Prague? Czech!

So it turns out that when you go to look at sights in a country that doesn't speak English, all of the signs and descriptions aren't in English either. So in Prague everything was in Czech and therefore almost incomprehensible to me.

Arriving I had the technique sorted. Off the bus, into information, grab a map and local travel pass, sorted. In spite of this I still walked past my hostel briefly. After checking in, I met up with my new American friend and we set out to explore the sights we had been told to see. We walked to the old town square, saw the show at the astronomical clock, walked the waterfront and Charles Bridge. That left us with the hill. Up past souvenir stores and cafes we rose to see Loreta and into the monastery. Here we paused to admire the view and ended up staying for dinner and a beer. It was dark by the time we left and thinking that we were heading to the castle, we wandered up a dark pathway. This is the sort of place parents warn you not to walk when they expound the dangers in travelling. It was a pathway with the street lights out, on the edge of a park, in a strange city and not marked on our maps. Needless to say, as I am writing this, nothing untoward happened. In fact it led us to an observatory. So instead of being mugged, I gazed at the stars and craters of the moon through high powered telescopes. Eventually we found our way back down to Prague Castle, our original destination. We walked past the armed guards and through what is supposedly the largest medieval castle complex in the world. From here we called it a night.

At this point I must point out that I feel that Prague has all of the makings of a Dr Who themed city. Outside Loreta is an avenue surrounded by creepy looking statues, the inside of the subway stations reminded me of daleks and the TV tower which dominates the southeastern skyline has giant black baby statues crawling up it. In general a pretty creepy place if you think about it.

Day two started with a realisation and a discovery. Discovering crepes at the hostel breakfast and realising that the previous day I had seen 90% of what I had wanted. Luckily my travel buddy had some ideas. So we met at St Nikolas church and headed up to tour the castle and see it in daylight. The tour ticket allowed us to go inside St Vitus cathedral (apparently on about 100 years old rather than the centuries old it had appeared the previous night), the old Palace, the basilica of St George and down the Golden Lane. Each of these was interesting in their own right but the selection of weapons (some of them pretty ridiculous) and window into how people lived displayed by Golden Lane made it my favourite part. All of the sightseeing made the chimney cakes on offer, just outside the exit, irresistible. From there we gazed at the displays inside the Mucha Museum (an art nouveau graphic artist) and the stalls at the open air market. Back in old town we attempted to view the old Jewish cemetery and ended up with icecream on route to an ice pub. It was very similar to the ones in Queenstown. Dinner was from some stands in the old square and chased down with mulled wine to end the night.

I have decided that Prague (apart from the creepy bits) is probably quite romantic. It would be somewhere that I would happily return to with someone special to share it with. Unfortunately it has also shown me how lonely travelling can be. I have travelled with friends, family and someone special and now on my own. It makes it clear to me how much more enjoyable this is when you have someone to share it with. It is strange that somewhere so lovely and that I have enjoyed being has left me so melancholy as I head off to Poland.

Prague

Charles bridge

Big swans in Prague

Charles bridge

View from the Monastery

Evening over the Vltava