3 Days in Prague

The 2 most prominent monuments of old town square which cannot go unnoticed are Astronomical clock and Tyn church which is also known as Kostel Panny Marie Pred Tynem. The clock is full of interesting details. The astronomical dial also shows position of the sun and the moon. Be sure to visit here on top of hour so that you can see the "Walk of the Apostles" and the movement of hands. Tyn church is one of the first things that catches your eye as you walk towards Old Town Square. The outside façade is amazing. The spires give such a character. At night, it is lightened up and looks incredible. But, pay careful attention to timings of church before planning a visit here. It is closed on Monday. Even we were not able to see it from inside since we always reached here post 6 PM. Also, its entrance is little hard to find. Tucked between 2 outdoor cafes in old town square, down the alley you will find it’s entry doors.

We had Trdelník, the sweet street food of Prague, at one of the local shops of old town square. It was simply delicious. I highly recommend tasting it. Strolling further and we reached Charles Bridge, one of the main attractions of Prague. This pedestrian bridge is full of painters, vendors and musicians whose performances are real treat to ears. It is an enchanting experience to just wander on the bridge and soak in its lively, cheerful and beautiful ambiance! We wanted to climb one of the towers of Charles bridge to witness top views of old town and river but couldn’t since we did not have CZK currency for buying tickets but only Euros!!

While crossing old town square on our way back to apartment, we accidently came across Seven Foot Sigmund Freud, a seven-foot statue of famed psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud dangling from a ledge. It looks quite real and cannot go unnoticed!

Office of Discovery Tours is in one of the narrow streets of Old town square. We collected our Pub crawl tickets from them. And that’s when we came to know about their free walking tour wherein they cover old town, lesser town, new town and Jewish quarters. We decided to take this tour the next day. From here we went to St. Nicholas Cathedral, another church in Prague with same name located in Old town square.

Post having dinner we rushed to the meeting point of our Pub crawl scheduled at 8 PM. Dress up in your party attires and carry just a handbag and a jacket. They cover 5 pubs with last one being Karlovy Lazne. It is the famous 5-storey pub of Prague situated on the banks of Vltava river. In each pub, you will be spending 45 minutes with Vodka shots as free welcome drinks. Rest whatever you order is on your wallet! Only in 1st pub you get free unlimited drinks of your choice (local beer, wines and vodka). It is a unique experience but do it only if your company is as alcoholic and party animal as yourself otherwise you will end up getting bored! However, we skipped Karlovy Lazne since it was already 1 AM and we were dead tired and drunk!

Lobkowicz Palace is a museum which exhibits art collection of Lobkowicz family. Access is not free and priced at 350 CZK. We skipped it since not much interested in museums! We walked around Castle District for 2 hours and enjoyed mesmerizing views of whole Prague from South Garden. In the end, we went to Vineyards which are present just beside the staircase.

Post this we went to Old town Square for our free walking tour with Discovery tours. It was for 3 hours but we stayed with them only for 2 covering old town and Jewish quarters. Skipped New town since we already covered it with HOHO. It was very informative, telling about history of Prague and legends behind all important places of interests. I highly recommend it.

Next, we went to Jewish quarters/Josefov which houses synagogues and the oldest surviving Jewish cemetery in Europe. It is present very close to Vltava river. It deeply shocked me to think about the centuries old culture and traditions that have been wiped out within just a few years during Nazi occupation. The Jewish community in Prague was almost eradicated with more than 90% of the Jewish community falling victims to the Nazis. All the more should we cherish what is left of it!

We bought one admission ticket for 330CZK which covered Pinkas, Maisel, Spanish and Klausen Synagogues, Jewish Cemetery and ceremonial hall. The Old-New Synagogue is not covered in this ticket. Entry to this one is prized at 200 CZK. So, we skipped it. It is the oldest synagogue which has been restored to its present form.

We started with Spanish Synagogue. It is recently constructed and a part of Jewish museums in Prague. It is the most beautiful one out of all synagogues with incredible piece of art on display on its walls. It exhibits about Jewish culture, community, origin and their hardships. Just beside this, Kafka monument is located.

Further we went to Pinkas Synagogue and Cemetery. Both are located beside each other. Important: Visit Pinkas first and then the Cemetery. Once you exit from cemetery, entry to Pinkas will not be allowed on same admission ticket. Pinkas has been dedicated to 80,000 Jewish population of Czechoslovakia who died in Holocaust during World war 2. The names and dates of the Jews who died were painstakingly hand written on all the walls. Upstairs there is a room exhibiting paintings and drawings by children in Terezin concentration camp under the direction of teacher Mrs. Friedl Dicker. Before being sent to her death at Auschwitz, Dicker hid 4,500 of the works of art in a briefcase which were later found and moved to Pinkas. Its powerful to know that only 120 of the children sent Terezín survived. It is a very emotional and moving place. Jewish Cemetery is the oldest and largest one in Europe. It has approximately 12,000 tombstones, and around 100,000 Jews buried in up to 12 layers deep as there was not enough land area where Jews were allowed to be buried! Lastly, we went to Klausen Synagogue which exhibits about Jewish Religion.

We skipped ceremonial Hall and Maisel synagogues because of lack of time. Atleast 2.5 hours are required to cover everything in Jewish quarters peacefully.

Post this, we went for our free boat ride on Valtava river offered with HOHO tickets. You can take boat ride within 24 hours only since the time you purchased HOHO tickets and last one leaves at 4 PM!

Revolving statue of Franz Kafka, the Czech writer, was next on our list. It is located just outside Quadrio shopping center. You can reach here by metro/tram. Get down at Narodni Trida station and walk across the shopping center to find this statue. It is an interesting piece of architecture and quite fascinating as well! Then we had Indian cuisine in supper at Dhaba Beas present just opposite to this statue. I found it over-hyped place with pathetic food!

From here we went to see John Lennon wall. It is full of random graffiti. Nothing much enchanting about it! Now, remember access to Golden lane in Castle district is free post 5 PM? So that was the next and last stop on our list. But, keep in mind that rest every other place inside castle district will be closed now. It is perfect time to roam around the castle as not much crowd is there!