Prague rocks
Music to your ears, Prague rocks.
It's been for long, and it's being praised more and more every year because Prague is beautiful both in winter and in the summer.
The first time I went there it was more than 10 years ago and I enjoyed every moment, so when my husband offered me to get back to there with the children I didn't object. I had some reasons to come back again.
Firstly, I had the opportunity to see it in winter but I would have loved to visit it more quietly in the summer, under the sun. I suffer when it's cold, I suppose I'm a little bit too Italian, sometimes!
Secondly, I loved it but didn't have the chance to see everything on my first trip. I didn't even remember whether I had seen Gehry and Milunic’s modern popular building “the dancing house”. It is located along the Moldava, in Nove Mesto and is an incredible
work of art reminding to the couple Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire.
Sometimes I read online that there are people afraid to travel to Prague because they believe it isn’t a safe place. Both times we came here I felt perfectly at home. However, I must admit that we spared no expense on our accommodation. On our first visit we were just a couple and we had the luck to find a room available at a small luxury boutique hotel in the woods near Prague, the Château Mcely. Amazing. The rooms were exquisite and the entrance to the hotel stunning. A plus had been the midnight bath in the outside jacuzzi on the 1st January while it was snowing (www.chateaumcely.cz)
The second time we looked for something in the city center that could be big enough to fit our family and be spacious.
As the hotel is one of the things we care the most (when it's possible and doesn't exceed our budget…), we usually search the net using the craziest keywords in the hope to find something exotic and I maust say that it works and we book the most incredible venues.
This time we fell in love with a photo we saw of an elegant room with ancient-like furniture and as we had the feeling that it could be big enough for us, we tried to understand what kind of palace was that. Eventually we discovered that the room was one of the two apartments just above the most antique inn in Prague. The name the owners gave to the apartment was Ludvik. Gorgeous. The other apartment had its fascination as well, and I loved that they called it Golem. Just fantastic. The Jewish legend of the Golem was going to be revived.
However we decided to book the noble Ludvik as it had the flair we were looking for. Moreover the owners had been very kind when we booked and we could also arrange breakfast in there.
We had a very comfortable time in there, as the apartment was well equipped with a kitchen and a living room where they put a sofabed for the children.
We were told that they used to give medieval parties at the inn in the evening, and even if our children were quite young, we didn't miss that chance and had our table reserved for the dinner and the show. It had been a crazy night with minstrels, jugglers, fire eaters, belly dancers and swordsmen, all acting during a true medieval candle light dinner (no lights at all!!!!).
The children were astonished as we were allowing them to eat without fork! And actually we weren't given any cutlery at all! Moreover, the bill was brought inside a skull. Incredible. My daughter still remebers that with a bit of fear. She was little indeed, but she doean't remember that she ended up dancing too!!
So if you're curious about this house, it is located in Mala Strana. I am going to share you the link: http://www.krcmabrabant.cz/ .
The next morning we started our tour around the city and the first thing I noticed was how the palaces were beautifully decorated.
The second thing that captured my attention was the name of this street.
It immediately reminded it to something else, to something that had been persecuting me since when I was probably 16. "Jemand musste Josef K. verleumdet haben…". There had been a time when I had wished to have this name. Don't ask me why. Maybe because these are that type of characters that can't get out of your mind and stay fixed in your memory forever. Yes I'm talking about the true reason that should move the entire world here (in my opinion). Franz Kafka.
I don't want to annoy you summarizing his biography, you'll know him more than I do, I'm sure, as Prague is an artistic city in all senses. In terms of architecture, sculpture, literature and music. And Kafka represents the highest example of a perturbated Jewish German-speaking mind in a mother-foreign land. And that's why I feel such a tight boundary with him.
He is still so fascinating that is capable to attract women from the afterworld...
When he was alive, he also used to correspond with his friend Max Brod, and I found it curious to see his nameplate just opposite Kafka's tomb.
I think we spent half day going to the Jewish cemetery in search of his tomb.
We missed the right entrance and got lost almost everywhere in that labyrinth, but our efforts recompensed us and there it was. Or he was.
As I said, Prague is a mixture of feelings and styles. Apart from Kafka's attractives, the city has become a vivid open-air exhibition. Among the sculptures I loved, here are a few.
