Day 7 - 21Jul2015
Headed to another country today!
We woke up early to check out and left the hotel at 815. Made our way to the meeting point which was really near our hotel, and had some pastry for breakfast while waiting for the shuttle van that we booked to come.
We booked under Bean Shuttle for 800CZK per person. We shared the van with 2 other couples cos the van can fit 8 passengers. The service is really good - the driver was really friendly and we were given bottles of water, which is pretty useful for holidays. And the driver drove really really quickly so we only took 2.5h to reach Cesky Krumlov! Also, I never knew that you didn't have to go through customs going from one EU country to another. I was so fascinated haha.
We were dropped off right outside the place we booked called Residence Muzeum Vltavinu, which is above a museum, in one of those traditional houses of the town. We didn't check in yet as it was before the check in time so we left our luggage at the reception and went off to explore the town.
The town is sooooooooo pretty. No wonder worldofwanderlast rated it number 1. It was flooded with tourists though.
Headed out again to explore more! We did our research and 'Bon Bon' was highly recommended so we paid a visit. Unfortunately the chocolate ice cream had something spicy in it which we don't like so we settled for 'hot chocolate' and white choc ice cream. The hot chocolate was suuuuper thick and more like melted chocolate but super delicious.
And we ate trdelnik which is traditional Czech pastry that's also super good. So we were full and skipped a proper lunch.
Next stop was the Cesky Krumlov castle. It was a very tiring climb up but worth it for the amazing views. You can see the entire town on the meander here!
There were also bears at the castle which we only knew to look for because of our (too) extensive research.
And then we went back to our hotel again before setting out for dinner. The waitresses didn't speak English at all so it was a huge struggle, but the food was amazing. I'm in love with the salads here. That dish of roast meat with white/red cabbage and potato dumplings is traditional Czech cuisine!
After dinner, we just walked around the town since it was still bright and a lot emptier as the daytrippers went back so it was more enjoyable. We walked out of the town to find the bus stop to know where to go the next morning. The receptionist at the Residence said we won't take more than 10min but we took 15min without luggage lol!
On the way back, we kept stopping for our photography competition hehe. It's really very very pretty and I definitely recommend everyone to stay a night at Cesky Krumlov if you're in Czech!
Day 8 - 22Jul2015
Left Cezky Krumlov and had a most torturous walk/hike to the bus stop with our heavy luggage. We had booked bus tickets with Student Agency, which is really worth it because it is cheap + free wifi + free drinks!
The journey to Prague requires a stopover at České Budějovice so we decided to spend a few hours there. You can leave your luggage at the counter for a small fee and you could explore the mall which the bus stops at, called Mercury centrum, or walk to the town square.
We chose to walk which was a good idea because it was a very pretty town with alot of interesting shops. Tiger was like our favourite shop in Czech haha! So many pretty things!
Unfortunately, we only allocated 2h in this town so we hurried back to catch our next bus to Prague! We had a huge struggle getting from the bus stop from Prague to our hotel because these tram stops are not obvious at all, and we didn't know where to buy the tram tickets. I was really panicking because it was a ridiculously hot day (the temperature was 35deg Celsius!!!) + we had so much luggage + everyone was tired from the bus rides and I was supposed to be in charge of the Czech leg of the trip. Thankfully, we managed to ask the storekeeper of the Tabak stall (like a convenience store?) and she directed us to the train station to buy our tickets. We saw a few dubious looking people at the bus stop, which was a stark contrast from the very safe haven of Austria.
Another struggle was carrying our luggage up the tram, but thankfully some really nice Czech people helped us! And this was my first time taking a tram! We alighted at our stop and this was the start of the biggest struggle of that day, which was dragging our luggage uphill to our residence along Nerudova Street. It was so so so tiring. We looked so pitiful that people even stopped to ask if we needed help haha! I haven't done so much exercise in a long while and we were really sweating like pigs when we arrived.
So our residence in Prague is a boutique hotel called The Golden Wheel Boutique Hotel and it was amazing. The moment we reached, the guy got orange juice served to us as we were so visibly on the verge of collapsing. He then introduced us to the place and carried our luggage to the room, which thankfully had aircon! And the room was really gorgeous. Especially the toilet! I have no idea why there was a need for 2 basins but I loved it. My parents slept on the sofa bed below since it was hard for them to climb up the stairs.
My sister and I shared the bed on the upper floor. Also, as our room is on the top floor of those traditional houses, the ceiling of the upper floor is sloping so my dad was like 'This place is made for midgets!' hahaha.
When we were about the leave, the receptionist patiently explained to us all the interesting things to do in Prague. The service was really impeccable. We had a late lunch at this place called Red Lion. Food was good, as usual. And those potato dumplings again!
So we walked down Nerudova Street and kept walking straight and ended up on Charles Bridge even though we were only supposed to visit it the next day. It was less crowded than I imagined. The statues on it are really quite spectacular, and there's a lot of performances and shops on the bridge.
On the other side of the bridge is Karlovy Street, which is apparently a huge tourist trap haha. And you just have to walk straight to reach the Old Town of Prague and a lot of typical tourist sites like the Astronomical Clock and Tyn Church.
And then we walked more and ended up in New Town, aka Wenceslas Square! This was planned for another day so we just went to the supermarket to get some drinks and fruits.
By then, it was around 730pm so we decided to head back to our hotel, going past Charles Bridge again, which was strangely more crowded in the evening than the afternoon.
That's Prague Castle in the background
Stopped for a very late and light dinner along one of the restaurants on Nerudova Street.
Day 9 - 23Jul2015
Day 2 in Praha!
