Those first few hours in a new city, they are magical.
The buildings all look so charming, there are exciting new sounds and smells coming from every direction, and around every corner you find something new to admire. Everything just seems magical to you during those first few hours.
Our first few hours in Prague was no different, they were magical.
We arrived to Prague early in the evening to a sunset lighting up the sky with beautiful orange and reds and I couldn’t wait to start exploring. But by the time our group of 40 arrived to our hotel it was well beyond dinner time and I was in need of a glass of wine. Traveling with a group that big, it tries your patience, something of which I already have very little of, wine and food was seriously needed.
So before we could even think of exploring Prague H and I headed off to find dinner. Side note, H and I tend to have an issue when traveling and finding food. We usually don’t start looking for a place until we are both hungry, aka hangry, and end up walking into whatever we can find, which tends to lead to not the best dining experiences.
Not this time!
This time we researched before we arrived in Prague and discovered an amazing restaurant just minutes from our hotel. If you are in Prague go to U Kroka for dinner, its amazing, the atmosphere is cozy and the beer is delicious according to my Viking.
Finally, after hours of traveling, we were ready to head off to do a little bit of exploring before bed time!
By this point it was quite late into the night so we didn’t have much time for exploring, but it turns out we wouldn’t make it far before we discovered live music on a boat that we just couldn’t walk past. So instead of walking to Old Town we opted for a drink and listening to music, exploring would have to wait until tomorrow, this was too much fun!
Drinking local beer on a boat listening to music with views of the castle and city all light up around us, a pretty magical way to get acquainted with Prague don’t you think?!
As we didn’t make it more than a few minutes from our hotel our first evening the next day was dedicated to exploring as much as possible. Instead of doing a play by play of our day here are some highlights (and one low) from our first day in Prague.
We walked along the river early in the morning
This guy, you can’t take him anywhere…
Our hotel was just a block up from the river, which not only helped make it easy to find for my navigation challenged self, it also made it the perfect location for walks along the river. We made this walk many times in the next couple of days, but walking along the river early in the morning, that was my favorite.
We were the ultimate tourists and took a lunchtime boat tour around Prague
The first activity we did in Prague, a boat tour with our group of 40, talk about the ultimate tourists right?! Even though I was dying to get off the boat and get to exploring the little streets of Prague the boat tour was a great way to get an overview of the city. And at least we didn’t have to fight the crowds to take in some great views!
I discovered the deliciousness that is Trdelník
I had read about these tasty treats before our trip to Prague and could not wait to get my hands on one. As soon as we were off the boat I told H our next stop before we did anything else was to find a trdelník stand. We quickly learned this is very easy as there are trdelník stands all over the city, perfect for picking one up whenever the craving hits! Enjoying my trdelník in one of old towns city squares was the moment it really hit me… I was in Prague!
We got overwhelmed by the crowds
Okay, one low point has to be mentioned because this really got to me. The crowds were insane! I knew to expect crowded spots, I mean we were going to Prague a very popular city so there was bound to be tons of people. And we were also exploring those popular spots in the middle of the day, not our best idea. But the crowds, they totally overwhelmed me and took away the charm in some spots for me such as Old Town, I just couldn’t deal with the crowds there and we ended up avoiding that area during most of our trip.
So, lesson learned, avoid busy tourist spots during the day and only visit during early morning and evening, problem solved. And lucky for us Prague has lots of beautiful parks to walk around and enjoy when we wanted to avoid the crowds.
We spent hours walking around taking in the ridiculously charming buildings
The buildings in Prague, swoon where they charming! From bright colors to tons of little details I definitely did not expect to find such beautiful buildings in Prague. H and I spent most of our afternoon wandering around neighborhoods admiring the beautiful buildings. I am now ready to move into my own bright yellow building!
Happy hour was enjoyed at a street market
I don’t know if it is always like this in Prague but there seemed to be little street markets all over the city, all selling delicious wine and treats. H and I enjoyed several different stops at street markets during our trip, I mean you can’t say no to a glass of wine when it is less than two dollars!
A day of exploring ended with a walk along the river at dusk
Do you see the castle in the distance? So beautiful!
With our legs aching from all the walking we had done during the day H and I made a very slow walk along the river back to our hotel. The calm that came with the early evening and the beautiful light it cast over the city, the perfect way to end our first day of exploring, it helped keep the magic alive!
Okay so this was a recap of more than our first few hours, more like our first 24 hours, but it was all magical so it counts:) The rest of our time in Prague, it was amazing, but nothing in my mind beats those first few hours of exploring a new city!
Question of the Day?
What is your favorite part of a trip? Have you ever visited somewhere that was so crowded it lost its charm for you?
