Prague for May.
"To Prague for the May holidays. "
How do people spend the long weekend in early May? Yes, in different ways, according to possibilities and wishes. In our case, the prospect of spending a week in the country did not inspire, the premonition of cold days did not deceive us, so we decided to take a beer tour to Prague. I want to emphasize that we went for a walk, to eat and drink fresh live beer, and sightseeing, visiting museums and exhibitions has never been an end in itself, but went in addition to the simple joys of life. ; ))
I looked at the prices for tickets to Prague and accommodation in this glorious city on various search engines and was a little puzzled - the price was too unattractive, but what's there - everything came out stupidly expensive. But we are not used to retreat and luck smiled at us. The OneTwoTrip website has the option of booking tickets + a hotel with a 30% discount for the tour. So I chose the Mercure Hotel in Prague 1, close to the Florence train station and walking distance to all the main attractions of Prague.
Air Baltic flight with a transfer in Riga and a short connection. Check-in 5 days before departure is free of charge or immediately after buying a ticket for money with a choice of seats. Our fare included only 8 kg hand luggage. And it turned out to be quite enough for a week's stay. It is better to enter the cabin among the first to calmly attach your suitcase or bag, the last passengers walked around the cabin in search of a place for their luggage. But there is + that you do not have to wait until the baggage is unloaded on arrival. They didn’t give food on the plane, but they offered drinks and a snack for payment. The flights were not long, we didn’t get tired. In Riga, everything is simple and clear with a transfer transition. From Riga to Prague, we flew on a small Embrayer turboprop.
Before visiting a friendly forum, I bought two half-price Prague passes. They were very useful to us.
In Prague, buses to the metro stop right at the exit from the airport. We traveled on route 119. The metro is very easy to navigate, there are only 3 branches and everything is clear.
The Mercur Hotel is located on Teshnov Street, 300 meters from the Florence metro station. Trams and buses stop nearby. It takes 5-7 minutes to walk to the Powder Gate, and there are the Old Town, Wenceslas and other squares and sights of the Old Town nearby.
We arrived at the hotel at 2 pm, we were immediately settled. Room 301, small, overlooking the courtyard, it was quiet. The ceilings are high, the bathroom is large, with a bathtub where we splashed daily. A tiny (15 g) bar of soap and the same tiny volume of gel and shampoo were replenished daily, towels were changed. The bed was changed after 3 days. The bed linen is of good quality, very clean. The pillows are terrible - large, but not filled. Doubly not folded - not comfortable, it's unrealistic to sleep on a flat bed. Covered up. There is a safe (free of charge) and a minibar for money. Mineral water is also paid. Prague has good soft water, the skin is smoothed and not dried after a bath or shower.
Breakfast was included in the room rate. Quite a decent and sufficient choice. Hot changed daily, 4 types of cheeses, with white and blue mold, pates, salads. Sweet also pleased, especially strudel with apples and poppy seeds. We liked the food!
There is a Russian-speaking lady at the reception, very friendly. She solved all the questions and told how to get where to go. She gave me a map of Prague. The hotel is in excellent condition, everything is clean. Free Wi-Fi in the room. 4 Russian channels on TV.
The price of accommodation is quite high, our tour with a flight came out cheaper than just staying when booking on the hotel website or another booking site.
We traveled around Prague on foot and by transport. Interestingly, if we had a travel card, we never met the controllers in a week. When we took the funicular to Petř í n Hill, they only showed the travel card at the entrance. The pass is also valid on trains in the Prague region. If you travel further, then the price of travel through the territory of Prague will be deducted from the ticket price. In general, the thing is convenient, at any time you can take a tram or metro without calculating the travel time.
We passed the center of Prague almost all by different routes, we were on the Old Town Square 6 times, we watched Orloi's performance at the Town Hall three times. They also ate a trdelnik with ice cream, delicious, but for a couple of times.
We walked on the Charles Bridge every day, found different weather, once had dinner on the terrace, looking at the running waters of the Vltava.
Twice we went up the funicular to Petř í n Hill, we walked in the park there, we didn't climb the tower. We visited the monastery restaurant Peklo twice. It is located in a dungeon, it has a very colorful interior and excellent cuisine. Boar knee, roast duck with cabbage and dumplings and our monastery dark beer - it's super tasty!!!
We went to the museum of mini-railroads. Who is in the subject - very interesting! Huge layouts with moving trains, arrows switch, the computer controls the movement of trains, day turns into night, lighting turns on, windows light up in houses, street lights light up - super! They take schoolchildren and kids there on an excursion. Adults are also very cool !! !
