Prague

---

Well have been to Prague and back over the last week or so.

Day 0

Left London on a bus at about 7pm at night. (I know you must be thinking that is crazy to go to Prague by bus from London, but it was part of a package I bought from the bus company, return fare, plus 3 night accommodation in Prague, plus a tour of the city for £150. Plus I am fed up of going to and from airports, going to Victoria Bus station is a lot easier. (Some people think that one of the August 21 alleged attempted bombers got out of the UK via the bus station!))

Anyway the bus company was not the usual big National Express/Eurolines but a much smaller company, (which I think was owned and run by Czechs, the drivers spoke Czech (and English, thankfully).

Anyway because the bus left at night the traffic was not too busy, and we got to Folkstone in about an hour and a half or so, the bus drove pretty much straight on to a train, and in about 45 minutes later we drove off in Calais, France. The Eurotunnel is pretty impressive service. (The last time I went to Europe by bus, we went by the much slower ferry.) There was not much to see, as we were inside a bus, inside a train carriage, inside a tunnel.

The next 15 or so hours were pretty much driving through the night across French, and German motorways. Not much to see, slept a little bit. (In fact I slept through crossing from France to Germany).

Every 3 or 4 hours the bus stopped at a service area so the drivers could rest for 20 minutes or so. But the cool thing was that they provided tea, coffee, or soft drinks ... The last stop in Germany was about breakfast time, ... some of the service areas not only have peterol stations/convenience shops for food, but some also have cafes. Unfortunately the last German stop only had a McDonalds ...

When we got to the Czech/German border the driver collected passports for the border people, I think I was one of two or three people with a non Czech passport. But there were no worries.

More driving, a stop in Pilzen to let some people off, and we arrived in Prague between 1 and 2pm on day 1.

Woops, almost forgot to mention that sat next to nice Czech lady, she was travelling back to Brno, after visiting her son and having a holiday in London. Told me what to look at in Prague, and to watch out for taxi drivers and pickpockets.

Day 1

Well after being on a bus for 17 or 18 hours the last thing that I wanted to do was to try and find my way around the Prague transport system, in hindsight it would have been pretty easy, however when I got off the bus someone who was providing the accommodation, (I was staying in a self contained flat in the house of a local), drove me to the place. He pointed out local places to eat and possible prices and gave directions to the nearest underground station. Excellent.

Unpacked, and quick shower, then caught the underground to the centre of Prague. (The carriage that I got on was clean and modern, much better than the London Underground, although to be fair, there are only about 1 million people in Prague, whereas there are 10 million in London).

The underground station that I came out at was Museum, which not surprising is next to the National Museum (Národí muzeum), from which you can look down Wencelas Square. Museum was pretty good, even had a Moa skeleton, which you don't see every day. The building itself had a pretty go interior as well.

Spent the rest of the day and early evening wandering down Wencelas Square to the Old Town Square, where I saw the old Astronomical Clock, and thousands of tourists taking photos and waiting for the clock to do its think on the hour. (Couldn't resist waiting around myself depite the crowds.) After the clock went for walk to the Charles Bridge, really crowded with tourists, but nice. Had street vendors selling stuff, and some musicians as well.

Got tired of the crowds so about 630 or 7pm ended up catching underground back to accommodation.

Day 2

Slept in a bit today because did not have to be ready for my pick up to go on the city tour until about 850, but did get up early enough to go to the local shop to buy some bread rolls and yougurt for breakfast. Bread roll 2Kc = about 5 pence. Container of yougurt about 13Kc = about 30 pence. 500ml bottle of water 13Kc at local shop, but 40Kc at tourist area.

Transfer to the tour departure point arrived on time, (even though I was staying out in the suburbs and not a tourist hotel in the centre.) And the tour got away on time. The guide gave the commentary in German and English, but apparently he could speak a whole bunch of other languages as well.

Anyway the tour started off driving around the city, looking at buildings their history and their architecture. Heaps of styles. Gothic, Neogothic, Renaissance, Cubanisim, Deconstructionisim, and whole bunch more, ... The next main part of the tour was at Prague Castle, which seemed to me a collection of buildings and a cathedral (St Vitus) on a hill. Nice buildings, impressive architecture and statues to the gates of the castle, good views over Prague, but massive crowds. Heaps of places to eat and souvenir shops.

The tour had a break, and went to a tourist cafe/restaurant for a beer. Don't know if was cheap but it was about 70Kc.

After the break we walked out of the castle complex and took the tour mini bus back to the centre of Prague via the Jewish section. Got out and walked again in the Old Town Centre, and the tour finished at the Astronomical Clock.

I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the streets again, got lost and seemed to go around in circles for a couple of hours, but eventually ended up back at the Charles Bridge and went up one of its towers.

Masses of people everywhere. Locals trying to get you to buy souvenirs (glass, wooden toys, leather, lacework, or go on tour boat rides or restaurants or to the Opera or Orchestra or Puppet Shows ...

Day 3

Got up quite early to go back to some of the places I went on the previous day, so I could look at them without the crowds. Got to the Castle about 830am, and I was practically deserted, but by about 930 the crowds were back. To get away from them, as well as I could first went to the Petrin Tower, only about 60 metres tall, but built on top of a hill so when you are at the top you are apparently the same height above sea level as the Effiel Tower.

After the Tower I went back to the city and took the underground to Vysehrad, which is another fortress which looks down on the city. (But on the other side of the river from Prague Castle.) Have to admit did not really look around much as looked like it was going to rain. Did go into the Church of Saint Peter & Saint Paul.

Decided to walk back to the centre of town instead of taking the underground, and of course it started to rain a bit, so ended up getting a bit wet. Somewhere along the way in my travels I've lost the raincoat I bought in Peru :-(

Anyway took a few more pictures from along the river before the rain got too heavy.

Took the underground back the accommodation.

Day 4 & 5

Did not have to be back at the bus stop until about 12pm so spent the morning on the Charles Brigde taking photos without tourists. (I can't belive people don't get up early to look at things in peace and quite. Anyway to me the city looked a lot nicer without the throngs of tourist flooding the streets.)

After the photos, picked up my bags and headed to the bus station to wait for the bus back to London.

Driving back across Germany and France, the trip was pretty uneventful, only bad thing was that when we got to Calais, we had to wait for about 2 hours on the bus for Eurotunnel train. The train trip itself only took about 35 minutes though.

Arrived back in London at Victoria Station about 9am. (Which meant the bus was late by about 2 and a 1/4 hours. This was due to the wait in Calais and the congested traffic on the drive back into London.

Prague - Paris of Eastern Europe

I read somewhere that Prague was the Paris of Eastern Europe, and indeed it is very beautiful - buildings, river, parks, history, all great. Would definitely like to go back again, but would try and find a time when there were much less tourists. I am guessing but I think the Paris of the East would be even better in Spring.


Want to see more photos?

Have a look at my website here: http://www.firemanonasailingship.com/photos/

---

Photos

Charles Bridge
Taken from a tower at one end.