We woke Sunday morning to the first rainy day of our vacation. Until October 8th, we had enjoyed dreamy temperatures and sunshine. Now, the first signs that autumn was upon us had come in the form of a rainy, windy, chilly morning. As is our habit, we loaded more of our luggage into the car before breakfast. We had one more buffet style repast at Hotel JesteBrno, did one last check of the room, and checked out. Because Bill had parked next to the building, I couldn’t get into the passenger seat unless I moved the car, which I did. Bill presented me with the “gift” the hotel gave him– a fancy little box that had a single coffee flavored bon bon in it.
Our drive to Prague was relatively short. It only takes a couple of hours to get there from Brno. Since the weather was kind of crappy and we were on a major highway, I didn’t get any interesting photos on the drive. Below is the only one I got as we were entering the vicinity of Prague.
I also wasn’t feeling very well, because whatever bug I’ve had all last week was taking hold and making me feel icky. We were in luck, though, because I booked a great hotel called Nerudova 211. We were thinking we’d have to drop our bags after parking our car ourselves and find a way to kill the three hours before check in began, but our room was available at noon, which is when we arrived. Jan, who co-owns the hotel with his wife, Sarah, came out and helped us with our bags. Then he very kindly parked our car for us on the street, right across from the hotel’s entrance.
A very enthusiastic and pleasant young woman welcomed us to check in and took us to our room, which was the Deluxe King Suite with Winter Garden, otherwise known as Room 301. One time, Jan’s wife asked us which room we were in and I said 302, because that was our room number in Brno! But room 302 at Hotel Nerudova 211 is very small, and the people who occupied it were obviously Asian. I think Sarah quickly realized I got the number wrong!
In any case, we were definitely not disappointed with our choice. Our room was beautiful, and came equipped with a minibar that had complimentary beverages, as well as a decanter of Czech whiskey. The hotel, which dates back to the 16th century, was renovated and reopened in August 2022. I chose it because I noticed everyone was giving it really high ratings on all of the travel sites. The ratings are truly well-deserved, and I don’t think it’ll be long before this hotel is known as one of the best in Prague. Below are some pictures of our room. All of the rooms are individually decorated and offer cool original features like frescoes and exposed beams and bricks.
This hotel is located very close to Prague Castle and the Charles Bridge, which makes it convenient for sightseeing. There are also several good shops, restaurants, and bars nearby. The Romanian Embassy is right across the street.
After we settled in, Bill and I went out to find some lunch. We ended up walking around for awhile before we ended up at a Czech brewpub and had a nice, hearty lunch. Grilled salmon for me, and goulash for Bill, washed down with beer, of course… I noticed on our walk that there were a lot of people around… and it was going to be another one of those cities where someone is always close. Again, I was glad we were there in October instead of during the summer!
After lunch, we went across the street and visited St. Nicholas Church (Malá Strana). We paid a nominal fee to go inside and view the awesome interior of the Roman Catholic cathedral that dates from 1704. I’m glad we visited this church because it really is beautiful. It was convenient to the hotel, too, so although I badly needed a nap, it was no problem to duck into the church and take some photos. There’s also a tower you can pay to climb for views of the city. We didn’t do the tower, mainly because I was feeling so crappy. If I hadn’t been sick, we probably would have gone for it.
I wish I’d had more energy to do more sightseeing on Sunday, but by the time we left the church, I really needed a nap. So that’s what I did… I went back to the hotel and slept for about two hours. Bill went out for a walk to a nearby monastery and took today’s featured photo of the views from there. The nap was a good thing, as it helped give me enough energy to walk around Prague on Monday.
More on that in the next post!
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