And just a day later, on Wenceslas Square, we accidentally ended up in a mini railway restaurant. There, a steam locomotive with wagons along the rails drives up to each table, and in the wagons your order is glasses of beer. Very cool! There I tried the Tatar beef steak. It's fresh! raw ground beef with a raw egg. It is served with a separate plate with spices - salt, pepper, adjika, ketchup, mayonnaise, herbs and seasonings, + hot croutons and onion-garlic. Everything is mixed to taste and eaten with garlic-smeared toast. Tasty !
We were in the pub at Fleck. It was stuffy and very noisy in the hall, we moved to the terrace on the street. There are large wooden tables and benches under large trees. Accordionists are playing, waiters are running around with mugs of beer and glasses of Becherovka. People order Boar's knee, duck, sausages and other sweets. We ordered cheese spread with onions and croutons and dark branded beer, It was colorful! It's cool to watch. When people order a dish for themselves and they bring huge portions......
We walked around Hradchany, wandered into various interesting places where we didn’t plan to go.
We rode on a pleasure boat along the Vltava, we liked it very much. We passed two locks, sailed to Vyshegrad. The trip was accompanied by an excursion in four languages. We told about everything that sailed past. We drank beer and coffee.
One day we went to Dresden. My review https://www. tury. ru/otzyv/id/209902-germaniya-drezden .
We also went to Karlstejn on our own. At the main station we bought tickets for an electric train to Karlstejn. Taking into account the ticket for two, the ticket is 123 kroons, round-trip. It takes 40 minutes to drive in a beautiful train car, not at all like ours, eh. tickets were checked here. From the station you need to walk to the town of Karlstejn about 2 km. The town itself is a street with houses going uphill to the castle itself. The castle stands on a hill, it offers beautiful views of the surroundings. The road is quite difficult for the elderly, all the time uphill. There is an alternative - a ride on a cart drawn by a pair of horses. When we climbed, we saw a couple of such carts.
The castle is very beautiful! It is arranged in tiers.
In preparation, I used the site http://pragagid. ru/karlstejn-2675. Below is the source from the site:
"Karlš tejn is a Gothic royal castle and a national cultural monument that embodies Czech statehood. It is located thirty kilometers from Prague on a high limestone mountain above the Berounka River, surrounded by forests. Karlstejn was erected in the 14th century on the initiative of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor empire and the king of the Czech Republic, according to the project of Matthew of Arras, to store state relics and regalia. The castle was built on the principle of a stepped arrangement of buildings. Each subsequent building of the architectural ensemble towered above the previous one, and at the top - the Big Tower with the chapel of the Holy Cross, in which the royal relics.
Karlš tejn consists of two castles: Upper and Lower. The upper castle includes the Great Tower (Velk? v?? ), the Imperial Palace (C? sa? sk? pal? c), the Marian Tower (Mari? nsk? v?? ) with the Church of the Virgin Mary (kostel Panny Marie). Lower - Lower castle with a large courtyard, burghry (Purkrabstv? ) and a gate to which the road leads. At the lowest point of the castle there is a well tower (Studni? n? v?? ) with a well 80 m deep. Thus, the legend says: a bloody lady lived in the castle, who killed 14 people. And during the Hussite wars, the supporters of Jan Hus besieged the fortress and destroyed its fortifications. "-
We dined in a castle restaurant, we really liked the dishes - my favorite duck and pork in wine with mushrooms, with a dark "Goat". All this with a view of the castle! Definitely recommend!!!!!!
Photos of Karlstein here https://www. tury. ru/my/gallery. php? id=331564 .
One more palace has been added to our piggy bank, we visited the summer residence - Troy Palace.
Troja Castle (Trojsk? z? mek) or Troja Castle (Z? mek Troja) is an elegant baroque palace that is one of the most beautiful summer residences in the Czech capital. It is located in the Troy region, on the northern outskirts of Prague along the Vltava River. The building was built by order of Count Sternberg, one of the most prominent aristocrats of those times. And he entrusted this construction to the architect Mate. The classic villas of Italy have become a great role model.
Having been inside the palace, one cannot ignore the imperial hall, painted by the painter Godin. Among the other paintings by the Dutch artist, "Personification of Justice" should be noted. And in the Chinese halls there is a collection of ceramics, as well as wall paintings of the 19th century. The two-flight spectacular staircase in the castle garden was built in 1703, and it is decorated with statues on various mythological subjects. There are beautiful gardens on the territory of the palace. This whole complex was created by Mate, who created everything in the French Baroque style. When tourists want to take a look at the picturesque view of this mini-Versailles, they can visit the greenhouses located near the Vltava River at the very end of the garden.
How to get there? Take metro to Nadrazi Holesovice station and then bus 112 to stop Zoologick? zahrada. "-http://pragagid. ru/trojsky-zamek-2360
You can also go to the zoo there.
This is how a week passed in Prague. We didn’t manage to do much, although there were Wishlist. There is a reason to return!
