Prague

Saturday 28 December 2019

Leaving the house at 3.00AM, driving through the dark and fog to reach Stansted Airport for a 7.05AM EasyJet flight to Prague isn’t perhaps the most fun to be had in late December but the ends justify the means.

The car parking and flight went perfectly, but our private hotel transfer failed to meet us at 10.00AM as scheduled. We went round in circles in the arrivals lounge repeatedly checking that we hadn’t missed our name on one of the cards held by numerous drivers waiting to collect arriving passengers. The confirmation email suggested we check with the car hire desk across the car park if we couldn’t locate our driver, but they weren’t able to help, so I phoned the office. I was told that he had 10 people to collect first and that we would be the next job after that - he finally arrived at 11.30AM with a minibus and 3 other passengers. He then drove across the car park and stopped, leaving us for 5 minutes before returning with 2 more passengers. Our private car transfer was going so well.

Despite all this, we arrived at out hotel in central Prague before the official check-in time. Fortunately, our room was ready and we were able to settle in.

Once settled, we set off for a wander to get our bearings which included a quick look at the Charles Bridge, the Old Town Square and up towards Wenceslas Square. It was trying to snow, but never really got going. Here we stumbled across what we discovered was one of many Christmas Markets and decided we should try Prague hot dogs - one Paprika, and one herb flavoured. They were pretty big, and kept us fuelled for hours. They, of course, needed to be washed down with something and luckily there was warm honey wine available nearby. Because of the bitter cold, Michelle decided that she needed an additional layer and that this was a good excuse for a trip down memory lane and into C & A. We had already seen Starbucks, KFC, McDonalds and a few other familiar brands, but this one did take us a bit by surprise.

After heading back to Old Town Square in the dark we loitered for a while enjoying the huge Christmas tree, Christmas market, and music and then headed back to our room for a hot drink and rest. Discovered the hotels idea of milk was disgusting so I think that was the last time we did that.

Tea was at The Pilsner Urquell in the Old Town Square and consisted of some local delicacies: Pork with caraway seeds, garlic, red and white cabbage and dumplings for M, and Goulash with dumplings and potato cakes washed down with pilsner for S.

Watched the astronomical clock do its thing on the way back, along with half of Prague, and were a bit disappointed. Although it looks amazing, some skeleton hit a bell and not much else happened. We then climbed the clock tower to discover a big queue for £8 tickets and decided to head back down instead.

After very little sleep the previous night we chose to collect some mulled wine from the stall we could see from our hotel room and got an early night.

Sunday 29 December 2019

After an extremely noisy night due to the partying in the street outside our window and the nightclub downstairs we rose for a familiar continental breakfast (with jammy dodgers) in the main part of the hotel, which was through a locked corridor door, down cold stone steps, through a locked gate, and then through a huge wooden door onto the street before getting back indoors a couple of doors away. This meant that coats were always taken to breakfast as it was -1 degrees outside. It wasn’t exactly early as we had been trying to catch up on our lack of sleep.

A little later we slowly shuffled our way across the Charles Bridge with the rest of the temporary population of Prague, pausing to enjoy a taste of the jazz bands playing in the sunshine. There was also a compulsory jewellery purchase from a stall on the bridge - apparently it was a bargain.

Across the other side of the bridge we eventually found our way round to the John Lennon Wall to watch a large number of people working on their instagram poses. In the 1960s, messages against the communist regime began to appear on the wall. From 1980, the face of John Lennon also appeared as a symbol of peace and freedom, and the theme continues to this day. On the 30th anniversary of the fall of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia, the Lennon Wall was declared a memorial place. We overheard one woman who apparently thought she was coming to see the Lenin Wall!!!

We headed off uphill in the direction of the castle (eventually, after one little wrong turn) viewing a few shops on the way before stopping for panini/gyros lunch. Lunch obviously slowed us down as the climb up the steep hill towards the castle took longer than anticipated - no it had nothing to do with the number of souvenir shops on the street. A hot chocolate was needed to give us that extra energy to complete our mission, and we discovered that in this part of the world they simply melt some chocolate and pour it into a cup. And we had decided to order large!

The castle complex is apparently the largest in the world, complete with cathedral, palace, basilica and a multitude of other buildings. There was a huge queue for the palace entrance we again put us off so we wandered around the cobbled neighbourhood taking photos, both for us and random Russians who asked us to take one for the family album. We had a quick stop for cold drinks in a bar just to keep us going before setting off down some steps. This was another popular route, and no doubt features many times on Instagram, as there were plenty of people striking a pose under the street lights on the way down.

Back at the river we crossed a different bridge to get a view of the Charles Bridge after nightfall, then made our way back towards the Old Town Square and enjoyed pizza accompanied by pilsner and a lemonade served in a jug with a straw followed by limoncello.

Found the “best jazz club in town” only to discover they wanted £10 each if we wanted to watch the live act. Had a quick drink at the bar and decided we didn’t like jazz that much. Anyway, we found a cool bar called Atmosphere which led to rubbish jokes about Russ Abbott, and where everyone else in the bar was probably far to young to have even heard of him. That is assuming he was even a thing in the Czech Republic.

