Prague
Location: Prauge
First, the DEAL! My best friend and I had been looking for a Prague trip for a while. Travel Zoo had one for $499 (3 nights) including air from Chicago. When we checked it out, there was an option to extend the trip and spend 3 more nights in Budapest. So the cost was $799 which included roundtrip flights, (including a 10-hour flight on Swiss Air and OMG! Swiss Air should give lessons to all airlines!) hotels, and breakfast at the hotel.
TRAVEL ZOO:
This trip ties into the Budapest trip as it was all one GREAT deal through Gate1 Travel, but there was so much to do, I split it in two.
GATE1 TRAVEL:
And the SNAFU! A few weeks before the trip, I logged onto to Gate1 Travel to check out the documents they had for us. Admittedly, I should have done it sooner, but, you know, life… Anyway, I noticed that my middle name was NOT on the travel documents, although it is on my passport. Since there’s a heading in bold and all caps that your travel documents MUST match exactly to your government-issued identification, I called Gate1. I was told that I would not be allowed to fly and that I needed to rebook my tickets (for an additional $300!). Since we were flying United and Swiss Air, I called both airlines and was told I should be fine. YIKES! We decided to chance it and had no problems. Thank goodness!
Our hotel was the NH Prague. It’s a clean, nice, a boutique kind of hotel with a FABULOUS sky bar. Taking the chair lift up there was fantastic! Unfortunately, we got to the hotel at about 9:30 a.m. and couldn’t check in until 3:00! After a 10-hour trip, we were hoping to nap first, but we ended up just dropping our luggage and took off exploring.
Old Town Square is within walking distance of NH Prague, so that’s where we headed. We were there for Easter weekend and the open-air markets were packed!
Old Town Square is also the location of the infamous Astronomical Clock (the Orloj). It’s got an interesting history and we were happy to sit nearby and have some schnitzel and beer while we waited until the top of the hour for the clock to chime.
A few more items of note in Old Town: Jan Hus Memorial and the Cloak of Conscience.
The restaurants in Prague were AMAZING! As Hungary is known for their wine, Prague is known for their beer, and of course we had to try it everywhere! We stopped in at a “locals” bar called Restaurace U Provaznice. It’s kind of hard to find but the artwork inside makes up for search!
RESTAURACE U PROVAZNICE:
Our favorite restaurant for this entire trip was a place called Czech Slovak. It is a teensy restaurant with about six tables, so make sure to have a reservation! We did not, but were lucky enough to grab a table for two.
Getting to this place was where we learned a bit about Prague’s public transportation. It’s extraordinarily inexpensive (about 1 USD) for a tram ticket. We’re not sure if we just didn’t do it right, but no one ever asked to see our tickets. We kept buying them to catch a tram (at $1, why not?), but never figured out how anyone would know whether we purchased the ticket or not. Also, because we didn’t speak Czech, trying to get on the right tram for where we were headed was a challenge. Of course, because we kept taking the wrong one, we got to Czech Slovak after the dinner rush and were able to get a table!
This was all Day 1 and after dinner, we caught a tram (and walked a few blocks) back to the hotel, which, by the way, has a really nice bar!
Day 2 was a trip to Kutná Hora. We had asked at the front desk of the hotel about the best way to get there and were given a brochure for a tour. I told the woman at the front desk that we did NOT want a guided tour, we just wanted to get there and get back later that day. She assured me that that’s what we were signing up for. We were not. On the way there our guide, Lance, started talking about what we were going to do while in Kutná Hora; sightseeing here, 5-10 minutes for photos, back on the bus, etc., etc. No time for lunch, no time for wandering. I told him that that’s not what we wanted to sign up for and after a LOT of back and forth with him and our bus driver, they agreed to drop us at the first site and we’d meet them at their last stop. They made it very clear it would be on us if we didn’t get back to Prague that night! Now that we know better, we’d probably take the public bus (instead of a private tour).
Exploring Kutná Hora was the best choice EVER! First we went to the Sedlec Ossuary (Kostnice). The history of this monastery-turned-ossuary is fascinating! And the bone designs are amazing!
After we toured Kostnice, we decided to do some shopping and have lunch (with more local beer)! The shops were fantastic with locally-made goods for sale and the local food was to die for!
Late afternoon, once we’d spent the day walking around and exploring everything we wanted to see, we headed to St. Barbara’s Cathedral to meet the bus. Again, the art and the cathedral itself were breathtaking. There’s also a lot of interesting history about the cathedral that I read about once we got home.
Late afternoon, once we’d spent the day walking around and exploring everything we wanted to see, we headed to St. Barbara’s Cathedral to meet the bus. Again, the art and the cathedral itself were breathtaking. There’s also a lot of interesting history about the cathedral that I read about once we got home.
After lunch we made our way back to Prague (this time it only took 2 trams!). We stopped in a couple bars and shops and headed back to pack for our trip to Budapest. Another nice thing about NH Prague was how close they are to pick up a tram or go to a restaurant. We walked about 1 ½ blocks for dinner at a local hangout called Zlaty Klas. Although they were packed, the manager did everything he could to find a seat for anyone that came in.
And the desserts are yummo!!
Overall, this was a trip I’d recommend to anyone! Prague is a beautiful, historic, and inexpensive city to get lost in for a while!