Yup. It’s official. Prague is definitely on the top of my list of favorite cities I’ve been to this semester. It’s BEAUTIFUL here. And everything is so cheap! The best of both worlds, honestly.
This time it was just Mackenzie and I going to Prague. Since my Friday class got cancelled, we left Thursday morning and spent 3 nights here.
Not gonna lie, I felt like I already knew the city because my best friend studied abroad in Prague 2 years ago and I was living vicariously through her photos and stories at that time (shoutout to the OG Mackenzie for all the awesome recommendations here!!!). But I was honestly shocked when we got to the city with all the different colored buildings and all the insane detail everywhere - there were stripes and statues and stars on almost every building. It kinda reminded me of a beach town, but ancient and old and not nearly as hot.
The bus from the airport dropped us off right by the Prague Castle. So we got to check that out a bit, and admire the view like every 10 seconds (and to catch our breath on the steep hill). It’s beautiful! Once we got IN the city, we had a few hours to kill before we could check in to our Airbnb, so we got so lunch and just wandered around. We walked across the Charles Bridge, listened to so pretty cool street performers (there was a banjo!), saw the astronomical clock, and I got a Trdelnik, which is ice cream in a cinnamon roll cone. The BEST dessert ever tbh.
After that, we were allowed to check in so we met up with the guy to grab our keys and drop our stuff off. Mackenzie needed a nap after our early morning, so I headed out alone to do some more exploring. We were staying within 5 minutes of the clock tower, so I went to see the “performance” it puts on every hour. It was cool considering how old the clock tower is, and the fact that it can even still run...but it wasn’t really thatttt cool.
Then I just kind wandered around the streets without a place in mind. By the time I was a little over being lost, it was almost sunset. So I found a random spot on the river that looked over the Charles Bridge to watch the sunset. Before the sun completely set, I went up the tower to finish watching it. It was just beautiful!
Once the sun was pretty much down, I realized how hungry I was and went to Cafe Louvre for dinner. This is a café where a lot of celebrities, including Albert Einstein, use to come to eat when visiting Prague. I’m still shocked at how cheap everything is, especially food!!! I definitely stuck out a bit bc of how nice the cafe was and the waiters all in their tux attire (oops), but I was able to buy a nice dinner of pasta, veggies, and a slice of cake for like $16! Crazy!! By the time I finished dinner, it was 9pm so I headed back to the Airbnb to find Mackenzie.
The next morning, we headed out to breakfast at a café and to the Spanish synagogue. Every inch of the building was covered - there were so many stars of David in the walls and ceiling and lights, it was crazy. The Spanish synagogue was beautiful. The Spanish synagogue also shared some of the history of Czech Jews, which isn’t something you hear that much about...but wow. There’s a concentration camp in the Czech Republic that the nazis used as propaganda, a camp that musicians, writers, celebrities, etc. went to to “prove” that the Jews were being taken care of in a good place. There were photographs and artifacts of letters, toys, etc. of children, teens, and adults displayed.
After the Spanish synagogue, we did an old car tour, where we rode around the city in an old car. Much bumpier than expected, but such a cool way to see more of the city! Our guide was super informative in pointing out all sorts of buildings - palaces, the library, etc.
After that ride, I had another little solo adventure. I got another Trdelnik, but just a classic. I went to the John Lennon wall. I honestly pretty disappointed by the wall; it was so covered in graffiti that you could hardly see the original artwork. Because I was on the other side of the river, I walked around some and stopped at random shops before deciding to head to Vojanovy sady park to enjoy some sunshine. There were peacocks just wandering around here!! It was so cool - there were about 8 or 9 females and 5 males. One of them even put all his feathers up. And other males were calling/whatever, so I got to hear what a peacock sounds like (kinda like a screaming cat or child, in case you were wondering). While I was here, Mackenzie texted me to meet up which we decided to do so at the Old Jewish cemetery. The old Jewish cemetery was eerily beautiful. There were tons and tons and tons of gravestones, just right there in the middle of the city. Every time I thought we were done, there was another turn with gravestones just piled on top of one another.
After that, Mackenzie and I went on a hunt to find the book tower. Not super special tbh, but it was still so cool!! Most of my friends consider themselves bookworms (including myself), and I really don’t think it’s a coincidence. I use to read like 8 books in a month when I was younger. But yeah, so I definitely enjoyed seeing that. Afterwards, we walked to Cafe Bohem. On the way, we passed an American and British Store that we stopped in just to look around. There was so much food/brands that I, like, actually recognized there and didn’t realize I kinda missed until I saw it. We were like kids in a candy shop (quite literally) going into that store haha. It was nice getting that small taste of home! Once at Cafe Bohem, I was hoping to get dinner here, but they only served drinks so we got a lemonade and tea. It was so cute inside!! Then we walked back towards the Airbnb and stopped at a place for dinner. Our dinner was...interesting. The food was incredible (and incredibly cheap). But our waiter never once looked at Mackenzie or asked what she wanted. But when I asked for the check, they gave it to Mackenzie. And when I paid, the waiter was like “thanks, bye I love you” to me. Hahahaha YIKES. And then I got another Trdelnik with ice cream bc those things are so damn good and I’ve never seen them anywhere else so yolo.
On Saturday, our last day, we had a bit of a late morning. I went off by myself for breakfast and did some wandering and shopping in local stores. Then Mackenzie woke up, and we went off to go paddle boating around the river for an hour. It was really fun!! Being out on the water in the sun, seeing how terrible people were at steering (including ourselves), and just enjoying life. It was so needed. Then we went to Petrin Park. We never made it to the tower, but the view of where we made it was still spectacular! We were on a hill with all sorts of trees blooming with flowers, and the city was just above the tree line. So beautiful! And it was so nice being out in nature - and actually feeling like I wasn’t in the city. I’ve been struggling with just being in Brussels and traveling from one city to another. This girl needs some fresh air!!!
I just kinda ate around for dinner this night - getting a Czech sausage at the easter market and a smoothie at another store. And our motivation for getting up the super steep hill at Petrin Park was to get donuts afterwards. So freaking good. All of it. This whole trip.
Also - there were so many bachelor and bachelorette parties here. It was so funny seeing all these groups in wacky outfits or matching shirts or crazy hats. Especially the groups riding on the bar on wheels/bike things, and singing at the top of their lungs (usually the girl groups haha).
Prague was amazing. So glad I got to come here!! Czech out more pictures from my trip here.