Bare with us as we try to re-trace our steps over the last few weeks through the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland before arriving in Croatia for a few weeks.
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| When in.... Prague |
7th August 2016
Prague pro tips:
- If arriving from the airport and want a easy quick airport transfer pre book - www.prague-airport-transfers.co.uk/
- Try unpasteurised Pilsner Urquell, this is my new all time favourite beer.
- I recommend some sort of beer tour to get an appreciation of Czech beer culture. We did the Sandemans 'Czech beer and bar tour' for 13Euro each, it didn't blow our socks off but I learnt something and in general had a good night.
- Prague is a massive european tourist destination so be ready to expect a lot of tourists from all over the world, specifically Asia.
- Jump into a free walking tour to get the facts and history about the place, its political history was pretty interesting.
- Currency - 1 AUD was about 18 Koruna.
- Expect to pay between 30 and 60 Koruna for a pint, a small glass of wine can be a 150 Koruna.
- Tipping is required at some restaurants, the bill will tell you whether or not service is included in the price.
- I'd recommend eating at the pubs. Experience a Czech beer hall, you'll get better value for money, the food was generally traditional and the beers were local and unpasteurised!
- Traditional Czech food is hearty, typically goulash, pork, dumplings (the bread type I've never had before), soups etc.
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| Tower known as the powder tower since the 17th century when it was used to store gun powder - tracing back to the 11th century when it was the original gate to the city. This was the first old building we'd come across on our walk into old town square. |
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| Novelty cars they have everywhere to hustle people around in on tours. Included were these replica Model T fords which have had their drive train and engines replaced with modern day engines. |
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| Old town square church - one tower is different to the other, on our tour they weren't sure why this was the case but a rumour is it's possibly due to a mistake during the build process. |
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| Looking toward the Charles Bridge and the city on dusk. |
Prague was on the radar when our great mates Jake and Trelawny returned from their European adventure a couple of years ago. Jake's comments were "we're going to Prague!" - so, here we are!! Two years later we get off a plane from Lyon, take a seamless private airport transfer to our accommodation for 16Euro to awaiting AirBnB host ready for a beer tour!
The airport transfer was a beauty, it took us to our doorstep, they provided us with wifi in the car, provided an amazing free guide book and maps with tips on notable locations, and just general information about Prague. It was hassle free and efficient taking less than half the time it would have if we used public transport, and wasn't that much more expensive.
We'd pre-booked the above mentioned beer tour for 6pm, but unfortunately missed it due to a comedy of errors (my errors), and rounded up having a ripping burger in the old town square to round out our first night in Prague.
After walking around for a couple of hours the place had me rattled, I didn't really know what to expect but I most defiantly didn't expect to see so many tourists. The old town square was beautiful and featured some amazing buildings, but it was full of people selling shitty tourist souvenirs, seqway hire (WTF), and just shitloads of rubbish tourist vibes which we had not really encountered since Paris.
8th August 2016
The arrival of Jake and Tarn!
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| One of the best coffee's of the trip! |
On an overnight bus from Poland arrived a couple of legends around 7am, the first sighting of a mate for a while was more than welcome!
Earlier this morning (6am) Ame and I ran back to old town with the cameras to see some of the tourist attractions to try and beat the tourists.
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| Astronomical clock tower in the old town square. |
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| Prague is famous for its Astronomical Clock - first installed in 1410, this clock is the third oldest in the world and the oldest clock still working! Clock Facts |
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| note the bride and groom to the left getting photos - asian |
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| old town square in the morning |
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| Entrance to the Charles Bridge |
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| Prague castle in the distance |
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| more bride action at about 6.30am and plenty out and about |
Then back to our AirBnb to greet Jakie and Tarndog.
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the Frank Kafka statue - a famous author, rub his feet for luck.
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| I believe this is the oldest jewish church or synagogue in the world - could be wrong. According to our tour guide, the jews reckon angels from Jerusalem built the church. |
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| Cathedral at Prague Castle |
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| Castle courtyard featuring about 13 churches |
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| Jake enjoying the Charles Bridge |
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| a chilly chimney - long hollow donut with nutella spread on the inside, a couple of strawberries and filled with a soft serve! |
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| Prince Hotel, a roof top cocktail bar, recommended by our Airbnb host. Cocktails before beer tour.. |
The beer and bar tour was pretty interesting, we went to three different bars and tried three different local beers.
- Pilsner Urquell - famous for the first pilsner ever brewed.
- Kozel (brewed by Pilsner Urquell)
- Staropramen - brewed in Prague
The feature of the tour and something which made the beers in and around Prague unique is the fact they are unpasteurized. Straight out of the vat, no exposure to oxygen until the beer is poured at the pub, still containing some yeast, with a very short shelf life. Because of this the beer was super crispy, tasted very fresh and a little sweet. Not sweet like a cider. It was delicious!! The best beer I've ever had.
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| one way to tell its unpasturized and a fresh beer is the clumping of yeast in the froth |
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| Prague castle at night |
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| Some cheeky fireworks on our walk home |
9th August 2016
Today, we did the Prague walking tour and learnt some history about the city, its war history etc. Its been a over 20 years since the Czech Republic broke free of the Soviet Union and its Communist reign. It was a wet chilly day today but it didn't dampen our spirits and we had a big day exploring.
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| A chocolate sauce 'hot chocolate' and chocolate cheese cake. Chocolate OVERLOAD! |
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| Hard to tell, but that shaddy thing hanging from the wall is a mans arm. A bizarre story of a bloke who was steeling some jewellery from a statue in the church, the statue came to life and grabbed the blokes hand. The bloke couldn't get out of the grip from the statue and was stuck till the next day when they decided to cut off the mans hand instead of the statues, and hung it up there ever since. I believe the story goes back to like 1600. |
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| The John Lennon wall - used by students to irritate the communist regime in the 1980s |
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| new trip quote |
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| Catching up with our old uni mate Eliza and her fella Danny! |
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| Prague's beer |
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| These blokes have done a great job, digging up to replace the old pipes.. |
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| subway |
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| tirrrrrreddddddd |
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