“Wait until you see Prague,” many people told us, adding that Prague was their favorite city, and Chris’ recollection from 30 years ago was that it was amazing. I had never visited, and so I was very much looking forward to it. Yes, we have been to Paris, London, Lisbon, Bratislava, Budapest, Vienna, and Basel this year, so Prague had high expectations piled on it. In a way, visiting the other capital cities so recently gave us good basis for comparison.
And, it is amazing…a city that manages to impress in spite of the high expectations, which is no small feat. It offers unique and beautiful architecture, inexpensive prices, many cultural offerings, super efficient and cheap public transportation and generally nice people who appear to not be sick of tourists, in spite of the fact that Prague gets 8 million visitors a year! Many of the cities we visited had a layer of grime on the buildings and sidewalks marked with everything from cigarette butts to bubble gum to dog poo, but Prague’s buildings, squares and sidewalks are notably clean and well maintained.
Each place we visited had its charms and its beauty, but I have to agree with everyone’s appraisal of Prague being a candidate for favorite city. The streets were packed as a result, but not obtrusively so.
We met our nephew Andrew and his girlfriend Bella there…his first international trip by himself! They are both 21. And that was great, to have their youthful company and hopefully to show them the ropes of travel. They arrived a day before us, and thought they had “seen everything” with just some wandering around the streets, but we took them around to climb to the tops of towers and monuments for the views, to eat in nice restaurants, drink local beer, attend concerts, explore churches, cruise the river and to use public transportation to easily explore the city.
We ate typically heavy Czech food one night, and marginally lighter Italian fare the next.
We felt a bit like parents on this trip, with kids in tow. And maybe that’s what aunts and uncles should be. We certainly enjoyed sharing the time and experiences with them.
Prague has two churches named St Nicholas, one in the Old Town and one in Lesser Town. The one in Lesser Town is a high Baroque church, opulently decorated with painted walls and ceilings, gold leafed sculpture and marble. It’s amazing.
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