I think two nights/ 2.5 days is the perfect amount of time to explore a city if you want to get a taste of its culture. It's just the right amount of time to pop somewhere for a weekend, and although you won't be able to see everything, it's possible to experience a decent amount of a city without feeling too rushed.
Our third morning in Prague dawned a lot brighter and sunnier than forecast, and, with a "to see" list almost as long as the walk we that afternoon (more on that later), we set off nice and early.
Our first stop was the Pinkas Synagogue museum in the Jewish quarter. I didn't realise how much the Czechs had been affected by the holocaust until I went here, and, if you are ever in Prague, this is the one thing I would say do not miss. Unfortunately I have no photographs of the museum, but I do not believe that pictures would do it justice anyway. In the synagogue, the names of every single Czech person who was murdered in the holocaust is written on the wall. While I have been to Dachau, I had never appreciated the scale of the holocaust as much as I did at the Pinkas Synagogue. Upstairs is a museum with drawings made by children who were held captive during the holocaust. An absolute must see. We also walked through the Jewish cemetery behind the museum, which your ticket includes entry for. Here, graves are on top of graves, with the ground level of the cemetery being about 8m higher than that of the road outside. Not willing to allow the Jews more land to bury their dead, governments kept putting dirt on top of graves so more people could be buried. Very interesting and moving.
We then walked over the bridge to the other side of the river and looked through the backstreets of Prague in search for the John Lennon wall. We were momentarily distracted by some props perfect for photographs...
...but soon moved on in our adventures.
The John Lennon wall in Prague is the one of the only walls in the world that can be legally drawn on and has been used since the 1980s as a place for people to express their wishes for peace and love. In 1988, in a move described ironically as "Lennonism", young Czechs would write their grievances with the Czech communist government in the wall, a source of irritation for those leading the communist regime of the time.
We continued walking through Prague, finding Prague's own little love lock bridge on the way, before we decided to attempt a climb to the highest point in Prague, the Petrin Tower.
With a stop off to get ripped off for lunch along the way (note to self: the tourist destinations are often a bit sketchy), we climbed what seemed like kilometres of hills and hundreds of stairs before we reached this view.
The Petrin tower very strongly resembles the Eiffel Tower (like, very very). It's 63.5m high and only takes you 299 steps to get to the top - fine if you used the funicular to get up the hill, not so fine if you didn't know that it existed until you were already up.
While I'd be lying if I said the hill didn't kill me a little bit, the view was worth it. From up here, you can (apparently) see to the borders of the Czech Republic, and this does not surprise me one bit.
After slipping our way down the hill, we walked through Prague and went to the France cafe for crepes (me) and chocolate milkshakes (everyone). We definitely deserved it after that walk. We went back to the hostel, grabbed our bags and made it to the airport via public transport (not bad), where we even made it to our gate in time.
Prague was absolutely incredible - what was a bit of a YOLO moment booking a trip to somewhere I hadn't really considered before, it was so exciting getting lost in a city that I knew very little about.
"The world is a book, and those who do not travel only read one page". I must say, Prague has been one of my favourite chapters yet.
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