We spent an amazing 4 nights in Prague and would highly recommend it! It is just a quick 1 hr 35 minute flight from Rome, so on the plane we tried to cram some Czech words into our heads so that we could at least get by with some basics--"please, thank you, good morning" etc. Josh tends to pick up languages a lot easier than I do, especially the accents, and this point was made the first time I tried to say "Thank You" and rather than saying "Daquee", I came out with Dupree--just like the character from that goofy movie:) ha! Well, regardless, I think the Czech folks appreciated the effort to learn their language, eventhough Dupree shouldn't have really 'tagged along' on this trip! ha!
Our time was spent seeing all of the main sites, but at a very relaxed pace since the city is small and everything is within easy walking distance from each other, and thankfully from the apartment we had booked. Over the few days we were there we saw: St. Vitus Cathedral (the most impressive of all the sites to us); The Prague Castle (absolutely breathtaking castle perched up on a hill overlooking the city); St. George's Basilica; Golden Lane;Old Town Square--including Tyn Church, Jan Hus Memorial, Astronomical Clock, Metronome; The Jewish Quarter with a Cemetery so tightly packed with tombstones you can't believe it..since from 1439-1787 there was only this one small cemetery allowed for the Jews of Prague. Apparently the graves are 12 bodies high, which explains why the land is now a big mound. So sad! We also went to the different sites in New Town, Along the Vltava River, The Charles Bridge, The Little Quarter, and the Monastery--where we went to the monastery brewery which was started by an Abbott in the 1600s...no wonder their beer was so good..they've been making it for a while!
Outside of seeing sites, we ate. We ate a lot!! Typical Czech food includes goulash, dumplings (bread dumplings, potato dumplings etc), beer, soups of all sorts--onion soup, garlic soup, potato soup, sausage soup etc (we tried them all), potato pancakes, cabbage and a lot of pork, duck, rabbit etc. Meats tend to be fatty, but it seems to go with the rest of the heavy, yet quite delicious foods. We indulged in it all, washing it down with some amazing cold beer! I drank some of the non-alcoholic beers and even those are outstanding! For dessert we usually went with the apple strudel but also had 'pancakes' which are really crepes filled w/ either blueberry or chocolate and one day we had fruit dumplings which were super doughy dumplings with ice cold berries on the inside, covered in a buttery/sugar sauce--very tasty!
We used Rick Steves' "Best of Europe" guide book and followed many of his recommendations regarding which sites to spend time at, the best time to go to avoid the huge crowds--since Prague is definitely a hot spot for large tour groups, and even tried some of his restaurant recommendations. Overall, we think he did a pretty good job pointing us in the right direction.
There was also an Easter festival going on in Old Town Square, so as I did when we were in Berlin, I found the booth that was selling incredible Belgian Waffles w/ chocolate sauce and whipped cream, and it didn't take me long to really get to know that vendor..since she saw me at least..sometimes twice (I admit it) a day. Those waffles are just irresistible and I have some tight pants to prove it!
Weather was great..a few showers, but generally sunny w/ blue skies, people were nice, food was definitely cheap, and the streets were amazingly clean. A great place to visit for sure!
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