The alarm was as ever unwelcome at 5am but we were off on us holidays, so we went with it. We left the hotel at 5.35am, drove the 100 feet to the Maple Parking site, dropped the car, and got on the minibus to the terminal.
Security was relatively quick and easy, so we headed straight to Pret for some breakfast – I had porridge with tea, water and a muffin; Matt had a prosciutto, cheese & tomato baguette, pain au raisins and orange juice, which came to around £18.
We chilled in the terminal for a while, where I also popped into Accessorize and got a few headbands and some new gloves, and also to Boots for some tweezers (I forgot mine) and a Coke Zero for Matt.
Soon enough, our gate was announced, and we wandered down to the gate. We boarded slightly late but took off only 10 minutes late, which wasn’t so bad. On the flight, I played on the Nintendo Switch, and Matt watched Game of Thrones, before we landed in Prague at 11.20am local time (1 hour ahead).
We got on the shuttle to the terminal building, and while passport control was fairly slow, we got through easily enough and called an Uber to take us to the city centre. We were on our way by 12pm, and arrived at our hotel – the Grandior – at 12.25pm. The Uber was 375.90kc/£12.79 which for a 25 minute journey was not at all bad.
Our room at the hotel was not yet ready, so we left our luggage with reception and headed off for an explore.
First on the agenda was the Jewish Quarter. Everything was closed (it was a Saturday, and I expected this) but it was nice to see.
We saw a hub of activity over the way, so wandered over, and found the Old Town Square and Christmas Market. This was next on the list so a fortunate discovery!
We saw the Kafka statue/monument in any case!
Old Synagogue/Jewish Museum - one thing that really stuck with me during my research of this trip was the fact that Hitler had earmarked this Ghetto to become a museum of an 'extinct race' after the mass execution had been completed. What a horrendous thought?!
We spent quite a lot of time here, taking in our first European Christmas Market, and the sites that I knew to look out for.
Church of the Virgin Mary Before Tyn
Astronomical Clock – which we saw chime at 3pm (which was, as the reviews say, underwhelming, but a must do nonetheless).
It was about lunchtime now so we decided to grab a sausage. We both went for paprika (herb was sold out; and ‘when in Rome’) which came to 95kc/£3.18 each which was a decent deal compared to UK market prices.
I also spotted a place selling Mulled Wine so grabbed one of those for 70kc/£2.34.
As a sweet treat, I had spotted waffles on a stick dipped in chocolate and sprinkles and I had to have one of those (to get rid of the paprika taste if nothing else!) but Matt and I did share one as there was something else on our list. This was 120kc/£4 and well worth it!
The next thing happened to be a local delicacy – Chimney Cake! We opted to have ours plain (no sauce, fruit or ice cream) and this was 70kc/£2.34. It was ok but the least favourite thing that we had tasted today whereas we had expected to be obsessed with it on paper. Worth a try though!
After we were happy that we had ‘done’ Old Town Square, we headed to our next stop – Charles Bridge – where typically, the heavens opened and it poured from when we stepped on to when we stepped off.
Once we left the bridge, we walked through Kampa Park, to get back over the river to see the Dancing House hotel, and its unique architecture.
Slav Island
Dancing House Hotel - we almost stayed here but decided that it didn't seem worth the extra £120 per night when compared with our hotel.
We were cold and wet by this point, so decided to Uber to our next stop – Wenceslas Square/New Town. The Uber was 76.45kc/£2.56. This area was not what we expected, but we enjoyed a wander through the Market nonetheless, and the atmosphere was really nice.
We continued just wandering around the city, and ended back at Old Town Square.
On our wander, we found several of these incredible sweet shops which were themed to mines or sailing ships! So cool!
We decided to call it a day at this point. We walked back to the hotel, via M&S (we’re always intrigued by M&S abroad) and Lidl (a large bottle of water for the room was 5kc/16p) and then got back to the hotel to check in and paid our city tax of 84kc/£2.81.
We were so pleased/impressed by this hotel and our room. It was £65 per night to stay here, including breakfast, and it was of a very high standard. It was a 5*, so I expected ‘nice’ but I’m always a bit sceptical in Europe of the star rating system, but this was lovely! I’m glad as we spent quite a lot of time here in the end.
Once in the room, we dropped the cases, and then headed back out again to the McDonalds about 3 doors down. I had nuggets, Matt had a cheese King Burger, and we each had a McFlurry. This came to around £14 but I don’t have the exact details to hand. We took it back to the room, climbed into bed, and enjoyed our little feast.
King Burger
We spent the rest of the night just chilling, which was perfect after a long day and a busy December leading up to this trip. I wrote up my notes from the day, sorted photos, chatted to my family back home, and watched a documentary on BBC World about the Silk Road, which was interesting.
And that’s the end of day!