Friday, July 27, 2007

Prague

Finally after 3 trips to Europe in my lifetime. These are the countries I've covered.

That's more travelling than I've done in South East Asia. I've only been to Singapore, Thailand and Brunei so far. Hell, I think its even more than the number of cities or towns I've visited in Malaysia. The "Malaysia, Truly Asia" campaign is not working on me.

Back to the topic. Plague Prague. Photo album here.

Top to bottom: A church, old European buildings, tourists and the Prague's main square.

Finally, my first travel to an Eastern European country. Where capitalism and tourism industry are still fresh there. That explains the swarm of tourists in Prague. Well, honestly, for me, Czech Republic is well known because I used to support the football team in Euro '04.

We took a 6 hour train ride which only costs 59 euros return ticket. We slept on the train for most of the journey, even I was supposed to study for my exam on Thursday, 1 day after returning from Prague.


Wilson brought cool sleeping accessories on board the train. Reminds me of the Demonhunter from Warcraft 3.


The astronomical clock near the town square


Prague's most famous landmark, Charles Bridge. It's about 700 years old.


Lots of tourists rushing to the front to touch the famous Saint statue on Charles bridge.


Another sign that shows how many tourists Prague has.


Another landmark is humonguous. The Prague castle. It's like a little town inside for tourist. Awesome.


"The castle is right there on the hills."


Then we visited the Communism Museum. Traces of communism in Eastern Europe are nothing but history and all being kept in museums.


Off goes Communism, comes the jazz bars in Prague. At a cheap price for the drinks and entertainment as well. Czech's famous beer, Pilsner Urquell tastes good as well. Smooth, very smooth taste.

The hostel we stayed was the Boathouse. Although it only takes 20 minutes tram ride from the city center, it was hard to believe for a place like this to have a "Hostelworld.com certified" hostel in this vicinity. But, it was 1 of the best hostels I've ever stayed in Europe. Clean. Family-runned hostel. Breakfast included. Cheap dinners in the hostel. Great common area to chill and talk to other tourists, who were all Americans, whom we met and brought to another jazz bar on the other night.

No photos with them, as my batteries were being charged. We talked to an interesting chap from Texas, Lucas who's like a walking IMDB(International Movie Database). Even the other Americans were stunned by his movie knowledge. We asked him what's his favourite movie of all time. His answer was, "Batman Begins".

I just realised I still haven't chose my favourite movie of all time.

Prague is quite a cool city. Great nightlife. But, I realised there's not much sights or landmarks there. Going to Prague once is enough, but still fulfilling.

Gotta thank Wilson for being my full-time navigator in Prague. Navigating Prague is not easy as the road names in Czech language sounds strange.

1 comment:

Erick said...

Everyone would agree that Prague is simply magnificent and magical every season. Well, it so happened I visited Prague in the summer, great weather, blue skies, sunshine and panoramic view of Prague is just breathtaking! Cheap Prague hotels and restaurants are at good value. In the heat of the summer you can relish a frosty glass of Czech beer in some little pubs along the river or cocktails in cafes at the square. Stop at stone churches to cool off, listen to live jazz band at the famous Charles Bridge, stroll through the winding alleys of the Old Town Square, enjoy the panoramic view of Prague Castle from terraces of hilltops, enjoy, the world is yours!