Prague

After much anticipation, we finally got to Prague this weekend. It’s a 2-and-a-bit hour train ride and is a common weekend visit spot from here. We left first thing Saturday morning and decided that rather than take a tour, we would simply follow our noses and wander. I’d have to say that it took us a moment to adjust to being in the Czech Republic and for the first couple of hours we kept forgetting to speak English, rather than German (not that we speak much German, you understand- but enough to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and ‘a cup of coffee, please’).

The Czech Republic is certainly the poorer neighbour of Germany and everything in the city has a film of dust and dirt over it. It’s one of those countries that has come under attack from just about all of its neighbours at some point in its history and despite its obviously glorious past, is pretty run-down in many parts. It is also the 6th most visited European city and was absolutely swarming with tourists- and we’re told that tourist season hasn’t got underway properly yet! Consequently, there were plenty of opportunities to part with your dosh. The big tourist items in Prague are: Russian dolls, crystal glassware and, weirdly garnets. No-one seemed to be able to really explain why, but Prague is awash with cheap garnets in a plethora of forms.

On Saturday, we really just got a feel for the city and mostly wandered around Old Town. We did manage to see the 12 Apostles in the town clock on the hour (one of the to-dos in Prague) but, like the guide book I read, we really thought it was overrated. I think every tourist in town was there to see it, and there was a general feeling of ‘was that it?!?’ when it was over. The buildings in Old Town are stunning and you could spend a whole day just looking at the architecture.


On Sunday, we walked back through Old Town, and across the Charles Bridge- which I’d have to say, was one of the highlights for me. It’s a beautiful old bridge for foot traffic only and gives the most fabulous views up and down the river and towards the castle. It also has about 20 glorious statues all along the bridge. From the bridge, we walked up to Prague Castle and meandered through the associated grounds before heading into the castle itself. The cathedral on the grounds was stunning and was well worth the 10 min queue (sometimes I think when you’re a tourist, you just join the queue because there is a queue there… ). It was wonderful to wander through the various parts of the castle grounds- many of which had fantastic views out over Prague.

Spending a weekend in Prague certainly didn’t do it justice. We didn’t get to any of the museums and the brilliant weather meant that we were pretty happy to wander in the sun. We certainly don’t feel that we have seen all there is to see in Prague but did get a nice taster of the tourist hot-spots. The Czech crown is also a little easier of the Kiwi $ and that always makes things seem better somehow! Quite a few people I know rate Prague as their fav city and I’d have to say that I probably wouldn’t go that far at this point. But it was lovely and there is certainly plenty to keep the tourists entertained.

Anyway, it’s Sunday night now, and having made that classic tourist mistake of buying new shoes just before a trip, I have really sore feet, so I’m off to bed. By the way, I’m reading ‘On Beauty’ by Zadie Smith and it’s fab… a great reason to get off the internet and lie down :) I can’t be bothered posting any pics now, but will sometime tomorrow.