Ummm… What country is Prague in?
My girlfriend Debbie and I recently took a trip to Prague – and had an amazing time in this wonderful little city. Prior to this trip, Prague was not even on our radar. I was sitting there minding my own business one day, when Travelzoo sent me an email with their Top 20 deals for the week. I will not admit how often this happens and I end up dreaming about all the places I could go if I had the time and the money – when I noticed the number one deal was a 5-night trip to Prague for $699 – with air included! I must admit, I knew Prague was in Europe – but I didn’t even know what country it was in ….. but I knew that a flight to Europe would cost me almost that much and this also included 5 nights in a hotel. NOW I can tell you it is in Czechia, which was formed along with Slovakia when Czechoslovakia dissolved in 1993 
I’m sure the reason the trip was so cheap is because it was January – and it can get freaking cold in Europe in January, but since we have a desire to see ALL. THE. COUNTRIES., I figured it was at least worth bringing up to Debbie. After 5 minutes of googling and seeing that the Christmas markets would still be open – we said, “What the hell?!” and booked our tickets. (Can you say, “enabler”?)
As with most international flights, we left Florida on January 3rd, and got to Prague on the afternoon of the 4th. We left on the 9th and while we were there, we did a one Day Trip to Dresden, Germany. I think 3 whole days was the perfect amount of time to spend exploring this beautiful little city. Our flight to Prague from Munich was cancelled and they ended up putting us on a flight 6 hours later. Definitely a pain, but it was also a bonus as a) Our flight to Prague was almost empty and we had the whole back of the plane to ourselves so we each took a row, and b) they gave us each a $300 voucher for travel and we bought tickets to London with them!
We arrived in Prague after 20 hours of traveling and decided to take it easy for the night. Uber is widely available (and cheap) in Prague so we took it to our hotel and to dinner at UFleku, which is a completely touristy restaurant but fun nonetheless. It was a beer hall complete with roving musicians and waiters offering you drink after drink. We wanted traditional Czech dishes so I had the beef in cream sauce while Debbie had the Beef Goulash with speck dumplings
Did I mention how cheap Prague is? Both these dishes were about $9.70 each! For $30 USD we had two meals, dessert and drinks. The one thing you need to be careful of is that they will walk around with trays of drinks and just hand them out randomly – rest assured they WILL be on your bill later. After dinner we went back to our hotel, the NH Prague. I enjoyed the hotel and if you don’t mind walking a little bit the location was fine. There is even a little cable car inside the lobby that takes you up the hill to their sister property to visit the restaurant and take in the view. We were able to walk to most places we wanted to see. If you want to be in the thick of things though or mind a bit of hill walking, I would stay across the Vltava river closer to Old Town Prague.
The next day we started in Old Town Square on a Food Tour with Taste of Prague Food Tours and got to taste some authentic Czechian food. Our guide Marketa “the crazy redhead” made the tour so much fun. We tried Prague ham, fried cheese, goulash and beer at Lokal, steak tartare and meatloaf at Nase Maso, Pork Schnitzel, pulled por and potato and marjoram pancakes at Kantyna, Cauliflower soup with beets and brussel sprouts at Nejen Bistro and my favorite, burnt potato in ash with potato and cream espuma at the Michelin starred Eska. If you have the time this is a great way to see the city on your first day and plan where you want to go back and visit. Marketa was very friendly and gave us all tips about what to see, do and eat in Prague – she even made sure everyone knew how to get back to Old Town and walked with us to buy our tram tickets. Marketa was very aware of everyone’s food preferences and allergies and made sure each person’s dish was perfect for them. At the end of the tour we were given a book with recommendations for food and other things in Prague. Marketa told us she had her own present for us and proceeded to pull out a flask and gave us each a shot of Brandy to warm us up. I’m pretty picky about tours but I highly recommend this one. We took the tram back from the food tour, and when we got back to Old Town Square, we got there about same time as the others on our tour who walked back lol! We just walked everywhere after that
After the tour we came back to visit the Christmas Market in Old Town Square at night. The vendors were out with their Christmas Crafts, Trdelniks, Hot Cocoa and Mulled Wine – the smells were amazing. Since I am not a wine drinker, I did not indulge in the mulled wine – but there were at least 20 different vendors with different flavors and I think Debbie may have tried all of them. Her favorite was the blueberry. They averaged about $2 US each. A Trdelnik is rolled dough wrapped around a stick, which is then glazed with sugar, grilled and topped with cinnamon and chopped nuts. There are several variations where you can add things like Nutella and Caramel, and they are an AMAZING treat on a warm night. The Trdelnik is billed as a traditional Czech pastry and it IS found everywhere in Prague, but most Czechs over the age of 35 will tell you they did not have these while growing up. Some historians think they were brought in from Moldova or Hungary – either way, they’re delicious!
