Prague

After our breakfast buffet at Eventhotel Pyramide, we started our trip for the third city in a raw, which was Prague. Vienna to Prague is about 3hours and 32min. We had a few stops on our way, the first one was at Heiligenkreuz Abbey, which is a Cistercian monastery in the village of Heiligenkreuz in the southern part of the Vienna woods. A really beautiful monastery, which is the oldest continuously occupied Cistercian monastery in the world. 5min from Heiligenkreuz is a small village, called Mayerling. I think we all know the romantic tragedy film back in the 60s "Mayerling" with Omar Sharif and Catherine Deneuve. The film was based on real life events that led to tragic deaths of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria and his lover Baroness Mary Vetsera. 16min away is Baden from Romantic Mayerling. That was our last stop before we arrived to Prague. We had free time to explore this beautiful town. I think I would love to go back and stay for a couple of days. Also the composer Ludwig van Beethoven stayed a number of times in Baden and his residences still form local tourist spots. We had a lovely walk through the narrow pedestrian streets and time for coffee and dessert at Cafe Der Mann. We had the best banoffee doughnuts ever. Late in the afternoon we arrrived at Expo Hotel in Prague and we had our first contact with the town by our tour guide. We saw the beautiful buiding of Prague Estates Theatre, the Municipal House and then we had free time to do whatever we wanted. We had dinner and beers at U Sadlu Restaurant, the food was amazing and not very expensive. The medieval decoration is also really interesting. On our way back we took the tram. The Prague tramway network is the largest such network in the Czech Republic. With tram you can have access to the downtown Prague and places, where the buses do not enter. The city center has the tram network operating during the day and night up to 12 o'clock. One way single ticket cost for 30 minutes travel 24czk. The next morning after our breakfast buffet we started our sightseeing in Prague. It was cold and it was raining, the worst combination. But we had no choice and again we were so excited to be at this fairytale town. We saw Nové Město by bus, incredible buidings and I wish I had more time to take pictures of all the ornate doors that adorn Prague 's buildings. The doors of Prague, which are rich with intricate details, come in a variety of colors and styles. The style of the doors range from Baroque to Art Nouveau and Neo-Classical. Our next stop was at Prague Castle. We saw St. Vitus Cathedral, which is a Roman Catholic metropolitan cathedral and we wander around the Christmas Market, again I had a Svařák, also known as svařené víno or hot wine. I have to say that they won' t all taste the same, because recipes vary from region to region and household to household. After we went on foot to Malá Strana, also known as Lesser Town, which is a hillside area with views across the Vltava river to the old town. Hotels, casual eateries and traditional pubs line its narrow streets and visitors scribble messages to the late Beatle on the John Lennon Wall. We walked through the Charles bridge, this historic bridge that crosses the Vltava river in Prague. I saw so many love locks on St. Charles Bridge, I left my heart there too. Remember that I told you, which of the three cities is my favourite, definitely is Prague. The city that I would love to live and work as well. I thing is one of the most beautiful and romantic places in the world for artists, like me. Who knows maybe one day my dream will come true, if you believe in something, it will happen. This is called magic of believing. Then we went to Old Town Hall with Astronomical Clock, which is one of the city' s most noteworthy monuments. It is located in Old Town Square. So every hour, like us hundreds of tourists from all over the world with cameras gather in front of the Old Town Hall to enjoy a fascinating mechanical performance which in the Middle Ages was considered one of the wonders of the world. The Prague Astronomical Clock, which for 600 years has been one of the greatest treasures of the city, still amazes with its procession of Apostles, moving statues and visualization of time like no other instrument in the world. After this remarkable sightseeing we headed back to the hotel to relax and to get ready for our last night out in the city. Our group of six splitted, three of our group wanted to watch a black light theater show and the rest of us went for a night tour in Prague and for dinner at Cafe Milani. Our fisrt stop was at Wenceslas Square and then for dinner at a very cozy place, where we had the best spaghetti carbonara. We were back at the hotel before 12 o'clock and we had our last beer at the restaurant of the Hotel. What a better way to say goodnight to this beautiful city. In two days, we did a lot of things and we filled our batteries for the next trips that will come. 

Here are some pictures from our visit to all those places I mentioned above and from our lovely group of six and of course from our new friends that we met during our seven days trip to Central Europe: 

Heiligenkreuz Abbey

Baden

Time for coffee and dessert Cafe Der Mann. We had the best banoffee doughnuts ever!

Prague by night!

Prague Estates Theatre

The Municipal House

Best beer at U Sadlu Restaurant

Prague Castle

St. Vitus Cathedral

Love these manhole covers, I took pictures of a few manhole covers at every city I visited!
 

Charles bridge

I saw so many love locks on St. Charles Bridge, I left my heart there too.

Old Town Hall with Astronomical Clock

Wenceslas Square

Look what I found at Marks & Spencer, my favourite pork pie! I used to eat them when I was a student in London! Every time I visit, I eat pork pies! Yummy!

The best spaghetti carbonara at Cafe Milani!

Taken with action cam:

Heiligenkreuz Abbey

Baden

Prague by night

Prague Castle

St. Vitus Cathedral

Charles Bridge

Old Town Hall with Astronomical Clock