On The Road Again - Pt 3 - Prague

Prague is a city I’ve always wanted to go too though I’m not entirely sure which movie it was that stirred this desire. I’ve never done any research; don’t remember any photos or movies based here (for some reason I had a Bond scene in my head, but now I’m not so sure it was filmed in Prague!) so I really was walking into a city that I knew nothing about.

Upon arrival we found out that Czech Republic still use their own currency so we changed our €125 into Kc 2,675 and suddenly we were rich! We got in around 8pm, caught a taxi that we prepaid for and then later saw on the meter that we’d paid four times the price, arrived at the hotel and after a whole day travelling quickly fell asleep.

After breakfast the next morning we watched a travel video on YouTube, did a quick study of a tour map and set off to explore Prague.

We started in the old town square, as that was where the bus dropped us. It’s a beautiful square, bustling with tourists and little shops selling food, souvenirs and puppets.



The main attraction in the square ‘The Astronomical Clock’ I found to be quite humorous. It is a stunning clock that was designed to show the movement of the time, date, sun, moon, stars and planets and every hour on the hour perform a little display. So hundreds of tourists stand in the square watching and waiting excitedly and then the clock strikes the hour and does its thing for around half a minute and when it finishes everyone cheers but a feeling of ‘is that all?’ lingers in the back of your mind as everyone disperses to get on with the day. And this happens hour after hour, day after day. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful clock, but I wouldn’t have blinded the designer over it – which apparently upon completion the people of Prague did so he couldn’t recreate this technical marvel anywhere else!





So we walked around checking out the sights; the Powder Tower, Opera house with various street art and then over to Charles Bridge. Around this time we started noticing something very interesting about Prague. Prague is full of ‘the best’. We were up to the third potential tower to climb and sitting out the front of the entrance is a sign that says ‘the best view of Prague’. The only thing is that that same description had been given at the clock tower and again at the Powder Tower. So we started looking out for ‘the best’ and found it everywhere! ‘The best ice cream in Prague’, ‘the best selection of Classic’ music, ‘the best museum in Prague’, ‘the best view of Prague’, ‘Prague’s best museum shop’. We found it so funny and it made for a great treasure hunt as we were exploring!











But according to the YouTube clip we’d watched the best view in Prague is in Petrin Park at the top of the mini-Eiffel Tower that they’ve built there. After a lot of drama, (we couldn’t find the entrance to the park as there was no sign, once we did enter we couldn’t find the tram that takes you up the steep hill to the tower, once we caught the tram we didn’t realise there were two stops so got off early and then had to wait for the next tram…) we finally got to the tower and did enjoy the best view from the top.



This is me going ‘seriously… COME ON’ while waiting at the middle tram stop!



There was also a small mirror maze nearby that we went to on a whim – it was okay – if it wasn’t for this photo I wouldn’t be commenting on it.



For dinner we found ourselves at a Cuban restaurant that boasted many famous guests, including Ed Norton. We were ushered to a table downstairs where a band started playing South American music, people were dancing all around and the food and Mojito’s were absolutely delicious! Andrew fulfilled a dream and ordered Absinth but found that they serve it straight and not with the spoon, sugar and water as he’d thought. They also had a cigar store upstairs so Andrew went up to get one and came back grinning with a story for me.

So he’d gone upstairs and asked to buy a small cigar. The lady at the store led him to the special storage area and made a recommendation. Upon acceptance he said he’d like to smoke it now so she cut the end for him and then lit a stick of wood and held it out for him. Andrew went to light the cigar as he normally would to which she, in horror, snatched it off him and proceeded to bathe the cigar in the flame, then tenderly light it and gently blew on it to make sure the embers were lighting correctly. Once she was satisfied with her work she handed it to Andrew with a ‘and that’s how it’s done’ look on her face. He said it was the best cigar he’s ever had! So we had a brilliant night, felt super rich blowing Kc1,500 on a meal, and went home in high spirits.

Day two and we had some chores to complete. Firstly we headed to the Australian Embassy to vote! Unfortunately, due to us sleeping in, we missed the voting window by 2.5hrs! Oops!

Secondly we had to go to the main train station to book our train tickets to Poland. So we caught our bus to the closest stop, got off and started walking in the direction that the trains were heading. We got to a point where we could see the station and started walking up a road that looked like it headed toward it when we realised we were actually walking up onto the freeway. So we turned around went down another road that circled around near the station but didn’t actually go to it. There was not one sign telling us where to go! Eventually I asked someone who looked local for help and he pointed toward a small gate and said ‘it’s not quite legal but I go that way every day, just walk through the gate and straight on.’ So through we walked and we found ourselves entering Prague train station from the tracks!



Once our chores were finished we headed over to Prague Castle where we spent the rest of the day. We stopped in the vineyard and enjoyed wine & cheese with the ‘best view of Prague’. We checked out the chapel and the cathedral, took a photo with the guard, saw the royal birds of prey and chilled out in the gardens. It was gorgeous and was especially great to take the afternoon slowly.





















Late in the day we realised that we were coming to the end of the first act in our journey. So we went back to the old town square, found our way to a bar we’d seen on one of the rooftops and enjoyed a final cocktail laughing as the crowd below cheered the Astronomical Clock celebrating a new hour.





Over the last four weeks we’ve visited London & Paris, driven to Rome and checked out Venice, Austria and Prague. We’ve spoken French, Italian, German and Czech, used three currencies, seen beautiful scenery both in the cities and in the countryside and started to forget what day it is. What an awesome journey we’ve experienced so far!

And now we travel to Poland to hang out with Andrew’s family for two weeks. It will be nice to have a change of pace, familiar faces and personal tour guides to take us around.


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