Praha/Prague

So last almost weekend (Sunday to Tuesday, thanks to the immaculate conception for giving me an extra day off!) I am to Prague went, as german grammar would have it. We travelled by bus, not my preferred means of transport, but unfortunately the only real choice in terms of last minute cheapness. The journey was only four and a bit hours long, so a long way off the longest time I've ever had to spend on a coach, and we even got free mineral water. Luxury. Any foolish ideas I might have had of watching the Austrian and Czech countryside roll past were however scuppered by an impressively impenetrable wall of mist that hung in the air, reducing visibility to about 30 metres for most of the journey, then giving way to a dull drizzle. True holiday weather!

On arrival, tiredness and the non-correspondance of the Prague roads to the hand drawn map in our possession led to some brief lostness, but eventually we reached our goal, the delightful Hostel Elf. The hostel was really great, an example of a place where a friendly and reasonable attitude leads to amazing results which make you wonder why things aren't always so. Cheap rooms, free tea and coffee in two huge urns at all times, art all over the walls both in and outside, permanently staffed reception and no curfew, sufficiently abundant shower and toilet facilities and a free breakfast of cornflakes and doughnuts. (OK the last one isn't that great, but it was more free breakfast than anywhere else would have given us). Although not situated in the exact centre of Prague, it is a mere 10 minute tram or bus ride away. Plus did I mention it was cheap?

The hostel also gives a 15% discount at a local restaurant. While the decor (random alligator model, african folk art, driftwood, shark teeth) and music (an english language 80s and 90s hits station) were confusing and clearly geared at the lazy english tourist (as, IMO, was the choice of Heinz tomato ketchup in the condiment stands), the food was very good. A meal wasn't that much cheaper than in Austria, but the price per gram of food certainly was. I ordered duck, dumplings and red cabbage, and I was absolutely stuffed without getting through much more than half. Potato dumplings will keep you going pretty well in the cold Prague winter I think. Combined with the unecessarily alcoholic (12%!!) beer, we were pretty much knocked out and had to go for a major siesta.

So it was that my first proper tourist experience of Prague was of the city at night. The hostel was situated right next to one of the numerous hills that exist in the city, Vitkov Hill, which we promptly climbed. Thank goodness, they don't lock parks like we do in the UK. On top of the hill there is a HUGE statue of an old Czech King on horseback looking ready to trample all comers. Behind him is the massive cuboid of the Czech National Museum/ memorial thing. Mirva climbed on top of a Russian tank we found, which made me all British and uncomfortable... ('you're on the tank! what if somebody sees!'). It's funny how British one gets when one is not in good old blighty, what. Of course the main attraction apart from the towering monarch and almost empty plaza in front, was the spectacle of Prague at night. Every one of the numerous fairytale church spires lit up, the huge castle on the opposing hill glowing alost green in the lights, the retr0-futuristic TV tower, the ring of other hills off on all sides, some spotted with the regimented lights of the most soviet flats I've seen for a while. Very nice. I had not really realised how big the city was. It definitely feels bigger than Vienna, but how much is due to the greater visibility afforded by so many hills, I'm not quite sure.
We then wandered in the rain down to the main square of Prague, overlooked by the instantly recognisable spire of the Tyn church/cathedral. There was a christmas market (of course) and a ridiculously over the top christmas tree which was almost blinding. Sufficiently dampened, we returned home via tram.
The next day we tried to meet up with one of the hundreds of free tours advertised around the hostel, to no avail as we reached the meeting point only 2 minutes after the scheduled start time and they had already disappeared. It would have been good to get a bit of the history of the place, but wandering around did at least have the benefit of freedom. We detoured through the old Jewish Quarter (where the Jewish Cemetery has become a cynically rather overpriced tourist attraction) to the river for a river cruise. Prague has a proper river through the middle of it, rather than ignoring it and leaving it off to one side as has happened in Vienna, and it provides a nice way to admire the buildings of the centre. Luckily on the Monday we had bright, warming sunshine all day long, the winter kind that doesn't make you overheat and lights up everything in a completely different way to summer sunlight. This gave Prague a chance to show off its better points, all the architecture sitting around calmly showing off, the medieval bulk of the Charles Bridge with its enigmatic statues and the ever present hills standing hazily off in the distance.

