I woke up early Friday morning, around 8am. I knew I would have a long journey ahead of me to get to Prague. I double checked all of my belongings and proceeded to check out of my hotel. I made my way up to the metro station, stopping only for a quick snack for breakfast. Hopped on the metro and made my way to Placia De Catalunya. This is where the bus that takes you to the airport leaves from, 4 euro and I was on my way. It was nice to see a part of Barcelona I didn’t get a chance to see as I rode to the airport. I busted out the ipod on the way and for some reason got hooked on the song Summer of Drugs by Soul Asylum, I think it had something to do with the line “turned to a teen in the late 70’s” Although I turned to a teen in the mid 90’s, I think it’s the whole growing up aspect of the song; it was having some effect on me. I got to the airport, checked in, checked my bag and made my way to the terminal, early as usual. As I sat waiting a TV showed some highlights of the NBA finals. Personally at this point I couldn’t care less who wins. I hate LA for obvious reasons and hate Orlando because they knocked the Celtics out. Walked over to some food stand and grabbed a sandwich and a soda. Finally the flight boarded and I was off to Eastern Europe.
I made sure to get a window seat and was rewarded with amazing scenery. We flew over the Mediterranean for a while and then over southern France, at least I thought it was southern France due to all the boat docks I saw from above. The flight made its way through Switzerland over the Alps. Seeing the Alps from 35,000 feet was incredible. What an amazing mountain range. Most likely the plane went through part of the German mountains as well (Anyone who knows about planes and flight paths want to check this for me? Darin or Fiaq I’m lookin at one of you). Once into the Czech Republic it was mostly farmland until we hit Prague.
Once off the plane I headed to the tourist desk to find out how to get to the General Prague area. A 20 minute bus ride, three stops on the metro and then another bus ride and I was checking into my hotel in Praha 3 in the Zizkov neighborhood. I settled in, relaxed for a bit and then decided to walk around and find a place to eat. Knowing that Czech cuisine was heavy on meat and dumplings I wanted to try something authentic. I found a restaurant up the street in the middle of a neighborhood and ordered a dish known as the bohemian plate; a dish with chicken, pork, sausage, dumplings, potato dumplings and stewed cabbage. This along with a tall glass of Pilsner Urquell would be my first taste of Czech food. The meat was good, very hearty and flavorful, it was the cabbage that was interesting, it tasted exactly like ketchup with a consistency similar to cooked peppers minus the skin, soft and easily chewed, and it was very different.
As I walked out the door I was suddenly surprised to see two local boys fighting, what a first impression of Prague! Then again I wasn’t staying in Stare Mesto (Old Town) or anywhere by it; I was in the Zizkov district in Praha 3, which seemed like a working class, rough at one time neighborhood more than anything else. Because all the buildings are so old and in this part not all that pristine it gave the area a bit of a rundown feel. Not too many punches were thrown but the ones that were definitely did some damage to their target. I walked down the street looking back at the scuffle and stopped outside a hostel where two guys were watching the scuffle I stopped to discuss the situation with them, my first thought being “Jeez, it’s like I’m back in Boston.” I made my way back to the hotel for a quick nap. As I walked through the door I saw a flyer for a pub crawl. I had heard about this one in particular on the internet but thought that you had to make a reservation; apparently, this was not the case as it said join anytime between 8 and 10:30pm. I hadn’t done much drinking since Dublin and this seemed like the perfect thing to do to not only check out Prague but also meet some people.
I hopped on the tram that was supposed to take you to Old Town. It did, but because it was rainy and foggy out it was tough to see where I was. At one point when the tram made a turn down a street you could see the eerie grey outline of the Prague Castle in the distance. It was rather big brother-esque. I knew I missed my stop when the tram went over the Vltava River. I got off as quick as possible, found the main road and hailed a cab to the meeting point on Dlouha st. I stood in line and paid my 390Kc’s and headed straight for the free beer and shots. Unfortunately, I didn’t arrive until 10pm and the free drinks stopped at 10:30 so I did my best to power drink. As I mingled amongst people I was talking with one person when all of a sudden this tall, semi-attractive, load mouthed German girl comes over and starts talking to us, “ah you ah Amereecan, I am fromst Germany, vat ah you doing heahs in Prague,” That conversation lasted a minute or two until her very attractive blonde friend comes over and the two of them start making out in front of everybody…hhhmmm…attention whores, much? After 3 beers and 4 shots we were off to our first stop.
