So far our most humid location, Prague proved to be as close to a hot day at Disneyland Paris as it comes. We arrived at our hostel, dropped our bags off and quickly headed into the centre as, once again, we only really had a day and a half to spare. Prior to our arrival, I hadn't heard much about the Czech Republic's capital city but now I can confirm that it deserves much more hype than it receives.
Once we had wandered about the high streets, up to Wenceslas Square, we came across the most fairytale of markets, selling Russian Nesting Dolls and pins. This was situated right next to the renowned Astronomical Clock, which, on the hour, presents a short display of the Seven Deadly Sins to a usually huge crowd. Beside this is Old Town Square, which was simply beautiful, with colourful buildings of intricate architecture.
Afterwards, we walked to arguably the central focal point of Prague- Charles Bridge. This crosses Prague's large river and connects the castle side with the shopping end. The glorious sunshine created fantastic silhouettes of Prague Castle and the hills that surround it, so is a brilliantly place for photography. To the left of the bridge is probably the most 'instagrammed' spot, the Lennon Wall. Wall art is clearly much more of an interest in Mainland Europe than in the United Kingdom; this wall was completely covered in tributes to John Lennon and his endeavours for peace.
In the evening, we cooked dinner ourselves for the first time instead of eating sandwiches (bread will certainly be avoided once I return home). Although the pasta was slightly unsuccessful, it was edible and for that I was grateful. We then decided to hit the clubs. I had been warned that Prague does not have great nightlife but our night out suggested the antithesis. Karlovy Lazné- apparently Central Europe's biggest nightclub- was spread across five floors, with different music and lighting on each one. We met some lost Spanish girls on the way there, who ended up relying upon my map skills to navigate their way there and put their English into practise. We had a discount into the club, making it 130Kca to get in, which we all agreed to be a reasonable price for such a good night. There was a retro dance floor, where old classics were played, a 'Hip Hop' room which was basically pop music, with a 'hip hop' genre tagged to it to make finding it enjoyable slightly less embarrassing (Flo Rida, anyone?) and, my favourite floor, a room of dance tracks and remixes with lasers and smoke machines. Additionally, there was a 'chill out' room, with sofas to relax on, and an ice bar (though I think you had to pay for this).
Our next day began with the train to Prague Castle, which is situated at the top of a hill and is home to Prague's Prime Minister. The gardens surrounding the castle are free to go into and provide magnificent views across Prague. Down a street at the top of the hill is St. George's Basilica and St. Vitus Cathdedral, with the latter being particularly impressive due to the scale and definition of its exterior.
From the hill, we walked back across the bridge and to the town, where we had the food that every tourist must have at least once in Prague- the trdelnik, which is a crisp donut topped with anything from nuts to strawberries and cream, though I went for ice cream. It was sublime and provided the perfect refreshment from 27 degree Celsius temperatures that were pretty much consistent throughout the daytime of our stay.
Our last activity of the day was a pedalo ride around the main river. I undoubtedly recommend any visitors to do this if visiting in summer; for 400kca per hour for five people, pedalo hire can not be beaten for the opportunity to bathe in sun, whilst having the river within millimetres to cool down in. I used the hour hire to then take pictures from the river of the castle, bridges and surrounding buildings, as you have an almost obstruction-less view of the sites.
In addition to the continual feeling of hunger, Interrail has taught me three things:
1) check if tax is included when eating out
2) sleep is a luxury
3) travelling with numerous currencies is a palava.
We ate out at a restaurant in the evening and, with the limited koruna currency we had left, ended up literally taking every coin out of our purses as we hadn't realised tax was not included on the menu price. Fairly scandalous, if you ask me, but that is obviously a thing to expect here.
Over the past week, I've probably had half the sleep I should have had so we all unanimously agreed that we would get to bed early to catch up on even just a couple of hours on sleep. Our hostel was subject to a power cut just as we were getting ready for bed, which delayed the process, as we ended up using torches on our phones. Half the hostel had torchlit pre-drinks, which was an experience to witness.
Next stop: Vienna!
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