We arrived in Prague to similar weather. We took a metro and a bus to our AirBNB, which was a little further away than we expected. However, it was nice to have an entire apartment to ourselves, and to finally do our laundry. After showering, we went out to dinner for some Czech food and had an early night in, preparing for our exploring the next day.
Before I continue, here are some miscellaneous things that I learned about Prague, the Czech Republic, and Czech culture:
- The Czech Republic is one of few EU countries that has not moved to the Euro. On a map of global currencies, it is a big grey chunk in the middle of the "Eurozone." In fact, they don't even want the Euro, fearing it will make everything more expensive like it did in Slovakia, their neighbor. The currency is the Czech "Koruna," or Crown in English. The trade rate is approximately 18:1 dollars, meaning a Starbucks bill could hilariously cost you 100 Crown. It also made me feel super rich, rollin' in the 1000 bills like a bo$.
- As I mentioned above, the Czech fear the Euro will make their country more expensive. This is a legitimate concern, because Prague is DIRT CHEAP. Beer is cheaper than water, with a 500ml draft mug setting you back no more than $1.50 at a bar. A nice 2-course dinner might only cost $10 plus tip. And even the tourist attractions typically cost only $4-5, a nice change from the 15 EU fees in Paris.
- Speaking of food, I didn't know anything about Czech food coming in but it quickly became one of my absolute favorite European cuisines. Potatoes are big, but what is usually a bland ingredient in America becomes delicious here when cooked with butter, parsley, cream, bacon, and/or any other ingredients. The schnitzels are a bit different from the German style, and although I accidentally received pork instead of chicken I must say it was delicious. Beef goulash is another classic Czech dish, usually served with potato or bread dumplings, which are pretty much just round condensed pieces of bread or potatoes (not stuffed like the kind of "dumpling" I'm used to). Another food we quickly grew fond of is Fried Cheese, which is pretty much just an enormous gourmet mozerella stick that tastes amazing and is served with potatoes or fries.
- Beer is a big part of Czech culture as well. Different varieties exist, but the Pilsner is the way to go. Like in Germany, ordering a beer does not yield a "what size?" from the waiter / bartender; you're getting the big one. Also like in Germany, there is an art to pouring the beer; in fact I heard talk of a national beer-pouring competition. They fill it to the desired amount and then use a separate foam nozzle to cover the top, resulting in a very foamy mug which I suppose they enjoy. There are dozens of different local beers to choose from, including "Budweiser Budvar," whose name Anheuser-Busch stole following their success. Many legal disputes followed supposedly, but all I can tell you is that it tastes much better than its American counterpart.
- Czech people are very nice and always willing to help a confused traveler. They speak fantastic English, surpassed so far only by the Dutch. The Czech language is very strange and seems to share elements with Polish, Russian, and of course Slovak. Crime rates in Prague are very low and as it turns out it's one of the safest European cities you can visit. Also, the Czech Republic is only a 20-year old country which is difficult for a 23-year old like me to fathom, because I'm young enough to feel like it's always been there. And the people dislike their president (the first ever elected) because apparently he's a drunk.
Moving on to my actual trip: on our first full day we got up "early" and signed up for an Electric Bike (awesome!) tour around the main parts of the city. This way we were able to get our bearings and decide where we wanted to return to. The tour was fun and informative and brought us up to the hill where the "Prague Castle" (it's not really a Castle) is for an amazing view of the whole city. We also rode through the city's beautiful parks, visited the John Lennon wall (pretty much just a bunch of hippie graffiti), and some of the city's very odd statues, e.g. two men peeing on an outline of the Czech Republic, with their penises moving around to spell words in the water (you used to be able to text requests to a phone line).
After the tour we crossed the famous Charles Bridge and saw all the statues lining its sides. We then returned to the "Prague Castle", which is really just a lot of regal-looking buildings very close together including a cathedral with tall spires, giving the complex an outward appearance of being a castle. The cathedral was beautiful both inside and out, as all cathedrals are, but of course we've gotten used to this. The house of the president is in the complex as well, and according to a certain raised flag he was currently home. The guards outside resemble the British ones outside of Buckingham Palace, and we even stumbled across some sort of formal military ceremony in the courtyard. We also paid for entry to the castle gardens on the hill in front of the castle, which were gorgeous and provided more amazing views of the city, which we soon leaned were easy to come across.
On the second day we were blessed with fantastic weather, whereas the first day was 90 degrees and dreadfully humid. We spent our time in the central part of the city known as Prague 1 or "old town". We started out in Wenceslaus square and walked along the boulevard to Old Town square, amazed by the unique architecture as we went. Most of the buildings tend to have the same sort of pattern on top, like a rectangular spire that I've seen nowhere else and makes the Prague skyline instantly recognizable. We stopped along the way to visit St. Henry's tower, one of the tallest in the "City of 120 Towers." Inside we saw an amazing view of the rooftops, and a very cool museum chronicling all 120 towers in the city - I guess it's not an exaggeration!
Old Town Square was spectacular once we reached it. The buildings are cool in and of themselves, but when put together around an old-fashioned square you just feel transported in history and you never wanna leave. There are even horse-drawn carriages on the streets, adding to the effect. The most famous of the square's buildings is the Old Town Hall which displays on its wall the famous Prague Astronomical Clock, which I believe is the only working clock of its kind in the world. I stared at the clock for 10 minutes trying to figure it out but I just couldn't decipher the different hands and dials, except for finally finding the one that marked the hour. Disappointingly, there's no museum in the area that explains the workings of the clock, so I'll have to google it later. Every hour though, the bell tower rings and the puppets above the clock come out and spin around in a very Disneyland-esque display, culminating in a large cuckoo coming out of the top. It's interesting to watch, but more interesting is observing the hundreds of tourists who gather underneath it trying to take videos of this ultimately disappointing mechanical display.
After this we continued to simply wander the beautiful streets of the city, looking up at the fantastic architecture. Along the way we drank many delicious cheap Pilsners, and also stopped at an Absintherie to have a taste of the legendary "green fairy." I learned much about the different types of Absinthe (some of which cost a fortune) and the French vs Spanish styles of preparation, and ultimately Rodrigo and I both ordered a glass of the high-quality kind and enjoyed watching the bartender prepare it Spanish-style, which involves soaking a sugar cube and lighting it on fire inside the glass. In the end, it was still very bitter but definitely provided a strong kick. I also tried some Absinthe ice cream, which was... interesting.
As the sun was setting we walked around the Jewish quarter and saw some of the old synagogues, as well as the famous cemetery where the headstones are clumped like sardines in a can. Later we crossed the bridge and hiked up the hill to reach a beer garden with an incredible view of the city, where we spent the rest of our night.
The next day we returned to the Jewish quarter to try to tour the insides of the synagogues, but alas they were all closed because it was Saturday. Disappointed, we headed back to the Old Town Hall where we got an interesting tour of the historical insides, including the underground cellar which used to be street-level before the entire city was raised 6m to avoid flooding (which, as they learned in 2002, didn't quite end up being enough).
As we walked some more around Old Town trying to spend all our remaining Korunas, our visit to Prague came to a close. It was a lovely city which I enjoyed very much, and as one of the last additions to our itinerary I'm really glad that we made time for it. Travelers to Europe, especially those on a budget, should definitely make the trip out here.
Next we hopped on the train to Munich, which connected us to our overnight train to Venice. And thus begins the very last leg of our trip - Italy. See you next time!
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