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If you did figure out my cheap clue then yes- our next stop was Prague in the Czech Republic. This city certainly lived up to its reputation and greatly surpassed our expectations. So far it has been our favourite! We decided to stay longer than originally planned-from 2 days to 6. It is a beautiful medieval city so when you're walking around & looking at the famous sites- it's like going back in time. We were here at the peak of autumn so the fall colours created a gorgeous scene. The Czechs themselves are very welcoming people (this was the first city where we didn't have to ask for help, they just kindly offered it) and there's hardly a language barrier. Everyone that we interacted with spoke English very well. This is really impressive considering the fact that Czech is said to be one of the hardest European languages to learn.
We arrived at the Charles Bridge Economic Hostel around 9pm which then become our home for the next 3 nights. (Another good experience at another great hostel might I add). It was in a perfect central location- right next to the famous Charles Bridge, so we were in walking distance to everything. And walking is something we could never get tired of here…except for the day we decided to do a Segway tour But seriously, we just enjoyed looking at everything even if we got lost or didn't know where we were going. We found this city absolutely beautiful and adored every minute spent here- whether we were walking around the gorgeous park admiring nature or soaking up the warm atmosphere that is to be felt all around
I cant decide whether its more beautiful by day or night. You would think it would be creepy walking around at night through this medieval city but no…it's actually the opposite because of how elegantly lit everything is. Pretty much every major site is surrounded by the same orange glow that is quite romantic. And during the day- the streets are filled with just the right amount of people. You could listen to classy street musicians while walking around the Old Town Square or Charles Bridge. Another positive note- there seemed to be the least amount of annoying beggars here and if there were- they kept quietly to themselves with a small sign. In every other city so far its been pretty bad (no wonder why they warn against pick-picketers so much throughout Europe) since the beggars come up to you, invade your personal space and don't leave you alone even after you say no.
The Segways were a lot of fun- but are not for everyone- Andrew certainly didn't enjoy it as much as I did. They can be very hard to manage (they are pretty fast and can be very hard to stop- they actually keep going on their own if you don't stop it next to a curb or wall) So it's all about balance and maintaining the right speed. But if was definitely fun to try and it was a great way to see the city and our guide was very informative.
One thing we found out while here was that Czech is the world leaders or beer consumption per capita! And they make very good beers. We found a little hidden gem called "The Beer Prague Museum Pub" (although its name is misleading as it's not a museum at all) that had over 30 different Czech beers on tap. We did a beer tasting "flight" of 5 different kinds and fell in love with some. It was a very cool experience and it made us look forward to doing this in Germany. Another place we had some delicious "Pivos" (the Czech word for beer) at was the Monastery Trappist Bar. Our tour guide took us here to taste the popular Amber beer and we ended up returning on our own…that's how good it was. Along with the beer we indulged and tried most of the various tradition Czech cuisine including goulash, ham, pork, duck, sausages, potato& cabbage, bread dumplings, apple strudel and the fresh roasted donuts (you'll see a picture of me with one- it was delicious) The way they make them is unique and intriguing- the dough is spiralled across several long steel rods that rotate over hot charcoal.
All in all….we LOVE Prague We're so happy that we had an entirely good experience here and recommend it as "a must see" for anyone interested.
Coming up next- our visit to the city that inspired a certain famous authors hit novel series….
Hint- we're heading to the U.K.
- comments
Nancy Wow, great photos. Thanks for the photo captions, they really help. Andrew, my heart goes out to you on the Segway! That was totally nuts!