Joey's 28 Days in Europe | Prague


Surprise surprise! I am writing this travel post after more than a year. Hah. Actually I just feel bad, I just dropped my travel blog post halfway through my Europe trip. And after all those postponing, I have completely forgotten about it. But here I am, back again. And ready to write down all the thing I did and see.... if I can still remember them! Perhaps a good time to indulge in reminiscence.


I have also added some useful info in the description on my map. E.g. the opening hours, costs, how to get there or what is recommended to do there. Please fully utilize it!





Transportation Tram Bicycle Bus |

Useful App (iOS) | Ulmon (Offline map) 

What to eat! | Koleno (roast pork knee), tatarak (raw minced beef mixture), Vepřo-knedlo-zelo (roast pork with bread dumplings), Ovocne knedliky (fruit dumplings), Pivo (beer), Bramboraky (fired potato pancakes), Nakládaný hermelín (pickled cheese), Utopenci (pickled pork sausage), Svíčková na smetaně (beef sirloin in vege gravy), Palacinky (pancakes)

Info added are found in official website and is true as of July 2015, please check the official website again to make sure the information you have is the updated one!

*Note!*
image Recommended place to eat 
image Recommended place to visit
image Find the compilation of tips I have to offer at the end of this blog posts! 


Since I can't possibly remember every last detail of my trip, I am not sorting the list of places below in any order. I'll just describe what I can remember and recommend what I think is really good. Because you know, once you experience really good things, you'll remember it forever. Especially if it's concerning food. 


Don't be a stingy person like me. I didn't book our seats for our train ride from Berlin to Prague, and we were stuck like this for a good few hours in the train. Definitely not a pleasant thing to do. I didn't think it would be this crowded as for most of train trips, we didn't reserve seats and it was fine. But of course if the ride is more than 3 hours, I suggest to you to spent a few more bucks for seats reservations.

Stay Hostel Alia
I still recall our reaction when we saw our room. We were pleasantly surprised by how comfy the room was. It's tiny but it didn't matter because it was feels really homely even though the outside doesn't look like it. The down side of this place is that it doesn't have an elevator, so if you're lugging a really heavy luggage around with you.. well, good luck. But no worries for us, as we have a man-servant guy with us to help us out with the heavy-lifting.
The hostel is more or less near to one of the stations in Prague (Praha-Vršovice), and located around 2km away from the city. It didn't bothered us that much as the public transport was relatively cheap and also the city is at a walking distance.




Charles Bridge
The must thing to do while in Prague is definitely to walk across the bridge. And this is not enough, you can even rent a paddle boat and cross under it. Which we did.



When we were crossing the bridge, we noticed there's a few "statues" that are still shiny. The end result of tourists walking about and rubbing it whenever they pass by. We, of course, just followed what everyone is doing even though it didn't make any sense to us. Little that we know, it's a wish-making ritual. Click to read an article I found on how to make a wish on Charles bridge.

image Boat Paddling
I didn't even plan for this to be in the itinerary. It was an on-a-whim-ish decision. As we were walking by along the river, we saw a lot paddle boats. Then I asked my mum "Wanna get on one??", and then she said "YES!". I think this was one of the highlight of our Prague trip. A very memorable one.


There's a few places which are offering the same service, but the rates are slightly different. So, just look around before you decide. Most of the shops are situated on the island with the red dots below. 
Where to rent a paddle boat. 

Walking around the town


Daily market in Prague. Can browse through for souvenirs. 

Port

A random mini garden in the middle of the road. 

image Prague Astronomical Clock
This place was crowded with people. I think many of them were waiting for the clock to hit the hour mark (like those cuckoo clocks). We didn't wait like the rest of them because I wasn't really a fan of being packed like a can of sardine. The building was quite a view though.


image Trdelnik | Old Town Square
This is simply a MUST-TRY snack! Basically it's like a cone made out of baked dough, sprinkled with sugar, walnut, and cinnamon (or depends), and filled with ice-cream. There are also different toppings for selection depending on which shop you visit. Perfect for a sunny summer day.




