Prague: My list of gems to visit

Prague, prague, prague… No other words but.. it is truly “MAGICAL”. Definitely a place to come back all over again, in a wide range of occasions.  I am so lucky that in my Erasmus master program I got the chance living in Prague from all the possible cities in Europe. Like, why Prague, between hundreds of European capitals? I personally feel like Czech Republic is a country with very rich cultural values as they are proud to be Czech and embrace all their traditions, taste and able to manifest them in so many visible form such as parks, architectures, exhibitions, designs… I fall in love with this mentality despite my short living period here (only for 5 months).

Between the busy days of school and exam preparations, I always tried to explore Prague on Saturday by myself, either to its major touristic places or hidden ones. By combining the lists from interesting vlogers and pinterest recommendations, this time I would like to share some places I love the most. 

I am trying to make it as condensed as possible because really, every 10 meters of Prague has its own exquisite story to tell. I am now an official love slave (read: budak cinta/bucin) of this city. I tried to make a ranking on this but I can’t (I also hate ranking now :p) 

Malastrana 

Basically this area covered the part below the Charles bridge. From the Old Town, you can cross the Charles bridge and find stairs to go down and explore the places below it. 

Lokal bar

To the right way, you will find an amazing bar called Lokal, where people flooded in and out the bar to enjoy beer and snacks sitting on pedestrian street. 

The prices of the beer are normal, my favorite is always Cerny Kozel from the tap, not the bottled or canned one. It is a black beer with a very smooth taste and nearly creamy if I could say. But really, the ambience of Lokal and people chatting in the street is awesome! 

Thanks a bunch to Yudha for bringing me here. They also have these free postcards, and very good ones to take. Don’t worry about the safety because they have time limit at night where they don’t allow people to sit outside to minimize accidents. Maybe this is a written law of the country, I’m not really sure. 

The tiniest road in Prague 

I didn’t know about this little hidden street of maybe 50 cm or at max 1m located just before Franz Kafka museum, Mariana brought me here.

It has a stopping light because only one row of people can go through it. 

It was a very fun experience. At the edge of the street, there is a restaurant facing the river. 

Franz Kafka museum entrance and Gingerbread shop

I haven’t been inside the museum but just at the entrance where we can find a unique fountain of men peeing with their genitals turning around haha. But, I fell in love with the Gingerbread shop in its complex which is a true form of a gallery, baked with love. Their shapes are so lovely and it has always been my wish to taste gingerbread because of watching Shrek :D 

I tried to express my admiration to the baker who was a very young man that he did a great job but he didn’t really respond to me haha. 

And, their hot chocolate are awesome! If you are a big fans of very dense hot chocolate, definitely a place to enjoy it with gingerbread and truffle-like cookies. They have chairs outside to see the weird men fountain of Kafka Museum. It is just that they don’t have so much space there. A good place for “almost” spring weather, not really for summer. 

Swanspot 

I forgot how to get to this place. It was winter and I just stroll along this area and got lost. 

There were hundreds of swans and a crazy magical mystical whatever you may call of Charles bridge. I promise, go there in winter. 

Letsenke Sady and Beer Garden 

This place also hidden, I mean if you are a tourist for only 3 days, Im not sure you would find this place. I even did not recognize this place even after times passing the park. It means Letna Hill, where we can find the gorgeous view of the Vltava River this time with multiple parallel bridges (which is a very rare spot to find) and old town. 

I could find many people having meditation in this park or just playing skate, walk their dogs and babies haha.. This park is immense! You would also find the metronome, which people like to mistakenly think as a clock. Well, how could you expect a non-musician to recognize metronome?

Our goal was to find the beer garden which has the view and cheap beers. 

Unfortunately, the day I went here there was a construction so it was so dusty. 

Go to the back of Hanavsky Pavillion where you can also have a nice lunch or just enjoy the  great view! We didn’t try this place.  

Royal Garden of Prague Castle

I found this place by coincidence. After going back from Prague Castle to my tram stop, I accidentally saw a group of school children marching to a gate beside the security check at the entrance. So this is the royal garden entrance which people will surely miss if they don’t pay attention! This garden is located on the site of old medieval vineyards. 

I followed them in and I really really love this garden. The rare botanical species and exotic plants are amazing and it is a very well maintained garden, unlike Letsenke Sady which gives a “wilder” impression. It gave me serenity and peace, really! The ending of the park is so beautiful with this renaissance building of Royal Summer Palace (which I don’t know if it is opened or not), but the wall seems not really painted maybe to give the real feeling of the era. But this part gives a good ending if you enter from my entrance. Normally people can also do the reverse. Here, I sometimes meet couple doing pre-wedding photo session. 