The Astronomical Clock sits in the middle of Old Town and was created in 1380. It is perhaps the most well-known astronomical clock in the world and one of the oldest, with four moving automatons (including a skeleton ringing his death knell for each hour), and rotating statues of the 12 apostles. It displays Babylonian time, Old Bohemian time, German time, and Sidereal time. It also shows the moon’s phases and the sun’s journey through the constellations of the zodiac. The calendar dial, just below the clock, shows the day of the month, the day of the week, feast days and allegorical pictures of the current month and sign of the zodiac. The clock “chimes” every hour on the our and lasts for about 45 seconds, so try and time walking past it if you can.
You even get a glimpse of the Astronomical clock from the inside. One of my favorite pictures of Prague was one Deb took of the elevator shaft at Old Town Hall at night.
But if you really want an amazing view, climb to the top of Old Town City Hall tower – the views of the square at night were incredible!
Day 3 was Three Kings Day (Tři králové), traditionally celebrated on the twelfth day of Christmas, and it signifies the end of the holiday season in the Czech lands while offering an opportunity to extend charitable giving by making donations to roving wise men. In Prague, the occasion is a marked with a processional led by costumed kings on camels, who are accompanied by drummers and trumpeters. For some crazy reason the Three Kings (and friends) do an icy plunge into the Vltava to celebrate – that water looked C-O-L-D!!
We spent the rest of the day touring Old Town. We visited the St Charles Bridge, wandered the Old Jewish Cemetery and took a peek at the world-famous Dancing House designed by Canadian-American architech Frank Gehry, (or Fred and Ginger as the locals call it because it resembles a dancing couple).
Debbie read an article about Prague having some of the only pasternosters left in the world, and for some reason she was emboldened by our recent purchase of travel insurance and dying to try one. In case you don’t know what a pasternoster is, (and really, why would you?), it’s an elevator that has no doors, and does not stop or slow down. The cars travel around in an eternal loop, and you just jump on when it reaches your floor. Apparently, they were very common in Europe, but safety concerns have seen their existence fade. We set out in search of the most accessible one, located in the back of Prague City Hall. I felt like a criminal skulking around City Hall and was sure we were going to be thrown out, but we just walked towards the back of the building and there it was. Now, something I have to explain here is that Debbie is not very sporty and is prone to breaking appendages, so I figured she had about a 50/50 chance of actually making it on the lift. Knowing there was a possibility this could go horribly wrong I did what any good girlfriend would do and pulled out my phone to film the whole thing. She took the stance of a schoolgirl waiting to jump in on double-dutch, and I’m not sure if it had to do with me laughing hysterically behind her, but she panicked half-way through her first attempt and had to wait for the next car. To her credit though she made it on the next one and turned around and gave me a look of triumph as she floated upwards. I tried to film her getting off but realized too late after I saw feet coming down that it was not her and immediately put my camera away after getting disapproving looks from the matronly employee coming down before her. No ma’am I was not trying to film you I swear! Eventually Debbie jumped off like a pro unbroken and we returned to sight-seeing.
Since we’re on a quest to see as many countries as we can and Dresden, Germany was so close we figured why not and took a day trip over to see it. Dresden is about a 2-hour drive from Prague and we chose to book a bus with RegioJet (yes, they have buses, trains AND jets lol!). We purchased tickets online in advance and thought it was a little confusing, but we got the hang of it. Tickets were about $23 round trip per person. The bus station was a bit further than other things, plus it was early in the morning so we Ubered there. The buses were nice and comfortable and had restrooms, wi-fi, and in-seat entertainment (movies and radio). We were able to choose our seats ahead of time and they even brought around coffee, hot chocolate and mulled wine if you were so inclined.
