Prague
We arrived in Prague a day ahead of the tour. We had booked a room at the Hotel Metamorphis where our tour would begin the next day. We attempted to navigate the twisty, winding streets and got lost many times. Getting lost in Prague is not a bad thing, is it? Art Nouveau influence is prevalent throughout Prague. We went to one of the uniquely Prague Blacklight Theaters. The streets of Prague never seem to sleep. Lots of nightlife, hustle and bustle. It's a very vibrant city. Especially on a Saturday night.
The tour begins at 5 pm the next day, a Sunday. We met our guide, Saso Golub, and our group of 15. Saso reviewed the ground rules for having fun, the structure of our typical days and his touring philosophy. Perfect! Then off we went on our walking tour to get familiar with the area. Prague wasn't so confusing after all when we had a guide that told us how to navigate the streets correctly.
Being fall, temperatures were very cool. Jackets and rain gear were required this evening. We met Jana, our local guide, for our walking tour.
We walked around the Old Town Square and saw the Astronomical clock strike 6 pm. We walked through Jewish quarter to St. Charles Bridge. It was beautiful to experience twilight on the St. Charles Bridge. We walked up a small hill and arrived to our restuarant. We were in back part of the restaurant in a private dining area where we had the ability to chat and get to know each other.
Had a traditional Czech dinner. Meat, dumpling, potatoes and beer. We got entertained by an accordian player and a flutist. What a great way to kick off the tour!
Prague, first full day of the tour
Early start—8 am, to Prague Castle. Had a hearty breakfast with a rocket fuel espresso drink at the hotel and off we went to the Tram. The Tram area was a fairly quick walk from the hotel. Trams are speedy and clean and go every where in the city.
It was cold this morning. We were the first group to arrive to the Castle complex. We had to go through metal detectors located at the main gate. Government offices, museum, brewery, all sorts of places and businesses reside in the Castle complex. It's huge! There is so much to see and do here. We saw the changing of the guard. The Gothic Cathedral. We walked down the medieval merchant Golden Lane. Had a nice break at beautiful café by the art museum. People were not nice back in the 1500’s. We saw where they threw people out the windows, called the defenestration of Prague Window. Wrapped up at St. George Basillica.
Our guided tour was over for the day and now it was free time. Jim and I walked to the Kafka museum. I needed to pick up a unique and fun tee shirt for our petsitter and this was the place to buy it. After walking the vast Castle grounds, our brains filled with amazing historical facts, we didn't have the energy to go through another museum this day.
Jim wanted to chill but I had to see the Metropolitan House. Cool Art Deco. There are tours that will take you throughout the building. I only saw the main area because the tours were already over for the day. Prague is vast and impossible to see everything in the 3 full days we had. Jim and I decided that we would come back to Prague another time and see the places we missed this trip. One of the nice things about a Rick Steves tour is that you get to know and become familiar with a city. It would be easy to go back on our own now that we know our way around Prague.
After a beer and shopping break near the hotel, we went to a restaurant that was in the Rick Steves' Prague book. Many places have changed due to the pandemic and this particular restuarant didn't seem to match the description in the book any longer. I've read that the RS tour books are being modified now that the authors and contributors can do their due diligence for updates. This was another instance of just roll with it and look at the positive about seeing a different spot in Prague and not getting lost along the way. We learned a lesson for future stops on the tour-- if we saw a restaurant or bar that we liked, we would stop and roll the dice. We would no longer rely on information that was pre-pandemic. This objective only added to our adventure to live like a local even for a brief moment.
After dinner we then went in search of gelato at Angelato. Jana pointed out Angelato during our walking tour. We bumbled through the streets from the restaurant and found it, but it was closed for a break. Directly across the street was a bar restuarant called Café Café. It looked interesting and inviting, nice and cool. So we went in. Wow! Great wine. We had a Banana Carmel Cake—yum. Diverse Crowd. The food looked so good, but we had already had dinner. Next time! Cafe Cafe was a fun place to end our visit to Prague with an excellent dessert and glass of wine.
Angelato was open after the break – I had poppy seed plum gelato. This is definitely the place to go for gelato in Prague. Unique local flavors are highlighted. I don't remember if they even offered plain vanilla or chocolate. Their menu was filled with creative mixes of flavors. We walked back to hotel via the Old Townsquare for one last time. We saw a bunch of paparrazi surrounding an art gallery. Jim dared me to go in, so I did with my camera, started taking pictures and had a fun time mingling with the du Monde of Prague who were there to honor a well known Czech actor turned artist, Jan Kanyza, at the opening of his art exhibit. Such a wild and crazy way to end our time in Prague.
Leaving Prague and off to Krakow..
7:45 bags to lobby, for 8 am departure to bus. Bus departs from a bus depot area at the train station. The narrow and twisty streets of Prague do not lend themselves to full size coach buses. Rainy and cool morning. 13 Celsius. Saso ordered cabs instead of us walking to the main train station. The bus is roomy, clean and comfortable. Oliver is our driver who as we will find out, is an incredibly talented and experienced bus driver. He did an amazing job driving us safely through some very tight quarters, border checkpoints, construction areas and major traffic.
Goodbye Prague. Freeway to Poland today. Roads are in great condition. Stopped at a Shell/McDonald’s/Billa for our first break. McDonald’s was great. Espresso machine, pastry counter, cool variations of McDonald’s food. One thing about Europeans I noticed; they take time for niceties and know how to be present in the moment. A stop for petrol along a highway becomes an experience of espresso, pastry and conversation while taking a break from driving. Saso played some Dvorak on the bus sound system which provided a nice soundtrack to the Moldavian countryside as we left the Czech Republic. For the most part, any music that Oliver wanted to listen to as he drove was was not loud or obtrusive. There will be alot of time on the bus during this journey, but well planned stops along the way will break up the drive and add to the adventure.
Stopped for lunch in Stramberk, CZ. Had pizza and pasta at the Pizzerie Piccolo. It was excellent and just what we needed on this cold and rainy day. We had corn soup, pizza and chicken pasta of course with a beer. The beer is great in Czech Republic. Got a Stramberk Ear. This is the only place where you can get this type of a cookie that comes in a variety of flavors and fillings. The Stramberk Ear commemorates the Christians who died at the hand of the Tatars back in the 1200's.
Crossing the border into Poland was a non event. There was no "Welcome to Poland"sign—the only way I knew we crossed into Poland was via Google maps that I used to follow along to know where exactly we were.
