TOP 26 Things to Do in PRAGUE Czech Republic 2021 |New Normal Travel Guide |Empty without tourists?!
- In the summer of 2020, I traveled to Prague in Czechia. Shortly after the city had reopened most of its attractions. In this video, I want to show you what visiting Czechia is like now, and share my top 26 things to do in Prague during the new normal.
(upbeat music) Good morning and welcome to Prague. I'm super excited. We're gonna discover all the amazing sites of Prague today. And of course we start off with the number one site, which is the Charles Bridge. (upbeat music) This beautiful bridge was first commissioned in 1357. And it served as the only connection between Prague Castle and the Old Town for centuries.
It's such a masterpiece. Beautiful and the special thing about it are of course all the statues of saints on each side of the bridge. The most famous statue on the bridge is that of St John of Nepomuk, the patron Saint of Bohemia. He was a brave priest who refused to divulge the Queen's confession to her husband, King Wenceslas IV in 1393. Furious about the priests refusal, the King ordered his men to kill St. John
by throwing him off the bridge into the Vltava river. So there is a tradition. If you rub the plaque beneath the statute it means that you will return to Prague someday. So let's do it now. (indistinct) So what's really cool about this bridge is it's right in the middle of the city.
You get an amazing view to either side. And of course the most impressive view is the view of the Prague Castle up on the hill ahead. (soft music) So to get more energy for the climb up the hill to the castle, I decided to have the most traditional sweet here from Prague it's called trdelník and you can have it with different flavors. I got the one with strawberry and ice cream, and it looks amazing. This sweet snack which is usually called trdelník is a special spit cake made from grilled dough, and topped with sugar, nuts or chocolate. Really good.
I can't wait to get to the cone I think this is gonna be the best part. (upbeat music) So here we are at the main entrance of the castle as you can see. And there's two statues up there of battling Titans and the palace guards below pretty cool. Let's go straight in. Founded in the 9th century and reconstructed several times, Prague Castle is the largest castle in the world and has been the official seat of the Czech rulers for centuries. It is a stunning complex with multiple courtyards, palaces and churches.
And we are officially inside Prague Castle. This is the so-called second courtyard. And we'll start our tour with one of the main attractions of this castle and the third courtyard, which is coming up. (upbeat music) Now I'm here in front of probably the most important church of all of Czechia. This is St. Vitus Cathedral.
The awe inspiring St. Vitus Cathedral was the place where Bohemia's Kings were crowned until the 19th century. Today, it is the seat of the Archbishop of Prague and the final resting place of many of the nation's most significant Kings, princes and saints. Some of the highlights of the cathedral include the intricately crafted royal oratory, the massive silver sarcophagus of St John of Nepomuk and the mesmerizing Chapel of the Good King Wenceslas, the patron saint of the Czech Republic. (bright music) St.Vitus Cathedral is incredible, such an impressive church. You can really feel the history of Czechia in every inch of this building.
(bright music) I continued my tour of the castle by visiting the Old Royal Palace where all the presidents of the Czech Republic have been sworn in and took a look inside the picturesque Basilica of St George which is Czechia's best preserved Romanesque church. (upbeat music) And this small cobblestone street here is called Golden Lane. The name is from the 17th century when goldsmiths used to have their shops here.
And you can also see how old these buildings are by looking at the doors. This is one for example if I just step on the porch, you can see I wouldn't even be able to get in without lowering my head 'cause people were a lot smaller couple hundred years ago. After finishing my visit to Prague Castle, I walked back down the hill and I crossed Charles Bridge to get back to the city center.
Once again, we're so lucky with the weather guys. It really cleared up now the sky's guy is turning the blue and the clouds are disappearing. It's amazing.
It's gonna be a really warm sunny day after all. (upbeat music) So here we are with one of the quirkiest sides of Prague this is the Astronomical Clock from 1419. Imagine this thing is more than 500 years old and still strikes every full hour. People gather here to see the display. The Prague Astronomical Clock is the oldest Astronomical Clock that is still operating today.
It can be used to determine the time, the relative positions of the sun and moon and even the current lunar phase. Every full hour, several statues on the clock come to life including a skeleton representing death and transience and the 12 apostles that appeared to walk by in a solemn procession. (upbeat music) And here we are in the super picturesque center of Prague. This is the Old Town Square with beautiful pastel colored buildings, churches beautiful Rococo palace right there behind me. Wow it's such an amazing place especially in a beautiful sunny day like today. The most striking side on the Old Town Square is the statue of Jan Hus.
