Exactly 374 days ago, we landed in Prague, Czech Republic to begin our sibling ‘Euro Trip,’ as we called it. Prague was an excellent city to start in because it’s so quintessentially European that it puts you in the right mood, right away.
On our first night we found our apartment and dinner.
The next morning we found our first free walking tour of the trip. I know I say this often, but walking tours are an excellent way to orient yourself to a new place, both historically and geographically. Free walking tours allow you to book without paying, not show up if your plans change, and tip at the end based on how you thought it was. We usually tipped about $10/person. Our walking tour in Prague lead us through Old Town, past the infamous Astronomical Clock, and through the neighborhood we were staying in, the Jewish Quarter.
Since the tour ended only a few blacks from our apartment, we explored a little before returning to our flat for the bathroom, wifi, and a short nap. After a full day of traveling to arrive, we were all pretty tired.
After our naps we walked to Prague Castle. It was a long walk, but an excellent way to explore! We found cool buildings and gardens along the way.
There is an option to pay to see more of Prague Castle. Or, you can do the free version that we did and just walk the grounds. Prague Castle is the largest ‘ancient castle’ in the world, so there is plenty to see without paying. I would recommend timing your trip to see the changing of the guards.
We ended our day with a search for Trdelniks, a Czech pastry. It’s kind of like a crispy doughnut ice cream cone. They are sold at many cash-old street stands, which lead us to our next challenge, finding an ATM. Eventually, the ATM was found, the cash was acquired and the Trdelniks were enjoyed in Old Town Square. It was a fly-by day in Prague but we thoroughly enjoyed it!
For our last morning in Prague we decided to get up early and see the Charles Bridge before the crowds hit. The Charles Bridge is pedestrian only and offers incredible city views. Even with our 7 am visit time, we were not alone.
From the bridge we walked to breakfast, then back to our apartment to collect our things and go pick up our rental car. We loved our apartment in the Jewish Quarter and I would recommend it to you, but I see that they no longer have it listed on booking.com, so I can’t. That said, the entryway had this big mirror, which we liked a lot too.
While our entire time in Prague was ideal, we ended it on a rather sour note. We bought the wrong tickets (entirely by accident because we don’t read Czech) to ride the train. As we came down the escalators to the train we got stopped by two ‘officers’ who waved IDs, inspected our tickets, confiscated our passports, and took us back up the escalators to show us conveniently located fine print in English (not at all near the kiosks) of our errors and penalties. Then they took us to the ATM so we could pay our fines, in cash. $34 per person. Needless to say, the following endeavors to find our rental car agency were clouded with sour moods. And yet, we survived it.
Why you should go to Prague:
- It has unique European history due to its locational overlap in being part of both the Holy Roman Empire and the Iron Curtain.
- Beautiful, well preserved Old Town.
- It’s very walkable but also has good public transportation options (if you can figure out the tickets).
- More affordable than most European destinations.
This was country 1 of our 6 country Euro Trip. To read a summary of the trip, click here.
Country 2: Austria, read here and here.
Country 4: Switzerland, click here and here.
Country 5: Italy, read about Lake Como, Venice, Portovenere, Cinque Terre, Rome, Florence, or my final thoughts. (I had a lot to say about Italy, as you can see.)
A Pañuelo World 
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