The Golf GTD was a joy to drive despite being an automatic ;-). We caught a few nice open stretches on the A13 that had no speed limits and allowed us to make it up to 215km/h (133mp/h) in some places. We mostly averaged 160-180km/h (100-110mp/h) and made it to Prague without issues.
We decided on a nice little restaurant with a pianist and ate our own bodyweight in roasted duck. From there we then walked the mile back to the hotel and fell into bed.
Thanks to the sat nav, we also had no trouble finding our hotel. They don't have a parking garage but handed us a street parking pass so I reluctantly parker the Golf on the street. Knowing that Prague has some of the highest car theft rates, I was pretty uneasy about this but tried not to let it ruin our time here....after all, I had signed up for the insurance package that would cover theft ;-).
Once we got settled at our hotel in the New Town, we started walking towards Old Town in hopes of getting a grasp of the city layout and eventually some dinner.
We first passed a gorgeous museum and then walked down a promenade that became the main shopping area and then led us into Old Town, full of tiny steets and alleys. One building is older and more beautiful than the next, Prague is a gorgeous place.
After a solid hour of just walking around and exploring we reached the river and decided that we would save the hill for next day and instead go back into Old Town to find dinner.
5/31
We had breakfast at our hotel and then decided to discover the palace on the hill. We could either walk there or take the Metro. As we expected a lot of walking during the day, we decided to take the metro to the bottom of the hill to save our feet some miles for the day.
We purchased a day pass for the metro at the hotel and then validated it as we entered the metro station, just as described. I had read in the travel guide that scammers will often approach you in the metro and pretend that they're ticket inspectors. When you show them your ticket they'll claim it's invalid and that you need to pay them a fine on the spot. The guide had said to ask for their badge immediately and tell them to call the police if you're certain that you have a valid ticket.
We entered the metro station and then descended upon the longest elevator ever. It was almost scary steep.
At the bottom we were approached by a man in what looked like a uniform and he asked to see our tickets. Remembering the guide, I asked him to show his badge. He held something in his hand that looked vaguely like a meta badge that police and other uniforms use in certain countries but I wouldn't give up. Every time I asked for his badge he got more angry with us and yelled at us to produce a ticket. Matt finally showed him his ticket and so did I and we were waived through. Oooops. I guess I read too many horror stories about Prague.
We got off the metro on our side of town at the bridge that would lead us to the bottom of the hill and then proceeded to find our way across and up the sloped walkway up the hill alongside the fortifying walls of the palace.
One of the houses featured a large armory and weapons collection that showed how design and functionality evolved throughout the centuries.
The problem here was that it was in an extremely tight space and there was no regulation of how many people entered or left. It quickly became extremely crowded in an already hot and tight space and Matt and I fled the scene quickly in search of more open spaces, which we soon found.
The palace itself was fairly underwhelming and while the Basilica and other parts were certainly very interesting and beautiful, we left a bit frustrated at the experience and just continued to walk along the top of the hill.
Next we had a short pitstop for lunch where Matt tried the original Czech bread bowl goulash and I went with a salad and some duck paté (hard times for ducks in the Czech Republic). I forgot to take a picture unfortunately.
Afterwards we made our descend back down into the rest of the city and passed more and more gorgeous buildings.
Then we reached Charlie's Bridge, which is a pedestrian only bridge and filled with portrait and caricature artists alongside a MILLION tourists.
We purchased a day pass for the metro at the hotel and then validated it as we entered the metro station, just as described. I had read in the travel guide that scammers will often approach you in the metro and pretend that they're ticket inspectors. When you show them your ticket they'll claim it's invalid and that you need to pay them a fine on the spot. The guide had said to ask for their badge immediately and tell them to call the police if you're certain that you have a valid ticket.
We entered the metro station and then descended upon the longest elevator ever. It was almost scary steep.
At the bottom we were approached by a man in what looked like a uniform and he asked to see our tickets. Remembering the guide, I asked him to show his badge. He held something in his hand that looked vaguely like a meta badge that police and other uniforms use in certain countries but I wouldn't give up. Every time I asked for his badge he got more angry with us and yelled at us to produce a ticket. Matt finally showed him his ticket and so did I and we were waived through. Oooops. I guess I read too many horror stories about Prague.
We got off the metro on our side of town at the bridge that would lead us to the bottom of the hill and then proceeded to find our way across and up the sloped walkway up the hill alongside the fortifying walls of the palace.
Once we reached the top we took some time to figure out what there was actually to see up there and then proceeded to buy tickets. They offered varying degrees of access and we got the highest level to see the most.
Right next to where we bough the tickets was the so called Golden Lane where we decided to start It's a narrow alley full of tiny houses that each house either a gift shop or display the old craft that it was used for in the past. One house was for the seamstress, one for the herbalist etc.
Matt didn't quite fit into the buildings so he mostly stayed outside.
Afterwards we made our descend back down into the rest of the city and passed more and more gorgeous buildings.
After crossing the bridge we were pretty exhausted and walked all the way back home to the hotel to chill for a bit. Once we emerged, we decided to only have a cheap dinner at a Pizzeria we saw nearby that clearly caters to younger people. We shared a large salami pizza and each had a large beer, and paid a whopping $8 for everything. Gotta love the Czech Republic and their prices. We later wished we had realized earlier that food outside of the tourist area would be so cheap. Not that it was expensive in the Old Town but compared it was just a waste to pay those tourist prices.
6/1
The next morning we decided to avoid the touristy area and just started walking South from our hotel towards the big fortification above the Southern part of the city. It took us quite a while to actually find an entrance through the walls or rather even a way up the hill but eventually we managed. It's a pretty nice area that features a huge wall around a church, cemetery, other old buildings and even tennis courts. You can walk along the wall and enjoy the great views of the city.
Once back down by the river, we proceeded to follow it back up North towards the Old Town area and eventually decided to head back towards the hotel and a beer garden Matt had read about online.
On our way we also passed Prague's weirdest building, known as dancing house.
The beer garden was a welcome break after the long walk and the hot weather.
After relaxing in the beer garden, we returned to our hotel area, had a late lunch and then just chilled in our room for a while. At this point Matt had been bitten by the Doener Kebab bug so we decided to get a cheap dinner later at the local Turkish grub place.
6/2
After breakfast we loaded our rental car back up and drove the roughly 300km to my college town Bayreuth back in Germany, specifically Northern Bavaria. Instead of going straight there we stopped in the beautiful town of Pilsen where the Czech Pilsner originated. Matt had researched an English brewery tour that we took. It was a really great tour that was very hands-on, educational and they had plenty to show in their old brewery that was conveniently located next to their brand new facilities.
Needless to say, this was a highlight for Matt.
After that we drove anther 2h to Bayreuth where we settled in at a friend's place who had kindly let us use his apartment for the weekend. Our friends Sarah and Marit (who had driven 5h to Bayreuth to see us) and Sarah's mom came over for dinner and we all enjoyed a great meal with friends.
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