Destination #12: Prague, Czech Republic
As the 5th most visited city in Europe, Prague definitely lived up to its hype. I can see why. It’s the best bang for your buck! You still get all the old town charm that you expect of Europe but at half the price! I’m glad that they still have not converted to the Euro currency. The Czech Republic was formed in 1989 after the non-violent Velvet revolution. With such a dark history, I'm impressed that not a single drop of blood was shed during this 10-day civil movement to be independent from communism. A democratic election was conducted, new government was setup and 5-years later the dissolution of Czechoslovakia produced one of the great rags to richest story in Europe. It is now the fastest growing economy in Europe with the lowest unemployment rate at 4%.
We spent 5 nights in Prague which I think is one night too many. We stayed about a 15 minutes walk away from the old town square which is the life of the city. Prague is split up into 56 districts and each district is numbered based on its distance to the city center. The old town is district 1 and staying within Prague 1 is definitely the place to be! The city itself is pretty small compared to cities like Paris or London so everything is walkable! We definitely got our steps in here!
Throughout our stay, we visited all the must-do tourist spots such as the Prague Castle, St. Vitus Cathedral, Charles Bridge, Dancing House, Astronomical clock, and the old town square. However, I think the best part about Prague getting lost in it’s maze of pebble stone walkways. The entire city is full with charming historic buildings that we even don’t know their names. Most of them are not even marked as a point of interest. When we go poke hunting around the city, we’ll stumble on these spots as a pokestop! Haha. Yes, we are both very addicted to this game! One of our favorite trail is the walk by the river close to the Dancing House. There are many boat-type bars, restaurants and countless amount of river swans that are uber friendly! A 12 oz beer will cost you $3!
Talking about drinks, Prague is known for it's cheap and delish beer! Did you know that Pilsner beer was created in Czech? This blonde lager covers 2/3 of beer produced in the world! Most of the bars and restaurants brew their own beer. Almost everything is on tap! Czech beers are definitely underrated in my opinion. When people think beer, they almost instantly think Germans. But the Czech Republic has the highest beer consumption per capita in the world! They deserve some credit! On the other hand though, I can't give them credit for their food. I mean it's good but it's not something that I would go out of my way to get. They traditional dishes tend to be meaty and cream heavy which reminded me of thanksgiving.
Oh, we also love that Prague is not densely populated. Going to Europe in the summer can be crazy at times but Prague is still pretty calm. The weather does not exceed 85F which helps a lot when doing outdoor touristy stuff. People are generally nice even the China tourists! We also felt safe here. A++!
On to the next one, Italiaaaa!
