Prague, and a touch of Bohemia and Moravia

Czech Republic, a country that did not even exist before 1993 but like its other European counterparts, is rather steep in its history as reflected by the cobbled old towns and majestic castles dotted around the land. After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, the Republic took to its final shape after an agreement with Slovakia in 2003 and Czechoslovakia ceased to exist from 1 Jan that year. Since then, it has been on a adrenaline rush, Prague became its official capital, joined the EU in 2004 and is due to adopt the EUR next year.

I heard so much about Prague, its beauty, its legendary Prague Castle, Charles Bridge and the 30 statues that line up along it, the famed Old Town Square and many others. After 9 hrs of probably the worst train ride in my life so far, I made my way to HostelOne Prague, conveniently located in the Zizkov district, couple of stops on tram no. 9 to the Old Town and other nearby sights, for 2 nights. Since it was only 7am, the bed was not ready for me and I took and quick shower before leaving my backpack and headed out towards Charles Bridge.

If you want to avoid the crowds, make sure you arrive at the bridge before 9am, else you will feel more like walking along Champ-Elysee. I thought this was supposed to be the low season, but the crowds made me wonder how spring/summer will be like!?!? To be honest, Prague castle was average but it does look quite nice when it is lit up at night. I was more impressed with the Bridge considering that it used to the one and only bridge across the Vltava river from the 1300s till early 19th century.

Continued on to Old Town searching for the Astronomical clock that looks absurdly weird by comes to life (barely) at the strike of every hour. Huge crowds will gather below eagerly waiting for that moment only to disappoint most from their huge expectations! It happened that there was a photo exhibition below the clock tower showcasing some great pictures on the subject of man and mountains. The main highlight of the exhibit came from John Novis, who is the head of photography for Greenpeace, where he joined a team to Everest to document the impact of global warming on the glaciers. There is no doubt that the ice is melting away, and very fast.

Popped into an English pub (I know I should stay away!!!) to catch the big match of the week and was duly rewarded with a display from Liverpool that cap an end to a great week of performance and results. Had a humongous burger in the midst and decided to take a stroll over to the New Town (It's 'new' only because it was built after the old town!) where I came across a our familiar Tesco, massive store right in the middle of Nove Mesto (New Town). Sadly, there wasn't anything much to highlight after walking for good 30 minutes around the area. I did pop into a local store manned by a friendly Vietnamese guy and realised that there were alot of Viets around the country! Wonder if there is a Little Vietnam like Kingsland Road in London.

Stopped by a little gallery that was also a cafe for my caffeine fix before heading back towards Prague castle for some night shooting. Sadly, the hoards of tourists were still lingering around and decided to call it an end for the day after a few shots to rest for the day trip out to Plzen tomorrow.

Back in the hostel, more 'kids' seem to be checking in and some of them probably just woke up from the party the night before and getting ready to go out again. Alcohol seems to be everywhere and made me feel out of place with the crowd. Some of them have even been staying in the hostel for weeks and, to be honest, not doing much as far as I can see. Guess that is their way of chilling out I suppose?

Got up early the next day. The weather was drab again and light rain was falling down from the overcast sky. Made a quick instant coffee (which tasted really bad) and made my way to Florenc bus station. Paid 205 Kr for a return ticket to Plzen although I did find out later that it is cheaper to get one way tickets and get the return in Plzen instead. There are a few other bus companies operating in the station and it is worth to check with all of them for the best prices. Usually you do not have to book in advance, just make sure you turn up 15min before the bus departure and buy it directly from the driver.

Plzen is an hour and half to the west of Prague and is the capital of West Bohemia. It's claim to fame is probably the famous Pilsner Urquell beer brewed in this town as well as the sprawling Skoda factory directly in front of the main bus station on arrival. The town center is so small that you can go round it in less than an hour. As it is Sunday, shops that opened were hard to come by and decided to pop into Denni Bar and Pizzerie recommended by Lonely Planet.

What better way after lunch than to pop over to Pilsner Urquell for a brewery tour and a taste of their unfiltered beer directly from the casks that they still use to ferment and serve the beer to the tour groups. Apparently you can only get the unfiltered beer from the tour and is not available for sale outside the underground storage that they are held. Have to say it tasted quite good, with a bit of bitterness in the aftertaste, probably from the yeast that is still in the beer. Of all the places in the world, I bumped into a group of Singaporeans working for Shell who have driven down from Munich to do this beer tour! Apparently one of the guy in the group was here exactly 20 years ago and wanted to see the difference since then. Jeez, it will be really strange to visit this place again in another 20 years!!! Overall, I probably won't recommend Plzen unless you are keen to know the beer brewing/manufacturing process and struggle to find anything else to do. That said, it was quite nice to meet people from home town and practice speaking my Singlish again :)

Got back to the hostel after buying some bread and soup from a local supermarket. I decided to combine the 2 days in Czech into one post because I felt really disappointed with this leg of my journey - reality simply fell short of my expectations, coupled that with the tourists and high prices, just made this place poor value in my view. Frankly I can't wait to get out of the city and move on to Brno, 2nd biggest city in Czech, before crossing the border into Slovakia. That said, it's time for bed...

Note:
Link to all photos taken in Czech as I continue to upload them