We arrived in Dresden at about 10 a.m. and most of the sites were in walking distance of the bus station. On the way into the city we were distracted by a Dreibig bakery and had something that best we can determine was a chocolate, coconut, pear cake – whatever it was, it was amazing!
We started off at Café Pfund, the cutest little “milk shop” and had lunch at their café upstairs. It was a drizzly day and the hot cheese soup definitely hit the spot.
We love street art and spent most of our time in the Neudstadt area walking around and enjoying the art. There is an area called Kunsthof Passage which merely connects two bigger streets, but inside you’ll find 5 whimsical courtyards ablaze with color and character. One of the buildings had a drainspout made of musical instruments, and when it rains it plays nature’s own melody!
We spent the rest of the day admiring the architecture of buildings in areas like Theaterplatz (Theater Square) such as Zwinger Palace and Semperoper the Opera House. Finally, we tried a little Wiener schnitzel and then headed back for our 6pm bus to Prague. It was nice little detour and an enjoyable day.
The next morning, we woke up and had breakfast at the highly recommended Café Savoy. This was a beautiful establishment with chandeliers, ceiling ornaments and poshly dressed waiters carrying around fresh baked goods – do yourself a favor and have the French Toast! One of the fun things is that on the way to the bathroom you get a view of them making your pastries!
Right Near Cafe Savoy is The Memorial to the Victims of Communism. The installation shows six bronze figures descending a flight of stairs. The statues appear more “decayed” the further away they are from you – losing limbs and their bodies breaking open. It symbolises how political prisoners were affected by Communism.
There is also a bronze strip that runs along the centre of the memorial, showing estimated numbers of those impacted by communism:
- 205,486 arrested
- 170,938 forced into exile
- 4,500 died in prison
- 327 shot trying to escape
- 248 executed
We then took the funicular to the top of Petrin Hill to enjoy the gorgeous views of the city from the look-out tower. We were a little lazy and paid a bit more to take the elevator to the top of the tower instead of walking up the stairs, but after seeing everyone arrive at the top drenched in sweat on a 47-degree day – I’d say it was money well spent! The views from the top were amazing!
We spent the rest of the day wandering around on this side of the river visiting Prague Castle, which is a HUGE complex, you could definitely spend an entire day here if medieval architecture is your thing. Built in the 9th Century it is the largest ancient castle in the world. It is the official office of the President of the Czech Republic and the Bohemian crown jewels are kept hidden in a room inside it. The complex is over 70,000 square meters and houses four palaces and four churches amongst other things.
We visited the John Lennon wall which is a wall that was first decorated with a large picture of John Lennon along with some of his lyrics after his assassination in 1980. Since then it’s been used to express global ideas such as love and peace and is constantly painted over.
There were also a number of bridges with love locks on them – how utterly romantic!
As we wandered, we searched for David Czerny art along the way. If you’re interested in political art Czerny is your guy. I mean who else would build a giant, purple, middle finger and float it past Prague castle days before the parliamentary elections? And this one of two men peeing on an outline of Czechia had us in stitches, you could even text a word to a certain number and the men would “spell out” the word with their “urine” lol! While you’re there search for Quo Vadis, The Embryo, Man Hanging out and Brown Nosing – you’ll definitely get a kick out of them
Right near the peeing statue is a little spot on the Vltava where hundreds of geese are gathered. You’ll find many a tourist down there taking pictures that have amazing views of the St Charles Bridge!
In the same area is the cutest little gingerbread shop which had a ton of goodies for sale.
Finally, we had dinner at a cool little restaurant called Peklo on the other side of Petrin hill. Peklo was a wine cellar for the local vineyards dating as far back as the 12th Century. When you arrive, you walk through the door of an unassuming little building, and then down the stairs into a cave. You couldn’t ask for more ambiance. If you want to be really romantic, ask for one of the private tables built into the cavern walls.
I was surprised how much we enjoyed Prague and would recommend it to anyone who wants to visit Europe. I think if we had more time, its proximity to Budapest and Vienna would make a combined visit to the three of them the perfect trip.
