Prague Vacation July 2014
Day 1 – Train from Vienna to Prague, Old Town Square, Tour Prague Castle
Sunday 20-July-2014. Our Prague Vacation started with us checking out of the Hotel Austria. It was early; we had an early train to catch to Prague. We took a taxi over to the Wien Praterstern station. We took the EC78 at 6:50am and arrived in Prague (Praha hl.n. station) just before noon. I have ridden this train twice before, but this time, we shared the ride with youths on vacation. When we boarded a rowdy group from Spain was still partying from last night; they fell asleep soon after we started. Later a group from Slovakia joined and they were partying loudly for the rest of the trip. The train conductor did a good job keeping watch of them.
We took a taxi from the train station (600Kc) to the Emblem Hotel. We booked 2 twin bed rooms. One was ready the other was late. The check-in process was sitting at a coffee table on soft comfy chairs; the hotel person used a tablet to take our information. The hotel had been freshly remodeled and was clean and modern looking. The hotel location is fantastic; it is just a block and a half from the Old Town Square and an easy walk to the public transportation stops.
The weather was hot and the sky was perfectly clear. We walked over to the nearby Old Town Square/Staroměstské náměstí. Wow, it was nice! I had been here before with Liz; this was Mike’s first visit. From here we walked over to the Charles Bridge / Karlův most. The bridge was full of historic statues and a beautiful view of the castle. We were too close to not go… we decided to tough-it and headed up to the Prague Castle / Pražský hrad.
We walked over to the Tram stop and took Tram 22 up to the castle. We bought tickets for the short tour (circuit B). This included the St. Vitus Cathedral, Old Royal Palace, St. George’s Basilica, and the Golden Lane. We stopped for a refreshments at the pub just outside of the Basilica. This took us 2.5 hours. We exited the castle and started walking the long walk down the hill, following Nerudova Street — which had lots of nice shops and cafes.
We stopped for some green ice cream cones at the Absinthshop. We walked by the St. Nicholas Church (Malá Strana). We got a couple of souvenirs from Manufaktura. We made it back to our hotel for short naps. It’s been a long day.
For dinner, we walked back to the Old Town Square and had dinner at the Staroměstská restaurace. It was a busy night and we were happy to get a seat. It was touristy, but it was where we wanted to be.
We walked over to the Powder Gate / Prašná brána. It’s the point where Old Town ends and New Town starts. We visited the Obecní dům / Municipal House and walked around the náměstí Republiky / Republic Square. We headed back to the Old Town Square, got some gelati and watched the Prague Astronomical Clock / Pražský orloj, then went to bed.
I was so nice to make it to Prague. It’s been a long hot day, but we saw lots and we were happy to be here.
Day 2 – Jewish Quarter, Wenceslas Square, Lesser Town Square
Monday, 21-July-2014. Much less hot today, the clouds are rolling in and by the end of the day it would be pouring rain. For breakfast, we walked over to the Kolonial restaurant. It’s a quirky bicycle-themed place; we had a good meal.
Our first stop today was to visit the Jewish quarter / Josefov. Our first stop, Old Jewish Cemetery / Starý židovský hřbitov. The old grave stones are packed very tightly packed into a very small section of the jewish quarter. It was next to the very moving Pinkas Synagogue, with walls filled with the names of Jewish people killed during the Nazi occupation. It had samples of children’s art work drawn while stay at the Terezin Ghetto. We also visited the Spanish Synagogue / Španělská synagoga, We couldn’t take pictures in several of the places, we bought some post cards.
It’s been a long morning. We stopped to sit for awhile and take in some lunch from the VKolkovně Restaurant in the Jewish Quarter. We stopped at Český granát jewelry store and bought some Bohemian garnet jewelry.
We continued from the Jewish Quarter and walked over to the New Town area and visited the famous Mucha Museum. This is a nice boutique sized gallery with works of art that span’s Mucha’s lifetime. We bought some posters and post cards.
We continued our walk over to the world famous Wenceslas Square/Václavské náměstí. Looking up the square with the National Museum and Wenceslas Monument at the top, this view has been seen during the many historic events in Prague over the decades. The long center area of the square was covered with beautiful flowers; the buildings around the square were mostly Art Nouveau style — really very nice.
The rain slowed us down a bit. We found a covered outdoor cafe, Da Capo Cafe. We had drinks and deserts to sit out the rain. At 5pm we took the subway back to the hotel. We got umbrellas and walked across the river for dinner.
We had dinner at on the Malostranské náměstí / Lesser Town Square (place called U Ctenka?). We ate outside, but under roof of the pedestrian walkway. It was a very busy place, in part because of its beautiful location, but also because it was raining pretty hard. We took our time, but the rain got heavier.
When we were done, we walked across the street and took the Tram back to the other side of the river (Tram 22, then Tram 18). The tram stop was a couple of blocks away from the hotel; we briefly walked and then ducked into the Mistral Café — it was a trendy fun place — a great place for desert. We liked the tea and apple strudel.
We headed back to the hotel and packed, getting ready to go home the next day. Our wonderful Prague Vacation comes to an exhausting (and wet) end.
