Its beauties are multiplied by the lovely Vltava River winding through the city in silver meanders. Its surface mirrors back the city's monuments, towers, domes, palaces and houses, the green gardens and islands.
Bridges clasp together ancient quarters on both sides of the river's stream.
The City is in perfect unity with its River spreading majestically between the Old Town and the Lesser Town near the weir that looks charming from the oldest among the city's bridges, the Charles Bridge. In the course of time, the early settlements on the heights around the stream drew closer and closer to the river until the 8th century when the Slavonic inhabitants made the Prague Castle headland and the area of the present Little Side an economic centre. The new settlement together with the Prague Castle area became the foundation of the historic Prague. Bo ivoj on the headland and soon afterward followed the Castle which became the centre of the emerging Czech Premyslide state. A witness for the architectural beauty and the important role of the place is the story of the Arab-Jewish merchant Ibrahim Ibn Jacob who visited Prague on his way through Europe in 965.