Of course, we had to go there as soon as they put the head on the top of the largest statue in Prague. Taller than Žižka on Vítkov, but not taller than Stalin used to be before it was blown up… We believe that we visited all of Černý’s creations over the years, so we could not miss this one. The house that is being held up by this apparently naked giant is not finished yet, but you can get a pretty good idea of how it will look after the surroundings will be cleaned up.
This short ride started on Letná … (some of our regular readers asked why we start often there – well, we live pretty close to that place). After the usual passing through Stromovka and riding along Vltava do not forget to look at Troja’s horse at point 3. At point 4 you can decide to ride on the good asphalt path, or on a bumpy trail just next to the water’s edge. You can continue on the edge until the narrow path almost disappears and then connect to the path that is being repaired right now, but it is rideable. If you have chosen at point 4 for an easier ride, at point 5 you have to decide whether to listen to the sign “Do not enter” or whether to ignore it as everybody else and continue straight following the bike road to point 6. Otherwise, you would have to climb up to Bulovka and ride quite busy streets before rejoining the path at 6. From there you will follow the most expensive bike path to point 8 where the nice park “Meanders of Rokytka” starts. At point 12 switch to the lowest gear, the hike to 13 is pretty steep. At point 17 you will have a great opportunity to visit “Hospůdka u Bazénu” (“A Little Pub at a Swimming Pool”) where you can get genuine Kofola on tap with a good foamy head – not the flat usual Kofola from a bottle.
Riding along Vítkov Hill ends with a steep descent to one of the attractions of this ride, going through the tunnel to Karlín (19 to 20). And after that, finally, at point 21 you will see the giant lady holding up the house. And, if you are coming back to Letná and it is Saturday or Sunday afternoon, you can stop at point 26 and peek into the renovated carousel (kolotoč), which is the oldest and the most picturesque kolotoč in Europe.
https://en.mapy.cz/s/puheruzube 26 km, 300 m elevation gain. To see these rides in context, check our interactive maps. (For learning about the Prague neighborhoods, check the video created by our friend, the famous video blogger Jen of Prague.)
