Prague and Berlin are only a four-and-a-half hour train ride from each other. The train ride from Berlin also transported us to a different time and space.
Prague feels like a medieval fairyland with beauty that charms you over and over again. It is the most beautiful capital in the world.
Marriott Prague, our choice of stay, is in a great location, minutes walk to Old town, but far enough to be quiet. It is almost like an US embassy in Prague – comfortable, safe and modern and with an abundance of traveling Americans.
The Old town has a town square surrounded by medieval buildings, the pink-colored Palladium shopping mall and a bundle of welcoming eateries. Further down the town square, is the Old town hall tower, with the medieval tower clock at its southern side. It presents a 30-second show of the procession of the twelve apostles set in motion at the top of each hour. With or without the show, the tower clock is a picturesque place to visit and is packed with tourists. The record tourist density does little to erode its charm and rare beauty. There are all kinds of shops but magically, the whole place does not come across as commercial. Among the narrow alleys crisscrossing the main attractions, there are endless discoveries of shops and beautiful buildings. I particularly enjoyed the toy stores, the chimney cake stores, and the Swarovski crystals stores.
The narrow alleys open up to the Charles Bridge. Charles Bridge is the oldest stone bridge in Europe, constructed from 1357 to 1400 AD, connecting the east and west side of Prague. The beauty of the bridge certainly has stood the test of time. On our first evening of arrival, we strolled across the pedestrian-only Charles Bridge around sunset time. The dome-shaped castle, the gothic-style Vitus Cathedral across the bank looked inviting. The glittering lights and the mystical reflections over the river Vltava were dreamy. We came back the next morning to retract the same route. The early morning was tranquil and once again we were transported to a different time and space.
The Baroque library at Klementinum is arguably the most beautiful library. It is among the very few things that I am determined to visit after seeing the pictures of it. Klementinum started as a monastery in the medieval period, then transformed into a Jesuit college before becoming an observatory with a beautiful library. Famous astronomers Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe both spent important years here. The library and the astronomical clock tour needed an advance reservation. The narrow spiral staircase took us to the library floor, and we could only take pictures and view the library from its entrance. I tried imagining sitting there, and studying old books. More stairs awaited to get us to the astronomical clock. At the top of the tower, we were treated with a 360o view of the most picturesque Prague.
After seeing the Castle and Vitus Cathedral many times from afar, we crossed a bridge over river Vltava to visit in person. There are plenty of vista points along the way.
No-one would mind walking in Prague all day long. When our tiring feet complained, we took Bolt in Prague, the Uber-like app. Three Bolt rides cost us less than $10 in total. The fare for Bolt is a better reflection of the cost of living in Prague for locals than the price we pay for meals and stays.
On a cool evening, we watched the Okamžik circus in a park. The park was lively with local people. We walked past a climbing wall with people having fun climbing up a wall. There was a skatepark with youngsters practicing skateboard tricks. The circus was inside a tent set up in the park. The show was in Czech. The cast put on a great performance to cross the language barrier. We recommend the show to fellow tourists.
Palladium, just a few minutes walk from Marriott, made a perfect shopping venue on another evening. We pleasantly discovered many unfamiliar to us, making it differentiable from US shopping malls. As much as I enjoyed Palladium, I preferred the narrow alleys in the Old town for an endless exploration. It was also in those shops that I found the wooden musical box with music by František Smetana, the father of Czech music and a wooden cage puzzle.
Shopping is not limited to Palladium and the Old town. Farmer markets in Prague, located next to the river Vltava, are open on Saturday. We went there to experience the local street food and the produce, before settling down in a cafe, with a circular door, enjoying coffee while appreciating the river scene.
One morning, my spouse and I decided to walk from Marriott to the Jewish quarter in an alternate route. The route started with very modest neighborhoods and ended at a street with super luxurious stores like Patek Philippe watches and a few jewelry stores. After a few turns, we were back in a square, which was a look-alike of the Old town. We thought that we went to a parallel universe and Prague has two copies of the Old towns. It turned out that Jewish quarter and the Old town are just within minutes of walking. This stupidity and the hilarity will stay with us for a very long time.
Bond cafe was yet another funny experience. The Bond movie “Casino Royale” had a few shots made in Prague. The cafe was close to our hotel, so my daughter and I decided to meet up in the Bond Cafe after some shopping. I was late but my daughter was not anywhere to be found as I entered the Bond Cafe. This time, it was not a parallel universe. There are two bond cafes within a few minutes of walking. The bond cafe is decorated with many Bond movie pictures. We had the best pancakes in the Bond Cafe. We definitely recommend it as a great meeting place, but get the exact address ahead of time.
If you choose to go to just one cafe in Prague, Cafe Imperial makes the top choice. The cafe, dated over a hundred years ago, has an art deco structure with many small tiles painted with different colors and styles. The design reflects its history. Yet it is so meticulously maintained that its beauty and cleanliness never stop impressing us. The cafe serves full meals. I recommend you make an advance reservation, try the beef cheeks main course and the chocolate “bomb” surprises as dessert, with additional rooms for the very beautiful cake desserts on display.
The Prague cafes make perfect places to rest, to have a tea time, to write a blog, to write a story, to write a book.
We went to Ginger and Fred restaurant at the Dancing House, to watch the sunset in this beautiful city. Ginger and Fred restaurant is a fine restaurant. Yet I found the food served at the no-frills, down-to-earth workers’ cafe Česká kuchyně and the chimney cake (Trdelník in Czech) everywhere on the street to be more special and memorable.
Prague is a city you won’t get tired of, you will take pictures of the same medieval scenery repeatedly, and the scenery will still make your heart jump a bit.
If there is a ranked list of the most beautiful capitals, Prague has to be among the top.