One was about a man and a woman holding an umbrella and hanging over our heads.
By the way, have you ever seen gigantic mushrooms growing on the top of a hotel? Have you ever tried climbing one? This is all possible here, in this vibrant city where ancient traditions naturally mix with a lively artistic vein.
I must admit that there's a vast quantity of wonderful palaces everywhere. Some of tham have wonderful painted walls, others big sculptures sustaining the facades.
Everything is clean, refurbished, safe and impressing under the sun.
Time had come to start our sightseeing tour, so we headed to Charles' bridge. There we couldn't avoid eating a gigantic trdlo, also called trdelnik, filled with vanilla ice cream and fruit. It was so big that we then ate something very light in the evening that day.
We went on wandering and ended up in front of a very narrow alley that could be crossed only respecting the traffic light! We waited that the lamp turned green and went down. With our surprise there was just a restaurant at the bottom of the street, so we waited again and got back to where we had arrived.
It was time now for a rest, as the following day we had to wake up early, as we wanted to see the changing of the guard at the castle. Our hotel was strategically close to the castle, so it didn't take much to get there. To welcome is there was a magnificent door.
From the top of the castle everything looked beautiful and we said goodbye to Prague giving a last glance at it from above.
PS: we experienced our daughter being visited at the local hospital, the doctor could speak English and everything went smoothly. We had our European healthcare card and it worked, we didn't pay any extra charge for the visit, there was just a little bureaucracy to fill in but nothing tragic.
Here's the photo of the canteen inside the hospital, where we had lunch. A deep immersion in Czech life!!!!!!
It's been for long, and it's being praised more and more every year because Prague is beautiful both in winter and in the summer.
The first time I went there it was more than 10 years ago and I enjoyed every moment, so when my husband offered me to get back to there with the children I didn't object. I had some reasons to come back again.
Firstly, I had the opportunity to see it in winter but I would have loved to visit it more quietly in the summer, under the sun. I suffer when it's cold, I suppose I'm a little bit too Italian, sometimes!
Secondly, I loved it but didn't have the chance to see everything on my first trip. I didn't even remember whether I had seen Gehry and Milunic’s modern popular building “the dancing house”. It is located along the Moldava, in Nove Mesto and is an incredible
work of art reminding to the couple Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire.
Sometimes I read online that there are people afraid to travel to Prague because they believe it isn’t a safe place. Both times we came here I felt perfectly at home. However, I must admit that we spared no expense on our accommodation. On our first visit we were just a couple and we had the luck to find a room available at a small luxury boutique hotel in the woods near Prague, the Château Mcely. Amazing. The rooms were exquisite and the entrance to the hotel stunning. A plus had been the midnight bath in the outside jacuzzi on the 1st January while it was snowing (www.chateaumcely.cz)
The second time we looked for something in the city center that could be big enough to fit our family and be spacious.
As the hotel is one of the things we care the most (when it's possible and doesn't exceed our budget…), we usually search the net using the craziest keywords in the hope to find something exotic and I maust say that it works and we book the most incredible venues.
This time we fell in love with a photo we saw of an elegant room with ancient-like furniture and as we had the feeling that it could be big enough for us, we tried to understand what kind of palace was that. Eventually we discovered that the room was one of the two apartments just above the most antique inn in Prague. The name the owners gave to the apartment was Ludvik. Gorgeous. The other apartment had its fascination as well, and I loved that they called it Golem. Just fantastic. The Jewish legend of the Golem was going to be revived.
However we decided to book the noble Ludvik as it had the flair we were looking for. Moreover the owners had been very kind when we booked and we could also arrange breakfast in there.
We had a very comfortable time in there, as the apartment was well equipped with a kitchen and a living room where they put a sofabed for the children.
We were told that they used to give medieval parties at the inn in the evening, and even if our children were quite young, we didn't miss that chance and had our table reserved for the dinner and the show. It had been a crazy night with minstrels, jugglers, fire eaters, belly dancers and swordsmen, all acting during a true medieval candle light dinner (no lights at all!!!!).
The children were astonished as we were allowing them to eat without fork! And actually we weren't given any cutlery at all! Moreover, the bill was brought inside a skull. Incredible. My daughter still remebers that with a bit of fear. She was little indeed, but she doean't remember that she ended up dancing too!!
