Before jumping on our plane to Prague, we had one more box to tick – Polish Maccas for breakfast, two McMuffin meals for $9! Tasted the same as home, although the sausage had a bit more punch, and you got fries instead of hash browns.
We arrived in Prague without any delay and reached our AirBnB around 3pm, a cute little apartment, with a garden courtyard, right on the Old Town square.
We threw on a load of washing and headed into the square for a late lunch. Wow, what a beautiful city, amazing architecture in every direction, and from many different periods.
We did a few loops choosing a spot for lunch and ended up in a pub along the square. Time to try some Czech food and beer! Wings and baked Camembert and they love their Pilseners. If you can’t decide between light and dark they’ll make you a half and half!
While we were there a girl came around offering shots of their traditional spirit, a digestive, we had to try of course.
After lunch we wandered through the square and found the Astronomical clock. It was coming just on 5pm so we stayed to watch it do its thing – the 12 apostles come out through two open doors. An amazing clock, that shows the movement of the sun and moon and has been running since 1410.
We grabbed some supplies for the unit and then spotted a Trdelnik chimney shop. A cinnamon coated donut rolled into a spiral cylinder, filled with soft serve ice cream and Nutella! Yum!
Tuesday morning we headed out on a guided walking tour of the city. It was a quiet day so it ended up being a private tour for just us.
We were taken through the city starting in the new town at Wenceslas Square, and making our way up to the castle and cathedral by tram and then back down into the old town finishing in the old town square. Wow, such a beautiful city, even more beautiful than I expected.
The castle was huge, and is the largest in Europe. The cathedral inside the grounds is equally huge and beautiful inside. It should be, as it took them 600 years to finish. The bohemian glass windows were stunning.
As was the view across the city from the castle.
Along the way we learnt about the city’s history, starting with Bohemia, the glory days as the capital of the Roman Empire, the Austrian-Hungarian empire, and more recently Czechoslovakia, Soviet rule, liberation in 1989 with the fall of the iron curtain, and then finally the Czech Republic. They are celebrating the 30 year Anniversary in October/November. There was a display on in the castle garden.
On our way down the hill from the castle we visited the John Lennon wall which is a symbol of free speech that started during the soviet rule.
Heading back into the old town we crossed the famous Charles bridge, built in 1357.
Before touring the Jewish quarter
and then back to the Old town square.
Tour done we headed for a late lunch at Lokal, a recommendation from our AirBnB hosts. Great local food and beer. We had Prague ham, goulash, roast pork, potato dumplings and mash. And more beers of course. It was so cheap, only around $40 all up.
We then made our way up to a beer garden that our tour guide had recommended for the afternoon. It’s in the park above the city with great views across Prague.
For dinner we headed back to the Old town square and tried the Street food – Prague ham roasted over a wood fire. We were first in on a new ham so lots of crackle! Yum.
We were having some fun with some Mime artists when a big squad of police turned up. They sent us away and arrested/fined the guys. Busking etc is being banned in the square.
So then went in search of some Honey cake, another recommendation from our tour guide. So good, thanks for a great day Sonya!
Wednesday was a free day and our last in Prague. We had a late lazy start before wandering the streets of the old town. It’s a maze of restaurants and tourist shops throughout and people everywhere.
We stopped for lunch at the Fat Cat and tried their beer-gustation
And then did some more exploring and shopping. The temperature dropped fast through the afternoon, we had been lucky so far with most days in the low 20s, but it dropped to 10 by mid afternoon so we headed back to our unit to warm up before dinner – winter was coming!
Early evening we did some more exploring before finding a place for dinner down one of the back streets. This time we went the whole hog and shared another local dish – whole roast pork knee.
OMG, yum but we were so full afterwards. All porked out and won’t need to eat for a week, but a great way to finish our time here.
PS. An interesting side note on this trip has been the requirement to pay to use the toilets. We are keeping notes to see who is the dearest. So far it’s been:
Berlin 50 Euro cents (81c)
Krakow 2 Zloty (75c)
Prague 20 Koruna ($1.27)
Loving your blog guys. Great photos. Sounds fantastic!
Lovely photographs