| Having grown up in Austria, I had never made it to the Czech Republic, one of our neighbouring countries. Prague, in particular, had interested me for a long time, but I had never had a chance to visit it. Well, on June 1, finally, I was on my way to explore Prague, one of Europe's most popular tourist destinations. I took the train from Vienna, enjoyed a great conversation with a young Czech lady from Brno who is now living in Berlin, and finally around 3 pm I made it into the Holesovice Railway Station in Prague. Later that afternoon and evening I took a personal tour of the Old Town area with local expert Jitka Simkova and her colleague Karel. We started on St. Wenceslav Square, with its early 20th century architecture, and walked through narrow cobble-stoned streets into the centre of Prague: Old Town Square. This expansive public square features two of the main attractions of Prague: the Old Town Hall with its famous astronomical clock, and the Gothic Church of Our Lady before Tyn with its distinctive roofline. Kinsky Palace and the Church of St. Nicholas along with a variety of pastel-coloured medieval houses impressed me as one of the most beautiful European squares I had ever seen. We continued our walk to the famous historical Charles Bridge whose construction started in 1357 and continued for about 150 years. Walking back through the narrow streets we stopped at a typical Czech beer hall, U Medvikdku, where I got to taste some authentic Czech beer brewed on site ... |
