We were very excited to go to Prague, as we were ready to start our summer break from college in the Czech Republic’s capital city. We have seen lots of beautiful pictures of Prague's old town and heard lots of good things from our friends that have already been there, so we decided to spend the next three days in Prague.
We booked some cheap overnight Flixbus tickets to Prague from a nearby town. we loved to book all of our accommodations on booking.com and this time we really got a lot for our money when we booked a room in Residence La Fenice.
So if you want to book your next accommodation through booking too, you can use this link to get 15 EUR off your next booking.
Our adventure, didn't start as planned, as our Flixbus didn't come on time in fact it was almost an hour late and no one didn't tell us that our bus has a delay. When our bus finally showed up it was already midnight, but surprisingly we came on time on our final destination Prague Florenc bus station. There we stopped in a nearby Starbuck for a snack and some coffee. After that, we decided to explore the city center for a bit. As we couldn't check into the hotel right ahead we needed to carry all our luggage around all day. We regretted that the next day.
In the center, we went to see a Prague Astronomical Clock, but unfortunately, we just missed the 10 o'clock spectacle of a mechanical clock marking the turn of an hour, which lasts about 45 seconds and ti si one of the free experiences you can't miss in Prague.
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| Prague Astronomical Clock |
It gets quite crowded around the clock in the Old town square so I would recommend you to come early and hang out in one of the nearby restaurants with a great view over the clock.
On our way through narrow streets of Prague to the Vltava river, we were very surprised to find a seven-foot-tall unusual art sculpture of a Sigmund Freud hanging in the air from the metal beam.
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| Sculpture of a Sigmund Freud |
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| Charles bridge |
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| Charles bridge |
We were there a little bit before eleven o'clock and it was pretty crowded. I would suggest you come early in the morning before the tourists fewer on the bridge.
On the other side of the bridge, we decided to go to the Petrin Tower because it was still three more hours until we could go to our hotel.
We went through quite a hilly neighborhood of Mala Strana from where we could already see the Petrin Tower.
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| Petrin Tower |
Petřín Lookout Tower, one of the most prominent landmarks of Prague, was built in 1891 as a loose copy inspired by the Eiffel Tower. There are 299 steps to the top, but you can take an elevator to the top too.
The tower is open from 10.00 in the morning to 18.00 every day. A single ticket costs 150 CZK if you have a student card you can get a discount.
The view from its top overlooks not only the whole city but on a clear day, you can see nearly all of Bohemia.
We were pleasantly surprised how close to the metro station was our hotel Residence La Fenice. The hotel staff was very nice. We were happy to get a room with 2 separate rooms, a small balcony, and a private bathroom. The breakfast was included and they had a wide variety of food choices. They can prepare you a gluten-free breakfast for an additional fee if you tell them in advance.
Overall we were really happy with the hotel for the price we paid. We booked our accommodation through booking we used this link to get 15eur back when we finished our stay in Prague. You are welcome to use this link to get your 15eur back.
The view from its top overlooks not only the whole city but on a clear day, you can see nearly all of Bohemia.
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| The view from Petrin Tower |
At this point we were pretty tired from walking all day, so we rested for a bit and eat some snacks on a shady bench on Petrin hill. After a while, we went down the hill to the nearest metro station to buy our first metro ticket. Buying a metro ticket in an unknown language for the first time wasn't easy but we were well prepared, as we watched some videos on youtube on how to do it. In my opinion, the Prague metro system is a fast and very efficient and overall great experience for first-time users. It has just three lanes that are well marked and the trains are very clean and more comfortable than some other metro trains I've been on since than.
We were pleasantly surprised how close to the metro station was our hotel Residence La Fenice. The hotel staff was very nice. We were happy to get a room with 2 separate rooms, a small balcony, and a private bathroom. The breakfast was included and they had a wide variety of food choices. They can prepare you a gluten-free breakfast for an additional fee if you tell them in advance.
Overall we were really happy with the hotel for the price we paid. We booked our accommodation through booking we used this link to get 15eur back when we finished our stay in Prague. You are welcome to use this link to get your 15eur back.
The second day after breakfast we headed to the Prague ZOO. We bought a 24 h metro ticket and enjoyed our ride on a metro. To get to the zoo we also needed to transfer to the bus, since the metro system doesn't go right to the ZOO. We paid 150 CZK each for the entrance with a student discount, more information about their prices discounts and opening hours you can find on their website.
ZOO is located on a hill slope and because of that there is quite a lot of uphill and downhill walking. It's a very dog-friendly ZOO they have water fountains just for dogs and I found that quite a lot of people did bring their best friend with them. They have a very wide variety of animals some of them are in the pictures below.
I liked the fact that their GF dishes come with the flag as you can see on the dumplings with beef goulash.
After a delicious lunch, we went to see the famous Dancing House on the Vltava riverbank. Dancing House has a very untraditional design resembling two dancers, built-in 1996 was very controversial for standing out at the time. Nowadays it is a fun tourist attraction.
At this point, I must admit that I liked the Prague metro system because it was very fast, efficient and quite cheap in comparison to some other cities I've been to since that.
