Europe Summer 2017 10/17 - Czech Republic : Prague, You're Too Beautiful and Hard to be Missed! Wunderbar!

October 05, 2017

Europe Summer 2017 10/17 - Czech Republic : Prague, You're Too Beautiful and Hard to be Missed! Wunderbar!

"It's never too late to follow your dreams,

And there's no time like present to start."
- Unknown

lovely Prague! you won't regret visiting this beautiful city :)

Day 11 - Saturday, 24 June 2017

I plan to explore the city center in Prague, Czech Republic by joining Free Walking Tour by Sandemans this morning like I had in Berlin, start from 10 AM at Old Town Square. Since I am alone and have no idea what to visit in Prague on that day so start off with this Free Walking Tour was a great option. From my friend's house I took the route where I could passing the famous Charles Bridge in Prague, so I took a tram from nearest Tram station and alight at Malostranské náměstí Station (24 CZK, 30 minutes Single Metro Ticket) then walked to the Charles Bridge. One of my reason to visit Charles Bridge because it was a filming site for Music Video from DBSK - "O"-Jung Ban Hap, my favorite :) So, this city is already on my list since long time ago and finally I can visit it!

inside the tram on my way to Charles Bridge

woowww

it's getting hot

Charles Bridge is a famous landmark and a must thing to see in Prague. It's a historic bridge, a stone Gothic bridge that connects the Old Town and Lesser Town (Malá Strana), this bridge was built in 1357 - 1402, at first several centuries it was called Stone Bridge but it's not the first Stone Bridge. Charles Bridge was built to replace the Judith Bridge that been built in 1172 yet had been badly damaged by floods in 1342.

This Charles Bridge was constructed using egg yolks that mixed into the mortar to strengthen the construction of the bridge and has survived many floods including the worst flood in 2002 that happened in the past 500 years. On each end of the bridge, there is a tower where you can climbed up to see the view of Prague. It would be very packed of people later on, so glad it was not that crowded when I arrived on that morning. There are so many pre-wedding shoot around this area, I think Prague is a romantic city for having that kind of photoshoot.

the tower

see the bride-to-be?

TVXQ was here! :D

Charles Bridge!

St. John of Nepomuk, the famous statue at Charles Bridge

another Bride that I saw

another tower at the end of Charles Bridge

hello, Prague! :)

I love Prague! Every street, corner, buildings that I passing by were too beautiful, the colors and breathtaking, it's crowded of course but the surroundings were just so lovely, the weather was really nice in that morning and the sky was really blue, perfect! And in here are also cheaper comparing with another European countries. From there I walked to Old Town Square, the meeting point is in front of the Cartier shop and Czech tourism office centre, just find the red umbrella and uniform. I haven't registered yet so I just register on the spot.

Warning. There is a money changer named Chequepoint where I saw at Youtube videos and even the tour guide telling us, don't ever exchange your money there because the rate is too low, you can actually get higher rate at another Money Changer, they stated 0% Commission in a very big sign but basically their rate is so low.

the ambience was just so nice

passing Old Clock

DON'T exchange your money there! located at Old Town Square

beautiful Old Town Square, with St. Nichols Church building on the left side

haha!

there you go! red umbrella

We will get a ticket number as usual to divide people into a group, in this 3 hours tour, we will see some places. Start from Old Town Square where the guide telling us about this beautiful church, Church of Our Lady before Týn which dominates Old Town Prague with Baroque interior is a Gothic Church, the twin towers can be seen all over the Prague and actually it's not symmetrical, one is larger than another. In front of this church we can see Statue of Jan Hus, the large monument in the middle of Old Town Square in Prague.

Church of Our Lady before Týn

the tower size were different

Statue of Jan Hus

I love the colors

After that we were heading to Prague Astronomical Clock, another famous thing to see in Prague. It is a medieval astronomical clock located in Prague and the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world which first installed in 1410. Walking again and we saw House of the Black Madonna & Museum of Cubism, this building is a cubist style which is unique in Prague. The Powder Tower is one of the original city gates with Gothic Style that separates Old Town from New Town.

sooo crowded

Prague Astronomical Clock

looks like Dementor at Harry Potter movie

House of the Black Madonna & Museum of Cubism

Taking a break at one of restaurant but I prefer to walking around instead of sitting at the restaurant I bought myself a magnet fridge. Visiting few places more like Wenceslas Square, Old New Synagogue & the Golem, Rudolfinum, etc. Old New Synagogue & the Golem is one of the most valuable Jewish historical buildings in Europe also the oldest European synagogue which still serving its purpose and one of the oldest ones in the world. From there we went to Rudolfinum – Czech Philharmonic, designed in the neo-renaissance style. At the end of tour as usual you might give some tips for the tour guide.

Our guide showed how hard Czech language is

Rudolfinum – Czech Philharmonic

Group Picture of Free Walking Tour

Me and a new friend from Poland where met on the same group of this Free Walking Tour decided to explore more and get some lunch. We had Czech cuisine which taste delicious, Goulash Soup in Bread, it's a meat and vegetable stew. Explore around and I decided to went back through Charles Bridge again and it's getting very crowded. I went back to my friend's house by tram to get my backpack.

Anyway Czech language is so difficult because it's kind of unbelievable to see so many consonants in one word, wow but it's real. My friend is from Slovekia and he said people from Slovekia could understand when Czech speak but not in vice-versa. Czechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe until they declared independence from Austro-Hungarian Empire then become Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.

yum! Goulash Soup in Bread

Me and Aska from Poland :)

keep pedaling to get drinks

Czech money

70 CZK for Original Flavour

see how crowded the bridge are

It's been a pity because I had such a short time to explore Prague, I still need to visit Prague Castle if I am going again to Prague, well, next time I will stay longer. My bus leaving for Vienna at 4.30 PM, from Prague UAN Florenc, I used Regiojet Bus (11.9 Euro) from Prague to Vienna and the journey took about 4 hours. The Bus arriving in Vienna U2 Stadion, Bus Terminal Stadion Center, Engerthstrasse, Austria around 8.35 PM, meet my friend from Couchsurfing at station and she inviting me to join her friend's homecoming which was a new experience for me and that was really fun. I remember and it gave me inspiration for snack because they serve crackers with mayo and some cucumber or cheese, well, it's simple yet delicious. Anyway, I was so dumb because I left my bag at my friend's apartment on that night so I went back there haha. After I got my bag where all of my money and passport inside that bag, phew, we went home.