Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Czech into Prague


Me, enjoying the view from Prague Castle


So we stayed a few weeks in Rome and Alex had to visit his family in Capua, which is a town near Naples. After he was trying to tell me in the lead up to our trip, how bored I would be and how I wasn’t allowed to go to Naples I decided on the morning he was leaving, to take a solo side trip of my own. I wanted to either go to Prague or Budapest and looked for the cheapest flight out of Rome. Flights to Prague were the cheapest so I booked my flights that morning and I was up and away flying by the afternoon.



Vltava River

I arrived in Prague and waited for my shuttle to my hostel. I met two English girls, Sophie and Rachel in the shuttle and we exchanged numbers so we could do a pub crawl together. I settled into my hostel the Czech Inn and took a walk around Prague for the rest of the afternoon. I marvelled at the old world beauty of this city which was highlighted by dimming light of the summer sunset.



Charles Bridge

I woke up the next day and had the breakfast at the hostel cafe and set off to explore Prague. I took the tram in the city centre and decided to walk along the river and walk across Charles Bridge up to Prague Castle. It was a beautiful and sunny day, perfect for a nice stroll. On the way to Castle I stopped for lunch at a cafe at which I decided to try the Goulash and Dumplings, which probably wasn’t the best decision in 34 degree weather but I wanted to try some traditional fare. I washed it down with the Czech beer Krušovice which ended up being my favourite Czech beer. I sat in the beer garden and just chilled out drinking beer and chatting to the waiter, it was a perfect start to my afternoon.



Restaurant's Beer Garden



Krušovice Beer and Goulash with Dumplings

After quite a steep walk uphill, I finally made it to Prague Castle and I was rewarded with the most spectacular views of the city. I took a tour of St Vitus Cathedral and the Castle grounds learning about all the history of the buildings, some of which dates back to the 9th century.



Entry into the Prague Castle



St Vitus Cathedral



Inside St Vitus Cathedral

That night I was to meet the girls for a pub crawl, something which Prague is renowned for. There many different companies running the pub crawls, all of which meet in the Old Town Square which causes a lot of confusion! Thankfully I found Sophie and Rachel and some other people from their hostel, Sir Toby’s. For around AUD$15 we went to about 4 or 5 (details got hazy after the third place) clubs around Prague.



Underground Bar

We had unlimited shots and beer at the first place where a lot of drinking games were played. We walked in a huge group from club to club and had free shots as we entered, I don’t know how we managed to stay on track and with our group. The last place we went to was a 5 level extravaganza where each floor had a different type of music; one politically incorrect example was the ‘Black Music Floor’.



More of bar


I left quite late in the night intending to catch the tram back to my hostel; unfortunately as I walked to the tram stop the streetlights of Prague had other intentions. Just before I reached the stop all the lights flickered and went out, I was plunged into darkness. Being by myself, I freaked out and hailed the first cab I saw and managed to get to my hostel safe and sound.

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