9 Days in Prague: Our First Impressions, Hidden Gems, Guide, and Slow Travel Adventures in Czechia

welcome to Prague everybody near from home is finally making it to this legendary City but I'm not just day tripping it I'm not just coming here for a long weekend no no no I'm gonna be living filming and working over the next nine days here in this city I hope to head up not just a fantastic architecture but some incredibly quirky museums and some amazing restaurants too so hopefully I'm gonna be able to give you some proper recommendations [Music] foreign what's really blowing me away though right from the start is how diverse the architecture is I mean I was expecting some good looking buildings but not this many different kinds we've got some medieval we've got Baroque we've got Art Nouveau and even over in the corner a little bit of what looks like Soviet brutalist it is an insane hodgepodge of buildings and it's beautiful so without further Ado it's bloody freezing let's get to our first activity [Music] thank you foreign bridge is indeed beautiful but it is also so busy I never thought it would be this busy you'd think people had never seen a pedestrian Footbridge before and I'm starting to think maybe they should have two one Bridge just for people taking photos and one for people crossing the city because man there's like Frogger up in here trying to stay out of people's photos and bringing the camera seems to put a bit of a mark on my back as I keep being asked to take everyone else's photos too which I actually think is quite fun I used to be a professional photographer back in Washington DC so it's kind of fun working with people and getting them to post but it really is a beautiful Bridge don't get me wrong I'm still a curmudgeon but it is really pretty just maybe come back at night when it's less so busy then it'll be romantic right now it's a bit hectic [Music] thank you though I'm not that much of a curmudge and I do get why it's so popular and my favorite part is the fact that the only way onto the bridge itself is through the old fortified gate I love when old infrastructure like that is still around and the fact that it's the only way under the bridge that's my favorite part is so cool [Music] shoes everywhere every bridge should come with spooky statues though I don't know if we're going to be staying on this bridge much longer today is not the day to dilly dally and take photos as it's just started snowing and I'm freezing how are you finding the weather on the bridge today yeah that definitely Cuts you the vibe and this part of the bridge right by the western side is really strange to me it feels almost like an American overpass in the way that we're completely elevated above the ground I mean behind me these are like three and four story windows that we're all looking into so strange but it's very cool I mean there's a whole village down there and I keep trying not to look into people's windows because you don't want to be creepy about it but it's just so interesting what lives do they live looking over this bridge no privacy I'll tell you that [Music] and I'll tell you something that has really surprised me now that we've headed over to the west side of Prague and that's that it's still incredibly pretty I mean so many times when you go to these amazing European cities one side usually the East is really nice and the West eh not so much but here in Prague both sides are incredibly good there's more cars over here but I can forgive them for that and it's a little bit more hilly too but I think the sights are going to be worth it [Music] now probably my favorite way to get from the bridge to the castle is along the fortification wall I mean it's a lot of steps but this is a near from home video after all you know I'm gonna recommend the wall though it might be easier to go along the road instead a little less steep the wall is incredible there not my favorite but definitely up there I think my favorite fortification war was most likely in the Cinque Terre video If you haven't seen that but in the town of Puerto Venere that was the best fortification wall I've ever seen though this one can be in my top five [Music] um now that we've crushed that final bit of elevation we've made it to Prague Castle which realistically is more of a palatial complex with their main Cathedral inside it the Drone footage that I've seen is incredible and the Ambiance around here I gotta say I'm really impressed Prague as always is incredibly beautiful however I do have a bit of a letdown for you I'm not gonna go into it in fact I only came up here to tell you that I'm not gonna go into it and to get some of those amazing City skyline views and the reason I'm doing that is because I think when a lot of people travel they get their fomo their fear of missing out they want to do every major Trip Advisor that they can and they just don't want to feel like they're you know like I said missing out on anything but I've been to a lot of palaces this is not my first rodeo and I've been to a lot of cathedrals and they're just not my favorite things to do while I'm on vacation I like castle ruins I love hiking and on this trip I love all the beer but I don't need to see another Palace if I'm being completely honest with you so no you can play me in the comments if you want but I would always recommend to travel with your hobbies with your interests you know if you've never been to a palace this would be an amazing first and if you love them you should go but if you're not really feeling for it don't bother me go do something you like never feel pressured by other people to really do anything it's your vacation oh well in this case it's my vacation [Music] now as a bit of a reprieve we are actually going to go to a bit of a touristy bit of a fun Museum the Museum of Alchemists because apparently Prague does have a history of having too many Alchemists I have absolutely no idea what on Earth that means but there's only one way to find out in Prague during his Ryan there was been something about 200 of The Alchemist never been so much as the same place there was a lot of not only Alchemists but also a lot of the like you can call them scientists like Johannes Kepler just here in Prague he just makes the proof that Earth is evolving around the Sun [Music] this museum is a lot of fun as long as you don't take it too seriously it's all Ambiance and it's all thematic and I like that quite a lot look at this right here they have it's an exploded with Gold Dust everywhere explosion after like a failed experiment I love it I wish my attic looked like this [Music] he was the most erudite man of his time a mathematician astronomer astrologer however he was also a secret agent of the Queen of England also William Shakespeare awaits you here too also as a secret agent I love this Museum so much it's fantastic [Music] now you're probably not going to see this on every itinerary of Prague but since we're staying here for about nine days I need to go get myself some soap because comment below if you can relate the stuff they give you in hotels is usually kind of crap so we're gonna go to hottest botanicus and apothecus to get some really fancy soap probably gonna be a little bit overpriced but it's one of those real guilty pleasures I love to do every time I'm staycationing and it smells wonderful in here not to mention it's so warm in here and so cold out there fantastic stuff back to the actual reasons why we're here in Prague foreign about getting to stay here for over a week instead of just day tripping or blasting by is that we have a lot more opportunities for good weather today not so much but for the rest of the week hopefully we have better luck [Music] now usually poor weather like this would bother me but not so in Prague they have so many tiny quirky little museums that I was gonna spend all day inside anyway I mean the collection is wild they have almost everything like the central Gallery the Museum of torture the gallery of Steel figures complete with robot Horus and Mecca Anubis the film special effects Museum the Museum of Alchemists the Museum of myths and Faith the ghosts and legends Museum but I think the first place we're actually gonna go today is going to be the central Gallery right here in prague's main Square it offers a triple threat of fine artists Dolly Warhol and Camille's favorite muja and I think we might just get the combined ticket and see all three we'll find out if it's worth it for you foreign I look up look up for me I need you to look up oh [Music] and I think I like this one the most because it asks the real questions do you want a biscuit yeah [Music] thank you [Music] that museum was really good honestly it surprised me I was not completely sold I was going mostly for you because Camille likes anything involving and you know why not include some of the fine artists while you're there as well but honestly I loved it getting to compare all of them and see a small little sample selection you know between all the different artists that was awesome but I am starving no more museums until we get some good food yeah Now by seeing all of that fine art I have worked up a proper appetite but considering that we're essentially in the main tourist center of Prague I didn't really think we were going to be able to find any good food but Camille promises that the restaurant behind me is going to be excellent there's only one way to find out [Music] all right now that we are done with our meal I feel fully rejuvenated and ready for the next Museum what's on the docket so I feel like we got a really good taster with the last mooka Museum oh yeah so now we are going to the dedicated Museum fantastic let's go get more thank you [Music] welcome to the dedicated muja Museum what separates this place from the triple threat earlier is naturally the focus but more so than just that this museum is not merely dedicated to his art or style but to his life itself clearly separated into distinct periods you can see here how his very life created a complex feedback loot within his art step by step decade by decade so let's take our time and enjoy everything that this museum has to offer from his naturally world-famous posters and paintings to his lesser-known early illustrations and later work creating their very style that would define the foundation of a newborn Czechoslovakia when he created the world's coolest stamps and banknotes and so even though most of us out there will associate glorious Art Nouveau with Paris this Muse Museum reminds us to study the man behind the style and how it truly was born here in Prague and perfected four Czechoslovakia [Music] that museum was so much better than I thought it was gonna be I mean I've known for a while that we were going to be doing all of these exhibitions but man I just feel like I have a much greater appreciation for him as an artist what he was trying to achieve everything was laid out so clearly that man I could not say better things about this Museum if I tried so I definitely still recommend the central Gallery I enjoyed my little taster this morning but that right there was a full meal so if you like what you see you need to go check it out [Music] Prague is just full brim with pretty cool vintage trams and it's the exact kind of thing that I'm worried British people and Germans perhaps will kind of turn their nose up those are the sorts of trams that I would see in a history museum back in Germany but I mean if there's one thing better than Recycling and reusing is refurbishment and keeping things rolling on the track but I'll tell you I absolutely love it I think they look fantastic going through all the high streets I mean it's a thing of beauty why you got a new tram when you've got gold on the rails already [Music] happy Monday night out there everybody I hope you had a good day at work I know I did but now that I'm off work I suppose this Begins the official staycation part of my vacation in Prague and so now I need to find something to do for the evening and I actually feel really fortunate tonight because well one of my favorite things unexpected things about having this YouTube channel has been getting to meet so many people not only so many subscribers in Munich but getting to go out and meet other YouTubers as well finally people who can complain about the algorithm with me and as luck would have it two other YouTubers that we speak to quite frequently on Instagram follow us at near Dot from home reach down to let us know that they're in Prague tonight filming a video I mean how lucky is that and so I suppose for my first weekday in Prague I went to work and then I'm going now to meet friends for dinner never thought I'd be doing that in Prague [Music] foreign [Music] now I know what you're thinking come on what do you really think about all of the architecture in Prague well I'm gonna be honest with you guys I always am but it's really good and I expected to be unimpressed not because it's not good but because I'm spoiled I mean if you guys have seen my backlog I live in Munich I went to Florence I go to deltsburg all the time some of my best videos have been in some of the most picturesque towns in Germany so how is Prague gonna hold up to just well how numb I've become to it all and the answer is just impeccably well this city is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen and I've seen a lot thank you is it possible to buy a tram ticket um I just want to buy a ticket from here to here thank you so much thank you [Music] okay so it is Wednesday for me on Monday and Tuesday I spend all day walking around Prague Old City getting a b-roll for both of our videos so since I'm so ahead of schedule I thought I'd head outside of the old town to the ulcini cemetery thank you [Music] okay so I've been walking around the cemetery for about an hour just taking everything in getting some footage and I was getting a little bit creeped out because earlier in the day nobody was really here it was incredibly overcast and it was making the whole old part of the cemetery a very dreary it was just a little bit unsettling walking by all of these old old Graves that are from like the 1800s that have like tree roots going into the ground under the graves pushing up the stones so you can kind of like see in some of this might have been my own fault because I was going up to some of the mausoleums that look especially old and creepy and like putting my face into the doorway and like the holes in the wall my heart was pounding at one point because I did that and then I heard somebody's voice that was coming from inside the mausoleum but it was just somebody on the other side of the mausoleum talking but in the last 20 minutes the sun has come out and this graveyard has a totally different vibe it's kind of weird thank you but let me know in the comments is this a super weird activity where you live do you live in Europe and this is more normal or do you live in the United States and you're like I don't know what this girl is going on about but yeah with that being said I think I'm going to head back into the old city and do just a little bit of editing before dinner tonight [Music] foreign guys we have a problem the food just arrived I'm already through about two of these and I just ordered a third [Music] I got a black truffle sausage made here fresh Camille got a kind of goulash soup which hilariously came with a bretzen so not too adventurous and we also have a smoked mashed potatoes brilliant thank you so much I told you we're on for effort so good maybe a liter and a half of beer comes off as like excessive to maybe some of the Americans and British in the room but I live in Bavaria this is a Tuesday it only gets wild if we hit three liters [Music] be good not the best truffle I've