Aaaanyway, yes. I went to Prague! This was my fourth time in Prague now, which puts it way ahead of any of the cities of Austria on the visited list... Sorry Austria. My old friend Steve is doing his PhD there and after nigh on three years he has also rather got the hang of his new city. This means every visit has a bunch of new things, as I get the best of the crop of new stuff discovered after the last time.
 |
| From the top of Vitkov hill, sunset over Prague with the cathedral/castle complex on the far right. |
As it was the easter weekend, the plan was always to avoid Prague's picturesque but always swamped historic centre and head for the countryside and otherwise the outer districts. This was a very good plan, I saw a lot of the 'real' parts of Prague which are basically a more laissez-faire version of Vienna. The problem with Vienna is it has no run down bits which can then resurrect as cool and exciting areas, whereas Prague has plenty of 'up and coming' (much like the Czech Republic itself I guess). It's a very international feeling city, I think a lot more people drift into prague to live on a whim than in Vienna, due to the lower living cost and higher international reputation among younger people.
 |
| Cool church in the decidedly springy park where we ate breakfast. |
So what did I actually do? In prague we danced to funk music till late in what amounted to the cloakrooms of an old cinema, ate tasty burgers, sat in cafes, and drank excellent Czech beer (the Czechs have a much more *varied* beer culture than the austrians I feel, or at least the brewing revolution has blown up there in a bigger way). Easter saturday saw us exploring the green bits on the rim of Prague, very analagous to the edges of Vienna. The scenery is different though, more rugged rocks and gorges, less tall hills sticking out over everything, crowded sightlines with lots of trees. But beautiful, and on the occasion of my visit also nice and sunny!
 |
| Sandstone pillars in Cesky Raj |
On the Sunday it was time for a proper hike, so we took a 1h 45 train ride out to the notheast to reach an area closer to the german/polish borders, the 'Bohemian Paradise' or Český ráj. This area is very famous for its scenery, a huge expanse of sandstone weathered into dramatic cliffs and tall stacks, sticking out of the forest, and occasionally decorated with castles. To get to the coolest castles we plotted an ambitious route of 28 or so kilometres. The hike took the whole day and being so long, really gave a tour of the different landscapes of the region, from shady forest and dramatic pillars of sandstone, to fields and orchards. Apart from the whole pillars thing, everything looks very similar to northern austria.
 |
| Frankly ridiculous |
Scenic highlight were definitely the twin castles of Trosky, situated with an excellent sense of drama atop two black basalt plugs sticking right up out of the landscape. When you think of a fantasy castle, you think of something like this. And the fact that they sit on the necks of an extinct volcano complex and you can see the columnar jointing in the basalts from afar just adds to the drama.
All in all a very successful trip and my first one to really feel like I was actually seeing what one would do if one lived in the country rather than just being an external tourist. Very fun! The bumper pack of photos is a mere click away.
Der Tom
