So now we have slept our first night in Santiago! Our airbnb is amazing and waking up to this view of the city felt pretty nice. We have two bedrooms so both me and Tom and then Ale and Jonas have our own rooms and bathrooms.
//Så nu har vi sovit vår först natt i Santiago! Vår airbnb är så tuff och att vakna till den här vyn kändes ganska bra. Vi har två sovrum så både jag och Tom och sedan Ale och Jonas har våra egna rum och badrum.
All rooms have french balconies and shit it’s scary to open them and look out over the edge – we’re on the 15th floor here and it’s all glass around. Then I saw these stairs going up from our balcony…
//Alla rum har franska balkonger och shit vad skrämmande det är att öppna dem och kolla över räcket – vi är på 15 våningen här och det är bara glas runt. Sedan såg jag dom här trapporna från vår balkong…
…and they led up to our own ROOFTOP! This is where we are chilling now and a little up at the top floor pool.
//…och de ledde upp till vår egna ROOFTOP! Det här är var vi hänger nu och lite vid poolen på högsta våningen.
Today has been one of those days where it felt like I woke up, worked and just came back home only to go to bed. I didn’t go to work until 12pm, but I just couldn’t get my day started early like I usually do. Maybe it’s even better I haven’t done much since tomorrow we have lots to do when we get home because on Thursday we leave to a friend’s summerplace for the whole weekend. Tomorrow we need to pack and order all our groceries (yes, we want to save time and nerves because Thursday will be a nightmare in supermarkets before Midsummer weekend). Then there’s just other smaller things I want to do like clean the flat so it’s nice to come back on Sunday, work out and stuff like that. I quickly edited these photos in Lightroom and I love experimenting with photos. There are so many fun things you can do and here’s my before and after photos from ride down on electric scooters to watch the sunset last night.
Tonight I want to sleep well and fingers crossed I will have more energy tomorrow. Will be needed. Night ❤
//Idag har varit en av dom dagarna då det kändes som om jag vaknat, jobbat och kommit hem bara för att sova igen. Jag började jobbet först kl 12, men kunde bara inte få dagen igång tidigt som jag brukar. Kanske det t.o.m. är bättre att jag inte gjort mycket idag för imorgon har vi massor att göra när vi kommer hem för på torsdag åker vi till en kompis sommarställe för hela helgen. Imorgon måste vi packa och beställa all mat (ja, vi vill spara på tid och nerver för torsdag kommer vara en mardröm i alla matbutiker inför midsommarhelgen). Sen är det en massa små grejer som jag vill göra som städa lägenheten så den är trevlig att komma tillbaka till på söndag, träna och sånt. Jag redigerade snabbt dessa bilder i Lightroom och jag älskar att experimentera med bilder. Det finns så mycket roligt man kan göra och här är mina före och efter bilder från vår åktur på elsparcyklar ner till havet för att se solnedgången igår.
Idag vill jag sova bra och håller tummarna att jag har mer energi imorgon. Kommer behövas. Gonatt ❤
A week ago we went to Prague for three nights and like everyone does, we asked those who had been there for recommendations. It’s always nice to know a few things to do or where to go. Hence the post with what we did if you ever need ideas or wants to know what we thought. Prague is a really beautiful city and I would definitely go again, next time in summer.
We really wanted to explore the city and tried to not spend our days in shopping centers or the most touristy restaurants, as they’re usually not as good and we wanted to see as much as we could of Prague.
Where to stay?
Hotel Leonardo
We booked our hotel based on recommendations on booking.com and location. It was fabulous – perfect for a romantic/cosy getaway and walking distance to all the main places! We walked everywhere and there were even restaurants and bars on our street if you don’t want to go far. The room was the cosiest ever and it felt like being in a ski cabin. Breakfasts are my favorite meal of the day so for me it’s important that the breakfast is good and it definitely was! We even decided to do breakfast in bed on our last morning but didn’t order nearly enough so we went down for a second breakfast after haha!
