Weekend Trip to Prague: Scrapbooking My Travels

Prague, the gorgeous capital city of the Czech Republic, is one of my favorite places I’ve traveled to this past year. From the Baroque architecture to the hilly parks to the fascinating David Černý sculptures, there’s much to see and do in Prague.

`View from Charles Bridge, Prague, Czechia`

I visited Prague with two of my aunts during a week break I had from work. Before Prague, we traveled to Rome, Florence (and Pisa), and Venice. The entire trip was a dream come true, and Prague topped our adventures off with a truly unique city.

In this blog post, I scrapbook my travels in Prague, Czech Republic. Here, you can read about where I ate and what I did—from hiking to sightseeing—during my stay in Prague.

Day 1: Stare Mesto, Sightseeing, and Great Food

12:00PM–2:00PM: Arrive in Stare Mesto, lunch at Maitrea Restaurace

In the morning, we flew from Venice to Frankfurt and from Frankfurt to Prague, where we arrived around noon. After checking into our hotel in the center of Stare Mesto, aka Old Town, we ate a spectacular vegan lunch at Maitrea Restaurace. Our meal was so healthy and satisfying, we decided to return to the restaurant the next day!

2:00PM–5:00PM: Sightseeing in Prague

Although we felt very tired from traveling, we decided to walk around Prague for a couple of hours to take advantage of the beautiful sunny weather we had that day. First, we explored the Old Town Square, a stunning plaza surrounded by colorful buildings and eye-catching historical sites such as the Prague Astronomical Tower and the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn.

Next, we walked to and across the Charles Bridge, stopping to look in some shops along the way. The ornate pedestrian bridge has great views of Prague on both sides of the river, so we took time to stop for photos.

On the other side of the river, we wandered around a bit and eventually made our way to a couple of David Černý’s famous Prague sculptures, the Crawling Babies and the Piss Sculpture.

`David Černý’s Crawling Babies Sculptures, Prague, Czechia`

5:00PM–6:00PM: Afternoon nap

By 5:00PM, our lack of sleep was catching up with us, so we made our way back to the hotel for an hour-long nap.

6:00PM–8:00PM: Dinner at Public Chilli

When we woke up, we were ready for dinner. So we bundled up and made our way to an Asian-fusion restaurant called Public Chilli. The food was great, very flavorful, and they offered many vegan and vegetarian options.

Day 2: Hiking around the Brevnov Monastery

10:00AM–11:30AM: Breakfast at Cafe 11

For the first time on the entire trip, we slept in , and we got more than eight hours of sleep. I woke up feeling much, much better and more well-rested than I felt the few days before.

We started the day with coffee and omelets at Cafe 11. The food tasted fresh and felt light, which we especially appreciated since we planned to hike that day.

11:30AM–5:30PM: Hike to and around the Brevnov Monastery

After breakfast, we embarked on a three-mile walk through the city and suburbs of Prague to the Brevnov Monastery, where we began our hike.

From the monastery, we hiked to and through the park surrounding the Hvezda Summer Pavilion, a 16th century palace shaped like a six-pointed star. We entered the park here: Pražská (Břevnovská) brána do Obory Hvězda.

`Hvezda Summer Pavilion, Prague, Czechia`

From there, we walked a big loop around the park, exploring the trails through a beautiful forest. The trails have informational and historical markers, but they’re written in Czech, so I found it fun to look up translations along the way and read the Wikipedia pages about each site.

After our hike, we returned to the monastery and grabbed some beers brewed at the brewery on the premises. Once we finished there, we began our hour-long trek back into their city of Prague.

6:00PM–7:00PM: Classical music concert at St. Salvator Church

At 6:00pm, we went to the St. Salvator Church to watch a string concert. It was incredible to see such talented musicians perform in such a beautiful building with such great acoustics.

7:00PM–9:00PM: Dinner at Maitrea Restaurace

When the concert finished, we headed back to Maitrea Restaurace to try more dishes on their menu. We loved it so much the night before that we felt we needed to go back to taste more of their vegetarian food. This time, I got a veggie burger, and again, I was not disappointed.

As we ate, I noticed how tired my legs felt. All in all, we walked over 15 miles that day!

Day 3: Sightseeing and more great food

9:30AM–10:30AM: Quick coffee and breakfast

This morning, we grabbed coffees at Bond Cafe and veggie quiches at a little fast food cafe right before the Charles Bridge (I can’t find the cafe on Google Maps, but it was to the left right before the bridge).

10:30AM–2:00PM: Sightseeing in Prague with a self-guided walking tour

Once we drank our coffee and ate our quiches, we set out for the day. We spent the day using this self-guided walking tour from Nomad Epicureans. We didn’t visit every single site mentioned on the tour, but we stopped at many of them, and in general we used the waking tour as a guide to frame our day.

I found the self-guided walking tour to be a great way to hit the major historical, architectural, and natural sites in Prague for free—while learning a little something about the city in the process.

2:00PM–3:30PM: Lunch at Vegan’s Prague

While in Prague's Lesser Quarter, we stopped for lunch at Vegan’s Prague. I really enjoyed everything I ate there—the meal was nutritious and delicious. And the service was great. Our waiter helped us with suggestions of her favorite dishes and drinks. If you want to try traditional Czech food and you don’t eat meat, this restaurant offers vegan spins on these dishes. My favorite thing I tried, though, was the zucchini lasagna—our waiter’s favorite dish and number one recommendation.

3:30PM–7:00PM: More sightseeing in Prague

After eating, we continued following the self-guided walking tour of Prague.

7:00PM–9:00PM: Beer tasting at U Kunštátů

Once we felt satisfied with our day of sightseeing—and after the sunset—we decided to head to a brewery to taste a bit more of the Czech Republic’s famous beers. We went to U Kunštátů, and we ordered flights of beer to try different brews. The staff were very helpful in selecting beers that suited our tastes.

9:00PM–9:30PM: Chimney cake for dessert

To end the night, we tried a chimney cake, a popular Czech dessert of cone-shaped dough dipped in sugar with various filling varieties. We ordered one with chocolate, strawberries, and whipped cream. Perhaps because I’m used to overly sugary fried food in the US, I expected it to be super sweet and oily, but the chimney cake was actually quite light and not too sweet at all. I really enjoyed it, and I would definitely recommend tasting this Czech dessert if you get the chance.

Day 4:

9:30AM–11:00AM: Breakfast at Bistro Monk

We went to Bistro Monk for breakfast, and we ate wonderful, healthy, quinoa salad bowls. (Bistro Monk is a pretty small restaurant, and it’s very well-liked, so we saw lines outside the multiple times we passed it. I’d recommend getting there early if you want to be sure to get a table. And it seems like it’s easier for them to seat parties of two than larger parties.)

11:00AM–11:30AM: Packing up and checking out

After breakfast, we finished packing up, we checked out, and we stored our luggage with the concierge. Then we went back out into the city to enjoy a couple more hours of sightseeing.

11:30PM–1:00PM: Sightseeing in Prague’s New Town

When we left the hotel, we embarked on one final walk around the town. We visited the Jerusalem Synagogue, Wenceslas Square, and the David Černý statue of King Wenceslas on a dead horse. After that, we made our way to the TV Tower to see one final David Černý installation: the babies crawling on the TV Tower.

1:00PM–2:00PM: Quick lunch at Public Chilli

We had a bit more time before we needed to head to the airport, so we decided to stop for lunch at Public Chilli. Then, we retrieved our luggage and went to the airport.

All in all, I absolutely loved my trip to Prague. I highly recommend visiting the city to fellow travels!