Just got back to the hotel from our second and final day of touring the beautiful city of Prague, Czech Republic. We move on to Dubrovnik, Croatia tomorrow for the third and final piece of segment three: Eastern Europe. This is day number forty-two of our sixty-six day around the world trip.
We couldn't help but compare Prague to Krakow since they are really only a few hundred miles apart and at first glance, appear very similar. Don't get us wrong...Prague is a beautiful, old European capital with a rich history of survival and success. Thing is, it is rather gritty, lots of graffiti on the walls, seedy people wandering around homeless and\or drunk, etc. Much bigger and a bit harder to walk the city. But it is definitely worth a visit and we're glad we came. If Krakow is a ten...we'd put Prague at a seven.
We splurged a bit and took an hour city overview tour in an antique car that was really a good way to see the things that we wanted to revisit on foot. The Czech guide, Andrew, spoke pretty decent English and seemed to be up on the Prague history as well as on American politics.
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| Norman Round Church, one of the oldest in Prague |
The rest of the first day was spent just wandering the pretty, narrow streets. Of course, we made the obligatory stop at the Hard Rock Cafe for the usual pin and beer. This makes four pins so far with one more...Lima, Peru...to go. Supper was just down the street at an outstanding Czech pub that was packed and had a great combo up in the rafters playing jazz. Bill finally had a big iron pot of Goulash which exceeded his expectations, and Andrea scored big with a plate full of veal schnitzel.
Narrow streets in the Old Town
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| Man hanging out in Prague, suppose to symbolize Freud pondering a decision to whether to hold on or let go. |
Today, we walked across the famous Charles Bridge that crosses the Vltava River and is the gathering place for all people in Prague. Being a Saturday and beautiful weather, the bridge was packed. The bridge road leads up a mountain to the castle, presidential palace and several old and famous churches. The Czech president lives there and we presume that most government functions are carried out from the complex there. It actually seems as another city there...very quaint and the views looking back down over the city of Prague are stunning. The heat was pretty oppressive and combined with fighting the mass crowds, we were forced to make several beer stops at sidewalk cafes along the way for the national beer, Pilsner Urquell and just watch the world go by. As in Krakow, we again saw groups of guys (and gals, too) in town for their stag party in all sorts of T-shirts, costumes, etc. One groom was actually dressed up as Iron Man and his groomsmen were dressed in other cartoon garb.
The Charles Bridge: Its construction started in 1357 and ended in 1402.
Crossing the bridge: Lots of performers and very crowded!!
Tower leading to the bridge
One of the statues along the way
The crowds....
Walking up the very steep hill to the Prague Castle
The changing of the guard.
St. Vitus Cathedral; located within the castle walls. This church is rich in history and was fascinating to see. To read more about St. Vitus, click here! St. Vitus Cathedral
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| Amazing Gothic style |
The Prague Castle Entrance
Walking back down, we took the steps, all 208 of them.
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| Castle gardens leading up to the castle, this would have been a much easier walk but we didn't know about it until we were done! |
View of the Charles Bridge on the walk back from the castle.
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| Prague is full of Thai massage parlors, a pedicure includes letting the fish clean your feet. |
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| These wonderful doughnut cones called Trdelnik, or chimney cakes, are wrapped around a stick, grilled and sprinkled with sugar. Then they were filled with ice cream or fruit or whipped cream, anything you wanted . Delicious!! |
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| No words |
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| Just plain tired! |
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| The end of the touring day. |
