Prague- Behind the Scenes of History

View the Prague Gallery here

It's a beautifully sunny, yet foggy morning leaving Vienna en route to Innsbruck, and alas, we've fallen behind on our blogging again.. Too much to see and do! We figured these next four hours are perfect for catching up!

I'm sure it's been a bit confusing where in the world we are, so here's a little recap on the travel itinerary thus far:

Oct 1-4 Reykjavik, Iceland
Oct 4-8 Amsterdam, Netherlands
Oct 8-11 Bruges, Belgium
Oct 11-13 Ghent, Belgium
Oct 13-16 Berlin, Germany
Oct 16-21 Prague, Czech Republic
Oct 21-24 Vienna, Austria
Oct 24-28 Innsbruck, Austria
Currently: Oct 28- Nov. 4 Verona, Italy (Visiting Venice and Lake Garda from here)

Our travel plans have been right on track, thus far, but unfortunately are beginning to skew due to the Syrian refugee situation, which has caused boarders to close and is making train travel to/from Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Croatia more difficult than usual. More information about seeing the refugee situation coming in our Vienna post, but now onto Prague!

Prague greeted us with another rainy and cold day, but it didn't matter because we were excited for a new city to explore and our first AirBnB apartment! Our hostess, Ekaterina- a late 20s sweet and cute young professional, met us at a metro stop and showed us the way to our apartment. The apartment was perfect: tall ceilings with large windows, clean, modern and chic, with a kitchen, washer, and a comfortable pull out couch for us to sleep on! She pointed out where to find things, then left us to enjoy our little taste of home. Exhausted from a long day of traveling, we settled in, went to the market 3 minutes up the road and bought cheese, salami, bread and wine. Having blood sugar in our bodies again we decided to find a nearby bar, it being Friday night, and settled on La Bodega- a Spanish inspired bar (definitely not very Czech of us). We ended up making great conversation with the bartenders, one of which, Jardin, was a fellow surfer and outdoor enthusiast, so Mike and him enjoyed chatting about places to surf and mountainous regions to consider visiting during our travels. Out much later than expected (11:30! Oh my!) we went back to our own little apartment for a good nights sleep.

Or so we thought.

DAY 2
As cosy as our bed was with big comfy pillows, down blankets, and no strangers 4 feet away, the noise level out our window was extreme. Between Friday night clubbers making their way home, cobblestone streets, the tram route, and a glass-collecting truck picking up and dropping waste containers like Godzilla, we unfortunately weren't too well rested. However, we happily lazed in bed until around 10:30 or 11:00. Ah, privacy bliss. 

Mike made us eggs and ham (we thought we were getting bacon- silly tourists strike again) with a croissant on the side. The morning clouds were burning off and making way to a beautiful sunny day at last! We left to explore Old Town Prague, making our way through a beautiful park close to our apartment, then across the river and into the Old Town Center. City centers are always a tourist trap, but for obvious reasons- the Astronomical Clock, live music, roasting pork, trinket and Tradelnik stands aren't to be missed. And neither is the Charles Bridge, which *fun fact*'at one point was completely under water! The old bridge not only has a wonderful view up to the Prague Palace complex and of Old Town, but also is just so amazingly constructed with great detail paid to the statues of saints as you walk across. Everything in Prague is so detailed.

We made our way across the densely packed bridge of tourists and quickly turned down a side street to explore without bumping into others and being nervous about pickpockets. We walked all over the Old Town hill, walking through alleys that caught our eye, stopping to take pictures of beautiful buildings and homes, and going into quaint courtyards to find delicate flower boxes basking the in fall air and sun.

After hiking up and down Prague's hidden roads, we were starved and happened upon a medieval themed restaurant for lunch. When we walked through the heavy wood door, it took a minute for our eyes to adjust because it was SO dark. Once we could see, the atmosphere came to life. Heavy wood tables and chairs, vines creeping around the arched doorways, a fireplace in the back, and black charred ceilings (from what we later learned is from the fire shows they put on at night). We wanted to eat a traditional Czech meal, so we split yummy garlic bread followed by a plate of pork, sauerkraut, and bohemian dumplings (essentially just soft, steamed bread- perfect for soaking up the gravy). 

With pork in our bellies, we climbed through more of the cobblestoned streets, getting higher and higher, and the next thing we knew we had stumbled upon the palace. We initially thought we would save the Lobkowicz Palace tour for Monday when there may be less tourists, but we figured we were in the area, so we slapped on our audio guides and got to learning!

We chose to tour the Lobkowicz Palace, which is one of many in the Prague Castle complex, because it is the family property of my parents' dear friend John Lobkowicz! It is also the only privately owned Palace in the complex. John's brother, William Lobkowicz, narrates the audio guide, which is very well done- telling the story of how the Lobkowicz family lost and regained their palaces, extensive art collection, books, and musical compositions annotated by Mozart (and more mind blowing collections) TWICE! A really great story in a stunning building with with so many beautiful art collections. 

We took in the breathtaking views from the Palace overlooking Old Town below, then we walked through the Prague Palace Cathedral, which is unlike anything you've ever seen. Its gothic exterior opens into a massive and elegant interior, with stained glass windows, larger than life statues, and never ending pillars. We continue to be in awe of the craftsmanship and detail that went into nearly everything in old European architecture.

