PRAGUE CITY BREAK

I went to Prague in February- bad choice, it was pretty cold and many of the town’s activities weren’t taking place in that period.

City Center Hotel 3 ***, located in center near Mall Palladium

Double room

only source of light outside lights near the twin

bath, hot water pemanent, clean and very ok

I left by the bus (my first city break by bus) and it was awful- we made 26 hours up there and when we got there (at 7 am) we thought that our blood will never start to circulate through our veins ( we knew that it will take so long but for the first time we never expected to be so hard). We were staying at 3 stars City Center Hotel, a nice hotel with an old appearance on the outside( like all the other buildings ). The big plus for this hotel was that it was in the center, near the subway Namesti Republiky, and only one station away from the bus stop Florence. After 4 hours of sleep we managed to go out and visit the city. We left on foot from the hotel and got to the Old Town Square after only 2 streets.

Prague view

Strengths – Mast do in Chezh – Prague City Break:

-          We liked the look of the city, Czechs really care about their history, old buildings with special architecture in front of whom you stop and wonder about the beauty of their drawings and sculptures

architecture style buildings “golden”:)

-          We liked the crowded, paved streets
-          We visited the zoo- it was huge- but because of the winter, most of the animals weren’t outside- the most impressive were the rooms where they tried to re-create the vegetation and fauna from a particular area ( for example the Amazonian jungle)

One of the many towers of Prague ..

-          We liked a building, near the Planetarium( I don’t remember the name) that had on the interior a labyrinth of mirrors that was distorting the image ( they made you tall or short, fat or thin, with long or short legs, etc.)- there we had a great fun
-          We were amazed by the multitude of shops and malls from down town (we thought that we have in Bucharest many malls, the Czechs have overtaken us) ; we even got in a very strange shop in which the fitting room looked like a green public toilet

Store something more exotic, the fitting room I was talking about ..

-          We climbed by the funicular railway ( that had 2 stations) – but I confess that I liked it the best from Budapest.

Furnicular

-          In Prague city break we had the best beer ever- not for nothing it is said that the Czechs make the best beer( my favorite was the one with coffee)
-          We ate also in restaurants with specific food (here the food was expensive but very good and a lot) but also in Old Town Square (here we had Prague ham and very good giant pancakes)

Prague ham – at home

-          We enjoyed very much the Manufacktura shops(puppets and toys hand made from wood)

Manufaktura

-          We visited the torture museum- very beautiful(if torture can be beautiful), well organized and with a description and photo for each tool

Torture Museum

-          We liked Charles Bridge, an impressive bridge that even though in restoration it had plenty beautiful statues

Charles Bridge

-          We visited the Sex Machine Museum- a museum with hundred years old sexual machines- we were terrible amused by the one that was called “The Chair for Golden Rain”
-          We got to Old Town Square just when the time was changing- from the old clock are coming out wood sculpted figures symbolizing the sun, the moon, the water and the earth.

Old town square

-          We visited the castle from Prague and we assisted at the guard change- a very nice and exhausting ceremony for the poor soldiers- the anthem played at drums and trumpets gave us shivers

Guard Change

-          Also in the castles yard we visited Saint Vitus cathedral, an impressive cathedral with a thousand and one little cannons, sculpted in the finest detail, with brightly colored stained glass-a special grandeur

Cathedral Clock

St Vitus Cathedral inside

-          Also near the castle was Golden Street where we visited an armor museum (and now I wonder how could the soldiers move with all that steel in them)

Collection of Barbie dolls of all time

Toy Museum

Weaknesses:

-          As I emphasized the old buildings architecture was beautiful but what shocked me was to see a glass mall between two old buildings that in my opinion is ruining the general view
-          The services were expensive ( quality ones what’s right)- a bus ticket was about 1.5 euro and one day subscription at the subway was 5 euro.
-          The center was full of shops with Boemia and Swarowski crystals where no one enter and most of the products were kitsch
-          We visited the Chocolate museum which left me with a bitter taste(not because of the chocolate) because I didn’t find anything that was in the presentation folder- only a movie about how chocolate was made, a car and 3 puppies made of chocolate (and it cost about 30 lei per person)

-          Down town the streets are mostly made of cubic stone- pretty bad for the feet- my advice is to have shoes with thicker soles ( I has sneakers and I felt every little rock)
After a successful city break that cost us 800 lei 2 persons for 4 days (6 days if we count the ones spent on the way in the bus) we got back to Prague with very nice memories and special photos that I promise to upload shortly.