Prague (I)

Last week, I was describing my trips to Central/Eastern Europe when I had to leave to LA out of a sudden... Now it is time to come back to that topic! This time, after Vienna and Budapest, it is the turn for Prague, which is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited. This visit was two weekends ago.

I went just for the weekend and alone. I wanted to see as much of the city as possible and that meant I had to go at my own pace (meaning walking all the city like crazy, until I can't walk any more... hehe). As usual, people did not like my conditions and I decided to go alone. I booked a bed in a hostel downtown and there went I.

I arrived at night and went directly to bed. Next day, I woke up early and went directly to the most famous of Prague sights: Prague's Castle. On my way there, I crossed Charles bridge, the most beautiful bridge in town, with ornated statues on both sides of the walking way.



Once in the castle's neighbourhood, I passed by several churches and nice buildings (I do not want to bore you with one thousand photos... so I won't post any...). Finally, I got into the castle and there, the cathedral was the most interesting place. Have a look at the most gorgeous part of it:



After visiting the castle, I came back next to the river and followed a Lonely Planet walking tour to see the gardens in that part of the city. Like that I went into the Czech Parliament (amazing gardens...) and visited Kampa Island. A cool place I also passed by was Lenon's wall, where communist disidents drew and wrote antisystem murals and freedom cries. Nowadays, it looks just like a cool graffitti.



In the afternoon, I climbed the hill next to the castle. I thought the views would be amazing up there, but there were so many trees that it was impossible to see the city clearly. So, I visited a monastery up there and some night churches like this one:



and came back to the other side of the river.

I wanted to go to Vysehrad, which is Prague's second castle. To arrive there, I had to walk for around 50 minutes... shit, I was exhausted by the time I arrived there... :P

At least, I could sit back and chill out a bit once there! It was quite nice, but not as much as the real Prague's castle.



Before dusk, I came back to the hostel. Prague has a lot of modern art spread in its streets, here and there... Some day (maybe during the weekend) I will talk about modern art in Prague and Cavid Cerny's sculptures. For the moment, check this building out. It is called the Dancing Building and was next to my hostel.



I relaxed and tried to recover some energy lying in the hostel afterwards. I planned to go for dinner and sleep early so I could visit the rest of the city next day. However, I met some nice Indonesian (well, also a Mexican and a Bruneian) guys and girls and went for dinner and party with them! It was a great evening and we had a lot of fun! Perfect time to enjoy 12% Czech "pivo"... These are my Indonesian friends:



Meeting these guys was very nice and one of the good points of sleeping in a dorm!