As we walked into the first bar, that stereotype about Eastern Europe being behind America when it comes to most things became totally evident. As I walked down the stairs along with my fellow pub crawlers I heard a song that probably hasn’t been played at a bar or club in America since maybe 1992. So what was playing? “Girl you know it’s true, ooo ooo ooooo I love you!” I could barely contain myself I was laughing so hard. Right after Milli Vanilli’s ode to lip syncing, Heavy D and the Boys, Now That We Found Love came on next. I eventually found the dance floor and made my way through it to check out the scene. The DJ’s were mixing 70’s disco with house beats. After a while at this bar the group moved on to the next stop, a smaller bar set in a basement with slightly better music, but mostly house and techno. Everyone was grooving and having a good time. I made my way into the side room to relax and have a smoke. 2 girls sat down at my table, one asked me for a light and we delved into conversation.
The girl sitting closest to me was Pia and her friend Kerstin, 2 girls from Bavaria Germany. “I’ll be in Munich on Monday, I can’t wait” I told Pia. “Ahh you ah goings to love it” she replied. The three of us stayed at the table and talked about our travels and where we were going next and places we wanted to go to. At this point I started to take more of an interest in Kerstin, and I could sense she was into me as well. As we made our way out it turned out their friend wanted to head back to their hostel so she could call her boyfriend as she was drunk and feeling lonely. Thankfully Pia and Kerstin stayed out. We made our way to the last stop, a place called Karlovy Lazne, which is the largest club in central Europe, 5 floors of drinking and dancing. I suggested we make our way to the top and work our way down. The top floor was the lounge area and we ended up staying there for the night. Kerstin and I kept on flirting while Pia just kinda wondered around talking to guys in her inebriated state. We did a shot of tequila and a round of beers. Around 3ish Kerstin broke the news to me that she had to take Pia home as she was way too drunk to be in a club. We exchanged numbers, did the kiss on each cheek. I asked her for a real one but she wasn’t into it. Oh well these things will happen and I decided not to let it ruin the rest of my night. I finished my 2 beers and wandered around the rest of the club, mainly staying in the hip hop room until right about closing time (4am).
The Czechs are smart, the place had a hot dog window right outside the club and for 40Kc you could get yourself a hot dog with ketchup and mustard. I had 3 of them and then headed across the street to get a cab. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough on me for a cab ride back to my hotel and couldn’t find an ATM close by. So in my drunken state I decided it would be a good idea to walk back to the hotel, seeing that the bus ride I took from the city center earlier in the day wasn’t very long. The sun was coming up at this point so at least I wouldn’t be walking in total darkness. I headed in the general direction of my hotel and it seemed like I was doing fine for a while, I was recognizing buildings and stores. I stopped at a McDonald’s for some more late night food. A double cheeseburger meal as they call it here (think Pulp Fiction) not a double quarter pounder. This next tidbit of information will only be funny to you if we currently happen to be co-workers but when I asked the cashier for some BBQ sauce, they were out! I guess American McDonalds are a bit more efficiently run then the ones here in Eastern Europe.
After leaving McDonalds I tried to ask some Americans outside if they had any idea where to go, which they didn’t. So I kept walking. After another half hour of walking around I came to the harsh realization I was completely lost and had no idea where I was going or how to get back. Luckily a taxi drove by, I got in but only had 50Kc’s on me, the driver informed me it would be 160, I was batting a thousand tonight. He somewhat pointed me in the general direction and I kept walking. Passing by some sketchy looking dude who started to follow me, thankfully there was an empty glass bottle on the sidewalk, I quickly picked it up and he turned around not long afterwards. I continued to walk until I found a guy getting out of his car and tried to ask him, thankfully he spoke somewhat decent English. He informed me I was in Praha 8! I needed to be in Praha 3! He told me to take the next right and that would take me into the right area. I followed his advice, took the right and was met unsympathetically by an entrance to a long cave-like tunnel that went through a hill: it was long, somewhat dimly lit and looked like someone was in there just waiting to rob you. I didn’t like my options at this point but decided it was this or never get home. I made my way through the tunnel but took no chances. I cracked the glass bottle on the wall just in case. Thankfully, I made it to the end with no issues. When I came out on the other side I came to the amazing realization that my hotel was about 2 blocks around the corner THANK YOU GOD!!!! I walked by a group of people waiting for the bus, they gave me an odd look and I realized the broken bottle was still in my hand, I threw it out in the trash barrel by the bus stop and laughed a bit about it. I headed inside and proceeded to pass out, what a night!
