Back on the road..... Prague, Czech Republic

ROUND 2 - ding ding......

Back on the go with a new suitcase full of winter woolies, refreshed and stoked to be somewhere new!!!! We basically found some pretty cheap fares to Prague so thats where we ended up first. We shelled out a little extra to stay at a well recommended hostel almost right in the city square. It was well worth the extra cash, fantastic location, couldn't have been any closer to the action.

Once again, got in at night time and took a stroll around.

It was freezing

The Tyn Church in the main square, our hostel was just behind.

Prague Castle. Everything has a real fairytale feel to it.

In the morning we were greeted by a beautiful clear, crisp Winters day. It was freezing, but sort of nice to be rugged up and it suited the feel of the city really well.

The astronomical clock right in the main square.

Angie in the main square on the first morning.

We walked up to Prague Castle to do the rounds inside, amazing building, it sits perched up high on the other side of the river with amazing views overlooking the city

This room had all the shields and emblems of various noble families painted on the walls and ceiling, looked awesome. We werent allowed to take photos but managed to sneak a few in anyway.

St Vitus Cathedrale, for me one of the most impressive of all the Gothic cathedrales that we had seen. Managed to get in for a look for free towards the end of the day. The cathedrale is in the same complex as the castle, and is fairly well concealed within the walls. You dont really get a feel for it until you walk in through the entrance to the courtyard, it seems to come out of nowhere as the massive facade looms over you and dominates the whole space.

Royal gates just as the changing of the guard was beginning. Definitely the most extravagant changing of the guards trhat we saw in Eastern Europe.

Angie's favorite drummer

View back towards the city from the castle courtyard. This long stair winds its way back to the river and Prague center.

Inside St Vitus, again, definitely the most impressive of the gothic cathedrales for me. Just spectacular inside.

Outside the castle next to the royal gardens. Sun starting to dip and getting really cold again.

Golden Lane is another part of the castle complex. Just a small strip with tiny little shops full of puppets and other trinkets.

Angie at golden lane. The doors were even small by her standards, I struggled to stand up straight in some of the shops.

The main hall in the castle, amazing ceiling, looked at it for ages trying to ffigure it out.

The castle in general was really impressive, we only got limited photos because you werent supposed to take any, but it was really cool.

Took a walk through Letenske, which is a huge park that sits way up high on the other side of the river, North of the castle. Really quiet and peaceful with spectacular views back to the city. Angie to this photo which came out really nice.

Anoter view of one of the passages that lead back down to the city from the higher gorund of the castle and surrounding parks.



Nice shot of the Tyn on a clear day. Beautiful town square, loads going on, music, food and beer.... and by food I mean exclusivly pork and potatoes.

Strolled through the Jewish quarter, as we found ourselves doing in most cities that we visited. There is always something interesting to be found in the Jewish quarter no matter where you are!!

Little stalls lined the street in the old Jewish Ghetto selling all sorts of stuff. Found a really nice carved chess set for Bones for his 30th just around the corner from here, then lugged it through Czech, Germany, Canada and finally to NYC!!! Chess seemed to be a big thing in Prague, heaps and heaps of really nice hand made sets, some were massive and super pricey, really cool.

Awesome photo back over the river from the high side in Letenske. Charles bridge is in the middle leading to Prague centre on the left.
More shots from Letenske, there was some serious skating going on up there, so sat and watched for a while as I'm always super impressed by good skaters.

Squirrel

Back in town that night there were more random festivities going on in the town square as there seemed to be most nights. This band was brilliant, really good singing voices, had the crowd wound right up with all these old, traditional Czech songs, all the oldies knew all the words and were right into it. Bless.

Old fashioned band that were playing in the square, awesome! Angie is off to the left in the shadows.

Another photo from the square, if this was in black and white it could almost be a shot from 100 years ago.

Happily freezing in the square.

Prague beer was my favorite of anywhere in the world, so cheap we couldnt afford not to drink it.

Pre-vego gorging, most meals are made with pork or beer, for some variation, you might get potatoes of some kind. :)

The following are some more random shots around the river, such a beautiful city.

We really spent the bulk of our time around the square. It was such a good atmosphere, heaps going on, lots of locals, hot food, hot wine, good beer, music, so awesome!!! So glad we were there in the winter too becasuse it suited the place really well.

Prague is staight out of a farytale, expecially in winter. Such an enchanting place. Had a ball there for 5 days and got a nice taste of the place. Next up, we were heading South to Cesky Krumlov. ;)