Prague from Petrin Tower

After a leisurely get up and a full breakfast in the hotel, we set out in to Prague following Tomas’s plan for our day. We took two trams up to Prague Castle, passed quickly through security and queued for our tickets. Prague Castle is a collection of historic buildings and we decided to opt for St Vitus’s Cathedral, the Basilica Of St.George, the Old Royal Palace and Golden Lane.

There were huge numbers of tourists around the complex but we were fortunate to enter the buildings at times when we were still able to pause and appreciate the splendour of the interiors. Tomas is a mine of Czech history and was able to provide the background and detail to the great figures and the conflicts through the ages. I particularly enjoyed Golden Lane, a street of houses which made me think of the Shambles but of very different architecture. Here we had a flavour of the lives of ordinary people working in and close to the castle.

Emerging from the Castle we were ready for lunch. Our first choice was abandoned due to disinterested service so Tomas suggested we walk further to the Strahov Monastery which is famous for its brewery. Here we met Filip who joined us for the afternoon.

The food was delicious and we regained our energy to walk up Petrin Hill and then up the 299 steps of the Petrin Tower (a mini Eiffel Tower) to enjoy an uninterrupted view of the entire city of Prague. This is where my blip was taken.

Yummy ice creams later we descended to the foot of Petrin Hill and crossed the Legii Bridge to hire a pedal boat on the river. Tomas and Filip took to the pedals and we enjoyed a relaxing tour of the river, taking in the views and luxuriating in the breeze on a second hot day. Returning to the quay, Tony spotted a large water animal appear out of a hole in the river wall. At first we thought it was a beaver but I think we have decided it was a coypu, great to see!

Back on the street, Filip was in charge to take us to his favourite cafe for tea. En route we diverted towards some great music. It came from a hugely talented orchestra of young people playing ‘Sex Bomb’ and ‘Uptown Funk’ amongst the numbers we stayed to watch and dance to. Tomas and Marketa knew several members of this orchestra and told us that they play to raise money for different charities. They were certainly having a lot of fun playing and entertaining the enthusiastic crowd.

When the band stopped playing we moved on to Filip’s cafe, the Louvre. It reminded us of Betty’s Cafe. Finally, great tea! I enjoyed apple strudel with vanilla sauce, yum! Tony and I have decided we will return for the afternoon tea when we come back to Prague at the end of our Czech stay.

A full day with much to enjoy! We could hardly believe that, as we said goodbye to Filip, it was nine pm! Tomorrow is our last day in Prague before we head east to Moravia and the home of Marketa and Tomas.