Prague Day 2
I woke up hung over, but not as hung over as I should have been thanks to 3 hot dogs and some McDonald’s. I think it was the dehydration that was the worse, so about 5 glasses of water and 2 advil later I was able to fall back asleep until about noon. I got up and set out to explore Stare Mesto (old town) and Josefov (the old Jewish district). I decided to walk down there since it really wasn’t that far from my hotel. When I was walking home last night what I should have done was bear right on Husitska but what I did was go left down Prvniho; lesson learned. I made my way into Old Town and was met by amazing scenery. The buildings and the streets that root them in Prague are enchanting, magnificent, and dream-like. It’s as if you’ve been whisked away, Dorothy style, into an enchanting old city, or taken a trip in a time machine Bill and Ted style, minus the ignorant California personality to an old city built in the 12th century.
I’m not up on my architectural time periods but I believe this is Gothic. The detail, styling, shape and the way the buildings were tightly connected contrasted perfectly with cobblestone streets. You honestly felt like it was the 12th century….well ok minus the modern shops and automobiles everywhere. I made my way through the back streets away from the main square exploring small shops and restaurants offering daily menus of authentic Czech food. I found one I would come back to later. Making my way out of the back streets I found my way to where the club was from last night. It was right on the river and had an incredible view of the Castle across the way. Now that I had a bearing I consulted the map and headed to the Jewish section. Here I found the old Jewish cemetery, meeting house and the old synagogue, one the oldest, if not THE oldest synagogue still standing. Obviously WWII missed this one, thankfully.
I was famished at this point and was in dire need of food and drink. I walked back up to old town and was somehow able to retrace my steps back to the restaurant I had found earlier. I was seated outside in what the Europeans call the garden area. My first order of business was a nice refreshing Pilsner Urquell. It’s amazing how much better beer tastes in its country of origin, especially when it’s actually good beer. The few times I’ve had Pilsner Urquell back home it’s tasted just like Heineken or any other European beer in a green bottle; skunky and bitter. Not here in Prague, it was clean, smooth and had a great flavor. I flipped through the menu and found a dish called the blacksmith steak. It was a cut of pork from the neck of the pig with bacon on top seasoned with three kinds of pepper, garlic and hot peppers. The dish came with a side of potato pancakes, not as good as mom makes around Chanukah time but good none the less. The dish had an amazing flavor, it was spicy but still had this juicy, abundant flavor to it like nothing I had ever had before, and needless to say I devoured it. After another beer it was time to head back to the hotel to relax. I hopped the bus up to Zizkov and relaxed for a while.
Consulting a travel book I brought with me I found a place called Palac Akropolis up the road from my hotel. After a nap I grabbed some dinner at a Chinese restaurant close by and then proceeded to get ready. During dinner I had an authentic Budweiser, most of you probably don’t know this but Budweiser was originally a Czech beer, since it is a pilsner. It was like drinking a Budweiser that actually had flavor to it, not just watery beer you drink to get sloshed. I headed out around midnight and decided to walk since it was close by. During my walk I realized that Zizkov really wasn’t a very nice part of town. There were 3 ominous looking large apartments buildings on the way up that were most likely low income housing covered in graffiti, as were most buildings in this neighborhood. I found the place and proceeded inside for a few drinks before hitting the dance floor. On street level was a bar/restaurant and two doors down in the basement was the rest of the club. I entered the bar and ordered my first of three large Staropraham’s, a local Czech pilsner that cost 22Kc for a half liter. 1 American dollar is equivalent to about 15Kc’s! That’s practically free!
I proceeded downstairs. The first bar was all 70’s disco music with house beats sometimes mixed in with it. I ordered a beer, and hung around for a bit. The room stunk of weed, apparently you can smoke in the clubs here and no one cares. I walked into the second bar and was surprised to see people getting down to good reggae. Everything was going fine until some weirdo drunk Czech guy who spoke terrible English started talking to me. I could barely understand this guy. He commented on how Staropraham was crap beer and that he wanted to show me a real Czech drink, I said ok and within a minute a shot of Absinthe was placed in front of us, the messed up part was that he expected ME to pay for it. I thought to myself; listen you inconsiderate, uneducated Neanderthal, it’s time for a little drinking etiquette 101. If you’re trying to show me how it’s done in Prague that means you buy the round! If this were Boston and I say wanted you to try a Sam Adams I would pay for the round. I would not be paying for a drink for this degenerate scumbag, did I mention he was most certainly missing some teeth. Thankfully one of my favorite reggae songs; Mercy, came on and I hit the dance floor for a bit. I knew once the song was over it was time to head out. I didn’t want to deal with this guy. I headed outside and waited for a cab, finally found one, 100Kc’s to take me down the street! A word of advice to those travelling to Prague, AVOID THE TAXI’S they’re a rip off. I wondered around close to the hotel to find a different bar, some locals told me about a place up the street which I checked out but it was pretty dead, I grabbed a beer and then decided to head back for some sleep.
