Sunday 8 June to Tuesday 10 June 2014
Arrived in Praha (yep, that is what the Czechs call the city) mid afternoon after one of the most scenic train journeys we have ever had. The section from Berlin to Dresden was typically European - unbelievably green with plenty of forest, farmland and quaint towns. The section from Dresden to Praha mostly followed the Elbe River and it was something we won't forget.
That was just the start of an unforgettable few days.
Our first thoughts were how similar much of old Praha is like Paris - or was it that Paris is like Praha? There are significant differences though; Praha has much more cobblestones and the older buildings look as if they were extracted from a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. It is just that so many buildings have a similar facade to that in Paris, although not the same.
Whilst there were the usual suspects of McDonalds, Burger King, KFC and Starbucks, there were plenty of eateries offering Czech fare as well as the more familiar dishes such as chicken schnitzel or parmigiana, sirloin steak or salmon.
Like Brugge, Praha is awash with tourists. I have never seen so many souvenir shops or money changers. Oh, did l mention the crystal shops? I suppose that l should not have been surprised by the number of crystal shops; after all we were in the home of Bohemian crystal.
In many streets, the enormous majority of shops were those three enterprises. Shop after shop. Accordingly, prices in the tourist sector are very high, and to make things a little more difficult, the Czech Republic, whilst in the EU, has kept its own currency rather than adopting Euros.
The koruna or crown has an exchange rate of around $1 Aud = 18 crowns. It's fair to say we got confused on a number of occasions on the matter of whether a purchase was good value or not. But that is one of the issues of travel, l suppose.
The Czech Republic was part of communist Czechoslavakia until 1January 1993, but let me tell you it is a fully fledged capitalist economy now. Some churches levy charges to enter and to take a look at the old Jewish cemetery will cost you near enough to $20 (380 crowns) although there is some sort of museum there.
Praha is the sort of place where you just wander around and marvel at the buildings. While we did the usual tourist sites such as the Old Town Square, the Powder Tower, Henry's Bell Tower, Charles Bridge, Praha castle and St Vitus Cathedral, we also just wandered around until our blistered feet could take no more. Adding to the discomfort was some unseasonably high temperatures - officially low 30's but it felt like mid to high 30s in the streets.
Praha is also a musical city. There were street performers everywhere and the majority of those were very good. There also seemed to be a performance by classical artists every night - orchestras, violinists, classical string groups, singers etc etc.
We did try the local fare every night. The 'traditional' Czech dishes contain a small amount of meat, some vegetables, a large amount of gravy or sauce and slices of bread or dumpling. The bread or dumpling is used to soak up the gravy or sauce and it certainly fills you up. Coarse sausages also seem to be popular and you can buy them on the street as a fast food.
As is always the case there are negatives.
1. The smoking. We saw many smokers, more than we had seen in many years and certainly more than we have seen in Paris & Rome. Smoking is allowed in pubs & restaurants, so there is no escaping it. We did not see any ashtrays in the churches, but that was about the only place.
2. Tipping. From an Australian perspective where tipping is rare, this was a different experience. Nothing in the tourist sector of Praha is cheap, but if you eat or drink, you are expected to add another 10%, at least, to your bill. There was no such thing as going to the bar to get a drink, everything is table service. I didn't like being waved away from the bar and told to sit down, that is not customer service.....
Ignoring those two issues, if you don't mind competing for footpath space with the rest of the world's tourists, Praha is a must visit city. It ranks with Paris and Rome for us....
Next city - Krakow
