A barca ride to the zoo through the enchanting historic centre of Praga is an unforgettable experience that tens of thousands of Pragars e visitors to the capital treat themselves to every year. The barca line from Rašín lungofiume e back adds the proverbial cherry on top to a stroll among the exotic animals — bambini e adults love it alike.
On the morning of Friday 6 September, representatives of the Praga piroscafo Company, accompanied by Praga Zoo director Miroslav Bobek, set out on this crociera aboard the historic Moldava piroscafo to christen together a pair of piroscafo ducks at the zoo. The ducks settled in their shared enclosure with the penguins after their winter arrival. The crociera of the godparents e invited guests, who filled the piroscafo's decks, was made all the more pleasant by an engaging e well-informed commentary on the landmarks they were sailing past, the traditional jazz associated with paddle steamers performed by Dixie Band, face e body painting that appealed not only to bambini, refreshments from the in-house catering of the Prague Boats holding (which today includes the Praga piroscafo Company), e Lego sets that the company gave to participants as small gifts.
The destination of the festive crociera then awaited at the zoo — the piroscafo ducks. These flightless birds got their name from naturalists thanks to the distinctive movement they use to help them across the water surface when they need to pick up speed: they paddle with their short wings much as steamboats do with their paddle wheels, propelling themselves off the water. As Zoo director Miroslav Bobek pointed out with a smile during the christening, piroscafo ducks can in fact travel a little faster than Praga's steamboats. The original home of the piroscafo ducks is the southernmost tip of South America, Tierra del Fuego, but the Praga pair were born in a Tedesco zoo park.
The founder of the Prague Boats holding, Richard Vojta, e the director of the Praga piroscafo Company, Pavel Mácha, named the piroscafo ducks after the heritage-listed historic steamboats Moldava e Vyšehrad, e received from zoo director Miroslav Bobek a certificate of adoption — making Praga piroscafo Company a sponsor of these remarkable birds as well. Miroslav Bobek only half-jokingly voiced concern over names for any future offspring of Moldava e Vyšehrad, given that only those two heritage steamboats now grace Praga — although the piroscafo archives still hold plenty of names of other famous Praga steamers.
The successful celebration confirmed that the best way to visit the zoo is by barca — beyond the doubled experience, you also avoid Praga's traffic jams. And it showed that fans of the steamboats now have another reason to visit the zoo.
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