Nestling below Prague Castle and bordering on to Kampa Island, is the area known as the Malá Strana or Lesser Quarter. Green and elegant, it is now the home of government officials and ambassadors, rather than the aristocrats of old who built their palaces here in the 17th and 18th Centuries.
Around the end of the Charles Bridge and in the main Malostranské námestí (Lesser Town Square) it can be quite busy, but away from that, particularly to the south around the Maltézské námestí (Maltese Square) things get a lot more peaceful.