Rick Steves Europe: Prague & Budapest
This morning, we set out to explore a bit of Southern Bohemia, departing the train station first for Konopiště castle, the former home of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Our Rick Steve’s book gave detailed instructions on walking to the castle from the train stop, and we stopped at a bakery to get a few pastries for our walk along the tracks, through the town, and down a forest trail that was part of the castle estate. The English tour we took of the castle’s family quarters consisted of we two and our guide, and he was delighted to point out and tell us the stories of many interesting objects and architectural details we passed on our route. The amount of mounted hunting trophies was staggering, and there was even a display of the clothes Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were wearing when they were assassinated in Sarajevo in 1914. After touring the shooting range on our own, we walked back to town and continued by train to Tabor, a medieval city with interesting ties to church history.
At the Hussite museum, we took a tour of the main square’s 15th-century stone cellars, afterwards touring the museum itself. 2015 marks the 600th anniversary of early Protestant reformer Jan Hus’s martyrdom, and the museum had a special exhibit for the occasion. The largest monument in Prague’s old town square is a likeness of Hus, and we learned that the country has hundreds of monuments to honor this famous Czech leader who worked to give the Bible to his fellow citizens in their own language. After a stop for pizza and a few groceries, we boarded our return train and arrived in Prague at dusk. Dessert & coffee on our hotel’s rooftop were the perfect relaxing end to our day of exploration, and the view was superb: Prague castle in the distance, and fireworks over our heads.
For Day 3,
Public Transportation Tip
Leave yourself plenty of extra time to find your way at train stations - several times on this day, we were hurried and confused about the platforms and which train we needed.
Plan Ahead
If you go out of Prague, be prepared to meet people who don’t speak English, and don’t expect all the train stations to have English signs, either. You should be able to figure things out, but it helps to do your research ahead so you don’t waste time at the locations trying to track down information.