Picturesque Prague


Yes, I went there. The title of this post alliterates. I couldn't help myself please forgive me. You'll see why I did it when you see all of these photos though, I swear.


Our journey to Prague was the first time that I had taken a train when traveling between countries. The trip was around 5 hours and it was surprisingly pleasant, with gorgeous views of mountains and rivers the whole way. There were many Eurotrip references and jokes being thrown around amongst our group during the train ride, with "mi scusi" being said at least once every half hour. If you haven't watched Eurotrip, you're missing out on a hilariously terrible movie and should do so immediately (after reading this post).

I hadn't done any prior research on Prague so wasn't sure about what to expect. All I knew about the city was that it was supposed to be amazingly beautiful and renowned for it's party culture. We arrived in Prague late afternoon so didn't really have too much time to explore the city that day but the walk from the train station to the hostel was enough for me to know that I would love Prague. There were gorgeous buildings around every corner we turned and walking down the cobblestone streets with all of our bags made me feel like I was finally truly backpacking through Europe. They sure aren't the comfiest thing to walk on but they make streets look beautiful.





Before heading out for the night, we explored Old Prague Square with one of our group member's friend, an exchange student who was studying in Prague at the time. He acted as our unofficial guide and led the way. We were lucky enough to arrive in Prague on the day where they had just set up and opened the Easter market, with various stalls selling a variety of street food. We managed to fit one sightseeing stop in before the sun went down and that was the Old Town Hall Tower. We climbed all the way up and the views of the city from the top were spectacular. It was the best first impression of any city that I had visited so far and at that moment, I knew that I would love Prague.

For dinner, we all grabbed street food (my favourite kind of food) from the Easter market in Old Prague Square, with me getting freshly made potato chips and a chicken skewer. The food was amazing and the overall atmosphere of the market was great because it had just opened and everyone was really excited. The problem was that there was way too many things to try but not enough time or stomach space for it all!

Old Town Square Easter Market
View of Old Town Square from the Old Town Hall Tower
View of Prague from the Old Town Hall Tower 
Freshly fried potato chips
Chicken Skewer
Trdelnik
As we had arrived in Prague on a Saturday, we thought that it was essential that we were  to go out that night. We ended up at a club called Lucerna recommended by our new friend and had a blast. It was 90s night so we had good fun singing along to some hits. They even played Ice Ice Baby, my ultimate guilty pleasure song! We were definitely the youngest people in the club which was intimidating at first but just ended up making the whole situation so much funnier.

For our first full day in Prague, we began by visiting a small market near our hostel to look at some souvenirs and small trinkets. Next off, we crossed the famous Charles bridge on our way to the Prague Castle and were rewarded with beautiful views across the Vltava River. There were also stalls set up along the bridge selling various things like jewellery and artwork. On the other side of the Charles bridge, we grabbed a sausage for lunch. Prague has some seriously good sausages, I didn't know that Prague's sausages were so renowned until I arrived there!

Market stalls

Charles Bridge

Heaven


The Prague Castle was huge! Definitely not what I was expecting at all. The castle, being at the top of a hill, had gorgeous views of the city and made the trek up there worth it. We spent a lot of time wandering around the area exploring all of the beautiful buildings, with one church in particular being my favourite which apparently took 400 years to build!

We decided that our next stop would be the John Lennon wall. On our way down from the castle and to the John Lennon wall, we stumbled into a small chocolate shop where we had the best hot chocolate that I had ever tasted in my life (up until that point, gotta love Prague). I'm going to have recurring dreams about this chocolate because although it came in the tiniest cup, it tasted like liquid chocolate and was so nice and rich. Unfortunately, I was way too excited about drinking it so forgot to take a photo...

Prague Castle 
Views from Prague Castle
St Vitus Cathedral
St Vitus Cathedral 
Jesters outside Prague Castle
The John Lennon Wall wasn't something that I was particularly dying to see in Prague and would have been okay giving it a pass if we ran out of time but once we got there, I was so glad we decided to go. The wall was mind blowing and we met a busker there who actually lived in Melbourne for six months! If there's anything that I have learnt about Europe during my travels, it is that there is never a lack of street musicians so wherever you go, the vibe and atmosphere will be brilliant because there will be a musician playing some (usually) quality music in the background.

The walk from from Prague Castle 

John Lennon Wall
John Lennon Wall
John Lennon Wall
After our long day, three of us girls stopped by the market in Old Prague Square for dinner again before retreating back to the hostel for an early night. The market was even better at night, with it being busier and more lively. There was even a petting zoo! Although we almost got lost on the way, we managed to make it back to the hostel in one piece.

Charles Bridge
Petting zoo at the Old Prague Square Market 
Fried cheese on bread? 
Old Prague Square Market
Old Prague Square Market stall
Our second day in Prague began with a visit to the Dancing House. One of my friends was really excited to see it because she had done an essay on the man who designed it. The next part of the day was what I had been looking forward to. We settled down in a small chocolate cafe near our hostel. They had over 50 flavours of hot chocolate! I ordered a caramel one called Carmelita and it was genuinely the best hot chocolate that I had ever tasted in my life, even better than the one from the day before. I get upset thinking about it. I don't think I'll ever be able to enjoy a hot chocolate again. I even snuck back there at the end of the day for another one...

Dancing House 
Dancing House

View from Charles Bridge 
Stall selling Trdelnik 
Old Prague Square
The best hot chocolate of my life
Upon the suggestion from our quasi-local Praguer friend, we headed to the Monastery brewery as they apparently had "the best beer [he] had ever tasted". The monastery was, like everything else in Prague seemed to be, on a hill so the walk up was quite long and hard on the legs but the views on the way were absolutely breathtaking.

We almost ended up at the wrong restaurant but ended up at the right place in the end. The fact that the first place was completely empty should have been a dead giveaway... As I'm not really a fan of beer myself, the beer wasn't anything special to me but the others seemed to think that it was good. The goulash we ordered, however, was amazing and even came in bread bowls. It was my first time trying goulash and it made me question why I'd never had it before.



The view from the monastery
The view from the monastery
Monastery beer
Monastery goulash 

The actual monastery
After the meal at the monastery, we visited a beer garden in a park with stunning views over the city and the river. Prague's beer gardens are meant to be a must-visit but because we were there during a time where it wasn't quite summer and the weather was still a little bit cold, the beer garden we were at was half closed and not as busy as we were expecting it to be.

That night, we went on one of Prague's infamous bar crawls. The deal was quite good, with free drinks for two and a half hours at the first bar before hitting two other bars and then a club. The bar crawl itself was good fun but I won't lie and admit that the highlight of my night was the food that we got after...

Views from the monastery
Views from the beer garden
Prague is truly one of the most picturesque cities that I have ever visited and it will always be etched into my memory. I took so many photos and really struggled to narrow them down to the ones in this post. I had always been told that Prague was beautiful, it was the only thing I knew about the city coming into the trip, but I wasn't expecting it to be this beautiful and I really wasn't expecting to fall in love with it like I did.

When asked now what my favourite destination has been during my travels, I will always tell people that it comes down to a tie between Prague and Istanbul. Everything that I experienced in Prague was positive and memorable, from the hot chocolate to the gorgeous views, the delicious food to the fun nights out. I can't think of a negative thing about Prague besides the weather not being perfect but that's just me nitpicking. My time in Prague is one that I won't forget anytime soon and I'm definitely going to return to this gorgeous city one day in the near future.


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