For only 155 Euros! Which I think is the cheapest deal for skydiving in Europe. To our surprise, most of the customers are Korean. Both of use were the only non-Korean (excluding the staffs of course). But anyway, we did not opt for the video and picture as personally, I thought the most important thing is the experience itself and it costs an extra 80 Euros, me thinks not worth it. Only people who wants bragging rights take the video package anyway.
Transportation, T-shirt and a certificate will be provided. The drop zone is like one hour drive away from the shop.

The experience was exhilarating. I could literally see the round earth. And the professional skydiver don't hold back either. Zero time given to mentally get ready. I don't even remember if we did a count down, but I bet not! My new life goal: be a bird.
An advice from my personal experience, you should scream your lungs out when you're skydiving. Else, you would feel like vomiting.. I held it in so hard and in the end I felt so sick and nauseous during landing.

*ticking off an item from my bucket list* 
Vast green field for landing

The waiting area.

Suit up!

image Prague Castle | Official Website
Prague Castle itself is super vast! Honestly, if you like, you can actually walk around for the whole day. We did not pay a single cent for it because there is no entrance fee! There are however, some entrance fee needed if you would like to visit some specific sections. But IMO, walking around the public area is good enough.




A random place that we found when we were walking around the castle. It's a pretty cool place that we encountered by surprise. If you're interested, you can refer to this geo-tag photosphere on google that I found.

Royal Garden
image St. Vitus Cathedral
Photobombed by yours truly

The other side

image Letenské sady
This place is perfect for panoramic view of the city (FOC!). And the giant metronome is pretty cool too. Spotted a lot of locals just chilling around with a cup of beer in their hands.


image Petrin Tower
If I am not wrong, I think we climbed the Petrin tower to take this picture. Entrance fee applicable if you want to climb up.


Crawling babies near Kampa
Very bizarre and also very well known around the city. As they are creepy af. We found them near Kampa island and I also found out that, the sculpture can also be found climbing the TV tower. If you're a fan of creepy and weird statues, you can do a sort of statues hunting. "Here, take this, it will help you in your quest."

You might want to avoid this place at night

Pedo.

The place was packed with people during dinner even though the restaurant has ample of space! Great food! Definitely recommended.

I think this is the steak that we ordered. Sorry, not sure. 


Tatarak (raw meat with egg) with toasted bread. 

In case you're interested in what we ordered

image Restaurace U Pinkasů
Once again, a very crowded restaurant (I think it is very well known too). We ordered a full meat platter with dumplings. Sorry guys, no pictures of the food here as all the pictures taken were in my stolen camera. Sad.
But I remembered the food was awesome, and has a very reasonable price.


image Joey's Prague Travel Tips!

  1. Be sure to book the seats if you're taking the train! We notice the trains are much smaller and there's not much place to sit (In our case, our train was coming from Berlin). Splurge on those extra Euros, you will thank me for the advice.
  2. For public transport info and fares, check the official website.
  3. Advisable to change to Czech Koruna currency even though many of the shops does take in Euros.
  4. Avoid any pubs and restaurants that list their prices in Euros; it will undoubtedly be more expensive. When dining out, be aware that bread, butter and most sauces will cost extra. Water is only served in bottles, and often costs more than a beer.
  5. Always count the change given.
  6. I just read this somewhere, just thought of sharing. Although I didn't personally experience this. Best to be safe than sorry.
    Pickpockets are a threat in the most crowded areas – the Charles Bridge, Prague Castle, Wenceslas Square (where you’ll also find the “ladies of the night”) and Old Town. If someone claims to be an undercover policeman and asks for your passport, don’t hand it over; instead demand to go to the police station or the nearest hotel. And if plainclothes “metro inspectors” ask to see your ticket and then tell you it’s invalid and demand a fine, don’t give it up; real inspectors are required to show you a badge​.
We did not have much time to spent and did not want to fork out too much on the entrance fees. But if you have the budget to spend, I would recommend these places which I think is pretty cool but I just did not have the chance to visit. (I have also marked these places in my map which I embedded in the beginning of this post).
  • Old Jewish Cemetary
  • Clementinum
  • Vyšehrad
  • Hotel U Prince's Terrace bar (skyline view of Old Town Square)

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