Czech-in / Czech-out

I am going to begin this blog with a few articles which I wrote some years ago. This is going back to when I first discovered my love for backpacking whilst 'inter-railing' around Europe. Let me take you there...

Czech-in / Czech-out

Prague, Czech Republic

In the late evening of August 29^th 2007, Tash, Ursula, Fiona, Catherine and I landed at Ruzyne-Prague Airport.  The Eastern European travels of five excitable teenage girls had begun.  Unleashed upon a dark and musty Prague, the ambiguity of the night and this new place swelled our curiosities and we rejoiced in our choice of first destination.  With each of us owning very strong and very different personalities, this three-week tour was to determine how we would cope and develop as a group of first-time travellers.  Tash is a fun-loving and easy-going character, Ursula is passionate and opinionated, Fiona is organised and outspoken, Catherine is friendly and enthusiastic, and I am eager and determined.  I had lived with Tash for a year at University whilst the other girls were friends of hers from secondary school.  I had only met Fiona and Catherine a few times before but as we soon discovered, meeting and befriending new people is a large and very significant part of travelling.

So after hassling over the 119 bus and various metros from the airport, we dumped our unnecessarily heavy backpacks at a hostel where the staff were frustratingly slow and needless to say we had only one thing in mind – BEER.  Prague is divided into ten different districts and this number expands further outside the main part of the city.  Our hostel was an inconvenient tram-ride away from Prague 1 and with it being too late to head into the centre of town, we found a quirky smoke-filled pub around the corner instead.  Elaborate pictures, posters and mirrors displaying various lagers and tipples bedecked the walls of this place.  The Budweiser lamps, licence plates, murky windows and sooty fireplace all added to the delight of fifty pence pints and eighty pence cocktails, which tasted all the sweeter for their purse-pinching prices.

In the morning we visited Prague 1 which consists of the Old Town, New Town and Little Quarter; the area between Prague Castle and the Vltava River.  In the New Town we walked along the 750m long Wenceslas Square which has been subject to a great deal of Czech history including various protests against police brutality, one of which led to the end of communism in Czechoslovakia.  Although this had been the scene of violence and hostility we saw no evidence of it on this bright and perky day. The bustle of the town centre did distract somewhat from the beautiful architecture of Prague. The museums, small squares and ivy-clad courtyards are easily missed when trying to weave between the tourist masses, but under inconspicuous archways lay quaint pizza places and eateries that hide away from the crowds and are cheaper than those on the square.

Turning off the square into Jindrisska Street we came across Jindrisska Tower, the highest belfry in Prague.  Eager for views we headed up its creaky wooden steps to look out on a sea of red and white houses; pausing as the red rooftops seemed to soak in the Eastern European sun, and the white reflected its subtle orange.  The view felt heart-warming.  I imagined all the feet that pattered in-between these buildings and the people they belonged to, seeing how vast Prague was I felt my feet itching to go and patter alongside them.  The tower dates from the late Gothic era, it was constructed in the 1470s and has been rebuilt and reconstructed several times since.  The beams and floorboards reverberate with every chime of the bell, showing an older, more rustic side to Prague. Today the clock-tower maintains its gothic style.

The view from Jindrisska Tower

We found the Old Town more visually and spiritually pleasing than the New.  The Old Town Square started life as Prague’s central marketplace and dates from the 10 century.  The buildings and churches that line the square are Gothic, Romanesque and Baroque.  The Old Town Hall Tower has stood proud at the centre of the square since 1338, the famously intricate green and gold Astronomical Clock was added a century later.  The clock ticks its mechanical dance by uniquely combining an astronomical dial with a calendar dial, and with the strike of every hour twelve figures of the Apostles perform a procession for their watchers’ pleasure.  Below this piece of clockwork artwork are twelve pendants of the signs of the zodiac.  The Old Town itself is plumped out with cobbled lanes and alleyways that snake towards the riverside, laced with cafes, vintage clothes outlets, boutiques and handmade toys stores; and not forgetting the oh-so-essential souvenir shops.  Perhaps it was the remnants of a world gone-by seen in the architecture, the essence of local tradition apparent in the native people and the Czech cuisine of goulash and dumplings.  Or perhaps it was the outdoor living and the exciting atmosphere that seems to go hand-in-hand with the older parts of a town that pleased us so.

