Thankfully, the breakfast made up for the terribly hard bed at our hotel. We tucked into a nice meal as we sat at the window looking over the river and up to the castle on another perfect sunny day. Packing up the car, we left just after 9am.
First stop was a service station to fill up the car and get another vignette – this time for the Czech highways. Prague is almost directly north from Cesky Krumlov and a fairly short drive of about 3 hours. There was a lot of roadworks but the Czech roads so far have been pretty good. Scenery wise, it was much the same as yesterday although we passed through some larger towns today.
We have 2 nights here at Hotel U Pava in Prague. Our room was ready when we arrived and we have a corner room – in one direction a view up to Prague Castle and in the other we can almost see the Charles Bridge. And the bed feels comfy !
View of part of Prague and the river from the castle
Our first destination was the tram station just down the road to take the 5 minute ride up to the top entrance of the castle. Security seems to be beefed up a bit – we had to go through a bag screening process and, based on Adrienne’s research, some access points to the castle had been made entry or exit points only to allow the screening in. There were also army-looking personnel patrolling the grounds as we walked around. Then again, it is the official residence of the President of the Czech Republic. The castle dates back to the 9th century, was a seat of power for kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman emperors, and presidents of Czechoslovakia. The Bohemian Crown Jewels are kept within a hidden room inside it. According to the Guiness Book of Records, it is the largest (by size) ancient castle in the world.
A view of Charles Bridge from the castle – wall to wall people !
Another of Adrienne’s pre-planned tour guides took us through various parts of the enormous castle, including the massive cathedral and pretty south garden, before we took the long stairway down toward Charles Bridge. Just before we got to the bridge, one of the alley ways we wanted to use seemed to be blocked off and there was a guy standing on the corner dressed something like Mozart in period and looking at his mobile phone. As we got closer, we registered there were a number of people dressed in period costume – adults and kids alike – and a number of cameras and sound booms in the street. A new period movie set in Prague – who knows !
We headed back to the hotel before venturing out again for an early dinner – on the water overlooking Charles Bridge and the crowds on it. After a lovely dinner, we walked up onto the bridge to join the large throng – almost wall to wall people – as the sun got lower in the sky. Tomorrow we hope to be there early to beat some of the crowd.
Charles Bridge from the area called Kampa Island
After another glorious sunny day, the forecast has us back to cold and cloudy tomorrow, so we may have seen the best of the weather for now.
Adrienne certainly excelled herself with the location of our hotel. It is in a perfect location to explore all of Prague and the above two photos of the imposing castle were taken from our window, just as the sun was setting and the castle begins to be lit up for the evening – just fabulous !
Today’s “Tour Trivia” – Prague was the first country in the post-communist Eastern bloc in which a restaurant was awarded a Michelin star. The Allegro restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel, headed by chef Andrea Accordi, received its star in 2008.