July 17 – Prague, Czech Republic

Last updated on August 22nd, 2019 at 02:51 pm

The customs lines at the airport were long, but we made it through and found our private car that would take us to Wenceslas Square, which is just south of the Old Town area of Prague. We had to walk the last three blocks as the square is a pedestrian square. This was a little tricky with our luggage on cobblestone streets and smaller cobblestone sidewalks and lots of people, but we did fine. We are staying in a one-bedroom mini-apartment in Terraces Wenceslas Square. Our space wasn’t ready when we arrived around 11:30 a.m., so we had time to grab lunch at Pizza Coloseum, located nearby. Alan had a traditional Czech dish of 5 small beef patties in a pepper sauce with beet salad and French fries. Joyce had two small chicken breasts with boiled broccoli. She thinks the chicken may have been brined as it tasted salty, but was very juicy with a crispy skin on one side.

After lunch we were able to get into our apartment. We both showered and took a one hour nap. It is really amazing how rejuvenating those two things could be. We spent a little while studying the DK Eye Witness Prague travel book and map we purchased and decided to go exploring.

There are many shops selling Bohemian crystal and we explored a few. The crystal is intricately cut and contains vibrant colors resulting from the various metals in the glass. We will likely bring home a piece. Next was the Havel Market, a varied, open-air market in the middle of the street with mostly fruit and tourist items. The fruit looked really good, but we hadn’t exchanged any money, so were only looking at this point.

We continued on into Old Town. This area of Prague is very walkable with lots of interesting people. As you walk along you hear many different languages. We walked to Old Town Square. This area dates to the 11th – 13th centuries. The Old Town Hall contains the famous Astronomical Clock, whose purpose is not to tell the exact time, but imitate the supposed orbits of the sun and moon about the Earth.

The square is very large. As we walked around we saw a man using long strings on poles to create walls of bubbles around groups of tourists. At one end of the square is a huge monument to Jan Hus, who became a church reformer, an inspirer of Hussitism, a key predecessor to Protestantism and a seminal figure in the Bohemian Reformation . He was burnt at the stake after being pronounced a heretic by the Council of Constance in 1415. The monument depicts the Hussite warriors and the Protestants forced into exile as well as a young mother symbolizing national rebirth.

One of our goals for our afternoon walk was to find the Municipal House, which is the starting point for the tour of Prague highlights we are taking tomorrow. On the way we discovered the Powder Gate next to the Municipal House. The Powder Gate acquired it’s name when it was used to store gunpowder in the 17th century. It is located at the site on one of the 13 entrances to the Old Town that date back to the 11th century.

The Municipal House is Prague’s most prominent Art Nouveau building. Designed in 1898, it stands on the site of the former Royal court palace, the King’s residence between 1383 and 1485. The exterior is stucco with numerous statues. Above the main entrance is a huge semicircular mosaic entitled Homage to Prague.

Since we are staying in a mini apartment with a small but complete kitchen, our next stop was a grocery, about a 2 minute walk. We purchased breakfast items – eggs and cheese for Joyce and fruit, pastries and milk for Alan. We also purchased a few snacks.

We used Yelp to search for a place for dinner. First, we decided to check out a place serving Czech cuisine and barbecue, which had great reviews, but when we checked further, they only accepted cash. We had attempted to obtain Czech Koruna at a couple of ATMs, but weren’t willing to pay what we felt was an excessive transaction fee. We settled on an Italian restaurant, Pasta Fresca, about an 8 minute walk away. It was a great choice! We shared a delicious mixed greens salad and each chose a black ravioli with sea bass and ricotta cheese.

Once our hunger was satisfied, we both started to feel the lack of sleep from the previous night on the plane. Alan worked on putting up a few pictures and Joyce wrote blog text. By about 10 pm we were headed to bed. After flying through the previous night and approximately 10,000 steps during the day, we expect to sleep well!