Prague, Czechia
June 2023
My husband and I spent a wonderful week in Prague with my two sisters and their husbands. We stayed in the New Town district in a nice 6th-floor condo near Wenceslas Square and with a great view of Old Town and Prague Castle. But don't get fooled by the name "New Town", which was established by Charles IV back in 1348! The cover photo of Prague Castle was taken by my sister Cindy from our condo balcony, as was the photo below.
~ Click any image to enlarge ~
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~ Exploring Old Town and New Town ~
New Town is a vibrant neighborhood full of historic architecture, as well as trendy cafes which we enjoyed! Wenceslas Square is the heart of New Town, more of a long broad boulevard, and was only a few minutes walk from our condo. From there, Old Town Square was only about five minutes walk. Old Town is known for its stunning medieval architecture, and I was captivated by the buildings, cathedrals and architecture everywhere I looked!
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~ Walking Along the Vltava River ~
The Vltava River flows through the center of Prague. Walking along the river through Old and New Town was very picturesque with the colorful row houses, old bridges, sidewalk cafés, beaches, boats and ferries.
There are actually 18 bridges (including railway bridges) that cross the river in Prague. The first built and most famous is the medieval stone arch pedestrian bridge, now known as Charles Bridge. This bridge and the tower arches on either end are magnificent. The bridge is lined with vendors, traders, artists and musicians and has great views.
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~ Petřín Funicular ~
The Petřín Funicular Railway is the best way to get to the top of the Petřín Hill to enjoy some great views. This was the first funicular that I've been on that does not have a viewing window, it is just considered transportation to the top. The day we went started out sunny, and we were totally unprepared for the deluge of rain! As you can see in the photos, the sky went from blue to dark grey soon after we arrived!
The Petřín Lookout Tower will remind you of the Eiffel Tower, and its observation deck is the highest in Prague. The tower was built two years after the Eiffel Tower by the Czech Tourist Club. They visited Paris and were so fascinated by the wrought iron lattice structure that they decided to build a similar one for the Prague 1891 Exhibition.
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~ Prague Castle ~
Prague Castle is the largest ancient castle in the world. The castle includes the Gothic St. Vitus Cathedral, the Romanesque Basilica of St. George, a monastery and several palaces, gardens and defense towers.
The St. Vitus Cathedral is by far the most prominent feature on the palace grounds, while the palace itself was a quite ordinary building. We didn't do any tours, and the only building we entered was the cathedral.
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~ Natural History Museum ~
The Natural History Museum is located in a historical (1818) building at the top of Wenceslas Square. The building's most recent renovation was completed in 2018 with absolutely gorgeous results! It's a museum of natural history and sciences, mineralogy, zoology and more. I'm not a big museum person, but this one was very interesting and we spent most of the day there!
Probably the most famous (and truly impressive) display is the skeleton of a fin whale in the zoological exhibition. The whale's body washed up on the southwest coast of Norway in 1885, and by 1893 it had made its way to its current resting place. This four-ton skeleton is 22.5 meters long, and is suspended from the ceiling along the entire length of the hall. To give some perspective, check out the full-size elephant and giraffe at the back of the hall.
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~ Czech Food ~
Many restaurants advertised authentic Czech food, and for sure the most prevalent dish was goulash with bread dumplings. There were many street vendors making the rolled cinnamon cones filled with ice cream and sweets. For dessert, apple strudel seemed to always be on the menu!
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~ Street Art and Music ~
Prague is known for it's quirky and captivating street art. I actually found some of the sculptures a little disturbing and chose not to include those here!
("Crawling Babies" and "Embryo" by David Černý are two examples, in case you're curious!)
But there is one sculpture by David Černý that every visitor to Prague must see. This is "The Head of Franz Kafka" (Bohemian novelist). It's 11 meters tall and made of 42 individually rotating panels which rotate 15 minutes of every hour.
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Thanks for visiting!