An influential Czech church reform and philosopher who was burned at the stake in 1415 for criticizing the Catholic church. Other important monuments on the square include the pretty Rococo style Kinský palace, the slightly spooky looking church of Our Lady Before Týn, the baroque St. Nicholas Church, and the recently reconstructed Marian column. After strolling around the square, I went back to the Old Town hall and took the elevator to the top of the Old Town Hall Clock Tower.
(upbeat music) And it was really worth it. The view is amazing. You can see the Old Town Square below you. You actually get a 360 view of the city of Prague, wow, this is really impressive. (upbeat music) Next, I walked over to Josefov, the site of the former Jewish ghetto.
This area is home to the Jewish museum which consists of several impressive synagogues like the Spanish synagogue, the Old-New synagogue and the Pinkas synagogue which is now a moving Holocaust Memorial. I took a quick look at the unusual Franz Kafka monument and then it was time for an afternoon coffee. So I'm now at the Bakeshop Praha I'm having a quick break together with my new friend from (indistinct). - Hello guys my name is Anna and I'm from Russia. So now we will have nice coffee with some sweets. - It looks so good by the way, check it out.
(upbeat music) And the good thing is Anna has been living here for two years already. So she's an expert. So she might be able to show us some cool places later, right? - Maybe.
(both laugh) - I hope so. After a short walk, Anna I arrived at one of the Prague's most scenic parts. So now we are here in the Letná Gardens. It was a recommendation by Anna. Thank you so much. - My favorite park here in Prague.
- It's so beautiful. Especially now around sunset time light is great. And I think we're gonna get a great view of the city as well. (upbeat music) All right so Anna just showed me this place and I think the hike was really worth it after all.
Checkout this view. (upbeat music) We walked back down from the hill and arrived in the picturesque Mala Strana neighborhood. The most important site in this area is the Kafka Museum, which covers the life and work of Prague's most famous author.
In the Plaza in front of the museum, a quirky animatronic sculpture by David Cerny, features two men relieving themselves into a puddle shaped like the Czech Republic. (upbeat music) We decided to have dinner from one of Prague's most traditional restaurant. And it's a really cool one. It's like a cavernous place.
Like we had to walk down several flights of stairs and now we're like really deep under Prague and it looks so cool and authentic. Our drinks arrived. And Anna taught me the correct way to say cheers in Czech. - In Czech Republic you should do cheers (speaks in Czech) then you put you glass like this and you should look in your eyes and then you drink. - Let's practice it (indistinct) (speaks in Czech).
- [Anna] (speaks in Czech). How do you like the beer? - It's so good. This is the Pilsener Urquell and it's delicious.
And I got the Goulash with dumplings. This are like made from Bohemian bread. And it looks super pretty what a nice dish. Goulash, one of Czechia's most typical dishes is a slow boiled, very aromatic beef stew with onions and red peppers. It is traditionally served with sliced bread dumplings.
- Guys we are going to drink Becherovka. It's an original herbal liquor which were firstly produced in Karlovy Vary by Jan Becher. And it primary was used for diseases. And now it's just a traditional liquor in the Czech Republic.
(speaks in Czech) - (speaks in Czech) Oh it's pretty strong (laughs) But quite tasty. (upbeat music) Good morning it's another beautiful day in Prague. And what's really cool today it's not too hot, but super sunny at the same time. So these are perfect conditions for discovering more of the beautiful city of Prague today.
(soft music) And here we are at one of the quirky sides of Prague. This is the John Lennon wall. After John Lennon was assassinated in 1980, he became a pacifist hero for the young people in Prague who were still stuck behind the iron curtain.
And they started to paint this wall with an image of John Lennon, Beatles lyrics, and political graffiti and the world just keeps growing and evolving. And it's a really fun thing to see in Prague. (upbeat music) And we are now in one of the most popular parks in Prague. This is Kampa. And the cool thing is it's right next to the river.
So if I around, you can see there behind me you get a beautiful view of the river and also Charles Bridge over there in the distance. (soft music) Next I walked over to one of Prague's many foodie attractions. And on a super hot and sunny day like today, ice cream is of course always a good call and luckily very close to the park is one of the best ice cream shops in Prague. This is called Angelato. And the ice cream is amazing especially this one is it's called Bacio it's chocolate and hazelnut, and it's so delicious.
Wow this is really good ice cream here. I highly recommend it. I finished my ice cream and took the Funicular up to Petrin Hill. (soft music) It was a really fun ride. This train goes every 15 minutes and it's part of the regular Prague public transport system. So you just get a day pass, for example, or any other kind of tickets that you would need for the public transport.
You can take this Funicular up the Hill, really cool. We're gonna walk over to the Eiffel tower or at least something that looks very similar. (upbeat music) And there it is. This is the Petrin Lookout Tower. It was built in 1891 for the Prague Exhibition. Yeah and it does bear some resemblance to the Eiffel tower in Paris.
