Friday May 31st, 2019
I have been many times to Prague, but not recently. Today we have a late morning flight. We land in Prague in the early afternoon and at the airport we buy a 3-day ticket. We go straight to the hotel we booked (Hotel Melantrich). It is very centrally located, very close to the old town square, Wenceslas square and the Powder Tower. So we start our first day right here. We walk to the Powder Tower and the nearby Obecni Dum. Then we go to Wenceslas Square (we walk only part of it) and then to the old town square. We take some pictures of the square, the church of Tyn and the old town hall. There are many people watching and photographing the famous town hall clock.
Since we are here, we decide to visit it internally and climb the tower. We start with the visit, but we discover that some parts (the underground) can only be seen accompanied by a guide. We wait a few minutes for the beginning of the guided tour, we review the rooms we had already seen alone and then we go down to the basement. After the visit we climb the tower. From here we can admire the view of the old city, the castle, and all the other neighborhoods. Then we cross the Charles bridge (as always very crowded) and take some pictures (even from the Kampa side). We have dinner in Mala Strana, in an outdoor restaurant.
The evening
After dinner we climb the tower of the Charles Bridge (from the Mala Strana side) and take photos of the illuminated city. Although there are still 20 minutes before the closing time, we are invited to leave. We would have stayed a little longer but we still managed to take the pictures. We take other photos from below and on the bridge and then we go to the square to end this first day in Prague.
Saturday June 1st, 2019
Immediately after breakfast we go to the castle. We pass quite quickly from the metal detector (an Italian group has just arrived, a small queue has formed, but the controls are quite fast). Then we buy the ticket and go straight to the golden alley to prevent too many people from arriving. We walk the walkways along the walls, we see the various armors exposed and various instruments of torture. Then we look at some shops and homes. Once the visit to the alley ends, we would like to enter St. George (the church closest to the alley), but there is a queue.
There is also a queue in the cathedral of S. Vita. Then we go to the royal palace, we see the salons (I expected more), and then we return to St. George. The tail is quite smooth. After visiting the church, we enter Sv. Vita (again, there is a bit of queue). We turn a little between the aisles, looking at the chapels. We leave the church and I climb the bell tower (286 steps). The view from above is very beautiful. We leave the castle, on the opposite side to where we entered, we pass in front of the various buildings surrounding the square (Arcibiskupsky Palac, Schwarzenbersky Palac and Toskansky Palac).
Loreto and Strahov
A short distance away we find the sanctuary of Loreto (on the road we meet a group of singing girls). We decide not to visit the sanctuary internally and walk along the Novy Svet road, defined by the guide as “a small quiet golden alley”. Indeed there are no tourists and the houses are characteristic. We return to the sanctuary of Loreto and enter the gardens of the Cerninsky Palac. Unfortunately there are no exits on the other side and we are forced to go back. Then we arrive at the Strahov monastery where we see the library (it is not possible to enter, it can only be seen from the door). We also see the art gallery, the chapter house and the cloister. Here we meet again the girls of before that are singing.
We deserve a break. We drink a coke at the bar which is located just below the monastery, on a beautiful panoramic terrace. Then we return towards the center along the Nerudova.
The dancing house of Prague
Near Sv. Mikulas we take a tram to get to the “dancing house”. We go down at the wrong stop and we have to walk a little to reach the building. We would like to admire the view from above (there is a bar on the top floor), but consumption is required to enter. Having stopped shortly before, we take nothing. We go back to the hotel. I go out and walk around: from the garden of the Franciscans (there are many roses in bloom), I walk the whole Wenceslas square to the national museum and from there I reach the town hall of the new city. Returning to the hotel, I see Kafka’s rotating head (I figured it out by accident). After dinner we take some pictures of the Charles Bridge, the castle and the river.
Sunday June 2nd, 2019
I get up pretty early. It’s a beautiful sunny day, and I hope to find few people around. I start from the town hall square, then head to the Charles Bridge. It’s not as empty as I hoped but there are still few people. I take some photos, I realize I have time, so I walk up the steep road (I would have spent more trying to find a tram) and I arrive at the castle. I immediately go to the golden alley, but I am thrown out by a lady who tells me to come back at 9 (on the official website it is indicated that the courtyards and the alley are open from 6 am to 11 pm). Even after leaving the alley, the lady continues to tell me something in czech (in a rather angry tone). I go back to the hotel to have breakfast.
Vysehrad
We go to Vysehrad now. As suggested by our hotel, we use the underground that leaves us already at the top. We don’t have to go uphill to reach the hill entrance. So we admire the view over the city, we see the cemetery where some famous people are buried, and we enter the church. We return to the center and go to take the funicular to Petrin (there is a bit of queue, but we have no intention of going up on foot). Once we reach the top, we go to the base of the small Eiffel Tower and rest in the nearby park. It is now time for lunch, we go to Strahov and the castle and we stop at a restaurant.
We continue to go down, we pass by some embassies and by sv. Mikulas and we arrive at Valdstejnsky Palac, seat of the Senate. The building is closed. It is possible to visit the gardens, we cross them and towards the end we also see a peacock making the wheel. We go back to the Charles Bridge and walk a little for Kampa and Mala Strana. In the evening we take some pictures in the Jewish quarter, in the town hall square and at the Powder Tower.
Monday June 3rd, 2019
Today we dedicate the morning to visit the synagogues and the cemetery. We choose to take the cheapest ticket, the one that does not include the Staronova Synagogue. We begin the visit from the Maisel Synagogue, we cannot see the Spanish one because it is closed for works (despite this the ticket price does not change). Then the Pinkel Synagogue (on the walls there are the names of all the ceks deported to the concentration camps, and on the second floor the children’s drawings). Coming out of the singagoga we enter the cemetery (it is an obligatory path), we walk along it and we look at the tombs piled up on several layers (up to 12, in some places) and then the Ceremonial Hall and the Klaus Synagogue.
From here we reach the river, we cross the bridge. We would like to go up to the metronome on the hill of Letna, but it is too hot and there are no buses or trams going up. We go up again to the castle, we cross the royal gardens and then we reach the summer palace. Here we see a photographic exhibition on the fall of communism in various nations, and in Prague (in 1989).
We cross the courtyards of the castle again. We would like to go down from the gardens (but even these are closed for work). So we descend from the road. After a break at the hotel we go out for dinner and in the evening we go up again to the castle (today we passed the metal detectors many times), to take pictures with the lights on at the golden alley, the royal palace, St. George and St. Vita. We go back to the hotel.
Tuesday June 4th, 2019
Last day of our trip, around 10.30 we will have to go to the airport. Short tour before breakfast towards the Charles Bridge and the old town square. After breakfast, we walk a little in the central streets to take the last pictures: Town Hall Square, Tyn Church and the Powder Tower. Just before returning to the hotel we see Tyn’s church internally. So this beautiful trip in Prague ends.
You can read about another of my trips to Prague here.
