23 | July | 2024 | The Cannon Family's travel blog

We managed a passible night’s sleep in the warm flat – a king size bed and lack of wriggling (but adorable) canine helped with that. Then the first real day of our travel adventure was ready to begin. We always start with the “how do we make breakfast in a foreign kitchen” game. With the exception of an unresponsive toaster, we managed our typical fried egg and cheese on (un)toasted bread Monday breakfast.

Then it was off to explore! The forecast called for thunderstorms in around lunchtime so we thought we’d get as much walking in as possible before the heavens opened. There are a few things on our list that are closed on a Monday so we needed to work around those. First, we did some recon for our evening activity – finding the dock where our boat trip would leave later on. Then we started walking along the Vlata to see what we could see. Disclaimer: even though this adventure is the Danube Road Trip, Prague isn’t actually on the Danube so we have to just pretend the big river in the middle of the city is a good substitute.

The wandering brought us to the base of the castle hill. Even though it was prime tourist hour, we opted for the climb to see one of the top visitor sights in the city. The clouds were still threatening and the air was very heavy and hot (only 27 today!) but we made it to the top of the hill and the seriously massive crowds of people who were also there for the experience. Undaunted, we got our tickets and proceeded to explore. If there’s one thing you learn from life in the UK, it is how to queue! First the longest line but the target of today’s excitement: St. Vitus Cathedral and the amazing stained glass windows.

We joined several thousand strangers in the exploration of this beautiful building. Pictures are below but I know they don’t do it justice. Luckily the stone walls helped to keep the inner space somewhat cool in the heat so we could take some time enjoying the beauty and the peace. Then back out into the heat and on to the second stop: the old Royal palace. Very basic medieval structure with a large hall and several smaller chambers off the centre (which were way too crowded and hot to take the time to read all the placards so don’t ask too many questions here!)

When we emerged again into the heat, the sun was somewhat obscured by lowering clouds and the crowds had continued to increase so we decided it was time to explore the area around the castle and possibly find someplace for lunch. We definitely wanted somewhere to duck into if the heavens opened.

Back down the hill we went to wander around on this side of the river, stopping in various shops – most of which seems to sell some kind of cannabis products! – and checking restaurant menus. We stumbled across Local which came recommended by our AirBnb hosts but the one near our flat was always way too busy to get a seat. This one was not so crowded so we settled in for some hearty Czech food: mince and cheese schnitzel for Frank (with about a pound of butter on the accompanying mashed potatoes!) and pork neck steak in mustard sauce for me. Throw in some local dark beer and ice cold cider and lunch was complete.

Food detour: pork is a big thing here. But not the kind of pork you might find in the US or UK. There are places that sell ribs, for example. But you are unlikely to find pork chops or gammon steak that may be familiar to you. Pork knuckle is more common on menus or pork knee (which I think is the same thing). I’ve had “pork steak” in some shape or another in various places. But I had to work very hard not to think about my lunch being pork NECK steak which sounds weird and potentially not very appetising. It was delicious of course but cultural differences can be a challenge to get your head around. Now back to our regularly scheduled blog post.

After lunch we continued to explore the Lesser Town which seemed to have slightly smaller crowds. Along the way we happened upon the St. Nicholas bell tower, a spot that had cropped up somewhere during all our reading on the city. As Frank is convinced that I never miss an opportunity to go up, I couldn’t disappoint and so up we went. And boy are we glad we did! After the massive crowds at the castle, it was odd to have the entire bell tower to ourselves. Built in 1755, it served as the fire watch tower for centuries We climbed the stairs and stopped in to the warder’s chambers, the belfry and the newer warders chambers. But the balcony was the real treat: completely empty with an amazing view of the entire city. Just gorgeous. A few more flights up to the gallery and we learned about how the tower was used by the Secret Police to spy on western diplomats during the communist years. Absolutely fascinating!

The rain was still threatening but hadn’t appeared so we wandered across the famous Charles Bridge which is every bit as nice as people say. Then we were back in the old town and popping into every shop that looked like it might be air conditioned. We found some lovely wooden trinkets to take home, adding to my tree collection and our Christmas tree decorations. We found ourselves back near the old town square just a minute too late to catch the chiming of the famous astronomical clock. But we are lucky that it is right around the corner from our flat so we popped in to drop off the purchases and freshen up before wandering back out to catch the clock chime at the next hour. Given the massive crowds, I confess it was a bit anticlimactic. Yes, it is an engineering marvel but still.

TNow it was snack time. We’ll be eating quite late so we need some sustenance to hold us over. Gelato for me and the ubiquitous chimney cake for Frank. It’s like a donut cylinder that you fill with ice cream and other stuff. He declared it delicious. Thus bolstered, we made another quick stop at Tesco for supplies for Tuesday breakfast (which does not involve eggs). On the way home, we popped into the original Pilsner Urquel restaurant for some refreshing beverages and watch the world go by.

Thus refreshed, we popped back to the flat to drop off the foodstuffs and freshened up for the evening’s entertainment: a jazz cruise on the Vlata! Yay! We arrived at the boat too early to board so we waited on the brewery boat next door with more beverages (Frank is trying all the Czech beers!) and then proceeded to our boat. A jazz trio played for most of the 2.5 hours (I prefer my jazz without a vocalist but she was fine.) while we enjoyed a 3 course meal (suitably altered for my GF status) and a bottle of local rose while we cruised along enjoying the scenery. It was a lovely evening. And we stayed out way past our bedtime, finally arriving back at the flat after 11pm to crash. Excellent first full day!

Data for today: