The next morning we headed back to Old Town Square to check out the
Easter Markets (velikonoční trhy). Easter Markets are popular all over the city, though most of them are concentrated in Old Town. The weather was a little better, and we enjoyed a good morning walking around the markets. (I had attempted to go to mass that day since it was a Sunday, and even checked the schedule of the mass hours. I was in the church for maybe 10 minutes until I realized that it wasn't a Catholic mass. Oops!) Anyway, we got to spend the morning walking around, looking at the stalls and buying some souvenirs.
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| Easter Market stalls with the Old Town Hall Tower in the back |
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| Church of Our Lady before Tyn in the back flanked by pretty pastel colored buildings |
The Easter Markets originated a long time ago and were naturally related to the religious festivities that happen during Easter. During the communist era they were banned, along with all other aspects related to Easter and Christianity. Since the fall of communism, the markets witnessed a revival, and are one of the most popular tourist attractions today.
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| If only the skies were a little bluer |
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| Still such a pretty market |
Throughout the market are wooden huts or stalls selling local handicrafts and souvenirs. The most common sight is that of the traditional
Czech Easter Eggs which are hand painted in bright and beautiful colors.
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| Most of them are made of real egg shells |
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| Though you'll also see some wooden ones |
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| Souvenirs and handicrafts |
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| Souvenirs and handicrafts |
Julie and I had gone ahead to check out the markets, then when Lyle met up with us, we headed to the Old Town Hall Tower to go up and check out the view.
We paid the
70 czk (€2.5) to go up the tower, and it was well worth it. The view from up there was amazing.
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| Gloomy skies but beautiful view! |
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| It was really really windy and cold, but worth it. |
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| Old Town Square and the Easter Market |
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| Pastel colored buildings |
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| The people gathered around the Astronomical Clock |
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| Church of Our Lady Before Tyn and Prague |
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| In just 1.5 days, I fell in love with Prague! |
It was quite cold up in the tower so we snapped a few more pictures, then headed back down. We checked out the food at the market and decided to have lunch there before we left. We saw some potato chips...
These were really really popular -
trdelník which is a sort of hot pastry coated in sugar and cinnamon.
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| trdelník |
There were also a lot of drink stalls - I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of any!! They were mostly selling traditional Czech beers, as well as some hot drinks like
svařák (mulled wine) or honey mead. Then came the meat: large old-Prague hams roasted on spits...
...that's
halušky (in the back of the picture below) which is potato dumplongs with bacon and cabbage...
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| klobása and halusky |
...and finally deliciously barbecued klobása (sausage) and chicken kebabs!
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| klobása and chicken kebabs |
I had some
klobása (couldn't resist, had been eyeing it since the other day), and we shared an order of potato chips.
Right before leaving we watched the show of the Astronomical Clock. Thankfully we were forewarned of how short it was, so we weren't disappointed. Also, our guide had explained it to us the day before so we knew what to look for. Watch for for the 12 apostles who shuffle out the small windows on the top, Death waving an hourglass, the Turk wagging his head, and the rooster crowing.
After watching the show, we headed back to our Airbnb, freshened up, grabbed our bags, stopped by the supermarket for some snacks, and were off to the bus station. Our Airbnb host
Šárka was really helpful and lovely! (Her place was also a cute Pinterest worthy apartment, haha!) She left us a small note before we left along with some Easter chocolates. :)
We made it to
ÚAN Florenc, the international bus station, easily, and before we knew it we were on our bus to Budapest. We had booked our tickets with
Eurolines for
500 czk (€18) with a student discount,
550 czk (€20) for without. We left at 3pm and the bus ride was to be 7.5 hours long with stops in Brno (Czech Republic), Bratislava (Slovakia), and finally Budapest (Hungary). Aside from Brno and Bratislava we also stopped one more time at a gas station, though each time we only had a 10 minute rest.
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| The sign in the back was a lie -- there was no wifi |
Random story: when our bus stopped in Bratislava, we got off to use the bathroom. The driver had announced that he would be at Platform 11 in 10 minutes. We quickly hurried to the bathroom because in the last previous stops, the bus had left punctually after 10 minutes, then went to Platform 11 to wait. We were panicky for a liiiitle bit because the bus wasn't there when we arrived. But then just waited it out, and the bus eventually came around.
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| Breezing through Slovakia |
The trip took 7 hours (30 minutes less than advertised), and we arrived in Budapest at around 10pm. We messaged our Airbnb host and we were easily able to get to his place. Then we got ready for bed, excited for another day of exploring the next day. :)
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