Blogs from Czech Republic, Europe - page 18

It was busy, busy at Olomouc Hln railway station at 0815 on a Saturday morning. The bright sunshine had prompted the good folk of the city to go on a trip. We had hunters, walkers and fisherman all clad in a range of camouflage gear. They carried the tools of the trade - fishing rods, walking poles and rifles! There was much evidence that Baden Powell scouting is alive and well in central Europe. An assortment of pack leaders were assembling their troops for a weekend of camping and tying knots. "Beetle" Bailey would be looking down with a satisfied smile. The old fashioned Station Manager was on hand with his comical red peaked cap to watch over his domain and make sure all was proceeding smoothly. Czech trains are now facing competition from a number ... read more

Prague... Prague is a city that sort of seems as if it came from nowhere- all of a sudden everyone started talking about Prague and everyone was going there. It is somewhere I have wanted t visit for years... since I was 15 to be precise, so that is a long old 18 years to wait! We married 6 months ago and wanted somewhere we could pop to for a short weekend break to celebrate a whole half a year of not killing each other, and Prague suited in terms of flights and being able to fit it all in. Over the years I had began to feel a little apprehensive about visiting Prague due to its popularity and a stag and hen party destination, and I had also heard it was a little sleazy and ... read more

Praga; la ciudad tan hermosa que se salvó por Hitler ... o eso dice la historia. Praga es un ser vivo y enigma para respirar; viejo y sucio pero de alguna manera inimaginablemente agraciado. El hogar de algunas de las arquitecturas mejor guardado en toda Europa, el encanto de Praga ha vivido a través de guerras de agresión, de ahí que queda para atraer a hordas de turistas año tras año. Aunque esta fue mi tercera visita a Praga, que estaba tan atraído por ella como yo era la primera vez. Después de haber visitado la única ciudad en solitario en mis dos visitas anteriores, tenía ganas de mostrar a alguien más la ciudad y verlo en una nueva luz. Así es como yo pasé mis 3 días en Praga con mi madre, quien estaba de ... read more

Geo: 50.0878, 14.4205We started the new year a lot earlier than the rest of Prague – the streets were deserted and the contrast to last night's crowds was phenomenal!We caught a tram up to the Castle for 10 am Mass. What we hadn't realised was that it was high mass and would go for over 2 hours!! After an hour of the Liturgy of the Word (all in Czech apart from one prayer of the faithful in English and one in French) in a freezing cold Church we decided that we were done.We headed outside for a restorative warm bite to eat – which was nice but also very expensive! We were what our tour guide called being “Ham scammed”. That is that the price shown on the board was per 100g and each serve was ... read more

Geo: 50.0878, 14.4205My God! It's cold outside - it took some convincing to get the kids to even leave the apartment for dinner last night! -1 to -4 today - but with the windchill, it feels colder. But the sun was shining, so we headed out to meet a walking tour. We found that we are 400m from the Charles Bridge, and not much further to the Astronomical Clock and main square. Takeaway coffees helped too! As soon as we turned off Liliova Street, we were in the midst of the throngs of tourists - apparently, NYE is the biggest weekend of the year for tourism in Prague. The Square was full of Christmas Market stalls - they continue until the Epiphany here - and we met our tour. We looked at the Astronomical Clock, though ... read more