Easter Tankovna

So I'm very behind in my blogging, as we have been extremely busy travelling the past few months. But here is a brief-ish review of what we did for Easter!  We spent 3 nights in Prague!  What a wonderful city. We arrived at the Hilton Prague Old Town Hotel. We could tell immediately that it was in a great location, within walking distance to most things but not right in the heart of it where noise would be an issue.  So we dropped our things and headed out to explore.  Being that it was late and we were hungry, we hopped on a tram to go to a part of town that Travers had read was a more lively local part of town, instead of staying in the touristy old town.  Unfortunately, this was the Friday before Easter and things were pretty calm and not a lot going on. But that didn't stop us from having a good time.  We found a cozy little restaurant where we got some beef goulash and some schnitzel and a couple of local Czech beers!

The next day we had a delicious breakfast at a nearby restaurant called Corso Cafe. We had eyed it the night before and knew it was going to have some good food and we weren't disappointed. We both ordered eggs, Travers' scrambled and mine over easy, and a side of sausages and fruit. To top it off some lattes and fresh squeezed orange juice. Yumm!  A great way to start our trip. And we needed the energy the food gave us as we walked a lot this day.  During breakfast we plotted our route. Travers had downloaded the Trip Advisor City Guide for Prague (great app to download that doesn't require data or wifi to use it, only downside is limited cities are available at this time). The app had a built in walking tour which we decided was the best route to take and would let us see as much of the city as possible. So off we went!

We walked from our hotel near the Palladium, down Celetna Street to our first stop, the Powder Tower! This gothic tower is one of the original 13 gates to the old town area of Prague and we walked under it several times this trip.  It also became a storage facility for the city's gun powder, hence the name.  We continued our stroll towards Old Town Square passing through many quaint cobblestone squares and down narrow streets, which finally opened up into the main square which, because of Easter, was having an Easter Market which took over the entire square! It was filled with people enjoying the live music, the food stands and the Easter festivities.

Power Tower!

We walked through the Old Town Square, peering in at the food and drink stands to see what they were selling. There was a live band playing some fun jazzy music, and everything was colorfully decorated. It was so much fun to see tons of people having a good time, enjoying the cold weather and local foods.

Old Town Square

We decided then to go up the Old Town Astronomical Clock Tower as it gave panoramic views of the city below.  It was a longer wait than we expected, because once you're up the tower, the small platform that you walk around is narrow and as typical tourists do, people would just stand there gazing out and take hundreds of photos and be so inconsiderate that others were waiting behind them. So we waited and waited, and finally when it was our turn to get out onto the platform, we, as we've learned from the European pushy people, we shoved our way through, taking photos as quickly as I could (Big shout out to my new camera that has a panoramic photo option that takes amazing panoramas...Thanks Mom and Dad!). So I got all the panoramic photos I needed to within a matter of minutes and were around that tower and heading back down in no time! Here are a few shots I ended up with.

Clock Tower

Astronomical Clock

From there, we walked through the Jewish Quarter, then across the Vltava River, on the bridge next to the famous Charles Bridge so we could see the Charles Bridge across the way.

Just on the other side of the Charles Bridge is the Lesser Town. It is just below the Prague Castle and to our luck was having its own Easter Market as well!  By this time it was around mid-day and we were getting hungry. At several of the food stalls, there was a couple large portions of roasted pig on a spit.  You would tell the guy how many grams you wanted and he would go and carve off a chunk for you and charge you by weight.  Travers and I shared a large piece which came with some sliced bread and mustard. Delish!

After lunch and strolling through Lesser Town, we decided to cross back to the Old Town side via the Charles Bridge. Named after King Charles IV, it is a pedestrian bridge that connects the Old Town and Lesser Town and is used every day by tons of tourists and locals alike.  We crossed slowly as it was packed with people, passing by many street artists and vendors, and watching as several boats went underneath the bridge. Finally making it to the other side, we looked back at the large Prague Castle, which we had decided to save for the next day.

Getting tired from all the walking, and cold from the cold weather, we popped into a local brewery that Travers had read about, for a couple cold unpasteurized beers. These beers come directly from the barrel or tank so the bars are typically called Tankovna's meaning directly from the tank.  It was so delicious but the service was slow, so we left in search of another one.  We found another tankovna and sat at the bar, ordering two Pilsner Urquell's from the tap. I'm not usually a big beer drinker, but these were so tasty that I don't think I will like beer any other way.

We eventually headed back towards the Old Town Square to get some more food and enjoy the entertainment.  There was more music being played and we enjoyed some freshly made potato chips (they put a potato on the end of a drill and push it through a slicer to make the chips, then dunk them in boiling oil) and some candied almonds before heading back to our hotel.

That evening, we went to dinner at a small restaurant in Old Town, having some hearty meat dishes and more Czech beers and watching some Czech football. We then headed out to Karlovy Lazne, one of the most popular disco clubs in town. Unfortunately when we got there, it was filled with young kids and smelled like a combination of old beer and vomit. ugh. Needless to say, we didn't last long. We had a couple drinks, tried not to touch too many icky surfaces, then eventually called it a night.

Easter Sunday, we started again at the Easter Market in Old Town where we had some local freshly made sugary pastries. Then we headed to the metro station to take the metro and then a tram to the Prague Castle.  This castle is comprised of a large cathedral and many surrounding buildings that make up the entire complex.  Travers and I explored the grounds and the large cathedral which had the highest ceilings I think we've ever seen in a cathedral before.

After taking in as much of the grounds as we could, we walked out to a lookout point where we could see the rest of the city below us. Braving the cold weather and wind that was blowing, we were able to get a few good pics of the city.

From the castle, we headed back through Lesser Town and towards Old Town, stumbling across the Lennon Wall, a wall covered with graffiti in tribute to John Lennon.

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We had lunch at a small little restaurant we randomly picked (yes, we can do random restaurants sometimes) and then wandered through the city, taking in as much of the architecture as possible and trying to keep ourselves warm by drinking local Czech beers and mulled wine.  And that evening, we had dinner at Bellvue Restaurant, the number one rated restaurant on Trip Advisor in Prague.  We both opted for the prix fixe menu with wine pairing and we were not disappointed!  The food was absolutely delicious and not too over the top pretentious. The waiter made us feel very comfortable and was really helpful in describing the wines and the food.  Plus, we had a great view of the Charles Bridge and the Prague Castle through the front restaurant windows.

After dinner, we walked through the town, admiring the buildings all lit up at night, taking in our last few moments of Prague.  We ended the night with some beers at a nearby Irish pub where a band was playing some great American hits and several groups of stag and hen parties were taking place.









We left the next morning to fly back to Geneva. Now we have Czech-ed Prague off the list!