Here I go again, breaking records on how quickly I've written a post after a trip... Or even just writing one at all. But I had to! Over the holiday weekend, we took off to Prague. The city grabbed our attention after so many friends had mentioned how much they loved their visits.
If you don't like to plan your trips like me, Prague is the perfect city. If you love to plan out every detail, it's still a great place! Although I've been getting better about planning at least a few details on my trips, we threw caution to the (very strong, cold) Czech wind and did what we do best--wander! Walk in any direction, down any street, and you'll find incredible food and beer, and tucked into the beautifully architected buildings, interesting sculptures and the nicest locals.
Our goal for this trip was to relax and have a good time. I usually go for an Airbnb to save costs and really feel immersed in the culture, but stumbled onto a spa package that Corinthia Hotel was offering and decided to splurge since our flights were mostly covered by vouchers (Ryanair had cancelled our flight to Belfast but offered us vouchers as an apology.. Winning!) Two nights in this 5-star luxury spot with the most epic breakfast buffet I've ever seen, and two 30-minute spa treatments for each night we stayed was about 8450CZK, which converted to $400. The quality of hotel and amenities, plus the incredible staff made this hotel memorable. Still seems too high? The low cost of the rest of the trip will more than balance out your spending.
Speaking of affordable food that is quite possibly some of the best you'll find ANYWHERE, here were our food spots over the weekend!
Potrefená husa Albertov - Our happiest accident! Our UBER driver dropped us off nearby and we walked until we found this spot. Anywhere I can get a giant glass of wine for $5 while I'm dining out I'm a happy girl! I opted for a local dry white from Czech's Moravian and it was phenomenal. Dave had Staropramen Premium and Dark (we both preferred the dark). I'm almost embarrassed to get as excited as I did about the soup on this trip, but I still can't stop thinking about it. I had the strong beef soup, which is very similar to beef ramen (only 10x better) while Dave had the traditional kulajda soup. For mains, Dave had the beef goulash and I had the chicken schnitzel. Hands down, our favorite meal complete and it was only $29!
Mlejnice was our lunch spot the next day, near the astronomical clock and recommended by a friend. It had a great rustic interior. Dave tried the deer goulash this time, and I had the beef goulash in a bread bowl. It was awesome and a great spot to warm up! Again, the soups were on point and it was another cheap meal!
For "dinner" we met up with some friends that were also in town at the Prague Beer Museum. EPIC. Dave and I split the 30-beer flight--Yes you heard that right. We tried every beer that they had on tap. Some were more memorable than others, and I like weird beers so the Rozohozec Cherry Lager, Kingswood Cider, Velen Wheat Beer, Merlin Černy dark lager, and some badass chocolate draft were my highlights. On our last day, we did the most wandering while Dave tried to find a a bunch of swans along the river. Out of nowhere, we were punched in the face with the smell of fresh cookies. Perníkovy Panáček is where bakery where I realized that I get almost as excited for ornately decorated cookies as I do for puppies. Almost. We picked our favorites as well as a few to bring home before walking down to visit the swans.
After the cookie/swan excitement, we walked past an outdoor restaurant with heaters, furs, blankets, and pretzels on every table. Not going to lie the pretzels pulled me. We ordered soup and beer cheese (literally just a shot of beer, some staaaankyyyyy cheese, and mustard on a plate).
Finally, the last thing I have to mention is the Trdelník. It's dough wrappedin a cone shaped, baked on a spinning spit, dipped in cinnamon sugar and filled with all kinds of goodies. The instagram video I posted to my stories expired before I could save it (rookie move!) and the second time we ate it was after the PBM, sooooo, a good photo was definitely not happening! Just trust me, GET IT!
Now that I'm hungry all over again, I'll jump into a few of the places we saw. Even though I carried my camera around with me the entire trip, I didn't use it nearly as much as I should have. Alloy-bodied camera, forgotten gloves, and cold weather may have been to blame. It was also nice to kick back and wander instead of stressing about shots.
Things to Do:
We walked up to the castle and enjoyed the lookout point.
We climbed the bell tower at the Cathedral. 287 steps to be exact. It was an unexpected workout up a narrow spiral staircase with a 40lb camera bag, but the views were worth it, even on a cloudy day.
We found the swans! They tried to steal my cookie, and one swan attacked Dave's leg (hilarious)! It's a unique view of Charles Bridge perfect for instagram.
We wanted to walk to the Dancing House next, the wind was harsh and Uber was easy, so we made our way back across the river.
And finally, we made our way back to the hotel, where we walked across the giant bridge just outside that spanned over the neighborhood below. It was high enough to make my heart flutter, but I got to live that drone lifestyle where you're kind of just floating above everything. These are my favorite shots!
My last tip is to keep an eye out for the quirky, sometimes controversial statues around the city. Check out "Youth" and "Piss" for the two that caught us off guard.
That's all for now! I had one shot in mind that I wanted specifically that I wasn't able to get this time, so I'm looking forward to planning my next trip back, more than likely in warmer weather. Have you been to Prague? What were your favorite spots? PS- Actual photo of me the day after drinking 31 beers:
#Prague #CzechRepublic #CityEscapes #CorinthiaPrague #CarlyMoonImages #travelphotographer
