Praha part two

On the second day in Prague, we went right away to the Prague Castle (Pražský hrad) in the morning to avoid mobs of tour groups. Located on top of the hill, finding this medieval castle was a piece of cake, thanks also to the helpful roadsigns on the way there.


I did an audio tour in the castle, which turned out to be a pretty sweet deal since you can cut the very long line at the cathedral (yes it really is true you can just go through a special door without queuing for hours). Some of the most interesting features of the Castle are the Golden Lane and the Cathedral Basilica St.Vitus. The Golden Lane was a long stretch of road with cute small old (13-14 Century) houses. Franz Kafka used to live and write in one of these houses. Basilica St.Vitus was probably one of the most beautiful cathedral I have ever seen (as a non-Catholic I probably have visited more cathedral than most Catholics ever do in their life). The Gothic architecture with all the magnificent statues really amazed me. There I also learned a lot about the Bohemian Kingdom, such as St.Wenceslas' history.


Later that day we walked around the old town. The buildings were really pretty but everywhere there were just tour groups which annoyed me a little bit. We then ate dinner at a really cute, delicious, and very local vegetarian restaurant. There I was very surprised to find a dish made from Tempe, a soy-based food native to the Indonesians - I couldn't help to say this to the waitress there. Tempe in Indonesia is a very basic, and staple of Indonesian diet; a thing that every household can afford, no matter how poor you are. Sadly Tempe in Indonesia has been considered as the food for the poorer people, in contrary to its praised by the western people as a protein substitute. Anyway let's go back to our beautiful Prague. On that day we also happened to find Prague's Easter Market. There they sold all sort of Czech's traditional food such as Bread Rolls, Crepé, Potato Cakes, and all sorts of meat dishes. The market was also beautifully decorated with Easter decorations.

Prague at night is probably the most beautiful scene I have ever seen. Just standing next to Charles Bridge staring at the magnificent Prague Castle on the background, illuminated by the lights from the buildings one can get the romantic, mysterious, warm, yet dark sense of this city.