Prague ..a fairy tale rendezvous

Prague is the medieval city unhindered by all the wars happened around the world. It brings you right into fairy tale with beautiful castle at the center. The perfect place to stroll around and breathe in the city peacefully. Atleast 4 days are needed in prague itself let alone go day tours around prague. Its not a place to run around with time limit.

If Prague is gonna be a small stop in your Europe trip give it some thought and enough time. Ideally I would love to stay a week at each place at least but alas with limited leave plans its always have been a dream.

Stay:
We booked our room through AirBnB. The place was awesome and walking distance to the railway station and the old town square. The host was really good and stocked the apartment well including coffee beans with coffee machine which made our day. With cooking for kids atleast being our priority we got our groceries within 1 km.
The apartment had a great view of the museum and the park as well. Just the trudge from railway station to the apartment with luggage was difficult as it was too near to take transport .

Transport :
There are buses, metros and trams available connecting the whole city. Ticket information provides you the different options of buying tickets. Based on our plans we took either sometimes a 1 day ticket as we planned to walk to many places nearby including our 5 year old son who did the long walk from castle to old town. Maps we used extensively for directions.

Our trip to Prague was during the christmas time so we spent considerable amount of time around christmas markets trying out all new food and different wines. That time could be used to explore prague more based on the season.

Day 1.

Prague Castle , Stroll around the city.

Our main and only attraction for the day was the castle. We took a tram to the castle from our apartment but walking to the tram station in the inclined cobble stones with a toddler and a baby took a toll but was enjoyable. I didn’t bring stroller out as it would get difficult in cobblestone paths but I realized should have brought it would have been easier for me as the baby was sleeping a lot in the super cold weather.

There are multiple circuits to take ticket within the prague castle check out Castle site for more details on the lastest ticketing. We took Circuit B as we knew for sure we wont be able to cover everything with young kids and we didnt want to rush around.

The first breathtaking site is of the cathedral. The fine details and the architecture is really amazing and . As a medival age cathedral the stained glass windows brings out the holiness of the place.

We took time and visited the royal palace the goldan lane but missed others as it got really cold for the day .

There was a restaurant in the castle complex which served veg food as well. We had a delicious pasta and cheese platter while the kids munched on some french fries and home made porridge everyone ending with a chocolate cake.

After we finished with the castle we decided to take a long walk and walk from the castle to the old town and subsequently our apartment. This was the best decision. We walked through beautiful views , watched and petted swans and visited the narrowest street with a traffic light.

Day 2

Old town Square, Astronomical Clock, Lennon Wall, Cruise

We started the day pretty slow owning with effects from fast paced berlin , travel and walking around the castle and the city previous day.

Walked to the old town square to watch the astronomical clock and do some souvenir shopping and visit the christmas markets with kids and have some local food around.
The kids absolutely loved the astronomical clock and the figures which come around.

The square was crowded when the clock struck. Had some great food and walked over to the lennon wall.

While we were on the way back we decided on a whim to take the cruise to watch around.. it was nice night cruise with wine and watch around but it was quite dark . I would suggest to take the cruise in day time.

Day 3

Petrin Tower, Planetarium, Pasternoster Elevator

We messed up our path to petrin tower and took a detour and finally reached it by walking up the hill instead of taking a furnicular. But the path was pleasant in the morning.
I choose to take a lift with the baby and my elder son while my husband walked up the tower and we all walked down to see the views .

After Petrin tower we went to the planetarium for the kids to enjoy. Both my kids had a blast. they loved the rover model checking weights in different planets and trying out everything that’s laid out. We spent enough time in the planetarium to stay warm and cozy as well.

Ended the day with the pasternoster elevator in the city hall and it was an amazing thing to watch. I was scared at first as I was carrying a baby while my husband took my elder son. Kids will love it jumping in and out the elevator.

Christmas Markets

Christmas markets are something we enjoyed in Prague. As we went with friends we had some help in taking care of kids to explore the city at night. The hot wine is amazing along with the hot honey wine. There were loads of delicious food vegetarian in the markets and I tried everything I could lay my hands on.