Purplelake: Day 9-11 – Jul 28-30, 2019 Prague, Czechia

After our flight from Moscow arrived in Berlin, we picked up our rental car at the airport and started our Eastern Europe road trip. On this trip, we would hit 5 different countries, all of which were new to us except Austria: Czechia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland. Specifically, we would visit Prague, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Krakow, and Auschwitz.

Our first stop is Prague, Czechia, 4h drive from Berlin. After the border between Germany and Czechia, we had to stop by a gas station to buy a highway toll sticker. This system was also used by several other countries like Austria and Hungary as a means to collect tolls for using highways. It was close to 7p when we arrived at our 3rd floor apartment which was quite big with two bedrooms with their own bath and came with a fully equipped kitchen. It was also very convenient for visiting the Prague Castle since it was practically just next to the steep walkway leading up to the Castle. The only downside was there was no A/C. We had to open wide all the windows and drapes every night just to cool down the place. Our first dinner was eaten in a very historic and dark tavern next to our apartment building. It was in business since 1375 and many famous people had dined there including Mozart! We got our first taste of Czech dumpling which is essentially a loaf of spongy bread.

Prague counts among the most favourite European cities for many people and it is easy to understand why. It fortunately escaped severe damages during WWII compared to many other European cities. As a result, Prague retains many original Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque architectures all the way to Art Nouveau, making the city skyscape very pretty and romantic. When walking down the old town, everywhere you turn, you are bound to find some beautiful buildings as background to pose. The only problem was the CROWD. Of all the cities we visited so far, Prague is by far the worst in terms of tourist crowd. A big part of it is caused by its narrow streets which were jammed with tourists, literally shoulder to shoulder. This very much had taken much of the enjoyment from us. We would not recommend visiting here during high tourist seasons.

We made our short climb up to Prague Castle the next day early in the morning but were surprised by the long lines already at the ticket office. By the time we got our tickets, there were lots of tour groups ahead of us waiting to get in St. Vitus Cathedral. Luckily, we discovered that the admission tickets were valid for two days allowing us to visit all the other sites in the castle on first day and go back for the cathedral the second day. Since Czechoslovakia split up in 1993, this castle has become the residence of the President of Czechia. Besides the cathedral, there are several attractions like Vladislav Hall (a gigantic hall used for banquet and was large enough to host knight tournaments!) & St. George’s Basilica (oldest church inside castle) as well as a well-presented museum describing the history and showing off the treasury of the castle.

Prague Castle with St. Vitus Cathedral

Side entrance to the cathedral

Front Entrance to the cathedral

One of the squares in Prague Castle

Steps leading up to Prague Castle

Square outside Prague Castle entrance

Side entrance of St. Vitus Cathedral

The tourist crowds inside Prague Castle

Vladislav Hall which was big enough to host knight tournaments!

Beautiful interior of a building inside the castle

View of Prague from the Prague Castle

Historic tavern in business since 1375

We then took the subway to Wenceslas Square, the main public square which was surrounded by retail stores, shops, hotels, offices, and the National Museum. It had witnessed many historic events like the proclamation of independence in 1918, the main protest site of the Warsaw Pact invasion in 1968, and the peaceful demonstration that led to the Velvet Revolution which ended the communist rule in 1989. Just a few blocks from here is Estates Theatre where Mozart had performed the premieres of his operas Don Giovanni and La Clemenza di Tito. One block further north we came acorss the impressive and beautiful Old Town Square. On one side of the square stands the imposing Gothic Church of Our Lady before Tyn while the Old Town Hall with its perplexing Astronomical Clock stands at the other end. Walking past the Jewish Quarter next, we were reminded at one time, Jews made up 25% of Prague’s population before WWII. There were so many synagogues in Prague with different names like Old New Synagogue & Spanish Synagogue. As we followed the throngs of tourist, we soon made our way out to the picturesque Charles Bridge across the Vltava River. The bridge was so crowded that we could not find any spot to take a photo! However, just several blocks downstream, we found another bridge with equally great view but hardly anybody on it.

Street cars roamed Prague

Wenceslas Square - busiest pedestrian square in Czechia

Estates Theatre where Mozart held his opera premiere of Don Giovanni in Prague

Church of Our Lady before Tyn

Old Town Hall

Astronomical Clock - One dial to read sun/moon & one dial for apostles

Old Town Square

Street near Jewish Quarter

Trying handmade ice-cream roll

Prague's must try - Ice-cream stuffed pastry roll

One of the many Jewish synagogues

Another synagogue

We saw these statues for sale next to synagogues but don't know what they are

Beautiful building in Jewish Quarter

Prague City Hall

Street scene in Prague

Another beautiful street scene in Prague

Buildings are so beautiful everywhere in Prague

Colorful candies for sale

Tourists tourists everywhere

Tower before Charles Bridge

Almost nowhere to stand on Charles Bridge

View of Prague Castle from Charles Bridge

Same beautiful view of Prague Castle one bridge downstream but without the crowd

Charles Bridge - Can you spot all the people on it?

Excellent and sumptuous dinner - see the giant pig knuckle?

Early next morning, we made a mad dash to St. Vitus Cathedral to beat the tour groups. It was totally worth it as we were able to admire the awesome cathedral in peace and quiet. The present-day Gothic St. Vitus Cathedral was expanded from an earlier small church in 1344 by the most famous ruler of Prague, Charles IV, who was King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor. He is also the guy who built the Charles Bridge and Charles University (one of the oldest universities in Europe). Little did he know that the cathedral would take almost 600 years to finish in 1929 due to distractions, out of funds, wars, death of architects, etc.

St. Vitus Cathedral

Here is what the side entrance looks like from inside

Ornate side chapel inside the cathedral

Awe-inspiring stain glass

Square outside Prague Castle

Archbishop Palace

Schwarzenberg Palace

View of Prague from Strahov Monastery

Strahov Monastery

Czechia is known for its beer and they claimed their beer making started as early as 993 in their monasteries. We found a very local beer hall to try their beer and pub grub just behind our apartment for lunch. Since Prague is also a cultural center, it is no surprise to see many concert halls everywhere with touts selling concert tickets to tourists. Since all the regular symphony and ballet companies took vacation and shut down during summer, we only had these types of tourist concerts to choose from. We picked evening concert at the beautiful art nouveau Municipal House. Although we found out later that the concert was not given in the main theatre but one of the side halls, the experience is still worth it, listening to classical music in the historic city of Prague.