Final day in Prague
Today involved a whole lot of walking, more so then the last two days. I woke up and headed over to Praha Hvalni; the main train station in the city. I had to find out about my train to Munich the next day as well as get my Eurorail pass validated. Once this was accomplished I headed back towards Stare Mesto, though I ended up in Nouve Mesto (New Town), the only reason its called New town is because it was built in the 1300’s! I supposed it looked a bit newer and it seemed that most of the shops and stores were more modern. Making my way towards the Vltava River and up towards the club from the other night I decided that I needed to see Prague Castle, or at least the area it was in. I walked across the Charles Bridge and almost felt like I was back in Barcelona on Les Rambles. It was nothing but a tourist trap, with local artists hocking their goods for ridiculous prices. Once on the other side of the bridge it was a long walk uphill to the castle area. One thing I noticed is that the prices at the souvenir shops here were much cheaper.
Once you get to the base of the castle area the view is unbelievable, you see Prague in all of its splendor, once again, breathtaking and nothing that pictures or words could describe. The way the orange roof tiles of all these old buildings and the pastel colors of the exteriors blended together perfectly with the occasional green oxidized steeple of a church and other older buildings throughout the landscape and then every now and again a large section of green park or trees mixed into the scenery. What a painting this would be hanging up in my living room. A further walk up the hill and you enter the main castle area. The tour was a bit pricey but you were able to walk through St. Vitus Cathedral without having to pay any admission. What an unbelievable building, the exterior detail reminded me a bit of La Sagrada Familia only this was hundreds of years older. Once inside, the stained glass, the organ, and all the other details were phenomenal. Even though I’m not a believer in Jesus I can appreciate not only the work that went into building this cathedral, or the job it takes to maintain it but also the detail and the artistry of the place.
Once outside the Cathedral I ventured around the side and eventually outside the main castle wall. I was met by a lush green walkway and found a spot by a wall that had an even more breathtaking view. It’s times like these you sometimes just need to stop, sit down, shut up and just take it all in, and once you feel like you’ve taken it all in, sit there for another 10 minutes. In a place like Prague you have to; just to imagine for a second what life might have been like 800 years ago in this very place, and think that it has stood the test of time.
I continued on my way and headed back towards the base of the castle and head back down towards the bridge. I stopped at a souvenir shop and found the one t-shirt I had my eye on since I arrived. All the other stores in Stare Mesto were selling it for 350Kc’s this place had it for 299Kc’s, sold. Back across the bridge it was time for some food. I found a restaurant offering a decent meal deal for 199Kc’s. The meal started off with some chicken soup (nowhere near as good as Jewish penicillin but not too bad), followed by a plate of Czech goulash and dumplings that was incredible tasting. The brisket was tender and the sauce was hearty and flavorful. For dessert it was a plate of apple strudel. All this washed down with a nice refreshing Pilsner Urquell.
Once lunch was done it was time to head back to the hotel and relax. I decided I wasn’t going to go out tonight as I had a long day of travelling to look forward to tomorrow. I got back and just relaxed, did some more writing and even got an internet signal for a little while. Later on I was hungry again, I decided to find something inexpensive in the neighbor since I’m pretty sure I had spent more than I should have in the last few days (this will happen in Prague since everything is relatively inexpensive compared to the rest of Europe). I found a place up the hill called Einstein Pizzeria, a small local chain offering creative pizzas. I ordered one called the pikantni; I’m guessing it was supposed to be spicy since the description read hot peppers but it was pretty mild, then again I have a fairly high tolerance for spicy food. That washed down with a beer brand I can’t remember (started with a K) for just under 200Kc’s, not too shabby. Back to the hotel and I was most likely passed out by midnight.
I have to say I’m a fan of Prague, I wish I had stayed a few days longer though. There was so much to do and see and eat and drink. I know I experienced a good amount but I also know that there’s much that I missed. I know I missed a museum and it would have been nice to really find out about the history of this city. I had a lot of fun here and also go a lot of exercise in from walking everywhere. Then again with all the hearty food and beer you need to walk a lot in Prague. Thankfully Prague is a very walkable city. I will most certainly return here, next time I’ll stay a bit closer to town and hopefully I’ll own an SLR digital camera by the time I come back as well considering Prague is an extraordinarily photogenic city, you could most likely fill up a 1gb memory card at the very least just from wandering around.
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