Alas, the time had come to say goodbye to Rome and to Italy. The views of the Italian coastline from the plane were amazing!
As I mentioned in my very first blog post, I'm looking at this trip in three parts. The second of which, begins with Prague, which has been high on my list of places to see for quite some time. Well, I finally made it happen! And I'm happy to report that it was even more beautiful and majestic than I expected.
Being in Prague is like being on a very colorful and luxurious movie set. It's elegant. It's clean. It's enchanting and romantic. Sometimes I thought it looked too beautiful to be real. According to my Rick Steves guidebook, Prague is known as the "Golden City of 100 Spires," as it boasts a fairytale medieval Old Town, historic churches and synagogues, and Europe's largest castle.
Prague is the sixth-most-visited European city after London, Paris, Rome, Madrid and Berlin. It's the only central European capital to escape the bombs of the last century's wars and is therefore one of Europe's best-preserved cities. Hence the abundance of historic architecture throughout the cobblestone streets. When you look around, you see a distinct collections of architecture from Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, and Art Nouveau. (So my guidebook says. Because frankly, I don't know the difference between those styles. To me it all just looks old and fabulous.) Prague is exquisite. I spent practically every second of my four days here in awe of how gorgeous it all was. The details were what really got me. The intricate designs and the gold inlay on some of the buildings were so beautiful.
Being in Prague is like being on a very colorful and luxurious movie set. It's elegant. It's clean. It's enchanting and romantic. Sometimes I thought it looked too beautiful to be real. According to my Rick Steves guidebook, Prague is known as the "Golden City of 100 Spires," as it boasts a fairytale medieval Old Town, historic churches and synagogues, and Europe's largest castle.
Prague is the sixth-most-visited European city after London, Paris, Rome, Madrid and Berlin. It's the only central European capital to escape the bombs of the last century's wars and is therefore one of Europe's best-preserved cities. Hence the abundance of historic architecture throughout the cobblestone streets. When you look around, you see a distinct collections of architecture from Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, and Art Nouveau. (So my guidebook says. Because frankly, I don't know the difference between those styles. To me it all just looks old and fabulous.) Prague is exquisite. I spent practically every second of my four days here in awe of how gorgeous it all was. The details were what really got me. The intricate designs and the gold inlay on some of the buildings were so beautiful.
Did I mention it's very clean? I love clean. I wondered how the city maintains it's cleanliness and one day when I was eating at an outdoor cafe, I got my answer. There are literally street janitors that walk around with brooms and portable vacuums, constantly picking up garbage from the streets. It's amazing! As someone who loves to clean, I got very excited. Not to mention after being in Rome for a month, where you see and smell garbage EVERYWHERE, I really appreciated this.
For the second part of my trip I didn't bother with AirBnB and trying to find an apartment for just 4 nights. The cities I'm visiting are all big and I decided I couldn't be bothered with trying to find something with a good location so I stayed true to my love and appreciation of 5-star hotels and stayed at the Mandarin Oriental. Go big or go home, right? And it was absolutely worth it. As much as I loved the experience of living in an apartment in Rome for a month, where I had to cook and clean and take out the garbage, it was so nice to be able to stay in a nice hotel and have everything done for me. Not to mention, I had access to an actual gym for the first time in a month and boy have I needed it! Not to mention the spa treatments I booked for myself! I've officially hit vacation mode, people. And it's fabulous.
After arriving at my hotel, I took the short walk to the famous Charles Bridge (or Karluv Most, as it's called here). The bridge crosses the Vltava river (yup, yet another amazing city with a river running through it) and was constructed between the 14th and 15th centuries. It's 621 meters long (about 1/3 of a mile) and has three bridge towers and 30 baroque statues, most of which depict various saints and patron saints. The statues were originally added to the bridge in the 17th and 18th centuries but were replaced with replicas in the 1960s when the originals were moved to the National Museum. There are artists and other vendors who have set up little booths all along the bridge, hoping to sell some of their work or trinkets to the thousands of tourists that cross it every day. It doesn't matter what time of day you go or what the weather is like, the Charles Bridge is always crowded. On my first day it was cold and rainy but it didn't stop the tourists from flocking. And it sure didn't stop me!
For the second part of my trip I didn't bother with AirBnB and trying to find an apartment for just 4 nights. The cities I'm visiting are all big and I decided I couldn't be bothered with trying to find something with a good location so I stayed true to my love and appreciation of 5-star hotels and stayed at the Mandarin Oriental. Go big or go home, right? And it was absolutely worth it. As much as I loved the experience of living in an apartment in Rome for a month, where I had to cook and clean and take out the garbage, it was so nice to be able to stay in a nice hotel and have everything done for me. Not to mention, I had access to an actual gym for the first time in a month and boy have I needed it! Not to mention the spa treatments I booked for myself! I've officially hit vacation mode, people. And it's fabulous.
