Czech-ing out Praha (Prague)

18 - 22 July

I had a mid-morning departure from Berlin to Praha*. The train was reasonably high-speed within Germany and slowed down noticeably once we entered the Czech Republic, presumably due to the tracks - but the scenery along the Elbe River gorge meant it was quite nice going slower. Unfortunately I was on the wrong side of the train... (sit on the left Berlin-Praha or right Praha-Berlin)...

* Praha is the name in Czech for Prague. I've noticed many cities around Europe are different in the local language, and I've been trying to use the local name as much as possible. Prag (German & Danish amongst others), Praga (Spanish, Italian, Polish, Hungarian, Russian) and Praag (Dutch) are other variations here.

The arrival in Praha was mid-afternoon and somehow my hastily-scribbled directions for the 20-minute walk to the hostel actually worked through some of Praha's narrowest labyrinth streets. Who needs a smartphone with Google Maps anyway?

I spent the rest of the afternoon generally relaxing and planning my time in the city. I've heard of Praha many times - how amazing a city it is to visit - but actually, what was there to do for 3.5 days? Well, it's a city of gorgeous architecture, straddled across the Vltava (cue confused pronunciation) River, with quite a famous castle up on a hill with gorgeous views of the spire-covered city... As you'll see below! For my first night, though, Praha has some neat little jazz bars, and I found an excellent blues gig going on in a brick basement smaller than my parent's living room...

U Malého Glena bar - not my photo, off the website, but you get the idea

The next morning I headed off towards the famous Praha Castle (Pražský Hrad) that sits majestically on a hill overlooking the main part of the city. While it may not look exactly like a typical medieval German castle, it's still quite the spectacle and an excellent spot for a view over the city. Being a castle and a big tourist attraction, they do, of course, have to have guards mimicking London's...

Pražský Hrad from the other side of the Vltava River

St Vitus Cathedral (Katedrála sv. Víta) within the castle grounds

View over Praha Malá strana ("Lesser Town") - and my long-needed haircut

No beefeater, perhaps, but still gotta get a photo

Changing of the Guard

Unfortunately it cost a fortune to go inside any of the buildings, so I contented myself with a view from the outside and after lunch headed to a large park on a neighbouring hill for some journal writing and more good views - including of the castle. Heading back from the Malá strana "Lesser Town" side of the river to the Staré město "Old Town" side of the river, I walked across the well-known Charles Bridge (Karlův most), dotted with old statues, lots of tourists and lots of touts and vendors. The bridge is named after a Bohemian king and dates from the 15th century. It was originally simply called Stone Bridge (Kamenný most).

Charles Bridge

Charles Bridge and the tourists!

I spent the evening mainly researching some other place to go in the Czech Republic, having decided it would be nice to get out of the city for more than just a few hours at a time. It wasn't that easy though and Google Translate seemed to be taking me around in circles, but I settled on an area called Český Ráj, and then just had to figure out how to get there and where to stay - more about that in the next post!

I spent the next day exploring the Old Town, mainly around the main square. Praha was thankfully rather spared during World War II and many of its impressive architectural gems are still standing. Even though I've now seen such buildings in many cities all over Europe, they still impress me, being so much older and more impressive than almost anything in New Zealand.

St Nicolas Church (actually in Lesser Town)

Praha is a busy place in the middle of summer - and very hot too. Main square with Týn Church behind.

Just like any other building you see, really.

Main square

Astronomical Clock - the oldest functioning one in the world, dating from 1410

Back at the hostel I had a full room of new arrivals, and 3 Canadians introduced themselves and asked if I'd like to head out with them that night. Funnily enough, despite being a historical and architectural gem, Praha is also renowned for its nightlife scene, so I agreed and we ended up at a massive 5-storey club on the riverfront, with each floor dedicated to a different music genre, including a chill-out ice bar floor. I managed to lose them - an easy thing to do in the crowded place - but ran into the group of British Singaporeans I'd met in Berlin several days earlier, and didn't head home until the wee small hours.

As nice a city as Praha is to walk around, there are a limited amount of things to see, so I decided on a day trip out into the countryside to see Karlštejn Castle (Hrad Karlštejn). After receiving an email from Mum saying they were all safe after a reasonable-sized earthquake back in Wellington, I headed off on the somewhat run-down local Czech trains. As I walked through the small village of Karlštejn the castle suddenly appeared from behind the hills...

Karlštejn Castle

The views from on top were pretty impressive too...

From inside the castle with the Karlštejn village in the valley below

Close up of the castle

I took a tour through some of the interior of the castle, which was interesting, but tour guides can be a bit hit-and-miss, and this one seemed to be boringly reading from a script. We did get to see old throne and bed of King Charles IV (the same king of the Charles Bridge), his secret passage to the queen's chambers upstairs, and a replica of his crown. It was a pity photos weren't allowed.

The ever-faithful internet told me there was an interesting walk available through the country to a monastery and town to another town to catch the train home from, so I headed off to do that. It seemed however that trail markings weren't that great and I found myself on a quickly-disappearing trail that unexpectedly gave me this view back at the castle through the trees...

The castle rising up out of the foret...

I headed back and followed a road that seemed to go where I wanted, though when I stumbled across an unexpected village I discovered I'd gone quite the wrong way. A very helpful (English-speaking!) local on a bike gave me his map and pointed me in the right direction.

Unfortunately the route he pointed me on went just off the map, and I took a wrong turn somewhere along the line. I ended up on a track that didn't seem to be a main one at all, and without anyone to ask where I was, I knew that the direction it was taking, downhill towards the river and railway line, would eventually come out somewhere. I was, however, completely lost and also running out of water on a very hot day.

Wishing that I hadn't been quite so optimistic in finding directions from a random website, I was thinking about how stupid I really was to end up in the situation I was in when I came across a stream - water! - and also the path I'd originally meant to follow to the monastery, very clearly marked. Somehow I must have missed the turn-off, or been on the wrong place to start off with. I followed the path and found the monastery - not that impressive a destination ironically - and the town for the train back home. Lesson learnt - always take a map!

After the longer-than-expected day, and with an early bus out in the morning, I made it a quiet one for my last night in Praha.