Vyšehrad 

I will recommend you to ways to get here. If you like to walk and a little bit of hiking (well I exaggerate), take metro line C to Vysehrad. But, if you prefer instant way to eat your fruit, just take tram to Vyton and take the stairs up. Do not follow Ostrcilovo namesti because it will bring you back to the same entrance as when you take metro line C. Trust me, I have been disappointed. 

Vysehrad means upper castle. It has Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul, also as the cemetery of Dvorak, Smetana and Mucha! I did not know this when I visited it. I visited it twice, once in spring once in summer. I prefer the ambience in Spring, and please choose the sunset time, because it is magical, trust me. It also has amazing view of Vltava river but in this point I prefer Letsenke Sady. People say that this is a place also to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Well, I did not have the chance to do this, so maybe you can proof this J

When I went here for the 1sttime in spring and choosing the long track, the basilica and the park in front of it just gave me beautiful chills like visiting Hogwarts. I am not exaggerating, but some people don’t have this feeling, maybe because they didn’t go in sunset time. 

Vltava River little islands

Vltava River is famous because it has little islands. My favourite is Slovansky Ostrov. It is just a bridge across Narodni divadlo, the national theatre. I went here accidentally because the machine to take panoramic photo of my teeth was broken. Mad, I was looking for a place to explore because it took time to go from my dorm to the city and I don’t wanna waste my effort for nothing. This island has Zofin Palace, a Neo-renaissance building for concert, exhibitions and balls place. It is so serene and beautiful. Following the path, I could find beautiful statue of a lady and also places to take the boat in summer. Now in summer, tons of boats either machine or paddled are being rent. 

Here, you can also find the correct photo spot of the national theatre instead from in front of the building itself, trust me. I really love to find another surprising point of view of seeing a building. 

My second favourite is Kampa island. This one is across the Charles bridge. It has beautiful parks and museum. I guess this Kampa museum is a contemporary art museum. It has four giant babies installation at the time I walked pass by. The special thing about this island is that because it has only this tiny weeny bity Certovka channel to make it separated from the mainland and became an island itself. 

But the best thing is that we could have another point of view of Charles Bridge here. An amazing one. So rent a boat and paddle it in summer days!

Valdštehnsky Palace

This seat of Czech senate was actually used to be the first Baroque secular building was built in the 1600s and was as a symbol of the richest Czech noblemen at that time: Albrecht von Wallenstein. I was interested on this seeing many posts capturing the white peacock in the garden complex. Like.. really ?! Seems like a very rich palace and garden!

I went here with my AFS junior fellow and amazed by the mazes, the pond and the peacocks! A nice garden to go in summer with a glass of bubble tea you can buy at Comebuy, Mustek.

Trust me #again! 

Havlícek Gardens 

Inspired by the Italian Renaissance, I am glad that I cancelled my trip to Italy and found this oasis! It has huge vineyard gazebo and a café on top of that, and the famous yet hidden fountain with its pavilions, statues and cute background of pastel-colored buildings as its top. 

I went here with Fatima, my genius best friend from Pakistan and the serenity of this park made my memorable day with her special. 

Petrin Tower 

Another random walk I did and ended up with being amazing is my visit to petrin Tower compex. Taking the funicular (around 20mins queue due to summer days) Astghik and I could experience a very nice funicular with steep line and the view of Prague. Instead of climbling the tower, we found a cute astronomical shop in the observatory and walk down to Strahov library. I didnt take any photo here because we needed to pay extra 50 czk just to take it. Please google Strahov monastery library and take time to visit it after the Klementium! If possible, climb the petrin Tower when its get a little dark to see the city lights :) 

Troja Castle 

When I planned to go there, there was a construction in metro line C so it is really taking me 1.5 hour to arrive. Such an effort. This palace is a baroque style palace located in Troja, just opposite the Zoologicka Praha. It has big influence of Italian and French architecture and also designed by a French architect. The amazing point of this castle is its sculptured stairs at the back of the castle facing a huge maze garden. I feel like a princess and I always wanted to walk through mazes. I didn’t go inside the castle because it was so silent and there was almost no one there maybe because it was so sunny. There was a sculpture exhibition at that time. 

So I just spent 1h sitting facing the fountain and enjoying my brunch and inhaled as much oxygen as possible. Definitely a beautiful closing line of my stay in Prague. 

If you wish to go to the zoo, I beg you to also visit this palace, and preferably in Spring. Note this. 

Other parks like Karlovo Namesti and Františkànskà park at Mustek are also lovely places to study :D 

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