The final leg of our 10 day Eastern European trip was Prague, Czech Republic. We were very excited for this part of the trip because we had heard great things about Prague! To get there we traveled by train from Vienna, Austria which was a 4 1/2 hour train ride.
Soon after arriving in Prague we understood why we had heard great things about this city...It is absolutely beautiful! So many unique colored buildings and cobblestone streets, it really felt like somewhere out of a storybook.
Standing in Old Town Square...
In the square there were food stands which we found some lunch at. Take a look at the rotisserie ham! It looked and smelled so good that we could not resist it. We also had some potato dumplings with sauerkraut and bacon all of which was delicious.
After we were quite stuffed we walked around pretty slowly just looking in awe at all the buildings and taking a lot of pictures...
Check out the photo below on the left, the blue building has a Starbucks in it... fanciest one I've seen!
Prague Castle on the hill and Charles Bridge...
Below is crossing the Charles Bridge
(the bridge in the picture above) Lots of little stands selling things and people playing music while crossing.
On the other side we found a place to relax, have some beer and enjoy the people watching.
The next morning it was cloudy but don't let that fool you it was very humid! By the time we walked up the hill to Prague Castle we were pretty hot but the view was great...
We walked around the Prague Castle grounds which is the official residence and office of the Czech President. The castle itself dates way back to the 9th century!
Prague Castle is actually made up of many buildings and on the grounds is St. Vitus Cathedral, when looking at the skyline this is what people see and actually call Prague Castle. We took a peak inside, the stained glass windows were beautiful...
From the outside...
More castle grounds...
That afternoon we joined a huge crowd in the Old Town Square listening to 2 guys from Italy traveling Europe who were pretty good and played a lot of current songs. In the evening I tried a Czech dish of potato and mushroom soup in a bread bowl which was really good. Brian had pork loin ribs and of course we had more dumplings!
So pretty along the river with the sunset...
Below is looking the opposite direction on the bridge...
We touched the two sculptures on the bridge that are supposed to bring good luck and allow you to return to Prague one day :)
The next morning we did an e-bike tour that was from 9:00am-until 2:00pm. We had never ridden electronic bikes before but it was listed as one of the #1 things to do in Prague so we decided to try it out. Basically on the e-bikes you pedal like normal but then once you get going you feel the electronic piece kick in and start helping you. This was great since the tour was about 20 miles long and up hills and sometimes over bumpy cobblestones. We never really got too tired...
The tour was great because it took us to viewpoints around Prague that we never would have walked to and places that normal tourists wouldn't know about...
It was just us two and Veronika our guide who has lived in Prague her whole life (she was in her early 20's) She shared a lot of knowledge with us and it was really neat hearing history from a local. It was particularly interesting listening to her talk about the Communist Regime that ruled Czechoslovakia until 1989. (Czechoslovakia separated into Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993). She had real life examples for us like how her Grandma was Catholic and had to worship in private because it was not allowed and she could not be caught wearing a cross. Also things that seem so minor like how Coca-Cola was not allowed until the fall of Communism in 1989. Veronika told us that the Communist Party is still the 3 largest party in Czech Republic and it is still a fear of hers that one day it could take over again.
On the bike tour one of our stops was the John Lennon Wall pictured below. This wall originally was a place of grievance toward the communist regime however at the end of the communist time became a place to graffiti symbols of love and peace. John Lennon from the Beatles is painted and normally there is someone there playing Beatles music. It is now seen as a place to celebrate Czech freedom.
Some great views of the river along our ride...
The bike tour was the perfect way to end our Eastern European adventure and save our tired legs at least a little... According to my Fitbit (step tracker) we walked almost 90 miles over our 10 day trip!!! Approximately 9 miles per day, one day was as high as 12 miles! So needless to say we had an amazing time but were ready to head back to London to rest our tired legs (and my swollen ankles!)
After the bike tour we found lunch and large beers! They like to mix light and dark beer which was pretty good actually. Our flight back to London was around 8:00pm that evening.
Cheers to Prague!