So if you're curious about this house, it is located in Mala Strana. I am going to share you the link: http://www.krcmabrabant.cz/ .
The next morning we started our tour around the city and the first thing I noticed was how the palaces were beautifully decorated.
The second thing that captured my attention was the name of this street.
I don't want to annoy you summarizing his biography, you'll know him more than I do, I'm sure, as Prague is an artistic city in all senses. In terms of architecture, sculpture, literature and music. And Kafka represents the highest example of a perturbated Jewish German-speaking mind in a mother-foreign land. And that's why I feel such a tight boundary with him.
He is still so fascinating that is capable to attract women from the afterworld...
When he was alive, he also used to correspond with his friend Max Brod, and I found it curious to see his nameplate just opposite Kafka's tomb.
I think we spent half day going to the Jewish cemetery in search of his tomb.
We missed the right entrance and got lost almost everywhere in that labyrinth, but our efforts recompensed us and there it was. Or he was.
Yes, because I didn't mention it before, but the third -or maybe the first reason of my consent was that I expected to see Kafka's traces. Therefor we spent half of the day inside Kafka's museum reading all what was available trying to decipher his calligraphy, interpreting the "Brief an den Vater", and watching all videos going on. They were about to kill me but luckily we could draw their attention to a peculiar statue in the courtyard.
One was about a man and a woman holding an umbrella and hanging over our heads.
By the way, have you ever seen gigantic mushrooms growing on the top of a hotel? Have you ever tried climbing one? This is all possible here, in this vibrant city where ancient traditions naturally mix with a lively artistic vein.
I must admit that there's a vast quantity of wonderful palaces everywhere. Some of tham have wonderful painted walls, others big sculptures sustaining the facades.
Everything is clean, refurbished, safe and impressing under the sun.
Time had come to start our sightseeing tour, so we headed to Charles' bridge. There we couldn't avoid eating a gigantic trdlo, also called trdelnik, filled with vanilla ice cream and fruit. It was so big that we then ate something very light in the evening that day.
We went on wandering and ended up in front of a very narrow alley that could be crossed only respecting the traffic light! We waited that the lamp turned green and went down. With our surprise there was just a restaurant at the bottom of the street, so we waited again and got back to where we had arrived.
Among the must-sees of Prague we cannot forget Wenceslas square, one of the two most important squares of the city. It's so big and crowded. I suggest you to get there early in the morning to avoid the chaos.
When we stayed in Prague in winter, we had the New Year's Eve dinner in one of the restaurants in the quare and what came after cannot be described, as there were so many people partying and shooting fireworks, you should try it at least once in your life.
When we reached the National theatre, we saw this statue of Marilyn Monroe. I found it a weird association, but I appreciated it.
Although the city is served by bus, metro and more transportationmeans, we walked all the time, causing our children getting soon tired. So we thought we could satiate their thirst for games by spending some time inside a huge toys center, Hamleys. Well this isn't properly Czech, but they loved it of course.
It was time now for a rest, as the following day we had to wake up early, as we wanted to see the changing of the guard at the castle. Our hotel was strategically close to the castle, so it didn't take much to get there. To welcome is there was a magnificent door.
The castle is dated back to the 800s, and is a UNESCO heritage site. In the inside there's a group of palaces, the old royal palace, the Cathedral of St Vitus and other ecclesial buildings. It is possible to book tours inside, which I'm sure are Worth it. We were a little bit on a hurry, so we just bought the ticket and got in. (https://www.hrad.cz/en/prague-castle-for-visitors)
The Cathedral is magnificent and well kept. The outside is finely decorated and it gives a sense of immense.
Now it was time, the changing of the guard was imminent and we had to be there. I have seen both the Queen Elizabeth's guards and the Czech guards performing it, and although the British parade is absolutely charming, it's always too crowded to enjoy it, so this was perfect.
PS: we experienced our daughter being visited at the local hospital, the doctor could speak English and everything went smoothly. We had our European healthcare card and it worked, we didn't pay any extra charge for the visit, there was just a little bureaucracy to fill in but nothing tragic.
Here's the photo of the canteen inside the hospital, where we had lunch. A deep immersion in Czech life!!!!!!