Another nice thing about Prague metro and Prague citizens is that everyone stands on their right on the escalators so that the people in the hurry could easily pass them walking up the escalators and that can also be seen in the picture above.
On our way to the hotel, we stopped in a shop to get something for dinner and the next day trip to Vyšehrad. Shops in Prague are very affordable and well-stocked with a wide variety of products almost every shop that I've been to had a small gluten-free section, this is something I didn't expect before coming to Prague. Also, the majority of grocery stores in Prague were one-story underground.
We eat our dinner in a park near our hotel after that we talked and played some card games.
It was already our last night in Prague and we all agreed that it was to short. We have seen almost all of the Prague sights and we were a little bit sad that our last day is already there.
In the morning we packed our bags and left our hotel a bit later than normal. We took a metro to the Vyšehrad and walked up the hill to the Vyšehrad. According to ancient legends, Vyšehrad is the oldest seat of Czech princes. The local settlement was established in the 10th century, situated on the rocky terrain above the Vltava River. It offers stunning views of the city and in the surrounding park you can find hidden architectural germs, some of them are described below.
We come to the Vyšehrad through Leopold Gate, the most beautiful preserve baroque gate in Prague fortification. They were built in the 17th century.
Just a few meters ahead we stumbled upon this beautiful Rotunda of St Martin (Rotunda sv. Martina) the largest and the oldest preserved rotunda in Prague. It was built in the 11th century. During the war, it was used as a gunpowder store. Nowadays he rotunda is now used for religious purposes by the Vyšehrad ecclesiastical chapter.
We continued our way through a beautiful park to the Basilica of Sts Peter and Paul at Vyšehrad (Bazilika sv. Petra a Pavla na Vyšehradě) we peeked inside and were enchanted by its inside, but we didn't want to pay 50CZK to go into the main area of the church.
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We finished our visit to the ZOO right at lunchtime, so we decided to go to eat at a traditional Czech restaurant Švejk Restaurant U Karla (Křemencova 7, Praha 1), we chose this restaurant based on that they offer gluten-free food and they even have special gluten-free menu.
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| Lunch at Švejk Restaurant U Karla |
After a delicious lunch, we went to see the famous Dancing House on the Vltava riverbank. Dancing House has a very untraditional design resembling two dancers, built-in 1996 was very controversial for standing out at the time. Nowadays it is a fun tourist attraction.
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| Dancing House |
We heard that Prague has the deepest underground metro station (53 meters below the surface) in Europe and the longest escalators (87 meters long(source: Wikipedia)). It took us more than 2 minutes to ascend up the stairs without walking. As this wasn't our end station we went back down the stairs and on the next tube to our hotel.
Another nice thing about Prague metro and Prague citizens is that everyone stands on their right on the escalators so that the people in the hurry could easily pass them walking up the escalators and that can also be seen in the picture above.
On our way to the hotel, we stopped in a shop to get something for dinner and the next day trip to Vyšehrad. Shops in Prague are very affordable and well-stocked with a wide variety of products almost every shop that I've been to had a small gluten-free section, this is something I didn't expect before coming to Prague. Also, the majority of grocery stores in Prague were one-story underground.
We eat our dinner in a park near our hotel after that we talked and played some card games.
It was already our last night in Prague and we all agreed that it was to short. We have seen almost all of the Prague sights and we were a little bit sad that our last day is already there.
In the morning we packed our bags and left our hotel a bit later than normal. We took a metro to the Vyšehrad and walked up the hill to the Vyšehrad. According to ancient legends, Vyšehrad is the oldest seat of Czech princes. The local settlement was established in the 10th century, situated on the rocky terrain above the Vltava River. It offers stunning views of the city and in the surrounding park you can find hidden architectural germs, some of them are described below.
We come to the Vyšehrad through Leopold Gate, the most beautiful preserve baroque gate in Prague fortification. They were built in the 17th century.
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| Leopold Gate at Vyšehrad |
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| Bazilika sv. Petra a Pavla na Vyšehradě |
We decided to walk around the church as we wanted to get a good view of Prague to take some pictures. Soon we found the perfect stop on the walls of Vyšehrad, with the view all the way to the Prague Castle.
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| The view from Vyšehrad |
We planned to stay at the Vyšehrad the whole day, but we already saw almost everything, so we decided to spend the rest of our day chilling in the park surrounding Vyšehrad. The park is very well maintained and a great place to relax and rest under the big trees. We played some cards and eat the last of our snacks, we bought the day before.
In the middle of the afternoon, we decided that it is time to leave vyšehrad and go back to the city center of Prague from where we had our overnight bus back home. When we came to the city centre it suddenly started to rain and we needed to find a roof over our head for at least a couple of hours. We quickly decided that it was best if we go check out the Palladium shopping center. It's a modern shopping center in the middle of Prague and it has its own metro station underground. The shopping center itself has 5 flours and almost 200 stores. We went to the grocery store to spend the last Czech crown on some snacks for a long bus ride ahead of us and Czech beer to take home. We stopped at Starbuck to get some coffee before heading to the Florence bus station.
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