Prague 22.10.19
Prague 22.10.19

Prague 22.10.19

Prague is one of the most beautiful places in Europe you can get to go. The bridges, castles, streets, and vibe feeling of the city are unique. As of the 21st century, it’s living proof of the capacity of an ancient town that has been able to evolve, adapt, and reconstruct itself many times, over many centuries. Nevermind. I don’t know much about history nor I have been to most of Europe. But I had quite a great first impression.

We got to Prague after a night in an all-you-can-drink cruise in Budapest, so the energy was low and nausea/discomfort omnipresent, dangerously menacing with ruining the day for me. After a long trip in an Uber to the hostel, I was glad of having booked a nice place to stay, in the heart of the city. Nice rooms, free breakfast, easy-going people. Hostel Downtown. Highly recommended. The showers were good, too, and taking a bath was absolutely necessary before going out to walk around.

Old Town Square was just a few blocks away. There, I noticed how the houses, colorful and all organized next to each other, seemed like toy model constructions. It was too perfect. The plaza was not as crowded as it usually is, so it was easy to walk around, get to see the churches, and witness the Prague Orloj in motion. It’s a 600-year-old astronomical clock, being the oldest operating clock in the world, with figures depicting vanity, greed, death, and lust moving every half an hour or so. The zodiacal ring stands out and it has a calendar, a moon sphere, and many other details.

While walking through the streets, we noticed there’s a numerous amount of cannabis stores. They offer all kinds of edibles and weed. After buying some gummy bears and an “ultra-strong” brownie I figured I should have looked this up on the internet, before buying anything. Too late. The brownie tasted like weed but that was all. These stores are a scam for tourists.

Luckily enough, we then came across the Absintherie Jilska, a nice-looking bar with a lot of variety in absinthe brands and preparations. My throat was hurting so I couldn’t drink that much, but we got to see the skilled bartenders fixing the drinks and had a great time for an hour or so. The place gets full quick.

It was Champions League night, so we went looking for a bar that had the right mood for watching the games. We found an underground place where we enjoyed some beers and nachos. It was hard finding a place to sit but it was ok. I had always asked myself what would it be like to watch a UCL game in a European bar. The people watching were not really rooting for any of the teams playing, so it was nothing out of the ordinary. I would get what I wanted the next day.

We woke up to have a delicious breakfast in the hostel. Pancakes, yellow beans, fruit, eggs, cereal. I loved the food from this place. My organism had recovered, so it was going to be a beer day. Beer all day. Beer all the time. Beer everywhere. Czechia is the country that drinks the most beer per capita IN THE WORLD. 161 liters of beer a year per person. Also, it’s very cheap. And good.

So, we bought a couple of beers in the hostel and started walking in the opposite direction of the day before. I wanted to go to a church that has a baby Jesus image that my family worships. Or something like that. Later on, we climbed some steep streets to get to the Prague Castle, and inside of it, the St- Vitus Cathedral, which inspired my friend to have the following thought: “Which is the best cathedral in the world to visit while tripping?” I don’t think I will ever venture to find that out, but I think it’s an interesting conundrum.

Always with a beer in our hands, we continued walking for a while through the streets of Prague. There’s a wall dedicated to John Lennon, where a musician was playing The Beatles and I had one of those moments where music makes me feel chills, and I feel happy to be alive.

There’s a very popular bridge named Karluv most, a.k.a. Charles Bridge, with statues sculpted with impressive detail on each side, representing religious figures. It’s fascinating. Another big reason for visiting Prague is to walk this bridge. Fortunately, because of the time of the year, it was not so crowded.

Daniel wanted to show me the Strahov Monastic Brewery. Some say it’s the best beer in Prague. It’s totally worth it. You can also eat there. After that, my plan was to find one of those places where we could taste some local food along with free beer (that’s what I was told), but we couldn’t figure it out. There was a lot of beer in our heads already. I understand goulash is one of the recommended dishes to have here, but we ended up going to McDonald’s. I don’t have a clear idea of what happened after that. I guess we went back to the hostel for a while.

That night FC Barcelona was visiting Prague to play against SK Slavia Prague, I believe, for the first time ever in UCL. I intended to assist but the tickets were sold fast. Still, I wanted to hear the UCL anthem in person, so I persuaded Daniel to go to the stadium, as I thought maybe in the surroundings there would be a nice, interesting ambient because of the game. It wasn’t the case, but we got to find a packed pub full of Slavia fans. It was priceless to see them celebrate a goal against one of the top teams in the world.

After that, we went to another place with live music. We drank some more and talked with the singer/guitarist who was performing. I think we went to still another bar that night. There’s also a good Mexican food place nearby called Burrito Loco. This was all near the hostel, in the modern part of Downtown. We definitely could’ve done much more in Prague, but time and energy were lacking…

The next day was the last one with my friend. We had a nice breakfast again and walked nearby through Downtown and Old Town square. There are some cool stores in the area that I hadn’t noticed before. Daniel made sure I got in the right subway train to the airport and we said our good-byes. I honestly don’t remember being so close to cry in a farewell of the sort, because I was very grateful with him for everything we experienced on this trip and didn’t know when I would see him again, as he lives in Brighton with his wife.

We didn’t experience any of the party scene but it’s supposed to be great. Prague requires at least three days to be able to enjoy and go to the main touristic places. I will definitely go back if I have the chance.

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  1. Pingback: Retox Hostel @budapest – Memories About Places

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