"Bring extra clothes, it's going to be cold in Prague"... My mom is addicted to keeping track of the weather which makes it easy for me to not pay attention at all. So after reading that text, I put an extra jacket in my bag and left Amsterdam for my Interrail adventure. I would certainly do some research about Prague on the 11 hour train ride...
I was pretty tired when I arrived in Prague. Thankfully I had made a reservation in a hotel very close to the train station. And it was also in walking distance of the old town. I was off to a great start!
After sleeping in (I was taking it slow!!) I did the thing I mostly start with on a city trip: The hop-on-hop-off bus! It was cold and not busy, so I got the best seat on the bus to relax and explore the city from a lazy seat. And surprise-surprise: I never really hopped off. The dancing house of Prague was not as I expected and the weather wasn't very inviting to do much more than sit.
That evening in my hotel room, it was time to really do the research that I hadn't done on the train. Apart from the standard must sees, there was 1 spot I really wanted to see. And the next day I would do a walking tour through the old town to see the spots.
The obvious first place I had to visit was the Old Town Square with the Astronomical Clock. It is a pretty big deal for tourists, and as a result every hour the square in front of the clock tower fills up with people, waiting for the clock to show the apostles. I missed the showing of the apostles, because I was too focussed on the astronomical dial that looked so complicated, I wanted to figure it out. Maybe I should have looked up everything there was to see instead of just standing joining a crowd assuming "Something spectacular must be about to happen!". I was only a little underwhelmed that "this" would cause such a big gathering. Call me uncultured. You are probably right.
After that, it was time to check out the Easter market that was happening at the square. Kids were giving a folklore dancing demonstration. And there were plenty of local snacks to buy if I wasn't planning on buying some items from the many (hand) crafts stalls.
And finally, it was time to go to my personal guilty-pleasure place-of-interest: A fountain of 2 pissing men. My dirty mind just can't help it! I needed to see that with my own eyes. And it didn't disappoint! You could clearly see from the bronze colouring that many people had touched these men by their butts. You can do that to redirect their hips slightly so the water flowing from their "things" just change direction a little. It's a bit dirty, useless and amusing. But I like it.
It was also located in a smaller cosy area of Prague, that kinda felt like a little town inside the larger town. And it just looked amazing!
It wasn't too large though, so before I knew it I was on my way to return to the old town centre via the Charles Bridge, which will have its 666th anniversary very soon. It is a gorgeous bridge filled with street artists and tourist traps (and tourists). But again, just a very touristy thing.
While walking around, I tried to figure out what Prague reminded me of. And I didn't get any closer to it being a weird mix of Roman architecture, Vienna's vibes, Eastern European grumpiness all fluffed up with a bunch of pastel colours thrown on the buildings. And to be honest, I didn't know what all the fuss was about. Only later on my 6-week trip would I start understanding why people love Prague. However, the food was amazing (if they accepted me as a single diner in their restaurants) and I discovered their raspberry lemonade. It truly is the best that I have ever had (still struggling to replicate it for myself here at home...)
And while I tried finding the meaning of Prague to me, all the way in the Netherlands my mom had decided to open the family archive and dig up some photos of my grandma's visit to Prague a long long time ago. One of locations of the photos I recognised immediately because I had been there myself that day. And putting the photos next to each-other, you see that nothing much has changed in all these years.
My grandma in pink
My visit
My mom also found another photo of a location I hadn't been to yet. And it didn't look like anything I had seen in the city so far. So I did a little bit of GeoGuessing and soon found that this spot was the Golden Lane inside the Prague Castle. A good excuse to pay it a visit the next day!
That visit was a bit harder than expected. I didn't take the endless (and killing) stairs into account that will lead up to the castle entrance. Completely out of breathe, I reached the top. Half-heartedly, I waved at the Czech President who happened to drive by. I pulled myself together and joined the queue for the castle entrance.
My first goal was to visit the spot with the small houses. It was going to be all the way at the end of the castle. I'd return to the rest in a later stage, and went on my way. It was pretty easy to find and even the specific houses were easy to identify. Maybe unsurprisingly, nothing has changed here, apart from the shades of blue and red of the tiny houses that serve as souvenir shops nowadays. I took a few photos to show my mom I had found the place (and you guys!!). I bet my grandmother was looking down from heaven thinking I had lost my marbles...
My grandma with the mint green jacket
My visit
Now that I had gotten this nostalgia thing over with, it was time to explore the rest of the castle area. I walked back to the big square with the cathedral, that was surprisingly empty. The castle visitors had mostly gathered near the Easter stalls around the corner.
Although the Prague castle is beautiful, at some point it becomes just another castle. And I had one more item on my list that I wanted to see before getting on my next train to leave Prague. On my way around on the hop-on-hop-off bus I saw that there was a large park next to the castle with probably great views over Prague. And I wanted a bit of green, flowers, peace and quiet.
I walked back to the top of the stairs for a last view of the hellish climb and went on my way. This park did not disappoint. It was pretty empty and there wasn't much in bloom yet. But it was truly a bit of an oasis in the city. I found all the missing people eventually when I reached the Prague Metronome (a graffiti covered monument as a replacement of a Stalin statue reminding us that in time, everything passes).
Just at the bottom of the metronome the descend to the city starts. I took a final look, taking it all in and walked down to go find my hotel again. I survived the first stop of my interrail journey. And was curious what I would find at my next destination...