ever had that was in San Minato video on screen now this however is the best I've ever had outside of San Minato that's high accolades and you just start beating that I need to show you some of the other foods but oh I could just finish that right now what I'm really excited for are these smoked mashed potatoes with tons of garlic we all know this is going to be incredible this restaurant I would highly recommend that you come here they actually the waiters have been so nice they brought over a book because recently in 2023 they've been shown as the first the cover the headline of prague's best places to eat 2023 Edition they're published in a book as being one of the best and I completely agree [Music] so I've had a few beers an amazing meal and it's pastry time the waiter recommended we get the vetrenic write my pronunciation below which is essentially it's like a very puffy pastry filled with vanilla cream and caramel glaze on top it's supposedly super check very famous let's see how it tastes I'm not quite sure how you're supposed to eat it [Music] they didn't give us a knife so uh it's all com it's all going to come out in the wash in it I feel terrible I've destroyed the work of art just so I can consume it the bite looks good though hold on that is incredible the caramel is is such a deep and rich flavor it's so good almost tastes like they melted a word as original all over the top and the cream is incredibly cold almost feels like an ice cream but it's not but it gives it that kind of dense texture in your mouth this is so lovely because you have to try this I have no idea if I'm eating it correctly but it tasted amazing so how bad could it be you can't be doing it too wrong if it tastes great right is that not the best dessert we've had in Prague man this restaurant is too much it really is all right but now we need to let Camille put the camera down so we can eat this with a little bit of peace [Music] perhaps what I've cherished most about this staycation living working and filming my way through Prague has been getting to go out for every meal and dive into the food culture if you only get a day or two in a city how many restaurants can you reasonably go to and can you make a real food guide worth watching in that time I don't think so nor do I have enough time in this video to show you all of the amazing food I've eaten or the incredible beers that I've drunk and even bathed in So to that end hit the Subscribe button right now really click the button it supports the channel it makes me pretty happy too because coming out right after this video hopefully next week is our complete Czech food tour it is going to be awesome so if you've liked this video I know you'll love the one coming up and you're going to want to find out everything else we've been eating and getting up to during our staycation and if you've been finding this guide helpful don't forget to check out our website at link.near from home Dot come forward slash itineraries where we provide full written guides that you can carry in your pocket and we even offer video call itinerary checks too so if you want near from home's help planning your next vacation and want to hang out a little bit on chat as well then make sure you follow that link support the channel and be back here next week for the food tour [Music] all right it's Friday night I just got off work and if you remember about six days ago though I suppose that was only a few minutes for you we spend all weekend going to as many mujra exhibits as we could find however there's been one in the back of my mind this whole week the I muja exhibit and I've decided I'm gonna give it a go they say it's the largest exhibition of his art in the world along with some more modern reinterpretations of his work as well so with all of that combined I know I need more muja in this video so let's get going [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] this is incredible I say that every time and I always mean it this is exactly how I want my last memory of Prague to be before I go home we've got the morning sun breaking through the clouds a light dusting of snow over all of the buildings and we practically have the bridge to ourselves this is perfection and it was well worth getting up early and freezing my ass off I imagine everyone else here feels exactly the same except for maybe Camille so I suppose the lesson of the story is if you wake up early the Charles bridge still can be really romantic and I think honestly that's going to be it for this video guys it has been nine fantastic days two videos we've got the beer tour and the city tour and I also had to work all week so it sure has been a hell of a lot our bus leaves in a few hours I think I'm gonna go take one final warm shower pack up and then back to Munich thank you all so much for watching I hope you've really liked it naturally you need to like And subscribe if you want to check out all of the Prague series which you definitely should and I'll see you all in the next video wherever that might be [Music] thank you

Channel: NearFromHome | Slow Travel Experts

Views: 19,656

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Id: PvuofDNMrAk

Length: 25min 51sec (1551 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 30 2023