Prague

At the end of March I turned the ripe old age of 30 – how I got so old without noticing I’ll never know! I hadn’t made any plans for my birthday other than Sarah telling me that I had to book a number of days off work… mysterious indeed. I packed a suitcase and was told to drive towards London… it was only upon arriving at Heathrow airport carpark that Sarah handed me a wrapped guide book for Prague in the Czech Republic, what a fantastic surprise!

Vltava River

Like most European cities, Prague has a river running straight through the center of it known as the Vltava River. This means bridges are in abundance and photo opportunities from one side of the city across the river to the other are vast.

Charles Bridge

One of the key highlights of the city is the Charles Bridge which is decorated with 30 statues along its 520m length. As expected it’s full of tourists and other people so you have to be careful of pickpockets. The atmosphere is very friendly however and offers some great views along the river. A visit at night is also well worth the trip to see the city fully lit up though my camera really didn’t capture the moment well(!!)

Lesser Town Bridge Tower

Sarah and I were staying in a hotel right on the end of the Charles Bridge on the Lesser Town side of the city. Being so centrally located was excellent and the hotel gave us a free ticket up the Lesser Town Bridge Tower which offered some really good views.

Prague Castle

Standing tall over the city is Prague Castle which can be seen from just about everywhere. Being one of the key tourist attractions we made our way up the (very) steep hill to the top to see what it had to offer.

Astronomical Clock

If you read all of the guidebooks and tourist information about Prague everything advises you to go and see the Astronomical Clock in the city center… so we did! I’ve seen a few of these around the world now and unfortunately they really don’t do it for me. Maybe I’m missing something but it was all over and done with very quickly.

Astronomical Clock Prague
Astronomical Clock, Prague

A lot to see!

Prague is one of those cities where you can explore everything on foot. Every twist and turn within the city offers another sight, sound and historic monument. During our 3 days in the city we discovered a peacock garden, Prague’s answer to the Eiffel Tower (very underwhelming it has to be said!) after walking an hour up a huge hillside, plenty of historic buildings and the Jewish Quarter.

Worth visiting

Prague was an amazing city to have spent my 30th birthday in, made even more special by our hotel (Pod Vezi) who treated us exceptionally well and even brought me a bottle of Czech sparkly wine on ice to my room unannounced!

The prices were incredibly cheap, the Czech beer was good and the traditional dumplings tasted great. If you’re considering a city break anytime soon I can’t recommend Prague highly enough. Sarah did exceptionally well booking our long weekend here, I’m a very lucky guy.

By Nick

Nick is the founder of Life of Man with a passion for trying out the latest technology, eating out at the best local restaurants, trying the latest IPAs hitting the craft beer scene travelling the world. As a parent Nick loves to spend time with his family and write about days out as dad blogger.

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