Postcards from Prague #2

This is part two of my posts on Prague.  Today’s ‘postcard’ is from our first full day – centred around Prague castle and other sites in the Hradcany area. The link for Postcard #1 is on the right hand sidebar.

After a good breakfast which set us up for a good walk – we headed to Prague Castle, which was about a 20 minute walk away from our hotel. This included a steep walk up the New Castle Steps in some hot hot heat, but after not too long we were at the top, and outside the entrance to the Castle grounds. This area is free to walk around, and the entrance to specific buildings are ticketed. We were quite happy walking past the different buildings and admiring the varied colours and architecture styles,  so passed on this option (but the rates were reasonable).

We then headed into St Vitus Cathedral. The immediate entrance area was free to get into, so there was plenty of photo-taking opportunities, but to get further in there was an admission charge. Again, we were happy with what we could see. I actually found the exterior of the building more exciting with the gargoyles draped all over the roof and columns!

We then wandered round more of the grounds over the day, and saw tickets being sold for a music recital the following evening, so we booked up (650 crowns each – £21 each – more on this in my next post!) After an icecream stop, we then wandered around the general Hradcany area which included the Castle gardens – nice because they provided a welcome spot of shade!

As we had then by that point been wandering in the sun all morning and early afternoon – we decided to retreat back to the hotel to rest in our air-conditioned room, and do some research into activities/attractions for the rest of the week.

Dinner was in ‘La Bastille’ – a traditional czech restaurant next door to our hotel (see reviews on Trip Advisor here). We shared a starter, had a main course each (the mixed farm plate – basically different types of meat,  bread and potato dumpling and cabbage, ghoulash) and drinks. This came to 475 czk (£17ish) and we were stuffed. Czech cuisine is definitely not light and airy! However, it was at this point that the thunder storm and torrential rain hit, so hot comfort food seemed somewhat appropriate. Unfortunately the storms lasted later into the evening – but fortunately did not stay into Tuesday!

Come back on Wednesday for Postcard #3 – walking around the Jewish Quarter and parts of the Old Town!