Tryst with Eastern Europe - Prague

This summer we were finally able to take our first trip to Eastern Europe and spent 2 days each in Prague and Budapest (with one whole day spent in travelling from Prague to Budapest!). It was completely a city vacation and we were quite impressed with both cities. They both had a lot of history and culture to keep us interested for long, but they did not turn out as different from the Western European cities as I had expected. Also, I think I am now over city breaks completely. Museums and palaces and markets don't hold the same sway over me as they did earlier. Its being closer to nature and experiencing different activities which are the way to go now.

About Prague

Prague is currently the capital of the Czech republic but has a long history from much before the country came into existence. It was the capital of the kingdom of Bohemia and then an important city of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Maybe the number of different empires is the reason why Prague has a lot of palaces to boast, and a touch of royalty is spread all across the city.

Prague panorama

The city is split into two by the Vltava river. The town is beautifully maintained just as if it would have looked like 100s of years ago. The lanes are all still narrow and cobbled everywhere, the houses are all still the same made of light brown stone with spires and red sloping roofs and even though they have been modernised from the inside, they all look the same from the outside.

Prague is the perfect city to walk in - squares after squares with cafes and fountains, huge churches abound, small shops in every lane attract you, well maintained gardens and palaces beckon you, museums on history and culture interest you and green parks in between provide the perfect place to take a break and relax. There is still something medieval in the look and feel of the whole historic town which is difficult to explain. Each building in the Central area is so grand and built with so much time and interest, its quite mesmerising everywhere.

Castle in Mala Strana

Prague or Praha as its called by the locals is split into areas called Praha 1, Praha 2 and so on. All the touristy places to visit are located in Praha 1. The Old Town on one side of the town is where all the action is. Lot of touristy stuff to do and shops to explore. Its also very crowded. The other side of the river is where the castle is located, atop a hill plus a couple of museums, parliament and palaces. This part of Prague is called the Mala Strana or the Lesser Town which was the part of town I liked. It was a lot quieter and relaxed than the Old Town.

Given that there are a couple of small hills within the city, it provides lot of places to get a good view of the city. Also there are hundreds of Museums in the city. For everything! We did not visit any but I have heard the Kafka museum is worth a visit.

Also, Prague is one of the most cultural cities I have visited - you can see music and the art at every turn. All the churches in the city have concerts (some free) every week, which is something I have not seen anywhere else. There is just so much music in the air, you can almost feel it all around.

Places to visit and things to do

Prague is a city to walk in. All the places are located close to each other and taking a round circle will take you to all the points of interest. Since we were there for two days, we spent one day mostly in the Old Town and one in the Lesser Town.

View from Charles Bridge

The Charles bridge connects both sides of the town and is the main boulevard of the town. Its a fully pedestrian bridge offering views of Vlatava river and the city on both side. Both sides of the bridge are decorated by sculptures depicting Christian themes. Local artisans sell their wares and showcase their arts to tourists here. Also while we were there, we saw a parade passing the bridge with dancers from many countries - France, Brazil, Canada etc. Maybe it was a parade by all the expats staying in the city but the high number of Canadians was definitely surprising.

On one side, there is the Old Town with all its lanes and cafes and shopping. One of the speciality of Prague is its crystal - intricately carved pieces of coloured crystal adorn a lot of the shops in this area. The shops also sell many different types of Czech dolls and ceramic pieces too. They are quite exquisite pieces of art but I would say a bit on the expensive side. Walking along these shops you can reach the Town Square, which is a huge open area with the usual street performers entertaining the performers.

Prague Town Square

There is an astronomical clock on one of the towers which puts up a little show at the hour - a small door above the clock opens and the faces of the Christian apostles appear through the door, one by one. Just next to this Town square are the Jewish Quarters where there is an old synagogue and some walking tours to take you through the history of the Jews in Prague and what happened to them during the Holocast. We missed the tour, but took a similar one in Budapest.

We spent a lot of time in the Old Town, walking while admiring the buildings around. The Municipal house and Powder Tower were impressive. We finished our walk that day at the Mustek which again looked like one of the bigger streets in the city. We caught a glimpse of the Museum at the other end of the street but did not get close. The Opera is also located next to the Museum and apparently worth a visit.

St Vitus Church

The Lesser town or Mala Strana was a lot less crowded than the Old Town. We spent one morning at the castle located in Mala Strana which is quite majestic in itself, sitting atop a hill overlooking the city. The main point of interest for me within the complex was the St Vitus Church which is a huge Gothic Church with intricate work all around. It has mosaics and carved gargoyles and beautiful stained glass all around. It also has a sculpture of Christ in silver, which looks impressive.

