A City of Charm and History: A Visit to Prague

Enjoying a walk along Charles Bridge

After telling our friends goodbye in Munich, working for two days and then enjoying a national holiday in the vineyards, Derek and I scurried off to the enchanting city and Czech Republic capital of Prague. Known as "the city of 100 spires," Prague provided a backdrop of medieval painted buildings, a large fortress atop an imposing hill and a river with a bridge that all Prague kings once crossed. The food was cheap, the beer was good and the history told a story of struggle, determination and change.

After a two hour train ride to Nuremberg followed by a 3.5 hour drive to Prague by bus, we arrived to the Prague train station around 4:30 pm and attempted to find our way to the main old town center. Since the language of the Czech Republic is Czech, a West Slavic language, it was a bit more difficult to attempt to read directional signs. We did find the town center and continued across the Charles Bridge in the rain, and after an hour, arrived to our hostel. We had a private, three person room with a bath. At a price of 70 Euros for two people for two nights with a great location under the Prague Castle in Lesser Town, the hostel was a bargain compared to any other major European city. The Czech Republic does not use the Euro yet, and the currency is still the koruna (crown). This made things "cheap" comparatively. After settling into our room, we found a local and welcoming pub where we enjoyed our first Czech dinner of pork, bread dumplings and Urquell Pilsner beer. The Czech Republic is known for inventing the Pilnser, and this famous type of beer is named after the town Pilsen, not far from Prague. After dinner, we walked up to the Prague Castle and admired St. Vitus Cathedral within the castle walls. With our tummies full and seven hours of traveling wearing us down, we called it a night!

At dinner our first night in Prague

St. Vitus Cathedral at night

On Friday, we awoke early and left the hostel by 9 am. Our Sandeman's Free Tour didn't start until 10:45, so we found a breakfast cafe that served traditional Czech pancakes. I ordered mine with mozzarella and tomato, and Derek's had bacon and onions with cheese. These were no ordinary pancakes; our breakfast was served in a scorching hot pan with a crepe in the bottom, melted cheese and tomato on the inside, and another crepe on top with additional cheese. Needless to say, I was full until dinner!

Pancakes for breakfast!

After checking in with our tour group, we wondered around the Old Town Square until the tour started. Our energetic tour guide escorted us through the streets of Prague for three hours and highlighted the many buildings, statues, churches, and places of interest that played a part in Prague's very colorful history. Our first stop was the oldest-working astronomical clock, dating from 1410. We then visited St. Wenceslas Square where, in 1969, a student set himself on fire protesting the Soviet invasion to Czechoslovakia. Twenty years later, thousands of citizens filled the streets shaking their car keys, telling the communist rulers to leave their city. The next day, Prague was a free city.

After a quick break at a bagel shop, the tour continued into the Jewish Quarter of Prague. For 500 years starting somewhere around the 12th century, Jews were required to live within a walled ghetto. Derek and I later visited the Old Jewish Cemetery, dating from the 1400's and used until the 1700's. The cemetery has 12 layers of graves with 12,000 stones visible. The compact grounds were due to limited space within the ghetto. We also visited the Pinkas Synagogue, a memorial to all Holocaust victims that has 80,000 names written on the walls as a memory to those Bohemian Jews who lost their lives to the Nazi regime. When looking at the wall, it was truly hard to comprehend the sheer volume of death that came only from the Czech-Bohemia area.

Standing on Charles Bridge

Derek on the bridge

Together on the bridge

Old Town Square

Astronomical Clock

Beautifully painted buildings

Jewish Cemetery

Jewish Cemetery

Talented street performer making music with water glasses

View of Prague Castle

After the tour and Jewish Museum visit, Derek and I walked back to Wenceslas Square (named after the same king of Christmas-carol fame), took another look at the film location of the movie Triple X and then headed back to the hostel before dinner.  After a short rest, we headed up the hill near our hotel to the monastery perched above Prague. Of course, we were in search of the monk-brewed beer, and since we had not eaten anything since our large breakfast, we were quite hungry. After a delicious appetizer of assorted cheeses and grapes, our favorite being the walnut cheese, we indulged in pork tenderloin with goat cheese, mashed potatoes and gulasch stew. The monastery provided us with the perfect evening in an off-the-beaten path location.

View of Prague from the monastery

Overlooking Prague

It took us awhile to get used to the currency....our meal cost 816 Crowns!

On Saturday, we awoke early once again and checked out of hostel. Leaving our bags for later, we grabbed some bagels for breakfast and then found the famous John Lennon Wall. This graffiti-painted wall was an old meeting point for citizens trying to reform the city, and with murals of John Lennon and inspirational sayings, the wall has sustained its purpose to the present day. The rest of the morning, we walked along the overly-crowded yet charming Charles Bridge, explored the Senate gardens, attempted to shop with no luck, and waited at the train station. After two days of intense sight-seeing, touring and walking, we were ready to go home and snuggle with Simba - until the next weekend when we ventured to Rome!

John Lennon Wall

Old city entrance gate

Senate Gardens

Additional Thoughts on Prague:

• Our Sandeman's Free Tour was very detailed and worth our time. This company hosts tours in many of the large European cities and with no upfront fees, tourists pay the guide after the tour. The tourists make the choice as to what to pay the guide. 
• Prague was very crowded, like most large cities, but felt overly crowded in certain areas. 
• I would recommend Prague, but not for longer than a few days. It is a beautiful city with much history and beautiful architecture, but we saw the majority of the sights in 1.5 days.