Prague: Old Town & Nearby
From the end of June through the start of July, we took an amazing 2–week trip to Europe, starting in Prague and ultimately finishing in Paris!
While we’ve both done plenty of our own trips to Europe, Charlie and I had both never been to Prague, so it was a logical choice for our first European trip together. We considered Barcelona as well, but the history — and the beer — in Prague was irresistible in the end!
We flew from Boston to Paris, then hopped on a quick connection to Prague. We arrived at about 10 AM due to some delays with our first flight, but fortunately, we were able to catch some shuteye on both flights and were relatively well-rested for the start of our trip.
The first day we spent getting acquainted with our neighborhood — we stayed at the Hotel Merkur Těšnov, which was super convenient to the old town square and a lot of Prague’s major sights, but also not in the middle of everything and so it was both quiet and very inexpensive! It also has included breakfast, which is Charlie’s favorite thing.
Prague’s Old Town Square is really the center of the tourism district of the city, partway between Wenceslas Square and the Charles Bridge. It’s lined with restaurants and ice cream stands selling Trdelnik, a rolled-up cinnamon pastry that you stuff with ice cream (or eat plain).
The square has a number of highlights, like the central statue of Jan Hus (a Christian martyr), the church of Our Lady before Týn, which sort of towers over the square, and off to the side is the astronomical clock which is one of the great draws of Prague. Unfortunately for us, the clock was undergoing restoration while we visited and was behind scaffolding, but they did set up a screen against the scaffolding and projected what the clock would have been doing at each hour it chimed. So, while we didn’t get to see the clock actually move, we were able to experience it at least on some level. To be honest, compared to clocks in other cities like Munich, I didn’t find the display particularly jaw-dropping.
Since we hadn’t truly had a full nights sleep on the plane(s) the night before, we opted for an early dinner at T-Anker, a rooftop bar and restaurant with amazing views of Prague. We had some Czech beer and hamburgers and took in the view and summer sunset. Then, it was off to bed as the next morning we had big plans… Prague Day 2
