Simon & I went to Prague last weekend (good timing...Prague airports shut down the weekend before; London airports shut down this weekend. Both due to snow). It was his second trip, and my first. All I can say is: oh. my. god. What an absolutely lovely city. Yes, it was a bit overrun with tourists, but it was still simply amazing-and a stark contrast to my Marrakech experience just a few days before.
We arrived late on Friday-too late to do anything-so our trip really didn't start until Saturday. But, once we were up, fed, and bundled from what was supposed to be freezing cold (in reality, the weather was mild-mild not only for Prague, but mild even by my standards), we headed out. Straight to Wenceslas Square for a wander around-and view of the first of several Christmas Markets we'd encounter. After a bit of a wander, we decided to check out the Communist Museum (a sharp contrast to the Sex Museum-don't judge us-the only other museum we went to on the trip...). After the Communist Museum, we continued our wander thru town, and on over to the Charles Bridge. Sooo beautiful-stunning views of both sides of the river-one with the Prague Castle in the background. We had a nice wander over the bridge, and continued our meandering for another hour or so before deciding to stop for lunch. Simon had been talking about the 'leg of pork' he had on his last trip, so we decided to find a place that served them. Not that it was a challenge, it seems to be a very common item on the menu. I ordered steak, but had serious food envy for Simon's pork, and in truth, it was large enough that we could have both feasted on it! Absolutely delicious! Didn't even need a knife to cut the meat-just a fork to scrape it from the bone. Oh, my. After stuffing ourselves on meat, it was time to walk off lunch, so we continued on with the meandering. Prague is one of those cities that you could easilly go from museum to museum or simply have a wander. And, given our limited time, we opted for the wander (we can do museums the next time we're back!) for the most part.
Our wandering eventually took us to another Christmas Market (super-small, and this one 'felt'' local), and to a stop at a pivo (beer) hall. After a few beers, some warmth, and a trip to the loo, we were back out for more walking. We crossed back over the Charles Bridge to our side of town for a bit of touristy souvenir shopping. After the shopping, we visited the Sex Museum. Not to sound prudish, but...eh. I don't know what I expected, but that wasn't it! Oh well. :) Shoulda stuck to the wandering around. :) So, we head over to the Old Town square and stop into one of the outdoor (heated) restaurants for some hot chocolate to warm up. Then, we head over to yet another Christmas Market (by my count, we're up to 5 for the day...), and then decide to start thinking about dinner.
After dinner, it's pushing 9.30pm, and there's one more pivo hall I want to go to-it's close to our hotel, so perfect for our last stop of the evening, and according to what I've read, supposed to be outstanding. And, it is. Pivovarsky Dum is the name. They brew all their own beer-including banana, coffee, nettle, and vanilla beer. Seriously. My favorite is a 'champagne beer' (no idea how it's made, but it had the *best* flavor-and you drink it out of a champagne flute) called Samp. Pivovarsky Dum closes at 11.30p, and we were back in the hotel by 11.45pm-after being gone for over 12 hours. We were pooped.
Sunday was just a quick trip back into town to the Old Town Square-I wanted to explore in the daylight, as it was very crowded on Saturday night-before heading back to the hotel to shower up, pack, and head to the airport to leave. Sigh. I can't wait to go back. I'm betting Prague in the spring must be simply lovely...Hopefully, I'll get to find out!
Prague Castle as seen from the Charles Bridge 
Simon's knee of pork with side sauces and a side of cabbage.
Christmas Market 
The "Champagne of Beers"-quite literally.
Astronomical Clock in Old Town Square 
That looks and sounds great! I miss Prague (lived there for two years). Prague is great in spring and in general it gets there a bit earlier than UK. For spring you should try the outdoors beer gardens, the basement jazz clubs and the world class zoo.
ReplyDelete@Michael..there's a zoo? Oh, next time for sure! :)
ReplyDeleteI loved Prague....spent a chilly weekend there a couple of years back, it's a magical place :)
ReplyDeleteLoved the post - my boyfriend and I are talking about a trip to Prague in January, so it was interesting to read about your visit!
ReplyDeleteGlad that turned out to be a much better trip for you. Simon's meal looks incredibly good, and big enough to feed a family! No photos from the Sex Museum? :)
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