Interrailing Travel Diary No.3 | Prague, Czech Republic
Prague was next on the list for our third Interrail* adventure. I've been to Prague twice before this, as I was in the choir in secondary school and we used to compete in the Young Prague competition every few years. Even as a teenager, I absolutely adored the place. It has a medieval, almost-fairytale vibe to it and is still unlike any other city I've visited.
Needless to say, my third time visiting didn't disappoint and I got to appreciate it with a more "mature" head on my shoulders. Helen adored it too and was fascinated with the focus on craftwork, especially puppets, in the shops and markets alike. We had a ball, ate delicious food and saw some breathtaking sights that we'll no doubt cherish for a long, long time.
We stayed in the suburbs of Prague for this trip but we found it pretty easy to hop to and from the city centre via the trams, which were luckily just down the road from us. Our Airbnb* was spacious, roomy and even had a balcony! (You can see it better in Helen's vlog at the bottom of the post).
TRANSPORT
Transport-wise, we stuck to using the trams and our feet. The trams were confusing to get the knack of initially, with the currency-change and all that, but we eventually got the hang of them. I'd advise buying one single ticket that lasts approx. 30 minutes to get in and out of the city, as opposed to full day travel tickets, as you mainly end up wandering around and walking to the tourist sites.
FOOD & DRINK
Ah, my favourite thing to talk about. The food and drink was phenomenal is Prague; they had such an array of different restaurants and bars, classic or quirky, there was something for everyone! We loved eating in Italians (surprise, surprise) and traditional Czech restaurants for dinner but for breakfast and lunch, we mixed it up a little.
My favourite place was the James Dean diner, near the Old Town square. If you could imagine Eddie Rockets, but a million times better, with photos of movie stars and Old Hollywood memorabilia everywhere, you got it. Even the bathrooms were covered in floor-to-ceiling pop art - I was in my element. We didn't eat there but I had a Blueberry Milkshake that I can't recommend enough! Yum.
If you go to Prague, you MUST try Trdelník! There are Trdelník stalls and huts dotted all over the city and the smell will have you zombie-walking over to one of them within an hour of stepping foot in Prague. Believe me. They're basically really sweet pastry rolls, coated in sugar, that you can get either plain or with a filling. We opted for Nutella-filled Trdelniík each day because.. duh.
PRAGUE CASTLE
Prague Castle is a must-see if you visit this wondrous city, you can't miss it! It's quite a steep walk up but you can also get to it via trams that will leave you in a nearby square (that has a Starbucks, for all of you wifi hunters). The castle itself is beautiful; exactly what you'd imagine a castle to look like in a Disney film. St. Vitus' Cathedral in the grounds is one of my favourite gothic cathedrals ever, hands down. You can see the sheer scale of it in comparison to me in the photo below.
One of my favourite parts about heading to Prague Castle, is the walk down. On our descent, we came across a little wooden bar with a viewing area. There was loads of benches and the bar served everything from cider to corn on the cob (which were painfully DELISH, by the way - get one. Or two). Helen and I got chatting to a fantastic American couple whilst there and we shared some brilliant travelling stories with them. It was really beautiful and genuinely made me feel quite emotional seeing this ancient city from above. It'd be an ideal spot for a picnic.
SHOPPING
Shopping for unique traditional and souvenir-like bits and bobs in Prague is a dream. Amongst all of the generic touristy shops, there's hidden gems. We came across a handful of traditional puppet shops and art shops, with hundreds upon hundreds of things to look at. Again, some of the shops you see in Prague are completely unlike the kind you may have seen in other European cities.
On our walk down from Prague Castle, we also happened upon The Gingerbread Museum. It was amazing! Absolutely everything you could imagine was inside, made out of gingerbread and iced to perfection. I picked up a heap of gingerbread cookies for family and friends, as well as some cookie cutters, for very reasonable prices considering the skill gone into them. (The cookies are wrapped up well so there's no chance of them breaking if you pack them decently in your case.)
Prague still remains one of my all-time favourite cities and I'm dying to go back again. I highly recommend visiting whilst interrailing, as it's such a magical place and quite affordable. If you're particularly interested in history, art and/ or architecture, you will be in heaven here - trust me!
Watch Helen's vlog of our magical Prague trip here..
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