After a 7+ hour train ride from Salzburg, I arrived in Prague on a cool, drizzly night at Prague’s main train station Hlavni Nadrazo. The station is not huge but the platforms are very long. If you’re like me and have a heavy bag on rollers, you will have to walk to the very end to find an escalator, but you could take the stairs. All signs were in Czech and English and it was easy to find my way out, and to the Metro station. Hlavni Nadrazo is on the red (or C) metro line. I had instructions on how to reach my hotel, the Dahlia Inn, from the station. With the number of posts about rip-off taxis, as well as all the advice in travel books and directly from the hotel, I knew it was not a great idea to try to get there via cab.
The station has a large information office, ATMs and fast food places. There are ticket machines that have instructions in English, but I h ad just been to the ATM and only had large notes. So I had to buy a ticket from one of the ticket booths. The lady spoke excellent English and must have had lots of foreigners come through with large bank notes, as she cocked her head and commented on the ‘stupid machines’ as she gave me my change. Before I went, she asked what station I was going to and then pointed the way to the right platform. Two stops later, I was at I.P. Pavlova, 500 meters for the Dahlia Inn.
Now I’m usually great with directions and reading maps, but did I have some fun trying to figure out the right way. As I had my big heavy bag, I took the only escalator up to street level – so far so good. At the top, the footpath is cobbled and my bag instantly feels twice as heavy. Ok, find a street sign and then I’ll know where I am on the map. From my reading, the hotel was literally two blocks down across one big road and another small one. Looking, looking, looking – no signs! Great! Where I was standing was the intersection of two biggish roads, Jecna and Legerova, and I couldn’t tell which one was Jecna - the one I needed. Oh did I mention it was cool and drizzling? Yeah!
So I took a punt and headed along the road I was already on and found a sign on the next building. Like most of Europe, there are very few street signs and you usually find the street name on buildings. Hurrah! I was on Jecna, but had gone a block in the wrong direction…
OK – back the other way. A few blocks down, I calculated I should be on the street with the hotel, but no street sign to be seen anywhere. Great! I was hunting for sign with the street name and then it appeared – the Dahlia Inn sign. My relief was great, followed very closely by despair when I found out there was no elevator and 7 flights of stairs to climb to my room… Apart from this little inconvenience, the Dahlia Inn was just lovely (see the hotels section for my review).
Next morning, after consultation with my Lonely Planet Prague Encounter book, and Mark the manager of the hotel, I devised an itinerary: Prague Castle; wander down the hill through the streets of Mala Strana and along the river; cross the river and head to the Jewish museum / cemetery; then a beer and dinner around the old town.
Prague Castle – From almost directly in front of the hotel was tram route 22 which took me to the top of the Hradcany hill to a sort of side entrance to the castle. On the way in was a garden with a sign ‘Birds of Prey’. Sure enough, I walked in and there were 8 or so different birds of prey on exhibition; an eagle, falcons, owls and hawks. A lady offered information about each bird in English. They were beautiful! Next, onwards to the castle. I spent the 300 crowns for the ‘short’ version of the audio tour. I loved St Vitus Cathedral and found the guide interesting – just long winded. There are no signs around the castle so unless you already had a book or guide etc, the audio guide was the only way you could figure out what you were looking at. After 2 hours I had had enough. IMO Golden lane was not worth the hype, but worth a look at the tiny buildings.
Wandering the streets – by far my favorite activity. I meandered down the steep road from the castle along Neradova and all the little side streets around St Nicholas church, looking in shops and just letting my feet take me to places that looked interesting. I tracked down a sculpture by Cerny (basically two green men standing in a pool, writing their names out as they go to the toilet), which I laughed at (in a good way). Along the river was lovely, away from the tourist crowds. Great views over to the stone bridge and Prague buildings. Almost peaceful compared to the hordes at the caste.
Once I’d crossed the Manes bridge, I realized I hadn’t left enough time to go into the Jewish museum, so I just headed toward the old town square. I arrived just as the astronomical clock was doing its thing. Not sure if there was a festival, or if they are always there, but there were lots of little stalls around the square, selling food as well as lotions and trinkets. Being vegetarian, I found all the roast duck, rabbit, goulash and sausages in restaurants unappealing. But the stalls had lots of yummy options for me: potato pancakes that had been cooked over fire, corn on the cob, langos (a Hungarian fried bread), and some sort of deep fired veggie ball. And all really cheap!
It was starting to get dark so it was beer o’clock. But when you’re alone, sitting at a nice table at a restaurant by yourself is not fun. So I went looking for a more social bar type atmosphere. I wandered down from the clock and discovered the Hard Rock Café. Cliché I know – but always good to sit at the bar and meet fellow travelers. As it turned out, it was happy hour – 2 for one. So I paid 30 crown for two 375 glasses of beer (that’s $2.70 Aussie – incredibly cheap!). I chatted to the bar tenders and a couple from the US and took a load off my sore feet.
As you could imagine, I was pretty tired by now, so I grabbed another snack in the town square from one of the little stall vendors and then made my way back to the hotel on foot. It wasn’t that far – just up a little way toward Wenceslas and then it was just off to the right… Wenceslas is a lively street with lots of people walking around, cafes and bars, as well as few shops. I got distracted by a street side café that looked like a nice spot for another beer to watch the world go by. With a nice local Czech beer in hand, I gazed at the locals trying to avoid the tourists as they made their way home from work, dogs lead by their owners doing the usual ‘leg in the air’ trick, and drunks stagger from gutter to footpath, while sirens wailed from surrounding streets. Within an hour, I was back in my comfy room, laying in bed, flicking channels, exhausted!
Part II soon. Enjoy!
- k
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Now this is how a report should be written !Excellent bring on part 2!!!
TORII
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excellent one of the best report i have read on the forum in a while,
roll on part 2
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ghreat report,I am looking froward to the next insalment.
I Like your travelling style,go with the flow and always make a bit of time for a relaxing beer.
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intreasting report look forward to part 2
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Breath of fresh air after all the doom and gloom reported recently :)
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Great report! What a coincidence, I was in Praha in past 5 days and just got back yesterday, it was interesting to see others good/bad experiences versus mine, looking forward to read the part2!
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