This year for my mummy's birthday I decided to whisk her away on a city break to Prague....except it was her birthday in August and it's now November....so more like a belated birthday present really.
We set off early in anticipation of the adventures to come, so early in fact that I forgot to pack a notebook on which to write this here blog and even my EHIC card- bother.
Suitably stressed we arrived at the airport in time to cruise through security with the usual kerfuffle of taking off belts, coats, shoes etc. just to get dressed at the other end. And then my bag broke. *facepalm* Prague is a city renowned for pickpockets so I need to have all my wits about me and preferably a bag that works.
In regards to getting around Prague, you have many public transport options including bus, metro or tram with cars being quite a rare sight, especially in the inner city. Indeed the old town is pretty much just pedestrianised.
You can buy 30, 60 or 90 minters indeed a 24 of 72-hour ticket which is valid on any mode of public transport for that allotted time. My mother informs me that this system is also used in Verona and is quite effective.
If you are travelling this way then you must validate your ticket which will then give you a time stamp so that you can count down how much time you have left on the clock. However, once you have validated your ticket once don't try and do it again as it will render your ticket useless.
We bought a 90-minute ticket at the airport and after using a bus, two metros and a tram finally arrived at our destination; Plus Prague.
Readers of this blog may (or may not) know that I have stayed at the Plus hostel in Berlin- the first time I went there anyway and before that I stayed at the Plus in Florence.
Plus have a variety of hostels around Europe and offer really quite cheap accommodation to backpackers and tourists alike. One of the things I most like about Plus is that the rooms are large and spacious and they even include a pool....the hostel that is not the room.
After dumping our stuff in our room and getting some recommendations about where to eat from the guy at reception we set off bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to explore what the city had to offer...we returned a good few hours later with our tails between our legs and rather large blisters on our feet.......well I had the blisters anyway but I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.
After twenty minutes of fruitlessly consulting the map, it was decided that we were definitely a bit lost. Whilst there should have been the river to our immediate right we found that there was actually a park....a park where lots of people were gathering...people with lanterns...people lighting lanterns....
*insert photographic interlude*
We walked and we walked and then we walked some more until we reached Charles Bridge; the most famous bridge in Prague.
The Charles Bridge is flanked by watchtowers to either side and is home to many a statue. I have read that if you get a chance you should and go to see the Bridge at night when the statues are lit up so that's exactly what we did and it was beautiful.
Clam-Gallas palace was the host for this evening's musical interlude which we stumbled upon quite by chance. The string quartet played many classical favourites including Pacabel's Canon, Mozart, Strauss and the Czech composer A. Dvorak in the baroque hall which in its hay day might well have seen many similar recitals. Although I'm pretty sure that back in the 17th/18th centuries the audience would have been a lot better dressed than their modern counterparts in jumpers and jeans.
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