After arriving at my hotel, I took the short walk to the famous Charles Bridge (or Karluv Most, as it's called here). The bridge crosses the Vltava river (yup, yet another amazing city with a river running through it) and was constructed between the 14th and 15th centuries. It's 621 meters long (about 1/3 of a mile) and has three bridge towers and 30 baroque statues, most of which depict various saints and patron saints. The statues were originally added to the bridge in the 17th and 18th centuries but were replaced with replicas in the 1960s when the originals were moved to the National Museum. There are artists and other vendors who have set up little booths all along the bridge, hoping to sell some of their work or trinkets to the thousands of tourists that cross it every day. It doesn't matter what time of day you go or what the weather is like, the Charles Bridge is always crowded. On my first day it was cold and rainy but it didn't stop the tourists from flocking. And it sure didn't stop me!
When you cross the Charles Bridge you get to Old Town Square which is home to the famous Prague astronomical clock (or Prague orloj). This medieval clock was first installed in 1410, making it the oldest working astronomical clock in the world. People crowd around it on the hour to hear the bells and watch it in action. At the top of every hour figures on the sides of the clock become animated and two windows open up to reveal 12 apostles greeting the city. On the sides of the clock you’ll see a skeleton ringing a bell, a Turk shaking his head, a miser with a purse full of money, and Vanity looking in a mirror. The whole performance ends with the crowing of a golden rooster and the ringing of the huge bell at the top of the tower. It's quite a production! According to my guidebook, each figure represents four things that were despised at the time of the clock's making: Vanity, represented by a figure admiring himself in a mirror; Greed, represented by the miser holding a bag of gold; Death, represented by the skeleton that strikes the time upon the hour; and Vice/pleasure, represented by the Turk. Old Town Square itself, is full of tourists and full of food stalls and cafes if you want to eat and people watch at the same time. Everywhere you look, you're surrounded by colorful buildings in that mix of architectural styles that I still can't identify.
No trip to Prague is complete without visiting the Prague Castle along with St. Vitus Cathedral, Old Royal Palace, Basilica of St. George, shop-lined Golden Lane, which are all right there. Elegance defined. I just wandered around the castle grounds but didn't go inside. The crowds were just too big and it was too beautiful of a day. In my head I'm picturing it as a smaller and maybe more modest version of Versailles from the inside, so I'm just going to go with that image until I can come back here in the winter. I would love to see Prague blanketed in snow, so maybe I'll make my way inside the castle when I'm back. But I did make it inside St. Vitus Cathedral to see the windows and it was some of the most beautiful stained glass I've ever laid eyes on.
During my time in this gorgeous city, I also spent one afternoon walking up Petrin Hill. I was so sore after that trek! It was so lush and quiet up there, which was a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the crowds in Old Town Square. It took me about 45 minutes of mostly uphill hiking to get up to the Petrin Observation Tower, which was built in 1891 and looks like a mini version of the Eiffel Tower. (Don't worry lazy people, if hiking up a hill isn't your thing, you also have the option of taking a tram up there.) The tower is only 60 meters tall, but when you add in the fact that it sits at the top of Petrin Hill, it's about 318 meters (or 1,043 feet) high. I bought a ticket and climbed the 299 steps to reach the top of the tower, where the views of the city are spectacular. The trip down wasn't quite as bad because it was now downhill and I ate a glorious Trdelnik pastry at the top, which gave me a happy sugar high. If I ever lived in Prague, these trdelniks would be the end of me.
So what are they? Trdelniks are actually Hungarian (like Kaiser Soze), originating from Transylvania (like Dracula). It's basically made from rolled dough that's wrapped around a stick, then grilled and rolled in sugar and cinnamon. When you order one (for about 50 Czech korunas or $2.50), it's taken off the stick and handed to you piping hot. You can just pull it apart and eat it while you walk around and explore. I lost count of how many of these I ate while I was there. And I miss them already.
Other than the trdelniks, I wasn't too impressed with Czech food. I mean, I did just come from Italy so it really wasn't fair to Prague. How do you compete with pasta, pizza and gelato? But they sure do love their carbs here and I can't complain about that. I ate a lot of bread with stuff baked into it, like cheese, cabbage and ham (which was a little odd) or olives. I did, however, love the Kulajda soup, which is a creamy Bohemian soup with dill, mushrooms, potatoes and a poached egg that you mix in. It was delicious!
If you've never been to Prague, plan a trip ASAP. It's beautiful, relatively affordable and the people are so friendly (and atrractive). Can't wait to come back someday! Time to head to Berlin...
Train Ride to Berlin
One of the best things about Europe is that traveling by train is convenient and easy. It's also part of the fun. When I was planning the trip, I was sure I wanted to take the train for part of the way. So I booked a Eurorail ticket from Prague to Berlin, which was only about 4.5 hours and then from Berlin to Munich, which is just over 7 hours. It was a great idea. The time just flew by as I listened to music and stared out the window at the green Czech and German countrysides. For part of the way, there was a nice lady sitting next to me. We were chatting and she told me her kids both live in San Francisco. Small world! There were also a few guys from Australia who were sitting behind me and nice enough to help me lift my heavy suitcase onto the overhead shelf. It's always great to meet such nice people. Not to mention, being on the train was a nice change from being on a plane. I loved it. It was comfortable and quiet and you don't have to deal with the anxiety that comes with airport security lines. I highly recommend it.
Next up: Berlin!
Next up: Berlin!