the article, the two languages are very similar, but they are distinct languages nevertheless, and some Czechs, especially younger ones who grew up after the partition of Czechoslovakia, have some trouble understanding Slovak.

Is this really a Guide article?

I don't want to criticise all the good work that has been done on this article but I don't think it is really ready for Guide status. None of the attractions list the address for example. There is too much reliance on external web sites and not enough info presented on the page. A little bit more work and it could be an excellent tool for seeing a great city but right now I suspect that most people would also want to have Lonely Planet with them as well! Cheers (WT-en) Shep 06:29, 3 January 2010 (EST)

Guide status requires that all sub-pages (districts) be at usable status. Some aren't even created yet, so the Prague guide is clearly not there yet. --(WT-en) Peter ^Talk 23:53, 3 January 2010 (EST)

Archive

/Archive 1

Legally Allowed Amount of Drugs

I've tried to update the section about the legally allowed amount of drugs one can carry. I've taken the numbers from http://www.drogy.net/portal/hlavni_portal/drogy-a-media/z-domova-2/od-noveho-roku-nebude-trestne-drzeni-15-gramu-marihuany_2009_12_15.html . I was not able to find the numbers in the actual government's meeting minutes (it should be "Usnesení č. 1550" at http://kormoran.vlada.cz/usneseni/usneseni_webtest.nsf/web/cs?Open&2009&12-14 , but that particular document just talks about what to implement and doesn't include any numbers).

Feedback

"Firstly, Czech people are unbelivably poor in English. Chance is there to meet very rude local people when you are trying to communicate with them. Knowing only some simple czech words would unfortunately wont save you from such bad times. Avoid from local people when you are in Prague, try to ask any foreign students you see along the streets if you have any problems, they are usually more well-mannared and would response you even more detailed (and friendly definitely)."

Enough of this. These kinds of rants belong on your blog, or on expats.cz, not in a travel guide. 84.42.130.25 15:14, 27 May 2010 (EDT)

Project:Plunge forward and fix it. -- (WT-en) Ryan • (talk) • 15:16, 27 May 2010 (EDT)

Meet and Greet locals

Hello everyone

here is a participation I would like to make for the Prague article, specially the "Do" section, there's more and more people who wants to get a real experience of the city they are travelling to, I think a taste of local life is important specially by meeting with real people from Prague. Here is what I would like to add :

For the traveler's who wants to get a real taste of Prague, you can join real native people that will show you their city around. Everyday with small groups they share their passion of the Magical city during 90 minutes walking tours. This service is free, guests choose their tip. Learn about the main landmarks but also the everyday life, the best addresses from young energetic, fun and educated guides.

• Discover Walks Prague,email="prague@discoverwalks.com" address="Štupartská 640/1, 110 00 Praha 1-Staré Město" phone="(+420) 24 601 9531", three tours to choose from everyday. url="http://www.discoverwalks.com/prague/"

Thanks for your help/advise, if no comments I'll post by Wednesday.

Cheers.

Meet and Greet locals

Hello everyone

here is a participation I would like to make for the Prague article, specially the "Do" section, there's more and more people who wants to get a real experience of the city they are travelling to, I think a taste of local life is important specially by meeting with real people from Prague. Here is what I would like to add :

For the traveler's who wants to get a real taste of Prague, you can join real native people that will show you their city around. Everyday with small groups they share their passion of the Magical city during 90 minutes walking tours. This service is free, guests choose their tip. Learn about the main landmarks but also the everyday life, the best addresses from young energetic, fun and educated guides.

• Discover Walks Prague,email="prague@discoverwalks.com" address="Štupartská 640/1, 110 00 Praha 1-Staré Město" phone="(+420) 24 601 9531", three tours to choose from everyday. url="http://www.discoverwalks.com/prague/"

Thanks for your help/advise, if no comments I'll post by Wednesday.

Cheers.

BIKO Adventures Prague

Hello everybody, my name is Filippo and I work with BIKO in Prague. I am a traveller, backpacker, couchsurfer and I care for the community. We read all the policy about the tours. That is why I took the freedom to add BIKO in the Prague page as I think it is not something that the travellers can do alone. In fact we offer real mountain bike tours around Prague and most of our tracks are impossible to find if you are a normal traveller as we put together an incredible number of singletracks not signaled in maps or common website. There is no way for a traveller to start from the center and ride 30 kms of singletrecks alone. Our trips are from mountain bike enthusiast to mountain bike enthusiast. Also we have mountain bike worthy 2000 euro because it is the only way to ride those rocky trails. There are no rentals with such bikes.

Here you can find a short text that a customer from New York posted on our wall on our Facebook BIKO Adventures Prague fan page: Filippo, your Great Escapes tour was truly EIPIC. How you managed to stitch together 3+ hours of primo singletrack right in the center of Prague is remarkable. I think I saw more of Prague than most natives have seen and am impressed at both the quality and quantity of singletrack available within biking distance of the city center.