We have just had a fantastic few days in Prague.
We stayed in the Mala Strana district. Which is a lovely area of the city with hidden gardens and some wonderful buildings. The pubs and restaurants are good too!
Or accommodation was an apartment on Nouradova. It was a great place to stay right on the top floor. Although it was a bit of a struggle after a few beers!
Our favourite pub (pictured) was dead dingy place in Thunovska which was just behind where we stayed. The Beer was lurvely; Kozel Dark was my favourite not too strong but really nice and only about 70p a pint!
The city is gorgeous and we spent our days exploring on foot, which is the best way to see it. In certain areas the city is very busy with tourists so I recommend getting out early or even exploring late a night particularly the Charles Bridge and Nove Mestro.
Petrin Park is gorgeous we really enjoyed our autumn walk and a ride on its vernicular train. Just near the park just off Karmelitska we found a beautiful secret garden called Vrtbovska zahrada we spent ages there just hanging out and enjoying the view over the city.
Public Transport is excellent. As we were there for a few days we bought a travel ticket at the airport which cost £5-£6 each and this covered us for all travel on buses, trams and the metro for up to a week.
Czech food in the restaurants was, I must be honest, not too good. We had goulash one night and although the meat was nice it was sooo salty bleah bleah! So we didn’t bother after that. There are plenty of restaurants though; serving every food you could want so you won’t starve.
We went for a gorgeous gorgeous steak one night in “Cowboys & Cocktails�? (slightly gay name!) up the road from where we were staying. We actually ate in an enclosed seating area on the roof with a good view of the city. The food was excellent but was odd was along with the music playing was the sound of crickets in the background. So we were sitting on the roof of a building in Prague in October with an outdoor temperature of just over freezing listening to Crickets… weird!
On the Saturday we took the bus out of town to Terezin.
Terezin is a fortress town about 60km outside the city. In 1941 the whole population of the town was ejected and the whole town was turned into a Jewish Ghetto. By 1942 over 60000 Jews were interned there in awful conditions. It was terribly overcrowded and they were kept in the cellars and the attics of the buildings. In 1942 the first transport left for Auschwitz. By 1945 140000 Jews had passed through Terezin.
What really brought home to me the enormity of this awful crime was when I stood in a room in the Muzeum Ghetta surrounded by huge boards, which had the names and dates of birth of all the children who had passed through Terezin. Some were not born until 1939 it is shocking and deeply moving. Also at the extremely informative and well laid out exhibition is artwork by the children and adults depicting scenes of life in Terezin.
There is also a fortress outside the town (Mala Prevnost), which was used as a prison during the war for members of the resistance and political prisoners. It is still eerily intact and it is easy to imagine the awful conditions the inmate was kept in. There is an exhibition in the former guards building which really brings home to you how much the inmates suffered. an exhibition in the former guards building which really brings home to you how much the inmates suffered.
