"Prague's Amazing Architecture" Prague by Ewingjr98

I had a great visit to Prague from 25 to 27 January 2006. The entire trip was cold, but at least there was no snow and the winds weren't too bad.

25 January 2006 - Early arrival
We arrived very, very early at Praha Hlavni Nadrazi on the night train from Vienna. We exited the train, found what seemed to be the only ATM in the station, then headed to the subway station conveniently located under the train station. It turned out you had to use change to use the subway since the ticket booth was closed, so we decided to walk to the old town area. On the way we passed St. Henry & St Cunigund Church, the Belltower, the Powder Tower and the Municipal House. After looking around the Old Town Square, we walked across the Charles Bridge, which was eerily silent at 0600 before the sun even rose! We looked around the Little Quarter Square then recrossed the river to Wenceslas Square for a great breakfast at Cafe Odkolek. Around the corner was a tourist information desk, so we stopped in and reserved a hotel near Charles Square on Gorazdova Street. We arrived at the hotel around 1000 via the metro, and took showers and a nap, then walked up the east bank of the Vlatava to the Bridge of Legions, strolled Kampa Island, then walked up to the Prague Castle. After touring the castle for a few hours, we had dinner at a very nice restaurant called Laura's Wine Bar, then walked back to the Old Town Square. We then went to Wenceslas Square and had a few beers at Jagr's Sports Bar. On our way back to the hotel we stopped at a microbrewery called Pivovarsky Dum on Jecna Street.

Main Square, Jan 2006

The next day we were up around 0730, then went to the Old Town Square for breakfast at the very expensive Grand Cafe Praha. From there we took a tour of the square, then the Jewish Quarter. While in the Jewish Quarter we stopped for Cappuccino at a great little spot called PastaCaffe. From there we crossed the Vlatava to the north and hiked the hill to Letenske Sady and the old (now destroyed) Stalin Monument. Next we hiked toward the Castle stopping at Hanavsky Pavilion on the way. We stopped for a nice lunch near the upper end of the castle, then In Prague Castle, we toured the cathedral (no photos!), the Powder Tower, and the little shops on Golden Lane. We continued south along the top of the hill stopping at Stahov Abbey then walked to the Hunger Wall and the modern observation tower. We didn't have exact change for the cable car, so we walked down to Mala Strana along the wall. Finally we had a snack of bratwurst at an outdoor food stand in Wenceslas Square, picked up our train tickets to Budapest, and had a few beers in old town before returning to the hotel via subway retiring for bed around 2200.

Along the river, Jan 2006

The next morning we walked across the Jiraskuv Bridge and found a great little deli/cafe along Stefanikova Street. We strolled up this street to the north to Charles Bridge, crossed to Old Square, then took the subway back to our hotel which had no running water. At around 1030, we checked out of the hotel and took the subway to Hlavni Nadrazi station to stow our bags for the day. We walked from the Powder Tower and the Municipal House to Namesky Republiky then St James's Church. We stopped for lunch at an outstanding local restaurant on U Milosrdnych, stopped for coffee at Coffee Heaven near Mustek Station, then met a friend in Wenceslas Square and had beer near the Museum. Around 1530, after our friend left, we took the subway south to the citadel at Vysdehrad and enjoyed the scenic overlooks on the cliffs above the river. For dinner we returned to the Old Town at 1700 and had an excellent meal at the "Little Goat" restaurant, then at 2200 we headed off to the train station to catch the overnight train to Budapest, Hungary.