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| Easter celebrations in Prague's main square |
We were late in booking our hostel and as a result we ended up in an unknown little hostel in the suburbs of Prague. The suburb had a distinct Communist feel similar to that I have experienced in Beijing. Derelict factories were sprinkled between large blocks of residential units which in turn are separated by unusually wide streets. Whilst not as foreign feeling as Beijing the two places were equally dirty and we all felt a little unsafe wandering around after the sun had set. The hostel was a vast improvement over the one in Vienna but still nowhere near as good as the German hostels we had stayed in previously. We had plenty of space and reasonably comfortable beds but unfortunately the staff were very gruff and the building was only a dozen meters away from a major railway bridge.
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| The cathedral within Prague Castle |
We knew very little of Prague apart from numerous reports from friends and travelers that it was a must see place. To compensate for our lack of knowledge we took a guided architectural walking tour on our first full day there. I found the tour quite entertaining but for the others it was a bit of a struggle. The old guide was like any architectural lecturer in that he expected you to know everything from the difference between Renaissance and Baroque architecture to basic Latin and French. When our lack of knowledge became apparent he would let out a disgusted outburst which particularly annoyed a pair of American women on the tour. At one point I had to step in to avoid an international incident when he began to get angry at the ladies inability to identify Renaissance architectures key features. His talks were very interesting and during the two-hour walk he revealed countless layers of history associated with every urban and architectural move on Pragues landscape. Unfortunately his relaxed, conversational style was not ideal for a walking tour which at times demands a louder, more faced paced tempo to keep everyone interest.
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| A view of the castle from the city |
Pragues food stood out as being particularly good in terms of its range, quality and price. Compared to the other European nations we have visited food in Prague is ridiculously cheap. A decent meal could cost as little as NZ$7.00 whilst a 0.3l beer would only set you back about NZ$0.80. Even though prices were cheap we still had some really nice meals ranging from continental breakfasts to vegetarian lunches and mexican dinners. We struggled a lot with the Czech language as it shares nothing in common with English or the limited German we had picked up. Unfortunately learning the local language was made even harder by the lack of Czechs willing to talk to us for any period of time apart from when they wanted money from us.
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| Frank O Gehry's Dancing Building |
Prague is definitely a very interesting tourist centric city when in the centre of town. The massive Prague Castle, the Dancing Building and the Charles Bridge were great but not as massively overwhelming as Pragues inhabitants or some of the tourist material would have you believe. I maybe getting hardened as the tour progresses but I got the distinct feeling that Prague was a city in love with itself and expect others to feel the same. Whilst not happy to leave Prague and the Czech Republic we were all in much better spirits once we boarded the train back to Germany and the final few cities of our tour.
More photographs from Prague...