Where to eat?
Fat Cat Pub & Brewery
We didn’t really want to eat in the old town, but one of the days we just wanted to sit down somewhere to grab some easy lunch. Out of the places we saw the Fat Cat seemed like the best option. They served pub food and they had lots of burges which was perfect as we craved something easy like that. From the outside, the place looks like a small pub but in fact it goes far back and is huge! The burgers were also delicious and quite big so we decided to share the fires – definitely our unhealthiest meal but so tasty. I wouldn’t say this was cheap cheap, but definitely worth every Czech crown considering location and taste.
Lehká hlava
This restaurant was literally 50 steps from our hotel entrance, hidden in a small alley and impossible to spot if you didn’t know it was there. I was checking on tripadvisor for restaurants in Prague and found this – a vegetarian restaurant next door. The food was good vegetarian food and the portion sizes were huge. The place was very small so might be good to make a reservation. They also had breakfast/brunch and even that menu looked amazing.
Garuda
This was an Indonesian restaurant about 2-3km out of the old town area. This was recommended by a friend of mine who has a friend, who’s got a boyfriend who is from Prague haha. They had been here and liked it – obviously we had to try it out as it was recommended by a local. We made a reservation because we didn’t know how busy or big it was gonna be on a Saturday night, but probably wouldn’t have needed to. The food was delicious, the cocktails cheaper than coffee in the old town and the place had a really cosy vibe.
Where to drink?
Cobra
This cocktail bar recommendation came the same way as the restaurant recommendation. Go for dinner to Garuda, then for cocktails after to Cobra. The best part is, they are basically next door to each other so extremely convenient. They had very interesting cocktails but they were good. We were actually quite lucky getting a table, because the place got busy very quick. After the food and drinks we didn’t want to walk back so we jumped in a tram that left from just one street down, to right in front of our hotel.
Hemingways
This bar was one of the most recommended ones when I was trying to check tripadvisor for nice cocktail places. Little did we know, it happened to be maybe 30 steps away from our hotel. Hemingways was a really cool cocktail bar – you can only go in if they have a table for you, which explained the long queues outside every night. I read they don’t take reservations after 9pm so before that is your best chance to go if you go without a reservation and don’t want to wait long. Or we were just lucky. The cocktails were amazing!
What to do?
Old town
There is no way for you to miss the old town – all the roads lead to the old town square. I don’t know about other times of the year, but even in January you could just follow the masses of people so I’m sure you won’t have a problem finding it. The old town square (and all of Prague) is so pretty with it’s colorful buildings and churches. There are a lot of restaurants around the old town, but if you are like me and prefer not to go to all the worst tourist traps, then avoid eating all your meals here. The most touristy places are usually more expensive and not as genuine.
Shopping street/center
We didn’t do much shopping because we decided to rather see more of Prague than spend our days inside shopping centers. We did however walk through the shopping street to look around a little and quickly visited the shopping centre. On a rainy day you could definitely spend a few hours in here, but if it’s not, get out and explore! You’ll enjoy the beauty of the city more walking around.
Petřín
On a clear day, a trip to the Petřín gardens will be the perfect thing to do to get the full view of Prague. This is on the top of a hill and there are a few different ways to get up there, taxi, old school tram or walk. We chose the tram. They had different ticket options and we decided to get a 90 minute ticket because it was basically the same price as a 30 minute ticket. This was 80 Czech crowns for both of us (about 3€). I didn’t quite understand how the system worked because on our way down no one even checked them. While being up on the hill we went to the lookout tower because the hill is surrounded by trees so you get a better view from a little higher. We paid 150 Czech crowns (about 6€) each to go up to the tower and the viws from there were incredible! We saw the city, the old town, the castle and the river and it was so pretty!
Charles bridge
This bridge was like Prague’s Brooklyn bridge. Full of tourists taking photos, people selling souvenirs and art. However, if you do walk among the masses you will eventually end up on this bridge and I think it’s worth taking a walk over to the other side.
