River Elbe cruise, Part 1

We spent more days in beautiful Prague than all of the rest of our trip put together and we loved every minute of it.   Below is the apartment building where we stayed  (top row) and, in the lower row, a view from the side street next to the building.

 

Our grandchildren were staying in a small hotel on the other side of the river, but Prague's excellent public transportation made it easy for us to meet for our days of touring.      I'm still sorting and labeling Prague pictures and I will blog again later about all that we saw and learned during the week we lived in that apartment.  

But today I'm skipping forward to the part of our trip scheduled with Viking River Cruise line. We were still in Prague for a couple of days, but as scheduled  we moved to the Prague Hilton (below) for two nights.

 

That evening, the Viking tour was a trip by bus through some beautiful  countryside to an old barn/restaurant near the village of Cicovice:

 

We were served a typical Czech family-style dinner of farm-raised food and Czech wine and beer.   We  were entertained with a village gala featuring dancers, musicians and a singer performing traditional music.  We enjoyed both food and entertainment.  

The next morning, on our own, we visited Petrin Hill, one attraction we had not seen already.  We skipped the scheduled city walking tour  because we'd already experienced most of it with our family.    (Our grandchildren had gone home to Germany on the same day we left  our Prague apartment.)   Our guidebooks  said that the views from the Hill are some of the most spectacular in the city.  I think they were right.

At the top of the hill, there's a tower replica of the Eiffel Tower at one-fifth of the height.  We were not quite up to climbing the 400 steps, so we paid for an elevator ride.  Just that ride was adventure of a sort because (ridiculously)  I'm a little bit phobic about elevators.  The creaky old elevator car to the top of the tower held only three people plus an operator.  I told myself  if the lady operator wasn't afraid to ride the elevator all day, then I shouldn't be either.   

 

We rode the Funicular to the bottom of the hill.  As with all public transportation in the City, the funicular railroad was free to  senior citizens.  We ended up in a part of the city I think is called Lesser Town Square, where we enjoyed a good dinner before returning to our Hotel for the night.

 

Grounds around the tower

In real life, this was our last day in Prague.  The next day we traveled with Viking by motor coach to Bad Schandau on the River Elbe where the Viking River Ship Beyla was waiting for us to board.   However, here in Blogland,  we'll be traveling back to more about beautiful Prague as well as to further stops along the River Elbe.

 

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities.  Thank you to the hosts.

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;  THROUGH MY LENS; TUESDAY TREASURES; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;   THANKFUL THURSDAY;  and SKYWATCH FRIDAY;