The first few days in Prague

Feeling as if we were now nearing the end of our trip to some degree, and a bit exhausted because of it, we all had a bit of a sleep in before heading into the main city. Eva couldn’t host us the second night as originally planned, as she had to go away for work, but had organised us another couchsurfing host for that night. We were going to have a relatively short day in the city before going to our new host Djali’s place for dinner.

We caught a tram towards Vysehrad, an ancient hilltop fortress that also serves as an escape from the crowds of central Prague. After walking in the wrong direction for awhile, and ending up at a whole different metro stop, we caught the metro back to where we started, and decided it wasn’t worth trying to find the castle again without a little coffee cure. We then climbed the hill to the fortress, which unlike Prague’s main castle (and main tourist attraction) is free to see. The southern side gave us great views of Prague, beyond the city centre and out to the blocks of communist apartments. It was a quiet and peaceful area, and a nice start to what we knew would be a very tourist-filled visit. An immaculate garden of sculptures was a cemetery, and home to famous Czechs. It lay beside yet another glorious church. After seeing so many, my memory is failing me in distinguishing one from another at times…

We strolled back down from the castle to walk along the riverside into Prague, passing by Frank Gehry’s ‘Fred and Ginger’ (now called ‘Dancing House’, which we took some great photos of later…), and onto one of the islands in the river with a great view of the crossing bridges. We thought we’d check out the paddleboat hire place on the Sunday. Eva had suggested a place she loved called Le Louvre for lunch, which was not far from the island. It turned out to be quite a fine dining place, but relatively inexpensive in Euros. The boys chose well and loved their chicken dishes, and while my vegetarian meal was sadly very bland, the place was great.

It was then time to be on our way to Djali’s, via a supermarket for some dinner goods, and to pick out a few bottles of Czech wine (a random choice, which ended up being pretty good). We bypassed Eva’s place to collect our gear, with flowers in hand, and waited in her neighbourhood until she could meet us. The boys decided to grab a quick beer at the local pub, which was a dark and dingy place, and Eva later told us it is open 24/7 and she usually steers clear of it. Cheap as chips, the tiny place was filled with workers and smoke and we took a seat outside in the sun. Eva joined us for a beer before leaving to catch her flight for work, and then we jumped on the bus to find our way to Djali’s.

We arrived to her area, which was a ‘tech-city’, and home to all of the offices of IBM etc. Greeted with a big smile, we shared some cheese and wine before dinner and enjoyed a delicious meal while we learnt of Djali’s travels. She studies in the UK, so is constantly travelling back and forth, and also lived in Amsterdam for a while as well. Almost ready for bed, but not quite, Djali told us about a beergarden in the forest by her place that we should visit. We grabbed some torches and trekked off into the night. A very strange place to have a beergarden, it seemed like we were walking for a long time, down a narrow path surrounded by forest, with only the light from our torches and not another soul in sight. We reached an enclosure with a family of deer, and then straight up ahead, the lights of the beergarden emerged. A few others were there, but the huge table-filled garden was basically empty. After one drink we headed back, the walk feeling a lot shorter on the way back, and off to bed.

After eggs for brekkie, we all got a little too comfy at Djali’s and we had a few things to sort out, so we didn’t end up leaving her place until lunchtime. Djali had invited us to stay for the weekend, but we had already booked a hostel that we couldn’t cancel, so agreed to meet up with her that night instead. We packed our gear up and headed for the hostel in the centre of the old town, dumped our gear, and then thought about lunch. A US cowboy (literally, he was a travelling rodeo cowboy) was staying at the hostel, and gave us some great advice on things to see and do, marking out a map for us.

We followed a recommendation for cheap authentic food, and retreated into a wee Czech place around the corner from our hostel, and ordered from the friendly waiter who suggested an apparent favourite of his for Josh’s meal. After forgetting our order and having to ask for them again, we ended up waiting for an hour, getting hungrier by the minute, and impatient, as we just wanted to get out and see the city. On the upside, we did miss most of the rainstorm tucked away inside. Our food finally arrived, and Josh’s was by far the most interesting you could say, and he was definitely the one who lost out on this occasion. His traditional Czech meal comprised of a dish of beef schnitzel cooked in a cranberry cream sauce, but garnished with a huge swirl of whipped cream. Of a canned variety. Hmmm…. My goulash with horseradish and salad was delish, and Andy’s smoked meats and dumplings was pretty good so he said…

We eventually got out of there and made a beeline for the old town. The place was jam-packed with people, and a lot of the tourist areas have become ridiculously commercialised. But behind all of that still lies a city filled with beautiful architecture and a lot of history. Passing by the powdertower by one of the architecturally stunning theatres, we ended up in the main square, which is dominated by the huge statue – Jan Hus monument, the Town Hall, Tyn Church (1365), and St Nicholas Church (1730s). A Salvidor Dali exhibition was on, but was mainly of his ceramic work and portraits of him, so we passed. A visit to Tyn Church was followed by a trip to the communist museum (recommended by the cowboy). Interestingly enough, it’s in the same building as McDonald’s and a casino… The place was an overload of information, and while incredibly interesting, I struggled to read the text and difficult translations, but realised just how much some of these countries have been through.

We were supposed to meet Djali and some of her couchsurfing friends for dinner, but it was quite far out from the centre and we were only halfway through the museum, so we decided to meet them for drinks instead. It meant grabbing some dinner from the dreaded tourist zone on the way to meet them, which tasted like dreaded tourist food too. Past the stunning museum, all lit up at night, through yet another underground tunnel worthy of breath-holding, before we emerged on the other side to climb the hill to meet the group at a beergarden. We arrived just before they did, and sat down for a drink before a swarm of people from every corner of the globe emerged. A few Prague locals, a few stopping by, and a few staying on a while. Everyone had stories to tell about places they’d been, including a guy from Australia who rattled on about his hatred for Amsterdam before discovering we were moving there. A wine expert from France who imported wine from all around the world, including New Zealand, and we suggested a few of our favourites that he should try. He said he would order some cases and host a New Zealand wine party if we go back to Prague.

Everyone was really lovely, but we decided to leave the group after drinks when they decided to go and hit some clubs, as we were planning to get up at 5am to visit Charles Bridge by the light of early morning and beat the unrelenting daytime crowds. Our walk home down the main street let us bear witness to some of the trashiest bars I’ve seen in a long time, including woman in leopard-print skin tight attire dancing to techno and flashing lights with ultra cool sunglasses on outside clubs trying to entice you in. Back to the hostel we thought…