Prague, 20 Years Too Late

From what I have been told by quite a few people who had been there, Prague was an unbelievable city to visit about 20 years ago but I guess most places might be. My friend Antonia says it is still her favourite city in Europe and this is a girl that is well travelled. I was told to look past the madness that it has become and embrace if for what it is. That was excellent advice and I had to keep reminding myself about it when I spent $12 on fries with cheese and bacon bits, but they were the best fries EVER! Overtourism is alive and well in Prague, along with all the behaviours that go with it. Regardless, here I was and there was much to see and do, but in the end it mostly revolved around beer, so let get walking, Na zdraví!

My first view of Old Prague from the Letna Park lookout

To further my thoughts about Prague, so much of what I read and watched on YouTube seemed to be all about the Scams of Prague and they seemed fairly common to most large cities in Europe. It jaded me to the point that I was not going to come here, however calmer heads prevailed. I did find that The Honest Guide and Real Prague Guides had great videos and information about what to look out for, as well as practical advice for not getting ripped off. Sadly, I kept out of restaurants in the Old Town and there was no street food to to speak of, but there were quite a few takeaway shops near my hotel, Plus Prague, which was located away from the touristy Old Town.

The Old Town

I figured that my first stop would be Prague Castle, then to the Old Town and finally wander around the waterfront to check out the bridges that Prague is famous for. So, instead of buying a ticket for the tram I downloaded a Step Counter app, had my phone fully charged and off I went. Google Maps told me that the castle was about 45 minutes away and I was in no rush. I like getting a feel for a place outside of the touristy zones, plus finding a moderately priced coffee would be easier in a cafe on a side street that I was bound to stumble into. That cafe...McCafe! I will take it any time because they give me the volume that I require at times. None of this "small cup, fancy cafe style" $9 coffee for me on this day.

I passed through Letna Park and soon discovered a huge patio overlooking the The Vltava River, plus a secondary Kiosk that sold cold beer, both having excellent views of the City. I made a mental note to return the way I was going for one of those cold beers.

Line Up to buy tickets into the Castle

The Castle stands out nicely on a hill overlooking the city, as they do however my idea of castles are old English and Scottish Castles of Movie Fame. Tall stone ramparts with corner guard towers all surrounded by a moat and secured by a drawbridge (yes, think Braveheart.) This is not the case and I could not take any overhead photos to do it justice so here is a bit of Googling. The grounds themselves are excellent and includes a church, quite a few out buildings, large cobblestone squares and walkways. As expected everything had a price. You want to go into the church, line up and buy a ticket, the main castle, line up and buy a ticket, a small picturesque alleyway, line up and buy a ticket, Starbucks, yes Starbucks, line up and buy whatever it is you buy at Starbucks. 

Keeping it positive it was an excellent place to wander around and take in the history by reading all the signage that was posted. The odd thing for me was, it was a rainy Thursday in April and the crowds were large, and as I said on FB, I could not imagine the masses that must be here on a sunny Saturday in July. Do a search of Prague crowds in the summer, it is a bit overwhelming. 

The view of the castle from one of the bridges

The old town was beautiful, each new street was full of color and life. I bought a box of french fries with cheese and bacon bits for $12, and these were no old school hockey arena fries. It gave me a chance to sit in the main square and take in the madness of humanity, that I was now a part of. It looked much like an airport, where people are walking around with looks of total confusion but this time about missing out on something, not about missing their flights.

The Charles Bridge was madness. It's construction began in the mid 1300's, good god man. I wandered back and for across it a few times because well, it's construction began in the mid 1300's! There were some cool photos but it was oddly weird how much time I took looking at the sculptures embedded in an along the bridge towers. I am sure they have meaning but they were just really cool to look at. I am cultured that way. I did not spent a lot of time in the old town but I was  going to return as I had a ticket to the Pilsner Urquell: The Original Beer Experience on Saturday, and this being Thursday I was in no rush for the rush.

Now my task was getting back to my hostel but stopping for a beer at Letna Park, which I did. My feet were sore and when I got back to the hostel I had registered over 27000 steps, what an dufus. While I was just chilling at the park on a step with a great view I could hear young British voices behind me a bit stressed because they could not open their beer. I guessed the bought them at a shop and did not have an opener. I heard the first bang on the railing behind me and it was all I could handle, and it was fine because it broke me from my trance. 

A bit of a chat and I kicked up a nice flatish stone from the garden, about palm size and proceed to pop the caps of their bottles easy enough, smiled and told the lads, now enjoy. They were honestly speechless. "You are a legend", "Now that is experience" type of things were said and I laughed and said, "Canadians refuse to be denied our beer and can open a bottle with literally anything. Just stop banging in on a railing, you will break the bottle." I walked away like the legend I was giving them an excellent story about how some random Canadian opened their beer with a rock kicked up from a garden. 

The view from Letna Park, cold beer in hand, after a long day of walking