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The historical city of Prague in the Czech Republic. Home to Mozart, Prague is a fairytale city similar to Florence with small winding cobblestone alleys, gorgeous buildings and fabulous food.
We arrived in Prague after dusk - following the morning visit to Mauttehausen, afternoon shop in TESCO's to convert some Euro to Crowns and purchase bits and pieces. A short metro ride into the centre of Prague and it was time for a traditional Czech Dinner.
What can you expect from Czech food?? More meat, dumplings and potatoes and beir!! We arrived at a massive beir hall for our first taste of sausages, beef with dumplings, lemon, jam and cream (???yes weird...), apple strudel and litre glasses of beir.
Rolling out of dinner, we headed out to walk to the historical centre of Prague. A 30 minute walk turned into 1.5 hours, as Fi took us all the way across town to the Jewish Ghetto (in the opposite direction) whoops... Back to the tower bridge Fi quickly pointed out the largest Castle district in Europe and some great areas to explore during our free day. A visit to the "communist bar" for shots and some absinthe saw the end to a massive day!
Andrew, Morgan, Andrew, Kate and I headed out the next morning to start the day in the Castle District, winding our way down through the streets until the most amazing smell hit us. Street food in Europe is the best!! We stopped for a 40 crown coil of pastry thats rolled around a stainless roller, dipped in a mix of sugar, ground almonds and vanilla and then cooked on the roller over coals! Who knew this existed! You buy them hot off the roller and it melts in your mouth!!
Walking over the tower bridge back to the the other side of Prague, we dropped into the Church of Our Lady and Charlemagne. A spur of the moment decision quickly turned into one of the best experiences of the trip! In front of the church was a gorgeous walled courtyard with cobblestones and covered with autumn leave. The church itself from the outside was for a Catholic Church extremely understated from the outside. The inside carried a similar theme, with many of the walls bare except for the feature around the alter - so much to take in!
As we walked out I was approached by a Franciscan Monk based at the Church who asked where we were from. When I mentioned we were all Aussies, he offered to take us on a tour of the Monk's Library. What a half hour!! He took us up through one of the buildings through locked doors and rooms filled with IKEA shelves with old books lining the shelves. I thought that would be it until we got to what looked like a jail door in front of another door. When we walked inside we were standing in the middle of a long gallery constructed by the Monks in the 1800s to house their collections. The Monk picked up a massive tomb from the 1400s and quickly flicked through the pages (with his bare hands) this was a bible written in Czech! Next was an Anatomy book from the 16th century, then a fauna and flora book from the 16th century and then a massive book covered in Donkey Skin with gold decorations and pages made from Donkey Skin from the 14th century!!! Yes we got to touch and look through the collection of books. The table in the middle of the room was piled high and surrounded by stacks of books from 16th century, oh and a couple of globes from around the same time period!!!
On an absolute buzz from the visit we headed out and took the metro back to the castle district in search of a marionette for Morgan and Mulled Wine and Beer for the rest of us. Mulled wine is fantastic - I can't wait to experience the christmas wines with spices :)
Slow cooked lamb shoulder with vegies and spices for dinner along with deep fried cheese (another local favourite in Prague) ended a magical day in Prague!!
After Paris and Florence, Prague is in my top three visits for this trip!! A must do for anyone travelling through Eastern Europe.
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