Beer spa Bernard
The beer spa has four locations around Prague city and one of them was just opposite our hotel (again haha). We went in to book the spa for the following day and they had a few times available in the spa in the old town. We chose a bath for two, without massage and that costed 2590 Czech crowns (100€). You can choose it with a 20min massage each for about 30€ extra but we didn’t. While in the bath, you are then allowed to drink an unlimited amount of beer. There’s a tap next to the bath from which you can pour your own drink. It was actually fun and after we got two beer bottles to go (which we unfortunately couldn’t bring back because they were too big to take in hand luggage) and a certificate from doing the bath. I thought this was a really fun experience!
Ice Pub
The ice pub is a room completely made of ice and everything inside is made out of ice too. It is a -7 °C and they serve your drink from an ice cube! It’s about 10€ for the entrance and it includes one drink inside. They let people in in small groups and it’s a 30 minute slot for each group. It actually got so cold inside we decided to leave after about 10-15 minutes, but we had to get to the airport anyway so… I though it was pretty cool, but we went here in the middle of the day on a Sunday and there were about 6 others there with us. It would probably have been even better if there was more people because now it was pretty much just an empty cold room with music.
General tips
There’s always those few annoying things you wish you thought of before and here are the two main ones for us.
Always ask for a menu
On our way back from Petrin gardens, we stopped off for a coffee and made the mistake of ordering them without looking at the menu. We ended up paying 10€ for our coffees which such a mug! That was how much as we paid for four cocktails the night before. So make sure to always check the menu before you order anything!
Have cash for taxis
Most of Prague accepts card even if I’d say many of the places would prefer you pay cash. We got about 100€ worth of cash out because we heard taxis are better to pay cash and then to have some just in case. On our way home we pre booked a taxi with TICK TACK because they “offered a 15% discount”. Our hotel called the taxi company for us and when it arrived we asked the driver if we can pay with card and he replied in english and said this would work just fine. When we got to the airport and I got my card out he started to ask for cash” and pointed at an ATM indicating he wanted me to get cash out. We asked him what this was about, because he said before card would be fine. Suddenly he forgot all his English and only spoke Czech. Somehow after a while he then did get out a card machine from somewhere and took the payment, but only charged about half the price and wanted me to get cash out for the rest. Ridiculous. Well we kindly refused and gave him whatever cash we had, said we hope this is ok and left him there shouting. Lesson learned, have cash for taxis.
Hello! Just WOW! Prague is excatly like I imagined it – cute, cosy, beautiful and amazing. We got here on Friday night, but only went for a quick dinner then to bed because we wanted to be fresh for exploring. On our first day we walked, walked and walked. Just around town until we got to the old town square – a big square sureounded by churches, restaurants, pubs and colorful buildings. It reminds me a little of Tallinn and Tarto in Estonia. It was snowing a little bit but it didn’t matter. We spent most of our day around the old town and got trdelník‘s on our way back to the hotel. They literally sell them on every corner and they smelled so good we couldn’t resist! Loving this city!! Take care ❤
//
Hej på er! Alltså WOW! Prag är exakt som jag föreställt mig – söt, mysig, vacker och underbar. Vi kom på fredag, men då gick vi bara och åt en snabb middag och sedan i säng eftersom vi ville vara pigga för att utforska staden. Vi gick, gick och gick den första dagen här tills vi kom fram till gamla stan – ett stort torg omringat av kyrkor, restauranger, pubbar och färgranna hus. Det påminner mig lite om Tallinn och Tarto i Estland. Det snöade lite men det gjorde inget. Vi spenderade största delen av dagen kring gamla stan och var sin trdelník på vägen tillbaka till hotellet. De säljer dem vid varje gatuhörn så vi kunde inte motstå frestelsen! Älskar den här staden!! Ha det bra ❤
