"Beautiful Prague. A travelogue by flyingkiwi" Czech Republic Travelogue by flyingkiwi

I visited the beautiful city of Prague in August of '98.

I went with my good friend Mark Joblin (a New Zealander doing the big OE). Prague was one of those cities I had read a lot about and always wanted to experience it for myself to see if it really did live up to all that guidebook hype.

Well, I must say that Prague certainly didn't dissapoint. It is a truely beautiful city in a remarkable country. I recommed a visit to anyone who has the opportunity to go. Our stay in Prague was fairly short (4 nights to be precise) but we had plenty of time to get out and explore the city as well as spending an enjoyable time in the nearby town of Kolin (approx. 1 and a half hours away by train).

By reading the following pages I hope that it inspires you to visit this wonderful place and helps you out on the way. I have also written about Prague's 'other side'. A side of a increasing number of fast food joints and crumbling housing estates going back to the dark days of Communism. Equally facinating but never mentioned in the guide books!

Beautiful Prague!

We flew Lufthansa via Frankfurt am Main where we had an 8 hour stopover between transfers. As I cover Frankfurt am Main in my travelogue on the city I won't go in to too much detail but to say that there was a very interesting market taking place down by the riverside. This was an unexpected bonus and made the time there more enjoyable. Our connecting flight to Prague arrived later that day. My memories aren't all that clear as it was quite a time ago and much travelling has been done since.

We easily picked up a taxi from Ruzyne Airport (make sure you agree on the fare BEFORE you go anywhere!) and made our way through the city to the Hotel Duo (***). This large Hotel dates back to the days of Communism and retains much of its early 'charm' from the seedy bar to the bright purple doors leading into a rooms barly big enough to swing a cat in. However, the real charm of the Hotel Duo is the fact that it is situated a good 20 minutes outside of the historic town centre in a huge crumbling residental area of towering concrete flats and maisonettes. Row upon row, everywhere you looked people carried out their daily lives away from the tourists whom flock to the city centre, away from the crowds of onlookers. A truely remarkable place. This area (whose name I forget) was serviced by buses connecting with the main metro lines to the city. Just getting into the 'tourist zones' required a remarkable amount of patience and not to mention a fair slice of good fortune!!

It was the late summer 1998 when we visited Prague. I 'won' a pair of tickets through work. Actually they were air miles which I ended up using to get to Prague but I digress. I asked my good friend Mark to come with me. He was travelling around the UK at the time and was extremly keen to get out and see the rest of Europe before his 2 year visa expired. Mark, like myself, was keen to cram as much 'alternative' sight seeing in as possible. Call us snobs but the touristic sites are all well and good but what about the real Prague? Well, we had already experienced the suburbs of the city with all it crumbling housing estates (which, incidentally, looked absoloutely stunning at sunset - I kid you not!). How could we possibly beat that?

We took a train (slow and I mean slooooww!) to a small town called Kolin. Kolin lay approximately an hour and a half to the east of Prague. First impressions were not good. The area around Kolin station was far from inspiring (although, the station itself had a certain charm) and in typical fashion befitting somebody arriving in a new country where there is no chance in hell of understanding anything we proceeded to get wonderfully lost! After what seemed like an eternity (but was probably more like 10 minutes!) we stumbled across a most beautiful town square. Picture perfect to match anything we had seen in Prague. Well worth the effort. I always try to spend some time getting away from the tourist spots whenever I am away and Kolin proved the ideal antidote!

After a quick lunch at the pizzeria just off the town square Mark and I headed back into Prague. By the time our huge, lumbering train pulled into Prague central Station (Hlavni nadrazi) day had turned to night so we headed off in search of somewhere to rest our weary legs. We stumbled across an English 'Pub' where we mixed it with the ex-pats, swapping stories and recommendations for the night ahead. Dinner consisted (I'm ashamed to admit it) of a good old KFC which we discoved at the bottom end of Wencelas Square. Strangly enough this KFC also turned out to be the local meet-up point of the Czech Police. A crowd of at least 20 officers (armed to the teeth) would congregate outside for their briefing before heading off to restore law and order to this vagely dangerious city.
Our night ended in a club off the old own square (Staromestske namesti). Quite what the name of this establishment was I cannot recall. Perhaps it was the extra strong Pilsner we were drinking! The club was basically a converted wine cellar. By 'converted' I mean a couple of flash lights fastened to the ceiling and a middle aged dj spinning retro beats in the other (unlight) corner. But it was fun and it was extremly popular with both locals and tourists alike and here we stayed dancing the night away until the early hours.

Of course Prague is not just all about crumbling housing estates and 700 year old nightclubs. You'd be absolotely mad to miss out on some of the real sights -Prague castle, St Vitus's Cathedral and the Charles bridge to name but three. These are all truly stunning pieces of arcitecture which are well worth a visit but I would imagine that you all being seasoned travellers (and VT users!) would have read a thousand articles on such places. That is why I hope that you found my little story helpful and unique.

Thank you for reading.

Mark