Czech yo’ head

Being the selfless martyr that I am, I know that the best birthday present to give anyone is the one that results in you also getting to enjoy it.  As I was pretty sure that Kirsten wouldn’t be too impressed with a Nintendo Wii, I opted to book a weekend in Prague.

Thanks to the wonderful mrandmrssmith we managed to get the Yasmin Suite at the fantastic Hotel Yasmin near Wenceslas Square.  Never having used the company before, it was a rare pleasure to arrive at a hotel and be automatically upgraded to the largest suite and given a complimentary bottle of champagne to wash away any travel stress.  Before you fire off a mail branding me a snob, I have to point out that not only do I still say “bath” rather than “barth”, but thanks to the twin-edged sword that is the credit crunch, there are real bargains to be found out there.  With the balance of power now tipped in the favour of those willing to spend, it’s amazing how far companies are prepared to discount now for a chance to get at your closely-guarded savings.

One of the reasons why Prague was so appealing was to try and get into the festive Winter spirit rather than London’s traditional drizzle spirit that lasts for most of the year and thankfully, on arrival, we were greeted with a blizzard that forced us into a restaurant for our first Czech meal.  Having been warned in guide books that the local cuisine is essentially sausage and potatoes, it’s a relief to find that while this may be true at the street vendors, there are plenty of places that can offer something a little more exciting.  Celnice and Cafe Louvre both provided great food and drink with the latter also having the added benefit of a traditional billiards hall.

Prague seems to be settling down into it’s own place in the world now after a turbulent last two decades.  Having ditched Communism in 1989, the 1990′s saw the country swinging to the opposite extreme by becoming a stag party destination of choice for many.

Thankfully for residents and visitors, the city looks like it’s finding the comfortable middle ground now with galleries and museums living comfortably with the bars and clubs.  It is inspiring to see that the population doesn’t attempt to forget the past and is proud of it’s achievements as a country with statues and plaques for the victims of Communism along with somewhat less official reminders of their recent fight for improved standards of living.

Even though we were only in town for two nights, it’s easy to get to see a good percentage of the sights on public transport and by foot.  The underground system in Prague has just three lines; A, B and C with 24 hour passes allowing travellers unlimited use of the underground and bus systems plus the more memorable tram system.  Despite buying tickets, we could never work out what we should do with them so travelled everywhere without showing them to anyone.  Trusting bunch, those Czechs..  On the subject of transport, we did find that while a cab firm at the airport offered a rate of about £20 to make the 30 minute journey into Prague, the hotel could only offer “special deals” that worked out to be much higher so it’s worth finding a company when you arrive and taking their number.  We used AAA who were fast and efficient but I’m sure there are many others.

Another plus point was that despite wearing a flashing “TOURIST” light on my head as I scratched my head on street corners while browsing my map, we were never hassled or bothered by anyone.  Coming after Cuba, it’s quite a relief to be able to ask someone directions without feeling the need to just hand over money for no real reason.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 at 12:48 am. It is filed under Global positions, Random oddity and tagged with charles bridge, communism, communist, czech, Czech republic, epicure, gulls, journalism, leon neal, leonneal, mrandmrssmith, photography, prague, public transport, St. John Nepomuk, stained-glass, tesla, travel, wenceslas, window. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.