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Well we certainly went for the cheapest option flying from Malaga to Prague. We got to the airport in Spain at 10.30pm arrived in Stanstead 3am and our next check in was not until 4.30am. All the seats were taken so J and I set up camp near the Easy Jet check in on the airport floor. We must have been tired as we both managed to get some zzz's. We flew to Prague with a plane full of guys on a stag, they were drinking pints whilst J and I caught up on some much needed sleep. Getting around Prague is really quite simple, we bought an all day travel card and jumped on the bus and tram from the airport to the city. J and I of course got checked by one of the random ticket inspectors, you dont need to use it to get in and out of the underground as you can use it on the buses too. I think the guy was trying to pray on tourists who might not know what to do.
Our hostel Marabou was really cool and not far from the centre as you could catch a bus straight into town.
J and I decided to walk as J had eyed up loads of antique shops along our road, they had cool stuff but very overpriced. We decided to have an easy afternoon as we were so tired, we wandered around the old town and checked out the Tyn Church, Astronomical Clock, Powder Tower and the Charles Bridge. We ended up lying in a park next to the river and had a bit of a snooze in the afternoon sun and then back to the hostel for a cheap but cheerful salad made by ourselves and an early night.
The next day we went to check out a market J had seen on the internet. It ended up being a bit of a Chinese chav market selling gross polyester clothes, sunglasses, knuckle dusters and air riffles. The market was close to the Mystic skate park so we headed in that direction. After being ignored by the local skaters who ran the joint J managed to pay his 2 quid entry and got to skate the street course and bowl. It looks like the park was built for a comp, made all out of wood and under a canvas canopy so
made it feel 20c hotter than it was. J was about the only one in the skate park apart from a fruit booter (inline skater) with a ferret tale hanging from his arse who just sat and watched, like he should!! We then headed towards the Castle, we decided to treat ourselves to some local food for lunch and found a really nice bar. J got a beef goulash with three different types of dumpling and I had the pork with dumplings and sauerkraut, we were pretty impressed with our first meal in the Czech Republic.
I dont want this to be a blog all about food but we have not had one bad meal since being here and we want to brag about it. Its a nice change after some of the very disappointing meals we have had in England. I wanted to hopefully lose some weight on our travels but dont think that is going to happen even with all the walking we have been doing.
So back to Prague the castle was beautiful and the views over the city from the top of the hill were awesome. We wandered back down to the city and
had some more quality time on our favourite patch of grass. That night J took some cool pics of the city. On our final day in Prague we got up early to go to a flea market and then catch the train to Kutna Hora. We thought that we would be the only ones up but we were mistaken and the hostel was full of a big group of gay guys, I thought it must have been gay pride as they had a special map with the rainbow flag on it. I think I was wrong and they were just there for a good old lads weekend away!! The flea market was definately an eye opener it was a bit different to a good old English car boot, people were selling their antiques with old clothes, tools, guns & porn. Not only that they were drinking pints but shots at 8.30 in the morning. There was so much religious stuff and we found a really big and awesome Mary but after posting the last gigantic box of goodies from Spain we thought it best not to buy her. We did however get four cool Jesus and Mary pieces made from
pewtar and managed to bargain with the lady to get a really good deal.
We caught the train to Kutna Hora to visit Sedlec the Church of Bones, you know how much I love skulls!! It was crazy the family who owned the church had got a carpenter to decorate it with the bones of 40,000 peoples skeletons that they had dug up from the crypt below. The main things were a chandelier containing every bone from the body and the family coat of arms made from boones. That night we moved into a 12 bed dorm, i was dreading it so we had a bottle of red vino or two to help us sleep. The dorm ended up being fine and we were the ones making the noise when we had to get up early to catch the bus to Cesky Krumlov.
Cesky Krumlov is only 2hours 45 mins from Prague by bus and we would recommend it anyone visiting Prague to not miss it. You can get day trips if you dont fancy going it alone but the student agency buses are plush and you get a movie and a hot drink all for only 6
quid.
Cesky is a beautiful old medieval town with a castle situated on the arc of the Vltava river. We arrived late afternoon luckily it was sunny so we dropped off our bags at the hostel Merlin right on the river front and went to check out what Cesky has to offer. Cesky is very tourist orientated with lots of souvenir and antique shops. The streets were packed as it was Sunday and there seemed to be half of Prague and Korea on tours of the city. All along the river are bars and restaurants and in the summer you can rent canoes, boats and even inner tubes to float along the river. We werent so lucky with the weather or brave so chose to stay on dry land. I would have been straight in one if the sun was shining just like in Vang Vieng in Lao! We visited the castle with its original painted round tower. We looked into the moat and saw that they were keeping something in there. J and I werent sure what to expect when we saw the enclosure with water and food scraps, intially crocodiles until we saw great big turds and
then we saw the big fuzzy bears. We are not sure why they house them in the moat maybe a deterrant back in ye olde times. The castle is built into the side of the rock face and has an amazing huge bridge seperating two parts. It also has large gardens with views over the town. In amongst all these gorgeous buildings is a really striking gothic church. We decided to splash out when in Cesky and not make our own food, which was lucky as we arrived on Sunday and the supermarket was shut. We stumbled across an amazing little restaurant called the Two Mary's, situated on the river and sold traditional style cooking at reasonible prices. The menu included a description as to the history of the food in Czech and said they used to have beer soup for breakfast, I think some still do after seeing them at the market!! The food was a recreation of old recipes which included buckwheat and millet. We had a platter for two which included chicken, boiled ham, potato cakes, dumplings, normal potatoes, millet cake and lots of sauerkraut and sour cream. We also tried the cinnamon and almond mead, a
traditional drink made of honey which we had warm it was yummy and rather strong and went straight to your legs!! The drink helped warm us up as well as the blankets that they provided to wrap around you when you are sat by the river. We were going to stay another night but the weather was rubbish. We donned our rain coats on our second day and just spent a relaxing day wandering around the streets. For lunch we tried the local soups, I had a garlic, crouton and cheese one and J had the potato. They were both very impressive, I may even try to recreate them when I am at home.
As I say this blog is very food orientated as we have been stoaked by it all so now I will tell you about dinner as we didnt really do much else apart from eat on our last day in Cesky!! We went to another traditional restaurant this time it was a Medieval Grill House. You walk in and there is a giant indoor BBQ with meat cooking away. We ordered the sausage to start and J got the mixed grill and I chose the
Pork Knuckle which is a big favourite in the Czech Republic. The sausage was great, then our mains came out I was pretty shocked J had three kinds of meat and potatoes and all the trimmings and mine was two great big knuckles with salad and lots of mustard and horse raddish. It was the best pork J and I have ever tasted, it just fell off the bone and was moist and the crackling was crunchy. The three woman across from us had ordered the same as me but bewteen them with salads. If J and I had known we could have shared, but we still managed to plough into it and nearly finished it all. It was far too good to leave. I really struggled to sleep last night after all that pork where as J was out like a light. We had to be up at 5.30am this morning as well to catch our bus then train to Bratislava. We are here safe and sound a little tired but ready to see Slovakias capital tomorrow and then off to Budapest.
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Helen
non-member comment
Wish I was there
Oh God, I wish I was there. sounds so interesting and exciting. Makes the rest of us feel like our lives are boring Hannah. Haha. Its great seeing the world through your eyes. Hi J.xxxxx