Prague, Czech Republic - by Pieter de Jonge

After the wedding we decided that we would spend our day in Prague, the capital of the Czech republic. What made it extra special was that Alma would celebrate her birthday while in Prague as well.

Prague is considered one of the most beautiful cities in Europe and therefore a very popular destination for tourists.
Prague is nicknamed the Golden City and the City of a Hundred Spires and situated at the banks of the Vltava (or Moldau) river, splitting the city in half.

Prague is littered with historic sights and buildings. Since 1992, the whole extensive historic centre of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

View from our apartment in the center of Prague. The glass building is called the "dancing house" because the design resembles a pair of dancer.

Prague doesn’t have a hop on / hop off bus tour like Paris or Brussels which we’ve also visited. The van did stop once though halfway during the tour: at Prague castle, from where you can look down on the whole city center of Prague. A beautiful view. There you were allowed to check out the place yourself, before the van would continue the tour an hour later.

The Prague Castle includes Gothic St. Vitus Cathedral, Romanesque Basilica of St. George, a monastery and several palaces, gardens and defense towers. This is the St. Vitus Cathedral.

Entrance gate tower to the Charles Bridge.

The famous Charles bridge, spanning the Moldau river, and constructed in the 14th and 15th century. The bridge is over 500 meters long and nearly 10 meters wide, resting on 16 arches shielded by ice guards. It is protected by three bridge towers. The Old Town bridge tower is often considered to be one of the most astonishing civil gothic-style buildings in the world. The bridge is decorated by a continuous alley of 30 statues and statuaries, most of them baroque-style, erected around 1700.

One of the many statues in Charles Bridge.

After we arrived at Prague airport and the hotel taxi picked us up, we were taken to the apartment. It was on the 5th floor of a big historic building. Once we checked out the apartment, we were shocked with the size of it.

It turned out to be a family suite with 10 beds, 2 balconies, a kitchen, a tv corner with sofas and 2 fully equipped bathrooms. Well over 100 square meter for sure. Some people would consider it a lucky break, being offered this huge apartment for no extra charges, but we were not so pleased with it. It was just too big for the two of us and it felt a little eerie because it was so huge and old. Besides the apartment lacked 24/7 room service, had no food or beverages in the fridge and there wouldn’t be a breakfast either (although we had paid for a hotel room including breakfast).

We had the most amazing view from up there.

Nevertheless, the next day we went back to the hotel reception to complain. After all, we had specifically picked this very hotel from many others, because we wanted the luxury design suite that was advertised in the hotel’s website. Fortunately, that day the room we had booked was available again and the hotel manager offered to pick us and our belongings up from the apartment and move us into the hotel. After we spend the rest of the afternoon sightseeing, we were taken from the apartment to the hotel by the manager himself. When we entered our suite there, even though it was smaller than the apartment, we felt like: yesss, this is it!

The Red&Blue hotel was top of the list with an average rating of 9.5 out of 10. The hotel rooms are all design, with either a blue or a red theme.

The hotel room looked even better than in the website. Everything was spotless and brand new, including a very luxurious bathroom.

A bottle of red Czech wine and some Lindt bonbons in a red heart shaped box was waiting for us, with a card congratulating Alma with her birthday. Courtesy of the hotel.

We can really recommend this hotel and we will book it again next time we visit this wonderful city of Prague, which we for sure will do in the near future!