Prague

Sally and I left Dresden and headed to Prague via train for a three day stay. The trains at this time in Europe are quite crowded and half way through our ride someone who had reserved seats took ours and we ended up standing in the back with our luggage. This is not too surprising since the Eurail passes we have don’t cover seat reservations, but in the future we will pay the small additional fee to make sure we have a seat.

On our first full day in Prague, Sally and I explored the enormous Prague Castle which is the largest castle complex in the world. In the center of the castle lies the amazing St. Vitus Cathedral which started construction in 1344. Other parts of the castle date back to the 9^th century. On the western side of the church is a tower with about 270 steps up a spiral flight to a grand vista of the city.

Inside the Prague Castle in front of St. Vitus

View of the Prague Castle from Tower of St. Vitus

Inside St. Vitus

Our Lady before Tyn

Since our tickets were good for two days, Sally and I left the Castle around mid-day and made our way into old town via the St. Charles Bridge which started construction in 1357. Once in old town we saw the Renaissance era astronomical clock which is the oldest working clock in the world from 1410. In addition to time, it also plots the positions of the sun and the moon. We then visited the iconic Church of Our Lady before Tyn with its awe-inspiring Gothic towers.

On the second day of our trip, we revisited the Prague castle in the morning and went to Petrin Park which covers a hill near the Castle. The Park was beautiful with great vistas of the city. The lower slopes of the hill are covered in fruit trees that were overflowing with various ripe fruit. This day also took us back through the Old Town district via Kempa Island, “the Venice of Prague.”

In the Prague Castle Park, the castle is behind me.

Petrin Park among the fruit trees, Below left: outside the Vitus Cathedral, Below right: on the Charles Bridge

The third day of our trip, we visited the Charles Bridge one last time before seeing the innovative architecture of “The Dancing House.” We then rented a row boat for an hour and went out into the beautiful Vltava river.

Sally in a boat in front of the St. Charles Bridge

Open Faced Sandwiches

Prague was an amazing city to visit with lots of unique history. During our time there we relied heavily on the metro system which was cheap and easy to us. We also experienced a lot of amazing foods. Czech Republic or Czechia does meat and beer really well. We sampled all sorts of traditional meat dishes including meat loaf and goulash. The beer was really incredible everywhere we went. It was like the entire city had fresh beer and knew how to serve it to yield the best flavor. I enjoyed some of the most refreshing beer of my life in Prague. Our favorite dessert in Prague was a funnel of warm sweet dough with ice cream or chocolate in side.

One downside to this great city was that during the time we visited it felt like half the world was also visiting Prague. Sally and I were often overwhelmed by the sheer mass of people that seemed to crowd and constipate the city. It didn’t help that Prague Castle is the most visited attraction in the country. After two years in the most sparsely populated country in the world, it was quite tiring for us to be around the crowds of Prague. Part of the reason the city was so crowded was because the old streets are narrow and people are compressed into a relatively small area of historical significance. Other cities that we have visited in Europe seem less crowded because they are more spread out.

After three days of adventure in Prague, Sally and I were ready to head to our next destination, the cultural Vienna.

~Caleb