Trip to Prague – Experiences, Accessibility, and Unforgettable Moments

By: Merav Avitan Zerahia

Merav in Prague

We woke up at 3 on Monday. A grueling and exhausting day – arrival from the airport and arrival at the Michelangelo Hotel. The hotel has excellent accessibility, and the bed is high. The shower and the toilets (I brought a toilet seat riser) and excellent accessibility including breakfast, and relatively not expensive.

At 2 – by public transportation: line 100 is accessible and metro B is accessible. We rested a little, ate a little, and went out to walk through the streets of the magical city. Ancient and historical buildings – Prague is beautiful, clean, and spotless. The alleys, the special pavements – I will describe separately. Boutique shops alongside chains, many restaurants and cafés.

In the evening – dinner at the "HaMizlala" restaurant, strictly kosher. Very tasty.

Public transportation

.

Tuesday – Culture and Art

Day of Culture and Art: The National Museum of Prague – 4 floors, two buildings, new and old. We parted with our belongings. We went through a tunnel because of accessibility and through elevators. Every route was interesting and not boring.

We returned through the streets and alleys – everything was beautiful, attractive, and full of many, many shops. In the evening, we booked tickets for the Black Theater – very beautiful, recommended! A show that combines elements in glowing colors on black, with shapes, animals, dance, and spectacular acrobatics.

Wednesday – Group Tour

Group tour with Mika – Visit to the Powder Tower, the Astronomical Clock and its fascinating story, the Jewish Quarter in Prague and its extensive and well-known community.

Visit to the synagogues: the Spanish and the Old – with fascinating stories about its roof and the Golem, and about World War II. The Nazis preserved all the buildings and synagogues with the idea of creating “a museum of the extinct people” after the war – chilling.

Synagoge

History of these buildings together with the history of the city’s rabbis. Visit to the Jewish cemetery and the grave of the Maharal of Prague (the story of the Golem). Here it is relatively accessible, the restrooms are relatively less accessible.

This was quite a tough day for me in terms of accessibility and hours – we were out from morning until evening. We returned exhausted but satisfied.

A stop for Kürtősh – one of the tastiest I’ve ever had (and I’m not a fan of the Kürtősh in general anyway) with added ice cream or whipped cream. Kosher!

Accessible Kürtősh

After that, we walked on foot through the entire Jewish Quarter back to the center of Prague to look for a kosher restaurant. We went to King David – a kosher hotel owned by Israelis, but not accessible at all, so we gave up.

Not far from there – an excellent grill restaurant, HaMizlala. Unfortunately for us, there were groups and it was closed to the public. We debated whether to order take-away or wait, and then the group organizer – saw us waiting outside and freed up a table for us. It was delicious and heartwarming.

Thursday – A Touching Ending

On Thursday my friends went to the grave of the Noda BiYehuda (not accessible). I stayed for two hours in the hotel by myself with some space for myself.

They returned, and since it was the last day we decided to go to the castle – Prague Castle. We climbed and went all the way up the hill. There is no transportation up there. A beautiful viewpoint. Unfortunately, there was a step that with a power wheelchair I couldn’t go up.

And then we had to go down the entire way on the shaky stones (see video) – it was very tough, not flat at all, with a very steep slope. At first, I went down backwards with my friend’s guidance, and slowly, with breaks and some photos, we made it all the way back down.

Sidewalk

From there we took tram line 22 – accessible. We were supposed to connect to the metro, but it was not accessible – only an escalator instead of an elevator. So we walked about 17 minutes again through the Jewish Quarter.

Lunch: an excellent salad, an incredibly tasty pizza. And of course, we couldn’t miss tasting the famous Czech beer – at U-MILO restaurant, kosher and recommended. Here too there was a step – I couldn’t get inside the restaurant. They offered to lift me with the power wheelchair – which is both very heavy and could also break.

Beer in Prague

And then I had an idea: I asked them to bring a table outside. It was perfect! And kudos to the restaurant for the flexibility – I must point out that legally there is no accessibility requirement there for small businesses.

From there we walked to the Palladium Mall – last shopping. It was short, to the point, and also expensiveeee. The recommendation: go to the locals’ mall – not touristy – Chodov Mall, Prague.

From here we returned to the hotel – by now we knew the way by heart. We took our suitcases and headed back to the airport.

In the end – an amazing, fun, wonderful trip, highly recommended. Also suitable for couples – it’s very romantic there. Maybe next time :)