Silver Statue

Other than the Church, you can go to the Old palace which is now mostly just an empty hall. It has a couple of rooms where the Bohemian kings used to keep all their bureaucratic papers and some painted walls from that time. It also houses the Bohemian crown jewels replica which I must say are the most garish crown jewels I have seen till now. St George’s Basilica within the castle is the oldest church in this complex. Also located within the castle complex is the Golden Lane - a quaint little street with coloured houses, it was here that Kafka resided briefly.

The walk down from the Castle to Mala Strana provides breathtaking panoramic views of Prague which are worth going up the Palace for. We also had lunch at the Panoramic Cafe on the way back which provides an amazing location to take a break and take in the views of the city.

The neighbouring hill to the Castle Hill is a wooded Petrin Hill, on top of which is located a tower which is a small replica of the Eiffel Tower. We did a small hike up, which felt like being miles away from the city; while walking in forests and fruit orchards. Also, from the top you can also get another side view of the Castle, which is even prettier and less crowded than the one from Charles Bridge. On the top of Petrin Hill, there are a couple of old churches and other monastery buildings. It did make me wonder - for a country which is not even 40% Christian, Prague does have a lot of Churches!

Wallenstein Gardens

Within the Lesser Town, there were two other places we stopped by. One was the St Nicholas Church, another big impressive Church, and a walk through the Wallenstein gardens which are a huge landscaped garden housing the Czech Senate.

The last thing we did while in Prague was go to an Opera in the Estates theatre. Surprisingly, it was quite cheap, with tickets ranging from about 400-600 CZK (12-20 GBP). It was a Mozart composition called Cosi Fan Tutte and starred 5 main characters. The theme of the play was a bit chauvinist, but still the performances were amazing. The singing, acting and the fact that they were subtitling in English what they were singing made the the whole show memorable. I would suggest that if you do go to Prague, catch a local opera show - its different from most other shows you would have seen.

Another must-do in Prague is to get a Thai massage in the city. I was amazed with the number of Thai massage places all around the city; there is one located every 100 mtrs. And its so cheap than elsewhere in Europe, that it isn't a bad idea to get one when you are very tired from all the walking. We went to Ambassador Thai at Mustek, which was a hotel spa, giving an hour foot massage for 900 CZK (25 GBP).

Inside the Post Office

After spending two days in Prague, we took a train to Budapest which took about 7 hours. I must say I was very impressed with the Prague train station too - so new and shining, haven't seen any like this in Europe for some time. The old station building had a painted ceiling, as did the Post Office where we had to go once.

Overall, Prague felt like a very compact and beautiful city, with a lot of culture and pretty buildings and cobbled streets, as if from a different era.  It has managed to retain its old world charm, but overall, I did not experience anything so unique which will make me want to go back there again...

Accommodation

We stayed at the Three Storks hotel - a boutique five star but reasonably priced hotel, located near the Mala Strana train station. It was the perfect choice - located in the quieter part of town, with a view of the castle above and 5 mins walk from Charles Bridge. There were tram and metro stations within 5 mins of the hotel, the walk to the metro station being through the pretty Wallenstein gardens! A definite recommend.

Food

We found a Vegan place called LoVeg, very close to the church of St. Nicholas in Mala Strana which has a variety of vegetarian dishes from across the world. Its a small place on the top floor of the building, but a nice find. We also had lunch at Panoramic Cafe, a small cafe on the path from the Castle to Mala Strana with breathtaking views of the Prague skyline - a good place for a quick break. Other than that we ate at Pizza Colosseum and Yammy Asian near Mustek. Both places were just about ok - I guess the place is too touristy to get any tasty food!

Transport

Since it was a city trip, we did not hire a car and decided to give the local transport a try. I was honestly impressed by the local transport system in the city. It was very comfortable to get from the airport to our hotel, and then travel around. There are three Metro lines and multiple tram lines which criss-cross the city. I would definitely recommend taking the local transport if you really want to feel a part of the city. Also the day pass costs about 110 CZK (3 GBP) which is worth taking if you don't want to walk much.

For international train tickets, it makes sense to buy tickets early on and online to get the cheapest fares. On the day (as we realised) you need to go to the train station to buy tickets. Also, buy your tickets from a travel agent called CD train, its located next to the train sales desks and sell cheaper tickets!

People

We did not interact much with the locals but whatever little we did, I noticed two things. One its not very easy to get around with English, a lot of people don't understand any of it. The second is the locals did not come across as very helpful. In most cities in the world I have seen people being helpful to tourists, but it was not so here. Most questions were met with a 'don't bother me, go and ask someone else' kind of attitude.

Also thing about the city which disturbed me a lot was to see some people begging by bowing and lying on the ground. I found it more surprising as whatever I had read about Czech led me to believe that it is quite a developed country. As I said, it was not a good sight and disturbed me quite a lot.