Monday 30 December 2019

After breakfast, where we somehow acquired two teaspoons shaped like shovels, we set off for a river cruise. A quick return to the hotel because we thought we had some discount vouchers proved to be a mistake, but we found a cruise company at the end of the Charles Bridge. The 50 minute trip for 440Kr each included a very average coffee (it was a bit early for the beer option), and a chocolate covered ginger cake. An English commentary was delivered by earphones, and occasionally interrupted by the captain of the ship trying to explain other things. So although we missed a lot of facts in the commentary, there were also some large black and white photographs passed around which showed historical changes of the area, including pictures of the now demolished Stalin monument. The world’s largest Stalin statue had previously stood at 15.5 metres but was eventually destroyed with explosives in 1962. Our ticket also included admission to the Charles Bridge Museum which showed the history of the construction and subsequent renovation works.

During the cruise we had encountered a canal with a large water wheel and a pedestrian bridge, so we wanted to find this area and have a look around. We got slightly distracted by our stomachs and found somewhere for lunch - bread, cheese, garlic/potato cakes, cabbage, dill and fries at Cervena Sedna. One of their sugar sachets had John Lennon Pub written on the back and the waiter told us that it was part of the same business and just round the back of this building. We thought we might as well go for a quick look as we were here and took a few photos. As we had a nosey up a narrow street we saw that we were almost back at the John Lennon Wall we had visited yesterday, just at the other end. We retraced our steps in search of the water wheel and noticed a stall on a small Christmas market selling dice depicting sexual positions. Michelle mentioned that her boss had some dice with different takeaway food on to help choose a meal, and I pointed out that these dice were more about giving than taking away. We eventually found our way around the block to the canal we had been seeking to discover that it was in between Lennon’s wall and Lennon’s Pub and that we had been within a few metres of it on two occasions.

Passing under the Charles Bridge we walked a little way further down river we passed an alleyway that was so narrow it had traffic lights to allow people to walk up and down to the restaurant bar at the other end. We also discovered shops selling 3D image viewers which were a little more saucy than the postcards you find on Blackpool seafront. These wanderings eventually brought us out at a beach like area next to the river which was crowded with swans all waiting to be fed by the tourists. We took a few photos of the bridge instead.

Next on our list was what appeared to be a copy of the Great Wall of China on Petrin Hill, but was actually known as the Hunger Wall. We had first seen something from the castle so we headed up the hill but over to the left of the castle area and found ourselves in the embassy district with noticeable security particularly around the US embassy. Leaving the embassies behind we found ourselves in parkland with a choice of pathways heading in all directions as the sun started to set with just the castle and the rooftops of the city below still lit by sunlight. Following the right pathway brought us out at Petrin Tower (inspired by Eiffel Tower) just as the sky turned fiery red with the sunset. There was a collection of religious structures and a toilet block where I was forced to part with 20 Kr (c70p). The views over the city were fantastic as we declined the ease of the funicular and made our way down on foot.

We reached the Charles Bridge once again and stopped for coffee at a cheap diner at the end of the bridge before crossing over the river to our neighbourhood which was as crowded as ever. We grabbed a chimney cone from a few doors away from the hotel - ice cream, chocolate brownie and caramel sauce to replenish our energy supplies - which we took back to our room.

Charles Bridge, Prague

Once tea was out of the way, we hit the town and ended up in The Irish Times - an Irish bar with live music. We stayed for a couple of hours and then Mike turned up with his Essex “girlfriend” turned up. He was sporting guy liner and was a bit too friendly and in your face so we didn’t stay much longer. Then it was back to our hotel bar for Woo Woo, Sex on the beach, and Tennessee Iced Tea.

Tuesday 31 December 2019

Busier breakfast than usual, and no jammy dodgers! After packing we checked out and left our case with the hotel for safekeeping as our flight wasn’t till much later in the day.

We wandered along the riverside in glorious sunshine enjoying our warmest day so far until we reached the “Dancing House” (or Fred and Ginger). We joined the hoards of people taking photos before heading inside and queueing to reach the cafe and viewing platform at the top. We enjoyed a reasonably priced cappuccino inside before heading out onto the platform for great views across the river to the castle.

Fred and Ginger

Later we walked back in the general direction of central Prague and encountered a giant rotating mirror head sculpture (Cabeza De Kafka by Franz Kafka) near something called Sephora where Michelle disappeared for a while.

Lunch consisted of Egg Benny and Avo Toast at a quiet tucked away courtyard cafe called Narodni 38. We were the only customers but so glad we found it. More mooching around the streets and old town square filled in a bit of time before we went back to our hotel for coffee and orange juice whilst waiting for our lift to the airport. Our driver didn’t bother to bring his minibus down the hectic street, but led us through a restaurant and out onto the back streets where he had parked.

Just about everything was closed when we reached the airport on New Years Eve, so we had to make do with Easyjet meal deals on the flight back. After an uneventful journey home we drove into our road at the stroke of midnight and saw fireworks going off in all directions.