A weekend in Prague

In November my other half turned 30 and I took him away for a 3-day weekend in beautiful Prague. Scroll on to fall in love with this gorgeous city!

The street we were staying on in Prague

Manifesto market for street food

We booked a room at the Four Elements and it was one of the smoothest hotel experiences I’ve ever had. The staff went above and beyond to give us a nice experience.  The room itself was very spacious, convenient (it included a small kitchen) but still cute.

We flew in on a Saturday morning and took a taxi from the airport to the hotel. After checking in we headed over to Manifesto Market for lunch. This place must be amazing in summer! It was raining a bit that morning but thankfully there was sheltered seating space available and we enjoyed a yummy lunch. Tip: card payments only.

Autumn colours

Farmer’s market Trhy na Jiřáku

From the taxi the whole city looked like it was covered in an orange hue. The autumn leaves in combination with the orange roofs made it more than worthwhile heading out in the rain. Luckily it stopped raining once we got to Farmer’s market Trhy na Jiřáku, ready to check out the goods on offer. Coincidentally we were there during the St. Martin‘s celebrations, so we tried some of the wines on sale on the market and took the glasses that came with it home as souvenirs.

Havlíčkovy sady

We continued walking south through the Vinohrady neighbourhood until we got to the Havlíčkovy sady. There we came across this lovely view! The park also had this slightly kitsch ‘romantic cave’, so if you’re around you might as well check it out.

Riegovy sady

From here we looped back north and swung by Riegovy Sad. It is a lovely sloped park to wander through, with views over the city from the highest points. We took a little break next to the park at Café Švihanka for some hot drinks and cake.

Beautiful houses

Žižkovský tunel

Wherever we walked I just kept admiring the exquisite pastel-coloured houses. We took the shortcut through the Žižkovský tunnel under the Vítkov hill to get to the Karlin neighbourhood. After some chill time back at the hotel we ventured over to Katr restaurant for dinner.

Prašná brána & obecní dům

On day 2 we face the crowds to go admire the city centre. After a fair helping of delicious sourdough bread and pancakes for breakfast at Home Kitchen, we entered the city centre the proper way: through the ancient city gate.

Chrám Matky Boží před Týnem

From the city gate it is only a short walk to the main quare. Surrounded by beautiful buildings it is quite a gem! Slightly odd though was the church with buildings built right in front of it, as you can see on the photo.

Staroměstská radnice

Pražský orloj

On the opposite side of the square lots of people were gathering in front of the 600-year old medieval timepiece. If you manage to get up close, you can see lots of beauiful intricate details.

Památník Jana Palacha – Sousoší Dům syna a Dům matky

If you continue to roam the city towards the river you come across these two sculptures. They are devoted to the Faculty of Arts’ student Jan Palach, commemorated for his self-immolation of 16 January 1969 in protest against the Soviet occupation. The sculpture on the right represents Jan Palach, whereas the one on the left represents his mother.

Karlův most

From the riverside by the Jan Palach memorial you can admire the Charles Bridge. This was one of my favourite views of it because the crowds on the bridge itself – as you will see below – take away most of its beauty unfortunately.

The Statue of Franz Kafka by Jaroslav Róna

King Kong Balls by Denis Defrancesco

Lots of interestings statues are spread out across Prague – you can even do specific (guided) sculpture walks. These statues of Franz Kafka (left) and King Kong Balls (right) are only two of the many to marvel at.

Letenská pláň

Letohrádek královny Anny

We crossed the Vltava river over the Čechův bridge and entered Letenská pláň. From there it is easy to walk from park to park in the direction of the castle. However, when we spotted this trabant (I think it was at least, but correct me if I’m wrong!) we really wanted to go check out the photo exhibition there about the Fall of the Iron Curtain.

Letohrádek královny Anny

I felt very lucky that we stumbled across the exhibition in Queen Anne’s Summer Palace and the Royal Garden. It as incredibily interesting and in charming surroundings, yet gut-wrenching and horrific at times.

Views from Pražský hrad

We walked around in the castle grounds, but with the hordes of people walking through it didn’t exactly lend itself to pretty pictures. Coming from the Summer Palace was great through as we entered without any wait, whereas on the other side there was quite a big queue. But the views from where people were queueing at least were nice.

Views from Karlův most

Views on Karlův most

Ah, Charles bridge (Karlův most in Czech)! Some very pleasing views from the bridge, but jam-packed on the bridge itself. Not a surprise, but still, it does take away most of the magic.

Tančící dům

Kafka Monument

I had wanted to see the Dancing House, so we walked south along the river and after a quick pit stop for a hot drink there it was. One more to tick off the list: seeing the moving head of Kafka in het Old Town. Feeling peckish we then went for the Czech alternative of Greggs and picked up some sandwiches in Bageterie Boulevard. Some time to relax then at our hotel before we went for a traditional dinner with a Czech friend of mine at Kolkovna Celnice. Because of the St. Martin celebrations they had a special menu with goose, so we tried that.

Lunch at Eska

Eska kitchen

On our final morning we explored the Karlin neighbourhood a bit further (so many coffee shops!) and had the most enticing lunch at ESKA, which had been recommended to us left, right and centre. The venue itself was very industrial with an open kitchen, bakery and shop. The food was absolutely stunning and definitely the best we’ve had during our entire trip!

For this trip we used the free USE-IT map of Prague, full of local recommendations for young travellers.

Have you been to Prague? Anything we missed off that would definitely be worth visiting next time round?

 

If you liked this post you might be interested in my posts about Budapest, Cracow or Georgia (part I and part II).

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