To celebrate being midway through our allotted time for our Master’s thesis, my friend and I decided to take a day off. We decided to spend a three-day weekend in Prague and explore the city. Best decision ever. Prague is such a cute and laid back city and definitely always worth a trip. So let me share a little about my weekend.
Starting our weekend in Prague
On a Thursday evening, we took a bus from Berlin to Prague, taking about five hours. We headed directly the district three to the apartment we had rented via Airbnb and passed out immediately upon arrival. The next day we decided to explore the city by what we like to call adventure walking and ended up walking pretty much a perfect circle around the city, covering most of the famous sightseeing spots and discovering some others. Here is our little tour. I am sure you would all enjoy it as well.
From the Prague III district, we made our way into the city’s centre. We found a little farmers market in a quiet corner of Palladium. What a great start! The Palladium place itself is totally worth seeing with all the old and beautiful buildings around. After getting a coffee in a tiny shop in Palladium place, we made our way through small streets and past lovely shops to the old town square.
We obviously had to stop for a while, soak in all the beauty around us and take plenty of photos. Afterwards, we continued to walk through random little streets and alleys until we found the rotating statue of Franz Kafka, who was born in Prague. To be honest, I had to walk around the statue twice to find the name, because I sure couldn’t recognise the head. However, I do consider the installation an incredible piece of art.
Next, we directed our adventure, walking toward the river and the dancing house I saw on Pinterest. The house itself was not super spectacular to me, especially since the effect of the architecture was kind of tempered by some big ass advertisement in the windows. However, the spot was lovely. The area is surrounded by houses with beautiful facades; from the bridge Jiráskův most, we had a beautiful view. There is a cute restaurant on a boat and a coffee shop (where we had to get our second coffee, obviously).
We decided to explore the part of the city on the other side of the river. After finding some sweet street art, we saw the entrance of a very promising-looking park. So we did go to the park and climbed up a pretty steep hill, which turned out to be very rewarding. The trees were in bloom, and the view over the city was incredible.
We got to the north side, where we came by several embassies (including the German one that has so much history to tell) and ended up at the castle. Again, the view was amazing. However, we arrived a little late, so we could only catch a quick glimpse at the cathedral before everything was closed. So we made our way back into the east side of the city by crossing the famous Karls-Bridge, which was honestly a nightmare for me due to the high number of street vendors and just constantly afraid of pickpockets.
We ended up with a delicious dinner at an Irish pub, drinks with a friend, and a late-night photo sesh at the old town square.
Second day of our weekend in Prague
The next day we started at a coffee shop recommended by the New York Times, and guess what, they even had gluten-free cake! I was desperate to see the John Lennon memorial wall, so we headed over to the western part of the city. To be honest, it was disappointing. When I saw photos online, I imagined the memorial wall to be longer than it actually was. On top of that, all the artwork was covered in random graffiti. Definitely not worth visiting.
Still, the walk was worth it since we stumbled upon some cute spots and a beautiful renaissance garden (South gardens) right underneath the castle. The admission fee for the garden was super cheap (they had a student discount), was full of pretty flowers and trees, and had a fantastic view of the city. We entered the area at the bottom of the hill and made our way up, which led us directly into the castle gardens. They weren’t too special, but it was a nice resting spot. Afterwards, we headed back into the city, did some shopping, and had dinner in a fantastic Italian restaurant.
Last day of our weekend in Prague
On the third and last day, we had to catch a bus in the afternoon. So we tried to find a brunch place to celebrate a fantastic weekend, but, unfortunately, we failed horribly. So, in the end, we picked up some breakfast to go to a supermarket and made our way to the Jewish quarter. The area was stunning and actually reminded me a fair bit of the upper east side in New York City. The houses were beautifully decorated, there was a cute little park and all the upscale and super expensive brand shops.
Initially, we were hoping to stop by the Jewish history museum and look at the synagogue and the cemetery. Still, that day was actually the first day of passing over, so all the buildings were closed to the public. Therefore, we went to find a little café to spend the rest of the time in until we had to catch our bus home. Again, we followed the recommendations of the New York Times 48 series and went to a cute vegan and raw café in some new and upcoming arcades that we definitely worth checking out.
I hope you enjoyed this very detailed story about our weekend in Prague.
