I met up with Caity at the Prague airport where we got on a bus towards the city center. Prague was much colder than Greece and Turkey, and I was extremely unprepared for the coldest portion of spring break. As soon as we stepped off the tram, we came face to face with Frank Gehry’s Dancing Houses. Caity and I aren’t huge fans of Gehry, but I suppose I’ll post a picture for my architecture friends that are.
Once we checked into our hotel, we only had about 2 hours of daylight left to enjoy the beautiful city, but we were so hungry that we decided to put our sightseeing on hold. We found a small, cozy restaurant (with the help of TripAdvisor) that served traditional Czech foods and beer. I ordered the bacon stuffed rabbit at the recommendation of our waiter. I will admit I was a little hesitant, but it was delicious. Also, I think the Czech beer I had is my new favorite beer. After paying only 271 crowns (about 10 USD) for our dinner, we made our way up a nearby hill where we saw two beautiful gothic towers calling out name. We found the Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul standing on the hill overlooking all of Prague. The church, like many buildings in Prague, was covered in black residue from WWII bombings, something I find very beautiful. The church, though massive and towering on the outside, was small on the inside, and had walls covered in colorful floral paintings. Unfortunately, mass was about to start, so we weren’t able to stay long before getting kicked out. We wandered around the grounds of the church, which had a huge cemetery. Caity loves cemeteries, so we stayed for a bit.
We descended the hill as the sun went down, and chilly Prague became tundra Prague. That didn’t stop us from walking along the river, where we could see the Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral lit up in the distance. We made it to Charles Bridge, where we found lots of street vendors and musicians. It was very peaceful, and for a moment I even forgot about how cold I was. Once we got to the other side of the bridge, we realized most things were closed… except cheesy tourist gift shops (which Caity and I both love). Caity’s family is of Czech heritage, so she was determined to go to every gift shop until she found the perfect gifts for her family. I didn’t mind because gift shops were warm.
The next morning we woke up early to find breakfast and go to the Prague Castle. Unlike most cities we’ve visited, Prague was pretty lacking in the “cute little bakery” department. We ended up eating breakfast at McDonald's like the American tourists we were. The Prague Castle is at the top of a hill overlooking the city, so we climbed up the massive staircase and found ourselves at the entrance. The “castle” looked a bit more Renaissance Palace than Medieval Castle, we blamed palimpsest and just went with it (something Rome has taught us to do). Our first stop was St. Vitus Cathedral, which is in the center of the Castle’s courtyard. By this point I think everyone knows how much I love Gothic churches, so this shouldn’t really come as a surprise, but it blew me away. The vaults were tall and simple, glowing with the light coming from the clerestory windows. I was speechless. This may just be better than Notre Dame… I still can’t choose between the two. Anyway, after the initial oh my god moment, we walked around the church where we found beautiful art and tombs of famous Czechs. The stained glass looked good from every angle,; it was hard to tear my eyes away.
Caity managed to drag me out of the cathedral so we could go to the next portion of the castle: the Old Royal Palace. The floral tracery vaults in this space were amazing, and so different from anything you would ever see in France (the birthplace of the Gothic). The sign said no photos, but per usual, I broke the rules.
We walked further into the castle where we found the Basilica of St. George. It was a small, Romanesque church that seemed so plain in comparison to the cathedral next door. We didn’t spend much time here. We continued on to our final stop in the castle: Golden Lane. This area housed all of the medieval armor and weaponry, in addition to some of the torture equipment. Outside, the lane was lined with little shops of traditional wooden Czech toys and Easter decorations, in preparation for the upcoming holiday.
We were about to leave the castle, but then we stumbled across a toy museum. This is pretty different from most museums we’ve seen, so we decided to give it a try. The first floor was rather creepy with its abundance of old dolls. I guess Czech kids used to play with Satan dolls pretty often? They were everywhere. We saw several robots and teddy bears and baby dolls before walking upstairs, where we found an exhibit celebrating the history of Barbie. Anyone that knows Caity can probably imagine her so-excited-nearly-crying reaction. I have never seen so many Barbies in one place, and I have never seen anyone so excited about it haha.
Upon exiting the museum and the castle, we found a small stand selling Trdelník, a famous Czech dessert, which is essentially a sweet bread, coated in cinnamon sugar and swirled around a metal tube, which makes it hollow and stuffable with delicious things like chocolate and jam. We split one of the Nutella filled treats and immediately wanted another one, but we had other things to do!
