We arrived in Prague on Monday night and found our hostel 3 minutes from the station. We stayed at Rosemary's Hostel Apartments. It was cool because they had turned an old apartment building into dorms. So our "apartment" had a bathroom in the hall, full kitchen, a main room with 3 bunks, a loft with a double bed, and our room with 3 more bunks. It was very spacious for there being 14 beds!!
Yesterday we woke up, got a map from the front desk and went on an adventure. Prague isn't in our Eurail guide book, so we had no information about what to do or see. We used the map for 5 minutes to get us to Old Town, then we really didn't use it the rest of the day.
Everything we heard about Prague was true. The cobble stone streets and lined with rows of 17th century buildings that look the same as they probably did when they were built. The Old Town square offers gorgeous views of Tyn Church and the clock tower, along with an arcade of shops and resteraunts.
We stopped and had lunch in the town sqaure. We sat outside and had wonderful views of all sides of the square. We caught the astronomical clock's chimes at noon and watched the 12 Apostales move in and out of the mechanical tower. Then a gaurd on top of the tower plays a beautiful tune on the trumpet, which we decided may be the anthem or something. They played it every hour after the chimes stopped.
From the square we headed toward Charles bridge. We found a small dessert place called 'Bon Bon' and had a cup of Czech hot chocolate. Czech hot chocolate is just that...hot chocolate. It was essentially a cup of fondue!!! We had a mix of milk & white chocolate and its served in a cup with a spoon! Yummy!!
We strolled along Charles bridge, checking out the paintings on sale by artists along the way. The bridge offers wonderful views of the city and is lined with medieval statues made of stone.
At the end of the bridge you find yourself in the midst of streets you have only seen in fairy tales. Everything is perfectly picturesque. A ways up the street you find St. Nick's cathedral.
From there we walked up the hill to Prague castle. The castle and cathedral are situated on a hill overlooking the city below. The views are spectacular and the castle & cathedral are simply breath taking. We would have liked to tour the castle, however we were running low on money. So instead we simply walked around the grounds and some of the gardens. I don't think we missed too much. The only way out of the castle grounds in back down the hill.
When we reached the bottom we realized the maze that we wanted to see was on the TOP of the hill further up than the castle!! So we turned around and trekked up again. It was a very steep hill and I was not very happy.
At the top of the hill, past the castle, there is a very large park. We walked about 1/2 a mile through the park, up some extremely steep paths and stairs and finally reach Petřín Tower atop Petřín Hill. We were expecting a hedge maze, but come to find out it was a mirror maze, like in a fun house. Since we had hiked all the way up we decided to enjoy it, except we were 14 ckk short of the admission!! Ugh. By then it had started sprinkling so we said "Screw it" and rested a bit before trekking back down. At least we got to enjoy the pretty woods and views from above Prague!
Once we reached the city again it was dark out. The streets become even more beautiful when lit at night. The Charles bridge is even more romantic, and the town square is simply perfect. We enjoyed some drinks in the square then headed back to our hostel around 21:00.
We definately fell in love with Prague and spent the money to prove it! Heather got a dagger for her collection at home, I got a t-shirt, we each got our patches and we bought some souvenirs for friends back home. I really hope we get to return to Prague at some point in our future travels!!
Until then we will have our memories, pictures and souvenirs. :)
Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather
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