From the cathedral we walked down the hill through vineyards and from afar we saw a weird wall that we couldn't figure out what it was made of or if it was just filthy, so we set out to find it. Mike's spidey-senses led us right to it, and it is housed within a large garden with peacocks, owls, koi fish, and a huge amphitheater. The wall was made out of dripped concrete, and hidden within are faces of monsters and frogs and ugly creatures. The designer wanted to create a space that was fanatical and mysterious- goal achieved! 

Ready for dinner, we went to a restaurant called Kozlovna and embarked on another traditional Czech meal- Pork Knuckle! The waitress asked if we wanted one or two, which seemed like a silly question when she served us our one Knuckle because it was literally the size of our heads.

After splitting the delicious heap of fat and cholesterol, we walked back through the Old Town Center feeling huge and gassy from so much pork in one day, and looked up at the illuminated Astronomical Clock. Like Berlin, Prague was also having a light show called "Signal," so we watched as one of the buildings in the square dazzled and danced to the thumping music, then went home to have an early evening watching The Spongebob Squarepants Movie- very educational following our culture-filled day. 

DAY 3: Lunch with Lobkowicz
We had the amazing opportunity to connect with my parents' friend John (mentioned earlier) to have a day filled with touring the other Lobkowicz Palaces in the countryside! John picked us up at 10:00 with a lovely woman named Karin, and together we drove out of the city and to our first stop: Nelahozeves Castle. This Renaissance castle has a beautifully decorated exterior, and houses more of the Lobkowicz Collections. Many students working on their thesis' come here to study the works that aren't available to the public. We didn't tour the interiors of the castle because there was only a children's tour happening while we were there, and John didn't want to draw attention. John, in his comedic tone, assured us that once you've seen one palace you've seen them all. 

Our next stop was to the unbelievably grand estate that his father, Martin, grew up in- Roudnice Castle. The castle has a one-acre courtyard, and you can really only see one side of it at a timed use to its ginormity. Unfortunately only 5 of the 272 rooms in the castle have been restored and it is slowly deteriorating- such a shame to see and to hear John speak about it. His father tells stories of biking from room to room as a child because it was so big, and his family having 20+ guests visiting at a time but you may not see them for days! This castle wasn't open, so instead we walked along the perimeter and gathered 3 chestnuts each- an old Czech tradition that brings you good fortune (still carrying and collecting 3 chestnuts everywhere we go!). 

Our final stop on our coutryside tour was Strekov Castle in the northern Bohemian lands that sits above the Elbe River. This is the current home of John's cousin, one of the only Lobkowicz's in the current generation to actually live in one of the properties. We all agreed it would be bizarre to have people touring your house during the day. The view of the river and landscapes below was great, as the low fog rested easily on the soft plains of grass.

After driving and touring for hours, we ended our day together at one of John's favorite lunch spots back in the city called Merlin's. It's a silly restaurant decorated with random artifacts- a mix between an Irish pub and Applebee's. We all ordered too much food (the most amazing onion rings) and discussed the hilarity of Donald Trump running for president and our next travel plans, taking in great advise from our two delightful, hilarious, and gracious guides. The rest of our day was spent relaxing, buying snacks, and trying to find another movie- 10 Things I Hate About You was about all we could find.

DAYS 4 & 5
Monday morning we spent a few hours blogging- getting the Ghent blog up and prepping Berlin. It was a beautiful sunny fall day- high 50s- so we spent the entirety of it outside walking the whole length of the park by our apartment, which brought us past a huge metronome (the purpose of it we aren't sure) and then we ended up back at the Prague Palace complex. Then, in the distance, we saw a tower that looked like the Eiffel Tower, so we walked through a valley and hiked through the woods up to it, and finally ascended the stairs to find a great panoramic view of the city. 

On our way back down into the city, we found an apple orchard. Mike picked us a golden delicious and we sat under an apple tree delighted in our day of wandering. It sounds like a small piece to an excellent trip in Prague, but it was definitely one of our favorite moments.

Back in town we stopped for dinner which was delicious- a salad with smoked duck for me and chicken on top of pea purée for Mike (definitely going to miss how far our money gets us as we travel back into the more expensive countries). 

Our final day in Prague, Tuesday (10/20) had no real plans besides purchasing  little pieces of Prague before we left for Austria. We walked back into Old Town Center and bought a little print of the city that we had been eyeing for a few days from a small tourist-trapping vendor and meandered down streets we hadn't yet explored. We came upon an open air market and bought a Kaki fruit- like a persimmon Mike told me. Peach-like. Then, somehow, we got lost and ended up in the Times Square of Prague, swamped with people and traffic and stupid shopping stores. Trying our hardest to make our way back to Old Town where it was prettier and less city-like, we tried to follow our path back, but obviously took some wrong turns. Eventually we made it back, and we shared a disappointing chicken sausage and a Tradelnik- a delicious twisted cinnamon sugar treat.

On our way home we stopped into Orange Bar, which we had passed every walk home during our stay, and finally decided to go in. But as soon as we opened the door and stepped in we realized they weren't open yet and that we had interrupted a meeting. The two men invited us in to sit and have a drink (40 minutes before opening!) and made Mike a Negroni and a kiwi daiquiri for me (not my kind of cocktail, but it was yummy). The bartender and owner shared s cheers and drink with us like it was our own private cocktail bar. We noticed the rain outside beginning to fall, so we bid our kind cocktail hosts a goodnight and scurried through the rain to the grocery store for dinner fixin's. Back at the apartment for our final night, we enjoyed an appetizer of cheese, bread, and olives while Mike perfectly roasted Brussels sprouts and carrots and pan cooked chicken breasts. A perfect ending to a lovely and relaxing time in Prague.