Prague never lets you go… this dear little mother has sharp claws

Well! I'm now halfway through exams, and not nearly halfway done with my blog posts about Europe, but I will soldier on, and hopefully get some more written in the next week or so! From Berlin a small group of us took the train to Prague (where we would meet the others taking the bus). While the bus might have been more economical, using the train to get between cities was definitely a great decision, as we got to enjoy some amazing views taking a scenic route. This was a great introduction into the Czech Republic, which was absolutely picturesque. Prague itself really seemed to epitomise the fairytale idea of Europe, and we were staying in the centre of the old town so we especially got to enjoy it. The only reminder that we were well in truly in the 21st century were the fast food chains which, for some reason, were unbelievably well signposted, with directions from hundreds of metres away. We also had a good laugh when we realised our hostel was directly opposite a Tesco. Suddenly the Czech Republic didn't seem quite so foreign after all.

Our first morning in Prague we took a walking tour offered through the our hostel. Our guide was actually a Brazillian now living in Prague. Although our tour wasn't as informative or well organised as the one in Berlin, we certainly got a unique perspective on the city. We started our tour in front of the great disappointment which is the astronomical clock. Now don't get me wrong, I'm sure that the actual functioning of the clock is impressive, but when you wait in a fully packed square for the clock to strike 11 with other tourists eagerly holding up phone cameras you expect a little more than a glorified cuckoo clock. It was fine. A much better sight, in my opinion, was the Charles Bridge.

 We crossed the river via the bridge and it was a great walk. First of all, we were blessed with some beautiful weather, and there were performers and artists all along the bridge. Although I do have to say I have never understood caricature artists, of which there were plenty in every city, including this one. Why would you travel to a foreign city only to pay someone to draw a picture of you with a larger nose than usual. Why, I ask?! From there we wandered around the city on the other side of the river, and then alongside the river. We didn't actually see many of the sights of Prague on the tour, but it was nice just to get a feel for the city, and we did see a few some interesting buildings and sculptures along the way, including this famous depiction of Freud.

After our tour we headed to what would soon become my favourite place in Prague, the Easter markets. Unsurprisingly, the markets were chocka full of delicious and, more importantly, affordable food as well as some local musical entertainment, and lots of craftwork. It was a really great way to get to know the local customs and cuisine. We all quickly formed an obsession with Trdelink (your pronunciation guess is as good as mine), this kind of sweet bread which I was actually first introduced to at farmer's markets in New Zealand as a Hungarian speciality. Travelling around Europe we did find that a lot of cuisines we might associate with one particular country were in fact quite ubiquitous throughout the continent. In any case, the Prague version was delicious.

 
In the afternoon we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather to walk up the Petrin hill, which has a lookout at the top.The hill itself is a park, so lots of greenery, which luckily made the walk more enjoyable, as we did find climbing the slop a little brutal. Honestly it probably wasn't that steep, but we were all very weary and perhaps a little out of shape. But reaching the top of the hill was definitely worth out, and we had some great views of Prague.

In the evening we took a pub crawl, as Prague is apparently well known for its nightlife. Up until that point in the trip we had encountered a lot of American and Australian tourists, and I was disappointed at the lack of kiwis, so I was amused to discover that all of our guides on the pub crawl were from New Zealand which, really, sounds about right. In general the nightlife wasn't that different from anywhere else I've been, and they still played mostly American and British music, although I suppose that could have just been the places we were taken. It was also really more of a club crawl, with the final venue being a "five story extravaganza". Basically every floor was dedicated to a different music style, although the "hip-hop" floor was playing Ke$ha and Katy Perry, so I'm not sure if they quite had the genres mastered. Our tour guide from the morning had assured us that Prague, especially the old town, was a really safe city, so we decided to walk back to the hostel to save money, and it did actually feel very safe. There was hardly anyone about, no drunken hooligans, and we got to enjoy an empty Charles Bridge which was very cool. I think that there are three ways one must experience a city in order to really get to know it, from the city centre, from above, and at night. Luckily I got to experience all three in Prague.

Our second day in Prague we visited the beautiful Prague Castle. This looked exactly like something out of a Disney movie, and is also the largest ancient castle in the world, so we were certainly impressed. Getting to the castle involved another steep climb, up a hill opposite the Petrin hill, but we got some more great views of the city. The castle had a lot to see, including the Basilica of St Vitus, reproductions of the Bohemian Crown Jewels and a mock-up of a historic street. Unfortunately the weather again took a turn for the worse, so we didn't spend much time exploring the castle grounds, but the buildings we did see were beautiful and detailed a lot of Prague's history.

The next day we had to get a train to Vienna, but not until the afternoon, so we had some more time to explore. The Jewish Quarter had been recommended to us. Unfortunately, upon arriving at the first synagogue we realised that it was in fact Saturday, which is the Jewish sabbath, so everything in the area was shut. We decided to still wander through the Quarter, as we could see some of the buildings from the outside. The place was funnily enough still packed with non-English walking tours. We did get to see this very strange Franz Kafka statue.

Unfortunately this mostly served to remind me that I didn't manage to read any Kafka while in Prague, despite the best of intentions. Having worn ourselves out, we ended our exploration of Prague with one last visit to the Easter markets, before heading to a new destination. Prague was very much the traditional European city I had been dreaming of before I started travelling, and it did not disappoint.