I am a huge fan of all the hills in prague, as has already become clear I think. One of my favourite things to do in a new city is to climb tall things and look at other things from the top of them. To this end we then climbed the steep scarp from the river up to where a large orange constantly ticking metronome sculpture commemorates the end of communism. We then made our way along the top of the hill past an impressive pavilion and several 1920s mansions to reach the castle. The castle is the largest medieval castle in Europe, although much of the original structure is now overgrown by things from later, grander periods when there was less worry about invasions. There is a MASSIVE cathedral inside the castle grounds, which weirdly reminded me of the cthedrals at home due to its very austere interior appearance and hordes of tourists. There were some astounding highlights though, like the silvery reliquiary/ tomb of St Nepomuk and a 14th century entrance hall type thing with slabs of precious things stuck on the walls and the best and most atmospheric studded wooden doors I have ever seen. The outside of the cathedral had some pretty impressive mosaic work too.
There wasn't much time to see all the other things in the castle, as was the theme for the whole trip. It is very hard to resist the urge to 'tick Prague off the list' and just slow down and enjoy a manageable amount of things. One thing we briefly browsed was the museum, which gave some much needed background on the history of the place. We also met up with a friend of Mirva's via a Finnish man who was also in Prague, Mark (Marc?) the french architect. He was an excellent guide, what with having learnt about all the architcture of the city and all. He took us across the city centre to another castle, this one looking a lot more businesslike, and then to another Czech restaurant. We were plied with EVEN MORE FOOD than I had previously though possible, I had the beef with dried plums and a side of garlic toast. Ate WAY too much garlic. It was definitely good to have some proper dark Budweiser though, why on earth do they not sell it anywhere else?? Look at the pic below, that is food for a mere 3 people!!

We rounded the day off with a long walk up the banks of the river, a stroll across the Charles Bridge, more beer and then home. The statues on the Charles Bridge really are impressive, the sheer level of angst and anguish and pathos and stuff those sculptors could fit on peoples faces was very impressive. My favourite was probably the sinister one I think commemorating the plague, with three snivelling wretches hidden in a dark recess that I had to illuminate with my camera flash. Boo!
We awoke to a very damp morning. Undeterred by the weather we checked out and after some brief second hand shoppingrocked up in the main square. We had a lot of fun checking out the immeasurably cheaper christmas market, and tried some very delicious mead. We finally caught the show of the 14th century astronomical clock, featuring death ringing a bell as the faces of saints scroll past an open window. Deliciously macabre. Also went inside the Tyn church, which contains many many beautifully restored black and gold baroque altars, and climbed the tower of the town hall. The centre of the upper part of the tower is now hollowed out, and featured a really cool tube lift that I took a photo of.


It was nice to have one more view of the rooftops of Prague and gaze down at the impressive patterned streets, and to get out of the rain. After descending we consumed yet more warming mulled wine and mead, and ate some of my new favourite fast food, the deep fried pizza dough garlic cheese piece of genius that is the Langos, as well as purchasing some bottled mead and one of those Hungarian cylinder breads I don't know the name of.
Our final port of call, tourism wise, was the communism museum. This is a small but very well laid out museum, situated above Macdonalds and next to a casino... Inside I learned a lot more about the 20th century history of Czechslovakia/ the Czech republic, plus looked at some very cool memorabilia from those strange times. It is always hard to comprehend the changes that happened so relatively recently to the map of Europe. It was then to=ime to get on the bus for a cramped and warm 4 and a half hour journey back to Vienna, woo! All in all a very good trip.

So, Prague. I was really struck by the stereotypes about what it was going to be like that had snuck into my subconscious from living in the UK through all this EU expansion. I thought somehow it would be shabby, dangerous, cold, unfriendly, and generally lacking things that other european capitals like London or Paris have. But what it really is is just another great European capital. Not to say it doesn't have its own unique feel from its history and situation, far from it, I loved the way it looked, even if I have no real idea of the way a normal Pragueian behaves. I was just surprised at how surprised I was about the fact that Prague was a modern city that I would quite certainly live in without any problem at all. (I have decided this is probably the only way to really visit a place properly , unfortunately a rather time intensive requirement.) Our french guide Marc, also an erasmus student, echoed my thoughts. He too was pretty ashamed of the stereotype he had started off with. Basically, where I am going with this is that the distance between London and Marseille and London and Prague are identical give or take 30km (seriously, look it up!), and I find it fascinating what a difference there is between how we see both places/countries.

Der Tom