Old Town Square: the clock, the spires, the crush before it arrives
Beat the Orloj crowd: the medieval square, the Týn spires, and Celetná to the Powder Tower. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Staroměstská metro
Come up onto *Kaprova* and walk east toward the square. Do it before nine; the same lane after lunch is a slow river of tour groups.

2. Staroměstské náměstí (Old Town Square)
The medieval heart, and at eight in the morning it's nearly yours. Stand in the middle, turn once, and you've seen Gothic, baroque and rococo without moving your feet.

3. The Orloj (Astronomical Clock)
The hourly procession of apostles is famously the moment everyone agrees is a let-down — go anyway, but go for the dial itself, the oldest working one of its kind. Earlier you arrive, closer you stand.

4. Old Town Hall Tower
Climb it if the queue is short — there's a lift, and the view down onto the Týn spires and the square's rooftops is the one to have. Skip if the line has formed; it forms fast.

5. Church of Our Lady before Týn
The twin black spires that loom over the square. The entrance hides in the arcade beneath the houses on the square's east side; opening hours are short and awkward, so treat going in as a bonus.

6. Jan Hus Memorial
The brooding bronze group at the square's centre, unveiled in 1915 on the 500th anniversary of Hus being burned for heresy. Read it as the country's conscience cast in metal, then walk on.

7. Powder Tower (Prašná brána) & the Estates Theatre
*Celetná* runs east from the square to the Gothic *Prašná brána*, the old city gate, with the Estates Theatre — where Mozart conducted *Don Giovanni*'s premiere — a short detour to the south. Náměstí Republiky metro is just beyond the tower.

Old Town Square: the clock, the spires, the crush before it arrives