Prague - One of the best preserved cities in Europe! (And one of our fave's!)

Friday, December 23rd - On To Prague

The bus ride was about 4 hours in total to Prague which I spent most of resting my eyes.  It had been such a busy, fun filled week already it was hard to believe that we still had another 5 days to go!   We were excited that Paul and Tracy were headed there too plus many others that we had met during the cruise.  We arrived at the a Hilton Hotel (not where we stayed) in the Old Town and made our way through the streets of Prague.

Celetná Street

Christian, our Cruise Director who was still with us, led us to the beautiful Old Town Square with the former city hall and it's tall tower, the famous astronomical clock, the "other St. Nicholas Church", the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn with its many spires and the festive Christmas Market.

Celetná Street with the Christmas Market & Old Town Hall Tower in the distance.

What a beautiful city!  It is known for being one of the most beautiful cities in the world and I can clearly see why.  The panoramic landscape is not and cannot be ruined by tall buildings, its is old and beautiful and full of history over the past 600 years. 

Panoramic view of Prague from the Castle Grounds

We grabbed a quick lunch in the Old Town Square with Paul and Tracy and sampled some of the delicious Czech beers.  We met back up with our group and Christian walked us up the ornate Paris Street which was festively decorated and full of designer stores right to the Intercontinental Hotel which was right in the city's Jewish Quarter.

Walking up Paris Street in the Jewish Quarter with the Old-New Synagogue on the left.

Unfortunately we didn't have time to explore the Jewish Quarter, which had great museums and and interesting collection of Jewish sights.  As the Nazis decimated Jewish communities in the region, Prague's Jews were allowed to collect and archive their treasures here.    

That afternoon Dave and I did a little more exploring around Prague on our own before meeting up with Paul and Tracy and heading over the Hard Rock Cafe .

Hard Rock Cafe - Prague

 

Tower at entrance to Charles Bridge

After some local beers and grub we walked around the lively city. We ventured out onto the famous Charles Bridge.  This is one of Prague's most defining landmarks, and the only bridge across the Vltava River for over 400 years.  The foundation was originally laid in 1357!  Along the pedestrian bridge you'll see many statues (in the picture link), including one of St. John of Nepomuk (the statue with 5 stars around his head), former priest, who was thrown over the bridge according to a 17th century legend for not sharing the Queen's confessions with the King!The large tower is on the Old Town side of the bridge is considered one of the finest Gothic gates anywhere!The next day we were getting a city tour and seeing all of this again, but it's just so beautiful at night.


Saturday's tour took us to the grounds of Prague Castle that included a tour through the amazing St. Vitus' Cathedral with it's brilliant stained-glass windows and rich history.  This might be one of my favorite Cathedrals that we have been in so far, and we've seen a lot of them here! 

The backside of St. Vitus - but oh so beautiful!

We were able to see a changing of the guard also.

Changing of the guard at Prague Castle

Our guide, Liba, led us back downhill to the Old Town where we crossed over the Charles Bridge in the daylight.  We learned all about the history and that it was a famous location for many films to be shot as well.  Mission Impossible, A Knight’s Tale, The Bourne Identity, Casino Royale all had scenes from around Prague and the Charles Bridge.

Our awesome guide Liba - and her favourite tour member, Dave on the Bridge.

Liba took us to the famous 600+ year old Astronomical Clock on the tower of the Old Town Hall and then departed to start her Christmas celebrations. 

The Astronomical Clock on the Old Town Hall Tower

The tour was great, Liba our guide was EXCELLENT.  She made it so worth our while and gave us such great information that I'm anxious to get back to Prague again someday.

We enjoyed a fun lunch at Les Moules, a Belgian Beer Cafe around the corner from our Hotel after the tour with Paul, Tracy, Rinatta and her daughter Angel.  Such a fun group of people we had met on this trip!  After lunch, Dave and I decided to do a little more venturing around on our own to a part of the New Town Liba had mentioned, the Wenceslas Square where there was another Christmas Market.  This was more than a square, but a few blocks long, that led to the impressive building - The National Museum at the end.

Wenceslas Square and it's Christmas Market

Was I ever excited to try the pastryTrdelnik, but never again will I eat them! 

The National Museum with memorial to former President Vaclav Havel who had just passed away.

This was as far as we got in Prague.  We made our way back to the Hotel to rest before our lovely Christmas Eve dinner with Paul and Tracy at Prague's Parnas Restaurant right on the bank of the river.  Unfortunately, like lightning fast, I got violently sick!  For about 6 hours I saw nothing more of Prague, just the inside of the toilet in our bathroom :( so we canceled dinner and poor Dave ordered room service while I did all I could to keep down a sip of water.  After I heaved out all that I possibly could, I managed to take some NyQuil, climb into bed and slept until the next morning.  During that time, Dave was trying to figure out what the heck we were going to do since we had a flight to Paris at noon on Christmas day!

Even though I still felt terrible the next morning, I was not running to the bathroom every 10 minutes so we got a Taxi and made our way to the airport for our flight to Paris!  Prague was an unbelievable city and even though my stupid food poisoning (we're pretty sure that is what it was, I was the only one who ate a t.u.r.d.l.n.e.k.) took away a 1/2 day from us, I have to say that it might be one of my favourite cities that I've been to thus far. 

So until next time, Prague...we are off to Paris for Christmas!!!

LINK TO PRAGUE PICTURES - with detailed captions!