Prague has been on our radar for awhile. The good news is that it turned out to be a really good city to fly into with the Airlines points we used. It also gave us a good excuse to take the train, which we both love doing.
We got a decent little Airbnb and stayed right on the edge of Old Town Square.
This was a really convenient area to stay because it was easy to walk just about anywhere. For the few places we went that were too far, we were able to Uber with no issue (normally we would buy a SIM card to make our phones, and thus Uber, work but this time we just had our mobile carrier activate the international option on our phones because it made more sense in our case.)
Upon arrival, we stashed our stuff and wandered around the square to find something to eat. We weren’t picky, and found a place that sold sausages and trdelnik. Trdelnik is a cylindrical doughnut like thing covered in cinnamon and sugar. We got ones with ice cream and Nutella in it. Very tasty!
In the square, was the Astronomical clock, which mesmerized onlookers every hour on the hour in gothic cuckoo fashion. The show was underwhelming, but the clock itself was pretty neat. It told the time, showed what phase the moon is in, displayed the current zodiac, and probably some other useless shit but it was fun to take pictures of, especially at dusk.
 |
| Old Town Square |
 |
| Old Town Square at dusk |
Our first full day we walked across the Charles Bridge and over to the Prague Castle. These are two of the “must sees” in Prague.
 |
| Prague Castle |
 |
| Charles Bridge |
Our first impression of the city after exploring it on foot for a good 12 hours is that it was like if Edinburgh and Amsterdam had a baby. Castles, cool architecture, great food, and a history that includes Nazis.
Add a dash of communism in that history and some angry cobblestone streets, and voila, that’s Prague! The city is also safe and clean with very few homeless, at least in the areas we visited.
Pretty much every shop took Czech Korunas which was about 22 to one U.S dollar. We exchanged about $60 for Korunas which was just enough cash for the things that seemed stupid or impossible to use a credit card(do NOT do this at the airport or a random money changer. Find an atm that is attached to a bank.) Most places took a card though, and a few places even took euro.
We stopped by a supermarket to get some food, which is one of the ways we save money when we travel. We always make sure to get a place with a kitchen and stock up on our first day. For $80, we bought enough for 3 breakfasts, 1 lunch, and 2 dinners (including wine). We still ate out and experienced the local food, but doing this saved us a lot of money.
We ate a ton of great food in Prague. We ate goulash, schnitzel, pork knuckle, soft pretzels, some really tasty ham, paprika chicken with pasta, some of the best eggs Benedict we’ve ever had, and a bunch of stuff we couldn’t pronounce.
These are some of the restaurants we would recommend:
Deer Restaurant: kinda fancy but good for breakfast
 |
| Eggs Benedict |
Havelska Koruna: cheap, authentic, kind of like a canteen, yummy comfort food.
 |
| Paprika chicken |
 |
| Havelska Koruna |
Krčma : authentic hearty traditional Czech food
 |
| Krčma |
V Kolkovnê : reasonably priced, traditional Czech food. Kinda like a brewpub.
 |
| Goulash |
 |
| Pork knuckle |
Probably a good idea to stay out of old town square for food. It looked expensive and touristy.
We went to the National Museum which was 2 buildings, one with 20th century stuff and the other with some older natural history stuff. The natural history building was frustrating as it seemed like there were more hallways than exhibits, but the the 20th century building made the visit worth the price of admission. It was 400 Koruna to get in (330 with a student card).
 |
| National Museum |
We also went to the Communism museum, did a tour of the nuclear bunkers underneath the Jalta Hotel near Wenceslas Square, and attended a Bohemians football (soccer) match, all of which will be covered in a separate post.
Overall, we spent about 4 days in Prague, and would recommend between 3-6 for most visitors. Don’t get us wrong, you could spend a few weeks there and there would be plenty to see, but 3 days is an absolute minimum.
 |
| Kinsky Palace |
 |
| Wenceslas Square |
No comments:
Post a Comment