Prague perfection

How to describe a truly stunning city without overusing cliches and overdoing the superlatives? That is the challenge.

Our accommodation was amazingly central, so much so, we could see the clockface on the Old Town Hall, see the spires and hear the bells of Týn Cathedral. We are on the fourth floor of a lovely old Prague mansion house and the apartment is comfortable and compact. It is a very convenient bolt hole to return if needed. Prague has also turned on pleasant weather – sunny days, mid-teen temperatures ideal for walking our 30,000+ steps a day and cloudless nights to enjoy the moonlight and stars from its many bridges and apartment windows.

We took two evening guided walking tours – one that shared ‘ghost’ stories while exploring the atmospheric Old Town. It was a good introduction to the city (we had been there about 4 hours). The next evening, we took another tour that educated us about Czech foods in a variety of restaurants. Foodwise, we tasted caviar chlebiček and camembert chlebiček (open sandwich canapes), duck/sauerkraut knedlík and smoked pork/cabbage knedlík (a type of potato-dough scotch egg dumpling that is really heavy and filling), at our final place we had a pickled cheese, a fried cheese and a marinated beef with dumplings dish accompanied by local beer (and learned about the three different pourings of them – see photo) and prior to that we tried a Czech version of the éclair, known as větrníček (delicious, very sweet and a little goes a long way). We caught a tram to get to our last stop (the beef, cheese and beer place) to escape the overpriced tourist places around the Old Town.

They are commemorating the end of WWII in Europe, with exhibitions, information boards and a virtual reality/video experience (in the Old Town Square). It was confronting to see the square in flames, see footage of tanks rolling in front of you and then return to the square to realise there are missing buildings where gardens now stand. Sobering.

We enjoyed walks along the Vltata, at all times of the day: early, midday and evening times. We found that getting up early and wandering the cobbled streets and bridges was a great idea, as we had them to ourselves and were able to enjoy the architecture without constantly being jostled by the many other tourist that clog the streets (and yes, we know we are part of the problem). We must have crossed Karlův Most (Charles Bridge) at least a dozen times – having it to ourselves and sharing it with thousands. Later in the evening was also a good time to walk the streets, and the central location made that easy. We braved Prague Castle and St Vitus Cathedral, flowing along with the multitudes but still enjoying the audio tour and learning more about Czech history. We enjoyed the Changing of the Guard in the First Courtyard, which is a much-simplified affair compared to that at Buckingham Palace. A meander through the Royal Gardens, a walk by the Lennon Wall, lunch by the Certovka Canal under Karlův Most, visiting the Banksy Museum exhibition, more jewellery shopping in the Old Town, getting ‘lost’ in the cobbled streets and a farewell drink or three wrapped up our time in this elegant and truly beautiful city.