We had a bit of a lazy morning following our walk in the Bohemian national park and enjoyed having a comfortable bed and quiet room. After a quick breakfast of Nutella and rolls, with laminated menus as plates, we packed up and left on our journey to Prague.
We stopped about 20 minutes down the road to check out Kaminsce Gorge. This is close to Hrensko at the start of the park. Usually in the summer you can walk alongside the gorge and then get boat trips along the river to see various waterfalls. We were still out of season (by a week) though but decided to have a wander along the path just to get a different perspective of the national park. It was stunning, the cliffs surrounding you as the sun shone on the river and the trees lining it. We didn’t walk too far along the path though as we were boiling in all our layers for the journey on the bike. So after a few minutes absorbing the scenery we headed back to the bike and got on with our journey.
The journey itself to Prague was immense. Initially we travelled alongside the main river, the road hugging it closely. Then it took us up into the rolling hills, winding through small Czech villages, reminiscent of small Italian towns, with colourful and beautiful churches and castle houses. It did make it a lot more technical of a drive for Dave though, so it was more tiring. We stopped halfway at a Penny to grab cheap bread rolls, pastries and smoothies for lunch, just eating them in the carpark. We then continued on the other hour to Prague. This was a much busier stretch of road but still lovely, and we saw a lot of bikers that were out for a weekend drive in the sun. As we got into Prague the traffic got a lot heavier as we were staying in the city. It also didn’t help that some stretches of road were cobbly, but thankfully not too many before we finally got to our hostel.
In Prague we had managed to book a private room/apartment in a Clown and Bard hostel and they also let us park our bike right outside under the CCTV. Unfortunately due to this we were on the 5th floor which meant a lot of stairs to conquer. There was a good view of the city from the window on the top floor though which somewhat made up for it. The size of the room for it being a hostel was good, with its own kitchenette and table so we could cook dinner and get on with videos/blogs around exploring Prague. Due to our timings with getting to Stockholm, we actually ended up in Prague Sunday/Monday- which meant the hostel was absolutely dead and the bar attached to it was closed on the Sunday. But it saved us from spending money. Despite this we managed to get a room next to people that woke us up both nights at 2am and the bed was very uncomfortable- definitely still a hostel!
The hostel was located in a good area though for exploring the city. It was about a 20 minute walk from the old town, so the first day we went for a bit of a wander seeing the main old town square and getting to the river just to get our bearings. We had gone out confidently in just t-shirts though and as it was later in the day most of the old town was in shadow due to the sun hiding behind the buildings, so after a bit we headed back to the hostel to warm up and relax, our bodies still a bit broken from the walk the day before.
We gave ourselves a lay in and did a bit of work the next morning- giving the sun a chance to come up fully. Thankfully it was a gorgeously sunny day and got up to 21 degrees. So shorts and t-shirts were out again and we were making the most of it as the forecast for the next few weeks of our journey was rain and snow! We wandered back through the cobbled streets of the old town admiring the beautiful architecture. We took advantage of there being so many tourist shops to buy a magnet for Czech Republic. The architecture is beautiful but the whole area is very touristy- lots of bars, restaurants, souvenir shops, various museums unrelated to the city and for some reason lots of thai massage parlours. Having rested well we were able to just take it all in and wander around getting lost in the streets.
We found our way to St Charles Bridge, admiring the skyline across the water with the park, cathedral and castle- it is undeniably beautiful. Over the bridge we headed down past Lennon wall- which at present is decorated with poems for Ukraine. Then we made our way to Ferdinandas for lunch as we were looking for some local Czech food. This restaurant in a basement cellar felt very typical Czech beer hall and it provided delicious dishes. I had a beef goulash with bread dumplings, small beer included in my meal (185czh) and Dave had a pork steak with mushroom and ‘delicate’ cheese with additional wedges (called jacket potato) and a dark beer (194, 40 and 40 czh).
Very full, but very happy from Ferdinandas we headed up into Petrin park. We decided we didn’t need to walk all the way up to Petrin tower as we managed to get a great view from only halfway up. Instead we found a nice sunny spot and did a bit of sunbathing, taking in the view and watching all the other people in the park doing the same.
All the blossom trees were in bloom too which looked stunning but were surrounded by people doing full photo shoots with them. After a while we headed back and mosied around the rest of the old streets on this side of the river. Legs getting tired now, we headed back to our hostel for a few hours having seen most of the things we wanted to see.
In the evening we wanted one last glimpse of the city skyline so headed down the hill to Churchills area where we had found a good view of the city from in front of the train station. We watched the sun go down over the city, takng in the view before heading back to our hostel to pack up ready for a long day of travel to Brno the next day.
Thanks
Alex
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