Prague mini break.

My love to cruise is an addiction and passion I am happy to say is shared by my family and most of my friends. I say most,as one in particular, no matter how hard I try I just cannot seem to convince. So when we all got together to arrange a special trip for her birthday and retirement, (yes she is too young but as a Doctor decided this is the right time for her) I never even mentioned the C word. I was happy to go along with whatever they fancied. I must say this was a refreshing change having everything booked for me. I could get used to it.

So we decided on a city that we had never visited and came up with Prague. WOW loved it. From our hotel the lovely little 4 star Majestic Plaza just of Wenceslas Square, which is not a square more of an oblong on on very modern shop filled street to the wonders of the Old Town. I was blown away by this fairy tale City. It was bigger than I had imagined and very modern in parts. I would divide it into four to help see all you can.
The Prague Castle area gave me a feel of being in Austria as was so quaint and magical with plenty of historic places to visit and the view from the Castle itself was amazing as perched high on a hill over looking the city.

Close to this area is the Lesser Town Area home to St. Nicholas Church, Kampa Island, Certovka Canal and Lennon’s Wall. A place where the local hippies sat a vidual at the time of his death. They painted brightly coloured message all over the wall which were then painted over by the local police but the hippies just re painted it again the next day.

Continue along the river and you will walk through beautiful gardens with some strange art statues, then come up to the beautiful Charles Bridge which as so many ancient stories attached to it along with lots of locals selling their wares.

My favourite part was the Old Town Square where we joined a free walking tour that took us all around the city. I say free but you tip at the end depending on what you feel the guide was worth. She was amazing. She loved her city and was so proud and informative but explained everything with a passion and sense of humour which was easily understood. Money very well spent. In this area you see the King’s Coronation Way, Old Town Bridge Tower, Powder Gate and the Astronomical Clock which gathered a massive crowd on the hour to witness a magical show.

The fourth area was the Jewish Quarter, this had a very sad tale attached to it but also housed a street of high end shops such as Dior, Tiffany, Jimmy Choo to name a few. This was of no interest to us (could not afford it anyway). The Jewish Cemetery was heart breaking with its thousands and thousands of head stones (12000) with bodies piled up to ten deep. It is the oldest Jewish burial ground in the world dating back to 1439 .
Many lavishly decorated Synagogues and the house of Franz Kafka a writer of novels and short stories and was regarded as one of the major figures of the 20th century. Our guide explained many stories in this part of the city.
As with all cities the trendy bars and restaurants were in plenty but we chose to find out of the way typical Czech food and on our first two nights not a single English person was there. One was called a Beer Hall with massive beer pumps and delicious food Bohemian Dumplings and Pork being a top local dish. Next night had the feel of a beer keller and we had Goulash and another sort of dumpling. The prices were amazing along with the portions.
We have now decided to try a river cruise for our next adventure as we can get to experience many more enchanting cities. So at last I have convinced her, well almost.