There are 3 types of places we have gone or will be going to on this trip:
Places that everyone goes to - Ireland, London, Amsterdam
Places that no one goes to - Bolivia, Romania
Places that not a lot of people have gone to… yet - Southeast Asia, Prague
Prague continued to pop up on lists of up and coming places to visit in Europe when we were doing our research. It’s fairly easy to get to, filled with history and is very affordable, compared to some of its western neighbors. All of this led us to having some high expectations for Prague. We are happy to report, it did not disappoint.
We arrived in Prague later than we had hoped and rushed to meet my old college roommate and his girlfriend (now fiancé after their trip) who were visiting Prague just for a couple of days. As we learned with my family visiting, it’s so nice being able to spend time with family and friends even if it’s just for a day. After a night of drinks and laughs, we hit the major sites with them the next day. Here is our Prague highlight reel:
Old Town Square - The main square is always the best part of a city in our opinion. Yes, it’s the most touristy but there’s always so much energy and the buildings are usually very beautiful. Prague was no exception to this observation and as of now, is tied with Krakow as our favorite. Their massive church stands over the square and is equally as gorgeous at night as during the day. The main tourist attraction that draws huge crowds is the astronomical clock. It’s a huge clock that does a little song and dance every time it hits the hour. Obviously go and see it, but don’t expect it to be life changing. It’s a clock.
Prague Castle, St. Vitus Cathedral, and Monastery - All of these are located right by each other on a hill overlooking Prague. We visited here with Ben and Michelle the first day and returned here again a few days later. We elected to skip the actual palace and church tour and instead walked around the grounds. Therefore, we can’t comment on the inside but the grounds are a must visit. We did however visit the monastery library and brewery. In our opinion the library was a waste of money because they don’t even let you enter the actual library, instead you just look at it from behind some ropes. Most breweries are amazing but this one was a notch above because it was in the original cellars of the monastery dating back to the year 800 AD. Drinking beer in a cave that dates back to year 800 was a highlight. They also serve their beer on a terrace that overlooks the city and the views, while drinking their delicious (but a little pricey) beer, makes the trek up the hill well worth it.
Charles Bridge and Lennon Wall - The Charles Bridge was completed in 1390 and connects the Old Town to the castle district mentioned above. Not only is it functional and offers great views but it’s wildly entertaining as well. The bridge is filled with vendors and street performers so a walk that should last a few minutes can easily turn into something longer. The Lennon wall is just on the other side of the Charles Bridge. It started out as some graffiti right after John Lennon died and has turned into a massive tribute wall.
Autumn Markets - At first we thought that all the stalls set up around the city were a normal everyday thing but we later learned that wasn’t the case. About a week before their holiday, St. Wenceslas Day, the stalls start popping up around the city serving mulled wine, huge brats, potato salad, shaved ham and more. All of these clusters of stands were situated throughout the city and within the clusters would be standing tables where people could come and hang out while having a couple of drinks.
Beer, Bars, and Fun - Prague LOVES their beer and there are a bunch of bars to back that up. The best part about their beer is that is notoriously very cheap. You can purchase mugs for as little as $1.30 in a lot of places. We took great delight in watching them pour these beers too because everywhere you go they don’t care about beer foam AT ALL. The beer would be half foam, pouring over the side and handed to you. Caitlin also organized a personal bar crawl for us throughout the city one night, which was a bunch of fun. Some of the weird bars we visited included a bar that was completely decked out in Pan-Am paraphernalia (like Catch Me If You Can), a bar where all bartenders wore the masks from V for Vendetta and a bar where the beer was delivered to you by trains. If you like to drink beer, Prague is your place to go.
Central Gallery - In the main square is the central gallery which consists of three floors. The first floor is Salvador Dali’s artwork, the second is Mucha’s and the third is Andy Warhol’s. I have to admit I don’t come close to appreciating art like Caitlin does, but I thoroughly enjoyed these exhibits. I didn’t know much about these artists and the gallery did a great job of not only showing original pieces of their artwork but also teaching about their lives.
Kutna Hora - Since we were in Prague for a week we wanted to take one day trip and we decided on Kutna Hora (about an hour outside of Prague). The biggest draw of Kutna Hora is the Sedlec Ossuary which is a bit morbid but who says morbid can’t be entertaining? The church is decorated with bones from what they believe to be between 40,000-70,000 humans who died in the Hussite Wars. What makes it so fascinating is the fact that they are arranged in a very artistic way. The town also had a beautiful church and monastery which provided some great photos.
