Prague

Prague!!!

I may have mentioned previously that I had been to both Prague and Budapest before (some 14 years ago) whilst Phil and Joelle have not. And I may have also mentioned that I was a pretty useless travel guide in Budapest because I have a weird amnesia about the city. Well, I remember Prague a little better, but only a little, and we're staying in a different area and doing different things, so it's feeling like a new experience so far.

We bid farewell to Budapest on Friday morning - I'll confess, it was hard to leave. Our airbnb apartment was awesome and the city - I don't really think I did it justice in my earlier posts. Did I mention how amazing the transport was? Did I mention how beautiful the city is? How many little parks are strewn around? How EVERY SINGLE PERSON is walking around with an adorable fluff ball on the end of a leash?? I know I forgot to mention the endless ice cream stands charging 90 cents for a scoop... Phil tried the Gorgonzola flavour. Seriously, here's proof!! It was strangely delicious with a decidedly cheesy aftertaste and something you'd line up at Gelato Messina for and then pay $6 for the privilege:



All the other flavours were strangely normal...

Anyway, we jumped on a train on Friday morning and arrived at our apartment in Prague by 7pm (it's a long ride - but very comfy thanks to the Eurail granting us first class seats on all the trains!!). Our apartment is really beautiful - yay - with huge rooms and a full kitchen in a lovely residential neighbourhood in Prague 2 or Vinohrady.

The apartment was picked by Joelle, who btw, is an awesome travel companion , which we already knew from several previous trips together. She has introduced us to the aperol spritz - a cocktail that is coming to represent our travels. We've even invested in a travel ice cube tray to ensure it can be made at home!!

We spent Saturday discovering that Saturday trading doesn't seem to be a thing in the residential part of the city. As in all the shops were closed in our neighbourhood - weird. We visited a Farmers market, found great coffee, some pasta and pesto which we took away with us and a band that favoured Bob Marley songs and had all the hipster girls crowding round and dancing!



The band were surprisingly good and pulling off reggae with a piano accordion!!

After a locally based morning, we headed to the old town to see Prague's draw cards. The Old Town Square was as beautiful - and insanely packed with every tour group imaginable - as I had remembered. It's a pretty overwhelming experience, especially after the ease of walking through Budapest's most celebrated tourist attractions, but unmissable. It would be like going to Vegas and deciding to skip a walk down the strip!



The highlight of the night was visiting a little pub, seemingly run by a young Czech guy (who told us he was studying... at high school - I'm still not sure if something was lost in translation or if they let teens bartend in this town), but he served us some truly delicious beer, a yummy marinated cheese bar snack (he actually gasped when we ordered it and called us "brave" which was mildly concerning) and declared that he'd never seen anyone drink a beer as fast as Phil downed his (it wasn't fast - the kid may well have been 15 years old!!). He was also drinking the beer behind the bar - a small glass only, but still. I think that's what counts as responsible service of alcohol in Prague!!

Just to give you an idea about prices in this town, 6 beers and the aforementioned cheese was $25 - crazy!! We tried - and failed - to get into the Hemingway bar to sample some absinthe in style, but we have a booking for tonight, so I'll let you know how it goes!!

Yesterday was a stunningly beautiful day and we decided to just walk by the river. We ended up on the castle side of Prague walking through a gorgeous park with a delightful beer garden overlooking the whole city - truly my favourite way to spend a warm, sunny day.



The beer garden


The views were stunning all the way across the parklands

We ended up at the castle - with half the tourist populace - and had a wander around. Eventually we emerged mid-afternoon, a touch wearied and hungry and ran straight into two things on our "must try" list- veggie hot dogs (both Phil & Jo are veggie - I had something called the "special" and it was delicious and unfiltered Czech beer - both delicious!!



Hamming it up at the castle


No filter beer... cheers!

We've got three more days in Prague before heading to possibly my favourite Euro city, Berlin. It's yet another gorgeous day, so we're heading out to enjoy it!!

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