The weather was awesomeeeeee. Finally some cooling weather.
We had breakfast at the hotel which was really good. Traditional ham and cheese stuffs, bread and this super awesome chocolate tart.
First stop was Prague Castle which was just a few steps away from my hotel. View from the top.
We bought tickets for circuit A which covers the most attractions, and an audio guide for my sister and me. First up was St Vitus Cathedral, which is gothic style. I was so amused that there were literally gargoyles sticking out lol. We spent more than an hour inside because its huuuge plus and there were a lot of points on the audio guide which we had to use since we paid for it!
Then watched the ceremonial change of guard that occurs at 12noon everyday. We were being typical kiasu Singaporeans and were there by 1135 so we were at the front hehee.
Next was the Old Royal Palace. The castle is very confusing though as it is made up of many segments that dont have the same style. So this palace looked like Schonbrunn palace in Vienna because the same Empress Maria Theresa of the Hofburg Empire ruled both.
After that was Rosenberg Palace, then Golden Lane which is a street of houses that are super tiny and housed the people who worked in the castle. There was an exhibition on the many types of armours, which made me wonder how people even move in that, much less fight.
We finished touring most of the castle at about 3pm. Lunch was at 4pm because the service here is suuuuuper slow. Stark contrast from the insane efficiency of the Austrians. Traditional Czech cuisine again.
We went back to the hotel for while, then headed to Kampa Island because it supposedly has a lot of quaint shops but I found none of that. It was more like a park along the river. Nevertheless, awesome views. That's Charles Bridge in the background.
These strange and humongous baby statues are by a very famous Czech sculptor called David Cerny.
And then we crossed the other bridge (because everyone was sick of Charles Bridge and the crowd) to the National Theater, a very magnificent building.
Walked straight down and somehow ended up in Wenceslas Square again. It was shopping madness after this and I bought 5 items from this shop called Gate because everything was super cheap!!!
It was really late when we finished shopping so we had a 5min dinner at this Gelato place that also sells sandwiches because we went in at 855 and they were closing already.
Then the long torturous walk up the slope of Nerudova street back to the hotel. Too much walking on this day.
Day 10 - 24Jul2015
Praha day 3, and last night of the trip!
Had breakfast at the hotel again. It was chocolate cake instead of tart today but it was still good. We crossed the bridge besides Charles Bridge and headed to Josefov, the jewish quarter. We bought the ticket without Old New synagogue because there were already 6 places to visit and we wanted to spend sufficient amount of time in each place.
The first place was called Spanish synagogue. followed by 4 places that were all in the same area - Old Jewish Cemetery of graves dating back to 1400s, Pinkas synagogue that has names of those who perished in WWII all over the walls, Klausen synagogue and ceremonial hall about the daily life. After lunch, the final place was Maisel synagogue about the settlement of Jews in Bohemia. The whole tour was a very very insightful look into Jews, like how they have been constantly discriminated against. Imagine having to wear a badge on your tshirt to signify you're a Jew, then getting kicked out, and later exterminated.
Unfortunately, pictures aren't allowed (you have to pay an extra fee) so no pics :(
Lunch.
After that was shopping all the way in Wenceslas again!
Oh the Starbucks toilet is very interesting. You have to buy a drink and get the toilet code from the receipt in order to enter! Such a smart way of preventing people from coming in just to use the toilets. Luckily we did buy something so we could enter.
Street of Wenceslas.
The National Museum, in Wenceslas.
Walked back to the side of Vtlava river which our hotel is on via the non-Charles Bridge hahaha. Found dinner at this Italian restaurant that served AMAZING FOOD, and the bill was pretty cheap at ~35sgd. Czech is generally pretty cheap and much cheaper than Singapore, while Austria was a lot more similar in price to Singapore. I think this was my favourite meal throughout the whole trip.
We went back to Kampa Island to find the Lennon wall. by the time we reached, it was quite dark, around 930pm, so we came again the next day!
Day 11 - 25Jul2015
Last day here! It rained in the morning but it stopped by the time we went out after breakfast :D We walked to Kampa Island again and managed to see the Lennon wall properly.
There is an interesting back story behind the 'war is over' - actually people painted the whole wall white and declared 'wall is over', but it got changed to war.
Then walked one big round to the other bridge back to our hotel. On the way up the slope, we stopped to buy chocolate trdelnik and this super duper concentrated hot chocolate! But it was soooo thick we couldn't finish it.
The hotel helped us to arrange for a driver to the airport for a fee of I think 15 euros? We reached at 1130 to get the tax refund but I made a mistake in the flight times and now we had to wait for 3h!
We spent the 4h stopover at Dubai at Shake Shack which is apparently famous in US. Most expensive fast food ever. 1 shake + 1 cheese fries cost us about 23 sgd?
Post trip comments
This is our first trip to Europe so my sister and I went a little crazy planning for this. 27 pages!! But it was worth it because the trip went pretty smoothly ^^
Austria is very safe, and the standard of living is quite similar to Singapore so the prices aren't cheap. Vienna is a gorgeous city, and is probably the least touristy of all the places we visited, but the smokers there were a bit too much to bear. I enjoyed Salzburg loads too but it strangely has loads of tourists. Hallstatt and Cesky Krumlov are must visits!!! Absolutely beautiful. The typical European towns. My gosh, so so so pretty. They're chock full of tourists though.
Prague is probably the most beautiful in terms of architecture, but the crowd does take a little away from the experience.
Overall, Europe is gorgeoussss and the food is amazing and I want to visit other parts asap! Gosh, if only my holiday schedules aren't such a bitch.