It kinda looks like a mini version of an Eiffel tower without legs. I guess that will be the best way to describe it. Really funny building.
And the cool thing is we can go up there for amazing views of the city of Prague. Let's do it. (upbeat music) After descending from the lookout tower, I walked over to the Mirror Maze, which was also built for the Prague Exhibition.
(playful music) I'm confused yet this is pretty funny with all the mirrors here. (playful music) So yeah, the Mirror Maze that were short and sweet so much fun, especially for children. If you're traveling with children this is a must do.
Oh man, everybody was having such a good time in there. (playful music) So as you maybe know by now, I love e-scooter. I think they're amazing. You can save so much time when you're sightseeing in a city but unfortunately here in Prague there is cobblestone everywhere in the Old Town and cobblestone is not very pleasant when you're riding a scooter, it gets super bumpy. So I wouldn't really recommend the scooters in the Old Town but since we're outside of the Old Town now we could take one and we're gonna get to our next destination on this e-scooter let's go.
(upbeat music) So here we are at another iconic landmark of Prague. This is the famous Dancing House. You can see the kinda narrow-waisted female dancer on the left and the more upright male dancer on the right. I think it's an incredible building and a true architectural masterpiece from 1996. Really fun. (upbeat music) So I'm standing here on a super important square for Czech history.
This is the Wenceslas Square. It was first founded in the 14th century by Charles IV in honor of the good King Wenceslas that he admired. Wasn't this square here, that the independence of Czechoslovakia was declared in 1918. It was on this square that the end of the second World War was announced and celebrated.
And it was also in this square that many of the most important protests during the Velvet revolution took place. The velvet revolution in 1989, led to the end of single party rule in Czechoslovakia and laid the foundation for today's modern State of Czechia. Some of the most important sites in the square include the St Wenceslas Statue, the National Museum and the Memorial for the university students, Jan Palach and Jan Zajíc who set themselves on fire to protest the brutal Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, that brought an end to the progressive Prague's Spring movement of 1968. (upbeat music) So this is Charles Bridge like we've never seen it from the water and that's possible because I get this fun yellow paddle boat and I'm going around on the river now in the center of Prague. It's pretty cool.
You can rent these boats for one hour and then you can go under the bridge all around the river wherever you want. It's such a fun thing to do here in Prague. And of course, sunset time is the perfect time to do this 'cause the light is so beautiful at this golden hour time of day.
(upbeat music) After my boat adventure, I headed back to the city center. All over the center of Prague you can find these kinds of candy shops, with lots of different kinds of candies where you can pick and choose. And I'm really curious to see how good those candies really are. Let's go inside and create our own personal candy collection. (playful music) All right I got myself a good amount of sweets almost half a kilogram.
That was so much fun. My inner child is so happy right now. Sweets and sweets and sweets great. All right now I'm gonna quickly go back to the hotel and then go out for dinner.
(playful music) So I changed and took a shower and now we're gonna go for dinner. So pretty at night. This the entrance to the Charles Bridge. (upbeat music) All right I'm in this restaurant now called Parliament. And it looks really cool and it's a traditional Czech place I already got the beer cheers.
(upbeat music) So the food arrived. It's traditional Czech food. It's got a cream sauce you can see here. Inside the cream sauce is beef, beef shoulder really nice and dumplings, dumplings are important and Czech cuisine. It looks so good. For dessert, I got some delicious sweet dumplings with apricots sauce.
Really good but interesting though. It's not as sweet as I expected with the apricots and everything. But definitely pretty good dessert. So if you wanna try traditional Czech food especially dumplings, I highly recommend this Parliament restaurant. It was great.
So now let's get some more beer. So we are now standing in front of the Prague Beer Museum which is actually not a museum, but a bar. And it has 30 different regional beers on tap. I think it's gonna be amazing. (upbeat music) There you go. This is the beer list it's pretty cool.
And of course, I'm gonna get the Color Me Tipsy. (upbeat music) All right so let's start with the first beer. This one is called Rozhozec Cherry. So I guess it's a cherry-flavored beer. Let's see, cheers. Wow, it really tastes like cherry.
So sweet I like it. Apart from this cherry beer, I also particularly enjoyed the Porter and the Modra Luna varieties. (upbeat music) So now I'm gonna take the tram back home and try to go to bed early.
So I'm well rested for going to the Vienna tomorrow to Austria. I'm really looking forward to that trip. So those are my recommendations for Prague what are yours? If you're from there, or if you've been there before please make sure to leave tips and advice in the comment box below this video. If you liked this video, give it a thumbs up and subscribe to Max Nomad for new travel videos published every week.
I'm Max nomad and I will talk to you again soon.
2021-03-21 10:39
