Czech Republic

I’ve been loving all these Eastern Europe countries; a change of food, culture, people and have even slowed down on the drinking to let my liver recoup (you’ll love that one Mum), opting for a little bit more of relaxation and sight seeing these days. It has (quickly) reached the 5mth anniversary since I left Sydney and even though I have gone on numerous trips over the years this has been the longest time that I have lived out of a backpack. Without complaining (because I would prefer to do this any day than work) there is certainly a time when the constant moving takes it’s toll. For me, I was hit hard here. I didn’t really want to do anything and felt that it was a struggle for me to push myself to get excited to do things, all I wanted was to be in my own bed and stationary for at least a week but the only thing that kept me going was knowing that within three weeks I would be back in London and eventually reminiscing these days so I pushed aside any complaining and decided to make the most of our little time left as best as I could.

We started off with Prague, another city that we have heard nothing but nice things about as people always use the word ‘love’ when they mention this city, “Oh I love Prague”. Great nightlife, beautiful buildings, lovely people, delicious beer (oh-no), yummy food and all round a cool city. We originally planned to go to Cesky Krumlov first but oddly enough it cost less and was more common to go to Prague and Cesky Krumlov as a day trip or overnight stay- the beauty of being flexible with your travels!

I believe that, like many places, where you stay plays a huge role in your experiences of that city. Mad House is currently regarded as one of the best party hostels in Prague, unfortunately we couldn’t get in there so we settled for Hostel One, recommended by a few fellow travellers we met along the way. Unfortunately the location was too far out from the Old town, which is where you want to be, and if you wanted to go out at night it meant a tram ride/metro home and when the weather is rather dismal that becomes a massive turn off, especially after we are still in Summer mode.

Instead we opted for more ‘local’ experiences for the two nights we were there. The first being a locals beer garden-there are plenty around Prague and they are bloody cheap! We tried Pilsner Urquell (best beer!) and a sausage served with sauce and a piece of bread then back to the hostel for our free pasta dinner and down to the basement for a few drinks. With the rain outside we opted for our cosy beds, Danielle rugging up for the 10C night ahead of us.

The next day we brushed the walking tours and did our own, making our way up to the castle and through the Old town. It’s a beautiful place but quite similar in style to Budapest so photos weren’t too convincing and with my mood it was all the same to me. It also came to my attention just how many beggars there are in this town. You see them bent down, head on the ground begging almost everywhere and looking through rubbish bins for any scraps of food or begging for money. It’s quite disturbing and sad at the same time when you see a scruffy, middle-aged man pull a half eaten sausage out of the bin then a piece of bread from the next and make his own sandwich.

A light drizzle fell down so we rushed over the bridge that everyone snaps these great shots at, we hardly bothered as they all turned out gloomy and full of tourists so into a pub for some more delicious beer and warm Czech food- wieners and goulash. That night we tried to liven up the mood by going out with the hostel-to a drum and bass club. Toma and Nat were smart and stayed home but Danielle and I attempted this and returned within the hour but before we bailed for bed we decided to give it another go and venture to the five level club everyone talks about. As we stepped outside a bunch of people from the hostel came in and informed us that we would be wasting our time if we went. Seems that the rain had kept everyone in on the night we wanted to go out…FAIL!

Time to break it up and head to Cesky Krumlov for a night. Only a 3 hour bus ride and we were there and by the time we walked the 500m to our hostel I had immediately fallen in love with this place. Its so small and oozes with a past time/small village vibe. The place we stayed at (Hostel 99) was like a chalet ski cabin with a wood fire, blankets, movies and a hot chocolate, all we needed were boyfriends to make the scene complete! Danielle and I stayed up that night and did the inevitable- we downloaded the first episode of The Shire.. if anyone is still watching that show you’ve got some serious problems! I finally downloaded the new season of Breaking Bad so set myself up for the night as the rain poured down outside.

The next day we explored the small town, bitching about the cold weather and how Summer was officially over, struggling to find outfits from our 1-2 pants and 1 jumper each and admired the beauty of a town that hasn’t been totally bombarded by tourists, allowing it to thrive economically whilst still maintaining many of its traditions and customs. We found this restaurant which served only medieval foods and immediately ordered the banquet for four which had some of the most insane tastes. Rabbit, chicken, peasant, vegetables, herbs, spices all exploded in our mouths in so many different ways it was delicious! Our stomachs were full but the desserts on display were too good to leave so we sat for a while under the heaters and by the river discussing our favourite past times of the trip thus far until we had just a enough room to fit it in.

Back to Budapest and the expected 3hr journey to Prague turned out to be a 7hrs. The bus was fully booked so we got the train (definitely not faster) as track work was being done so our trip went like this: train-bus-train-bus-walking-walking-trying to get a taxi-walking-hostel arrival. Absolutely horrible and by the time we finally arrived at the hostel we looked up in the morning we discovered there was no room available. They had to be kidding! However there was room if we booked on hostelworld so to the internet we went and within halfa our rooms were ready…just 5 flights of stairs up (no lift). Seriously I think I had to put this down as possibly one of the worst travel days so far, mainly because it was originally meant to take 3 hours!

With the relocation of a hostel, closer into town of course we finished off the last of our sight seeing with the John Lennon wall. It is simply that. A wall with quotes and lyrics symbolic to John Lennon and his opinions, but it was beautiful and full of colour so I loved it. That night we were ready to take on Prague nightlife. A few girls from home (Riss, Caits and Sharni) were in town too so we all met up, found an Irish Pub for catch up drinks then headed to the five level club… yeah not so great as you think! But we had to go and took turns at dancing each level away. By 4am it was time for bed but of course, via McDonald’s to get a massive feast each. We drunk called and texted people from home then realised that bed was calling before we stuffed our faces anymore.

We spent the last day in Prague walking the town and stuck to window shopping as we all knew that we had spent way too much money here then spontaneously decided to go to the movies and see Batman-loved it! Our bus was at midnight so we sat at the hostel on wifi until 11, trying to tire ourselves out for the small 5 hour bus ride as we knew that by 5am in Berlin trying to find a hostel was not going to be fun!