The hypnotising melodies of a gypsy folk group carried on the breeze as we strolled over the Vltava River, looking at various paintings and crafts for sale. On the famous arched Charles Bridge we felt a sense of ease and happiness.  It was easy to get lost in this postcard photo, peering out over the wooden canoes that tranquilly bobbed to and fro on the blinding sapphire shimmer of the river.  I felt mesmerised and enchanted by this stunning picturesque scene, and by Prague.  On reaching the Lesser Town on other side we found a gorgeous grassy spot on the riverside. In the shade of a tree we watched life on the river go by and shared our late afternoon picnic with the geese.

A folk group playing on the Charles Bridge

Dusk was arriving so we walked beside the banks alongside a sleepily setting sun.  In the outskirts of Prague the sense of tourism flopped somewhat, and as we walked towards the Prague 7 district the streets felt significantly emptier.  In the darkness we found ourselves following the captivating sounds of classical music.  Searching for its source we scrambled over walls and through gardens having slightly lost our way in the shadows and in our eagerness.  The mischief of the night seemed to inspire us to succeed and eventually we found the looming, magnificent grounds of the Vystaviste Fairgrounds.  A concert was talking place so we climbed onto a wall to get a better look, the sight that met our eyes was a remarkable one; the huge Krizik Fountain was exploding into liquid colour.  The fountain is also known as the ‘singing fountain’, the music and the water were timed so exquisitely that the water itself seemed to create the sugary music.  The light display, the shooting water and the heavenly singing was spectacular and we felt so fortunate to have stumbled across such a scene.

We ended the night at Cross Club.  Like nowhere I have ever been to before or will see again; the club seemed to be made entirely out of steel, junk and scrap metal – all intricately meshed together to form mass sculptures and contraptions that whirred and clicked in perfect sequence.  When wandering through this establishment we got lost easily in its endless mazes and quarters.  The whole place was reminiscent of the Crystal Maze television show.  Every room had a different vibe; the Reggae Room was like a jungle with ominous green lighting and spinning artificial foliage on the walls.  The Electro Room churned and clanked with your own imagination as metallic contraptions twisted around the seating area, the music blurred and blended in with the odd water and electrical features that clashed side-by-side.  In the basement the Drum ‘n’ Bass Room felt like a medieval chamber. We were stunned by this collection of contradictions, a paranormal land fuelled by sound and vision, an unexpected masterpiece and an excellent night lasting until a mere six in the morning.

Cross Club interior

We checked out and spent our last day walking up to Prague Castle to take in the views of the Lesser Town, an area less affected by recent history.  Prague Castle is one of the biggest castles in the world dating from the 9^th century.  It had a different feel to the medieval English fortresses that we were so familiar with, rather than a castle in our minds it resembled a vast courtyard that contained various buildings including St Vitus Cathedral, the Basilica of St. George, a monastery, palaces, gardens and defense towers.  We found the Lesser Town to be less touristy than the Old and New Towns.  Its quieter streets and cafes felt far more relaxed, and as we five girls rested in the park I thought about how quickly we had bonded and formed a group identity already.  When spending all day everyday together I assumed it wouldn’t take long for friendships to strengthen or strain even further.  Two nights and two days seemed like enough for us to be able appreciate Prague; we visited no museums as our aims were specifically visual.  We had concentrated more on soaking in the beauty of Prague and finding those little known places, those secret courtyards and gardens that we could appreciate so much more than any museum or church. We did Prague, and we did it our way.