After crossing Charles Bridge again, we stopped at the Medieval Torture Museum. We weren’t allowed to take pictures here, and this is one place I actually honored the request because the exhibit was so disturbing. I’ll just let you use your imagination on this one…
We continued on through the streets of Prague, looking for the Old Town Square. We passed many shops, but one struck us in particular. So you know those little wooden hatching people toys? They’re a really big deal in Prague, and we found a shop that sold hundreds of them. The traditionally painted ones were in the front, but in the back, they had all of the big foreign teams with different players hatching from one another. Much to my surprise, they had one with Razorback football players, so I got it for my dad.
After stopping in a few more warm shops, we finally found the Old Town Square, where there was an Easter Market! Many of the stalls were selling food, but the most popular item was hand painted Easter Eggs. There were so many beautiful eggs to choose from, and Caity and I went to almost every stall that was selling them. We eventually decided on a few, excited to bring them home and add them to our families’ Easter collection.
There was so much activity in the square, and lots of things to do, but we were so hungry for lunch that we decided to take a break. We sat down at a restaurant and ordered more traditional Czech food. The great thing about Prague is that meals are pretty cheap, especially for how big and filling they are. I ordered the sirloin in goulash, which was more than enough. We were so full from this lunch that we didn’t even eat dinner that night! The couple sitting at the table next to us began chatting with us once they noticed we spoke English. They were from Newcastle in the UK, and they told us they take a trip to a new city every year now that their kids are grown and gone. Prague, they said, was their new favorite, followed by Amsterdam and Copenhagen. They asked us about our future careers as architects and were so excited to see what we built in the future. I don’t think I’ve ever met a happier or friendlier bunch of people.
After lunch, we went back to the Old Town Square where we went into St. Nicholas Church, at the recommendation of our new British friends. It was small but beautiful, and followed the baroque aesthetic that we’re used to in Rome. Next, we made our way to the Tower, which provided excellent views of the Square and the city as a whole. The red roofs of each building give the city a consistent charm. At the base of the Tower stands the famous Astronomical Clock, which is colorful and bright against the black residue on the tower.
We crossed the Square and went into Our Lady before Tyn, the main attraction of the plaza whose two towers can be seen from most places in the city. Compared to the earlier St. Vitus, this all white interior was a bit underwhelming. The exterior more than makes up for it, though.
By this point we were ready to share another Trdelník, which we filled with strawberry jam this time. We wandered around the city, admiring the art nouveau style facades as the sun went down. Again we found ourselves in freezing cold Prague, shop hopping to stay warm. We made our way to the National Theatre and Philharmonic, which looked superb when lit up against the black sky. After purchasing some hot apple wine, we wandered late into the evening, exploring the quiet city without much of an agenda. This is probably the first time I’ve traveled without a strict schedule of things to see, and it was kind of nice.
The next morning, we awoke and packed our bags for the last time, realizing that we bought way too many souvenirs and that our bags were sufficiently over the weight limit for our flight home. We had a few hours before heading to the airport, so we did a bit more exploring. We crossed the river to find a park where, despite what we though with the temperature, spring was blooming on all the trees. People were out jogging and playing with their dogs, easy like Sunday morning. Nearby, we found the John Lennon Wall, which is basically a consequence-free graffiti wall that was started in the 1980s. Next, we crossed the bridge once more to get our final Trdelník, but this wasn’t just any Trdelník. This Trdelník was stuffed with apple strudel and chocolate chips, and topped with whipped cream. Caity and I had passed the shop selling these special pastries the day before, but the line was so far down the block that we decided to return when it was shorter, which just happened to be at 10 am right when they opened. Who doesn’t like apple strudel for breakfast?
Our final stop on our tour of Prague was the Alphonse Mucha Museum. Mucha is a famous Czech painter and printmaker, best known for his art nouveau style posters. Caity is absolutely obsessed with Mucha, so this was a main attraction for her. Pictures were not allowed in the museum, but I highly recommend taking some time to look up Mucha’s work. The colors are bright and the portraiture is amazing. With our time in Prague winding down, we walked to City Hall to enjoy our last glimpse of this beautiful art nouveau city before heading to the airport.
By this point I am absolutely exhausted, but not quite ready to go back to Rome. Spring Break showed me just how much of the world I have yet to see, and NEED to see. These 10 days have been the best 10 days of my life, and while souvenirs are great, it’s my memories of these cities that I really cherish. I already can’t wait for our next travel weekend, where I will be taking things solo in Budapest and Vienna. But for now, I guess I can get used to saying “Ciao” again for a while.
Number of Columns Hugged: 2
Days Since Mexican Food: 84
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Read more from Haley at https://haleywalton.wordpress.com/
To find out more about the U of A Rome Center semester program for Architecture, visit http://studyabroad.uark.edu/romecentersemester/
