Prague

So our first Europe trip finally happened. First of the many I promise. 
Europe spoils you for choices for short trips, especially in summers. Different places offer different flavor of vacation. Prague finally trumped over other options because it checked so many check-boxes - beautiful, vibrant and lets admit it fantastic currency-exchange value. More in the blog on that. 
We went with the list of to-dos based on the research before our visit. But as always some of the best memories of the visits are unplanned :). Before we talk about the small subset of fun things to do in Prague lets cover an important topic. 
Transport in Prague 
If you plan to use public transport find a tobacco shop, marked and get yourself a pass. A 3 day pass worth 310 CZK per pass per individual was perfect for the duration of our stay.  More info can be found here. This pass can be used for any public transport and proved to be very convenient. Get it punched -in to activate your  72 hours period of validity and then feel free to hop in and out of any tram, bus or metro. These together connect every place of interest in Prague very well. 

All too famous touristy must-dos in Prague 
Charles Bridge

 This density of people on this bridges rivals that of infamous Bombay local stations but unlike any other the crowd makes it so much charming.There are hawkers,musicians to entertain and the place is so full of life. The parapets are lined by baroque statues and adds to the beauty of the place itself.  Quite rightly has been rated as one of the best sunset spots in Prague, especially if you are watching it from a few stories up from the tower.  

Here is the view from top of the charles bridge tower.

The tower is open from 8am to 10pm in summers and the ticket is for 90CZK per person.A mesmerizing view, beautiful people and a happy vibe - holy trinity.
If wading through the crowd is not your thing, visit the place at dawn to avoid the crowd and enjoy the place like you own it :). Prague is also getting popular for destination-wedding photography,so there were a few others who had taken the pain to get there by 5:30am.

A good thing about summers in Europe is you can do a lot,as the day starts at 4am and sunsets around 10pm. Leaves you lot of time for partying, sight seeing and relaxing.

Old Town Square

In our 4 days stay,there was not a single day when we did not visit this place.This is where everything happens. Lined by numerous restaurants, shops and performance artists, this place is buzzing with energy. Just hang around and soak it all in.

Astronomical Clock Every hour, it gets into action and hundred of tourists crowd the place.You can watch the video here.The Astronomical Tower offers some amazing views of Praha.The ticket is for 250CZK per person. The charm of the clock is the mechanical intricacy married with aesthetics.

Prague Castle

Another popular tourist destination that offers an good view of the city, The castle houses museums, cathedrals and historic monuments. There are 2 types of tickets-short tour and long tour for 250 and 350 CZK respectively.

The royal guard changing ceremony is a key attraction here. The guard changing happens  everyday at 12 noon in courtyard 3.

 If I have to be honest, I would skip this if I had known what was coming. But interest vary so check out whether it would excite you or you are better off spending time and money doing something else. I guess taking a guided tour may make this more interesting. Just a thought no promises here :)

Cafes

Prague has some grand and posh cafes. We tried breakfast in different cafes on all morning of our stay. We were impressed by the food and desserts these cafes offered.

So much so that we think it needs a whole blog post.Read about where to eat in Praha here.

Breathtaking views

The city of hundred spires can be admired from the Old Tower, Charles Bridge tower,Prague Castle, Lenta park, Petrin Hill, Glass bar etc.

Lenon wall

Once a normal wall, since the 1980s it has been filled with John Lennon-inspired graffiti and pieces of lyrics from Beatles' song-another fun place to be.

Dancing house

It was designed by the Croatian-Czech architect Vlado Milunić in cooperation with Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry on a vacant riverfront plot.Gehry originally named the house Fred and Ginger (after the famous dancers Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers – the house resembles a pair of dancers.The glass bar and Fred and Ginger restaurant offer a great view of the city.We enjoyed a couple of drinks as we watched the sun set down from the Glass bar.

This is all we could do in our short visit and it was a lot of fun.There is still a lot more you can do.Take a cruise or paddle boat.Take a drink and just walk around,enjoy the view and music,the tram rides,Chill in a park with a view,watch the sun as it sets,there is happiness all around in Praha.

Lenta park

Where to eat in Prague?

