We Flew from Luton airport into Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic.

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west, Austria to the south, and Slovakia to the east. Prague is the country’s capital city . The metropolitan area of Prague covers 192 square miles (496 square kilometres). It has a population of 1,328,000. Prague is bisected by the Vltava River. Nicknamed “the City of a Hundred Spires,” it’s known for its Old Town Square at the heart of its historic core, with colorful baroque buildings, Gothic churches and the medieval Astronomical Clock, which gives an animated hourly show. Completed in 1402 the famous pedestrian Charles Bridge is lined with statues of Catholic saints.

We had asked the hotel to pick us up from the airport which they did. The Hotel Rott is situated in The Little Square, which is the parallel square to the main old town square, just around the corner to the Famous Astronomical Clock, next to The Hard Rock Cafe. The buildings of Hotel Rott and the entire Little Square are located in the oldest inhabited part of Prague.  In 1232, the Old Town of Prague was granted municipal privileges. Virtually all the houses on the square have underground spaces, these were originally the ground floors of the early medieval houses. In The Hotel Rott this is where the breakfast is served, the main restaurant is on the ground floor. The hotel Rott has many quirky features. On entering the hotel our eyes were drawn to the old fashioned black metal cage lift, which transported us up onto the floor of our room. Our room was a pleasant double with an en-suite bathroom. Since our visit I believe the hotel has been refurbished ( the plumbing definitely needed it!!!) and a roof top bar has been added. It’s a reasonably priced hotel at about £135.00 per night for a double including breakfast (2024 prices).

We climbed wearily into bed, we had, had a late night flight and wanted to be fresh for sightseeing the next morning. After a continental breakfast which was generous in both quantity, quality and taste we set out to explore. Less than a 100 m away on the corner is the astronomical clock, a popular tourist sight.

Rounding the corner into the main old square we saw the hop-on-hop-off bus stop and we decided as we so often do to hop-on and use it to get our bearing’s as well as see the sights.

We visited the enchanting, hillside district of Malá Strana, with its hidden courtyards and gardens and breathtaking views of the Old Town back across the Vltava. It’s was probably worth hopping off at Malostranske Square and wandering through the district’s warren of winding cobbled streets. However it was far too cold and wet to wander about so we stayed on and discovered the world’s largest ancient castle complex: Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral! You can also see the 12th-century Strahov Monastery, with its incredibly beautiful Baroque library….but once again we stepped off took a few photos and stepped back on to continue our viewing of the Jewish Quarter, before returning to the Old Town Square. This time we were fortunate enough to hear and watch the Astronomical Clock strike on the hour.

During the next 3 days we had a mixed bag of weather. We meandered the cobbled streets in the evening…eating in some lovely traditional cellar restaurants. We stopped off in some of the unusual quirky shops, bought personalised embroidered adult bibs, hand blown glass ornaments and some other nik naks.

Day 2 saw us walking to Wenceslas Square …..slightly disappointed as it is situated surrounded by a busy road, McDonalds, Marks & Spencer’s and other very modern shops….when one’s preconceived expectation is that it would be like the Old Town Main Square.

We managed to get a bit lost on our way back, nothing new there then!!!

…eventually we wound our way down to the famous, 1402, pedestrian Charles Bridge which is lined with statues of Catholic saints. It was absolutely heaving with people, artists and street hawkers selling their goods…..we walked across and back because we felt we ought to not least of all because it was pictured on Johns T shirt which we had already purchased in Old Town.

Feeling a little jaded……..

……….we stopped for a light bite before strolling back to the Old Town Square where we took a horse and cart tour. This is my favourite form of transport and I must say that I was quite disappointed to hear that they were stopping this practice on 1st January 2023. There has been much controversy over this and I am uncertain as to whether permission for horse drawn carts has been reinstated or not…….however we had an hours ride around the Old Town at a very sedate pace, wrapped in a waterproof blanket.

After our Horse and carriage ride we returned to the hotel. I put my feet up and had a siesta, while John went to the main train station and enjoyed a few hours of his favourite hobby.

The following day we took the Tourist Train, around the roads of Prague, from the Old Square. It did much the same as the HOHO bus had….only this time the weather was slightly better and we did get off and on, particularly in district of Malá Strana and the castle and cathedral.

In the afternoon we took a short river cruise to see the sights from the water. Then later in the evening we wandered around enjoying the floodlight aesthetics of the area.

The following day the hotel transferred us back to the Airport……. Our 3 days and 4 nights were great….The right amount of time for seeing the cities sights…we went in October, it was both cold and wet but I don’t think this deterred us from doing and seeing what we wanted to.