Fun Fact: The city of Prague grew and prospered in the 1300s under Charles IV who ordered the building of several of the city’s most important landmarks still today: New Town, the Charles Bridge, St. Vitus Cathedral and the Charles University.
In our second day of exploration, we decided to take in more of the beautiful history and charm of the Czech Republic’s largest city, starting with the river Vltava.
Based on recommendations from friends and tour books, we decided to board one of the many Prague tour boats that offer hour-long, Jazz and dinner river boat cruises. We decided on the hour-long ride; it was the perfect amount of time to enjoy a Coca Cola Light and snap pictures of the gorgeous Castle Quarter and Charles Bridge from the waters below.
From there we hiked our way over the bridge and up to the majestic Castle Quarters where the royal Bohemians resided all those years ago. The landscape and the view from the Castle Quarters is breathtaking. You can see all of Prague beneath you; the colors, the people — everything. This view is nearly overshadowed by the insane stain glass art work that fills St. Vitus’ Cathedral. We were both in awe of the intricate details from the stain glass artwork to the painted ceilings, everything was done with purpose and poise. Definitely one our favorite moments in Prague.
We spent several hours hiking the gardens, walking through the ancient halls of Czech castle and moseying about the Golden Lane, where servants and staff members lived alongside the royals that they served.
By the end of the day, we had tallied more than 20,000 steps and decided it was time to get back to the hotel and shower up before cocktails at Hemingway House and dinner at U Modre Kachnicky. Both proved to be noteworthy experiences that we look forward to sharing with you soon.
For now, we’re going to sit back and relax on our train ride across Central Europe. We have some Pilsner and a fresh new episode of Suits to tide us over… and of course… the view of a lifetime.
Vienna here we come!
-Two for Takeoff
All sounds fabulous!
Maggie your river cruise reminds me of our river cruise on the Nile that Mom & I took with you as an infant over the Thanksgiving weekend in 1987. Sounds like your stay in Prague was wonderful and I love the insight that both you and Patrick provide for your blog readers. Keep them coming and enjoy Vienna you two. LOVE DAD
WOW! What a great way to follow along on your trip. Love the comments and perspective. We cannot imagine packing for 20 days in a backpack. Maggie, you forgot Tide To Go. Take lots of pictures. Can’t wait for the PowerPoint slide show. Enjoy! Love, Marti & Kirk
Hey Maggie and Patrick: Now that I’ve found you, I’m so enjoying following you along, even though I’m going backwards……..what an experience – Prague —and my favorite beer has always been PU even before I rode by the Bratislava brewery on the tour bus on our way out of the CR…….I begged the bus driver to pull into the brewery for just a taste test…..no luck……..the tide stick comment was cute……….xo MA