It is no denying that food forms an integral part of your travel experience. Trying cuisines, restaurants, cafes, street food are as much a part of travel as sightseeing. Food speaks much about the place and its traditions.
In our short visit to Prague we found ,tried many different places. In fact, as much as we might have loved what we ate in a particular restaurant, we always tried someplace new for our next meal, brew or quick-bite.
Here is worth mentioning and recommending list ( constrained by time a short trip allows; feel free to recommend more)

Trdelník 

It is very popular among tourists as a sweet pastry of Czech Republic. It is made from rolled dough which is wrapped around a stick,then grilled and topped with some sugar and walnut mix.You can watch the video here.

There are many bakeries in and around Old Town which sell sweet bread. There is one bakery where they fill it with ice cream or spread nutella around it.Do try that. Sinful indulgence!!

Kavarna obecni dum
Not your regular cafe; this place has been built to charm. The grand and elegant interiors quite honestly made us feel under dressed. However, those around you are tourists and the place has a relaxed vibe in a contradiction with the setting, albeit in a good way. There is outdoor seating as well if you want to bask in the sun and be closer to the buzz on the streets.

Cake trolley

 Cafe Louvre
 This Café, bearing the name of the world’s famous gallery, has been standing here for over a century, since 1902. Among its guests were Karel Capek, Franz Kafka as well as Albert Einstein during his professorship in Prague. The place is very classy and we loved what the servers wore.There is an outdoor seating area which we loved and chose to sit there.There are art galleries on display, within the building if that is your thing.As we had had our breakfast already ,we settled for some coffee and dessert here.
The banana cake was delicate and melted in the mouth, hot chocolate was thick and coffee was outstanding.

School
This was an accidental discovery. Our plans were to go to Lavka , a well-located restaurant but could not wait long enough for Lavka to be open for orders. We saw this restaurant across the road and ended up having  an excellent soup and eggs breakfast.

Cafe Lounge
This place has great reviews on many forums.Go early or book a table,this place is always busy. It is tucked inside an alley .Once you enter this place,you know you would not be disappointed.We ordered for eggs in a glass,some salad and coffee.All the dishes were amazing and even the eggs tasted delicious.

 Radost
This is a vegan place and was recommended by a lot of people. Both of our dishes were mouth watering.The burger was wheat based and crunchy. The stir fried veggies with cashew nuts was so well made.We had a scrumptious meal here. The quantity was impressive.
This place offers smoking, non smoking area and a club. These are different isolated areas within the same establishment. The lounge seating and good music is icing on the cake.

 Glass Bar
This place happens to be in the Dancing Building.We actually were supposed to have lunch at Fred and Ginger-restaurant in Dancing Building. But by the time we reached the Dancing building, we were so full that we directly headed to the Glass Bar. The glass bar has an open terrace which gives some breathtaking views of the city.You can order a drink and go to the terrace.Best place to enjoy a drink with the sun setting over the red roofs of this beautiful city.

 James Dean
A classy relaxed music club with great food.The place has an American touch to it.The servers are very polite and friendly.The theme of the place is red and goes well with the retro interiors and music.
We ordered for some salad,burger and chicken wings.Everything was perfection.We were tummy full with the food and had no place for dessert,but we had already ordered the dessert.Glad we did not cancel it.The chocolate ice cream in the banana split was really dark chocolate,slightly on the bitter side.It tasted yumm.The place is known for its steak,do try them.There are quite a few interesting drinks as well.

Beas Dhaba
Surprisingly Prague has a lot of Indian restaurants.We were quite excited to try the Indian food there.Right in the centre of Prague 1 ,there are 2 Beas Dhaba. The food is good,we had lunch here twice, albeit in different branches. We reached late on both the days so we got kind of cold food and chapati only once.But the food was good.They charge is 19.99CZK per 100 gms.

Another India restaurant which we tried and totally loved was Masala. The food was fresh and hot.Tucked in an alley in Prague7,this small restaurant is quite famous.There were more locals than tourists here.We thoroughly enjoyed our meal here.
Indian Jewel is another Indian restaurant which we wanted to try but could not.

Apart form all the food we had,there were n nos of gelatos before and after each meal.We have started to take our gelatos seriously now. So we suggest ,dont't try the stuff in Old town(we tried and regretted) instead walk to the bottom of the Wenceslas Square and try Angelato.This place without a doubt has the best Gelato in town.Their gelato is freshly made everyday.They change the flavors also every day and are quite creative with their flavors.Taste the gelato before you order a cone.Pistachio,mango and tiramisu are loved by many apart from the regular chocolate and vanilla.Our favourite flavour was chocolate with hazelnut(and it was divine).

Praha-Photo essay