Following our journey from New Delhi to Budapest, We were now eagerly looking forward to the next destination in our 16 days Itinerary of Eastern Europe.
We took a train from Budapest to Prague and were mesmerized by Prague’s beauty. From the train station we bough a 3-day Public Transport pass. Prague has an amazing network of public transport and the 3-day pass made it easier to explore the city without any hassle of buying the ticket. This helped us the most when we used to get lost by taking a wrong bus or getting down at a wrong destination.
We explored the city mainly using trams and metros which made the experience even more interesting .
Next, we took a metro from the train station to the Airbnb accommodation. We were greeted by our friendly and helpful host.
It was a lovely studio apartment with sliding windows on the roof. On the table, there was all the necessary information laid out-ranging from the maps of the city to reliable places for currency exchange and the nearby food outlets and take away options.
We were impressed with our host's professionalism and the way he took an extra step to ensure we have everything we need in order to have a comfortable stay in an unknown foreign country. In no matter of time, we were ready and excited to explore this beautiful city. The metro station was very close and it just took 10 mins to reach the main city by taking it.
We first walked to Wenceslas Square which is surrounded by shops and was under construction. So we skipped this and instead went to Charles bridge. This is a historic bridge over the beautiful Prague river and has a lot of religious statues on it.
It was filled with visitors and vendors selling different things like paintings, souvenirs. We had to actually struggle to get some good pictures in front of the river with the beautiful Prague city in the background.
From here, we could see the stunning Prague castle with its Gothic towers rising high over the reddish orange rooftops and the river.
We crossed the bridge and climbed the old castle stairs which was a very scenic path up to the castle offering some spectacular views of the Prague river and other gardens and churches.
When we finally reached the castle complex which is a vast hilltop fortress, we wandered around to explore beautiful buildings of ancient cathedrals, museums, royal palaces, art galleries and gardens. There was a unique building of National art gallery which we couldn’t stop admiring.
We were bewitched by our surroundings consisting of colorful baroque buildings with an elegant architecture especially the Gothic style Churches with St. Vitus cathedral being the jewel in the crown.
We found this Starbucks building while walking around the castle district. The beautiful building and the location enticed us to enter and explore further. The rooftop outdoor seating was just a perfect way to end this evening as it was overlooking the city of Prague offering some fabulous views of the red roofed city which I fell in love with on my first day here.
Stunning views with a cup of coffee in peaceful surroundings is where I left a bit of my heart.
While we were walking back, we found some really cute kids dressed as bridesmaids returning from a church. I wanted to have a picture with them, so I asked them and they were oh so kind to agree. So here comes one of the best pics of the trip.
Next morning, We are all set to visit the most beautiful St. Vitus Cathedral. The Cathedral is so tall and huge than it can be seen from almost any corner of the city. It was located near the castle complex which we visited the previous day. There was a garden as well besides the cathedral, with fountains and beautiful flowers basking in abundant sunshine.
The castle is pretty impressive with amazing Gothic style architecture reflecting power, dignity and grace as it stands proudly protecting and overlooking the city of Prague.
Unfortunately, there was a long queue to enter inside the cathedral which we skipped.
We left the castle complex as we had booked a sky diving jump in Prague. This was a turn down as the sky was cloudy and the booking got cancelled in the end. But, Prague is one of the best places to experience Sky Diving as it is priced modestly compared to other places in Europe.
It was raining in the evening, and we spent some time aimlessly walking around the City Center lined with cafes and shops before calling it off a day. Prague is a pedestrian friendly city and can be best explored by foot to admire the stunning architecture all around.
Next day, We took a metro to Vysehrad which is a mighty fort of historical importance on a hill above the river Vltava. The best part about this place was that it wasn’t very crowded like Prague castle and old town square.
While walking, we came across a pretty church known as basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul which we visited.
It was drizzling and was a little windy as well but that didn't deter us from enjoying the amazing views of the river and the city in tranquility away from the hustle bustle of the city. Walking on the mysterious paths and alleys through a huge park with tall trees and not many people around was one of my best experiences here.
From Vysehard, We went to Letna’s beer garden, a hidden gem located right in the middle of the city.
We climbed up to this place and I was amazed to see a beautiful huge garden on the top with breathtaking views of the city and the river.
There were benches in the garden where people were eating, talking and enjoying the beautiful view. The lovely sunny weather made it even more perfect. There was a small cafe which was affordable to buy some snacks and drinks.
We decided to have lunch at a local Czech restaurant to try the cuisine here. There was a buffet system where everything was written in Czech and I really couldn’t understand anything. I suddenly realized that before I could understand, my turn in the queue came and I was supposed to order. The only known dish was lasagna and that’s what I ordered. The food and the desert turned out to be delicious and surprisingly, it was a vegetarian dish which I unknowingly ordered :)
After enjoying our lunch, we took a bus to Petrin hill. There was a funicular which took us to the top where major attractions are located.
Here as well the public transport pass worked so no trouble of buying tickets. Once we reached the top, there were breathtaking landscaped gardens which we walked around to reach Petrin observation tower.
It is a mini version of Eiffel Tower and we climbed around 300 steps to reach the top from where we saw some magnificent views over Prague.
Attached to this is my memory of meeting a lovely little girl with her old grandfather and they also climbed to the top. He even asked us where we were from and I was happy to see people talking in English here :-).
The girl looked scared of me maybe because I looked like an alien to her with not many Indians around ???? but she was one of the most adorable kids I have ever seen.
