Aug 14 - Day 1 in Prague

Arrival in Prague! Today was a long bus day, but with a most excellent destination – the mysterious city of Rudolf II and the economic and political center of the Czech Republic and Bohemia! Returning to Eastern Europe was wonderful, but Prague is certainly very different from Budapest. It is on the way to total economic rejuvenation and is bustling (actually, overflowing) with tourists.

After the five or so hour ride, we checked into our hostel. It is a very good hostel, reasonably clean and safe, as well as perfectly located. We then went on a walking tour with our guide, Irena, who is a native of Prague and has some great and detailed stories. We saw the main square of the old city, which is called Staré město. The square features the famous Astronomical Clock, which we watched at around 5 p.m. The clock is gorgeous and definitely upholds the mysterious and mystical stereotype of Prague. Additionally on the tour we saw the Estate Theatre, where Mozart’s Don Giovanni premiered; an advertisement covering the statue of Jan Huss; many historical buildings; and Wenceslas Square, the site of many historical events, such as Jan Palach setting himself on fire in 1969 in protest of the Soviets entering Czechoslovakia and the Velvet Revolution demonstrations of 1989.

Irena provided great information, in particular about the Velvet Revolution. She described the masses of students marching down the square in vivid detail, as a first-person source would be able to do. I greatly enjoyed the tour and I look forward to more thorough ones in the coming days.

With the ending of the tour, we headed out to dinner at a delicious and cheap restaurant, Apetit. I enjoyed some goulash and amazing Czech beer, as well as a mostly local environment not overrun with tourists. We ended the night by going out to a nightclub, which was extremely fun (and the love of David Hasselhoff continues, with the club playing the theme song of Baywatch), but super touristy.

I’m definitely looking forward to looking deeper into Prague. My first impressions are to note the difference from it to Budapest – both Eastern and once under communism, but in such different states now. Budapest has not yet recovered, but Prague is flourishing. But at the same time, Prague is overwhelmingly touristy in the location we are in, by the Old Town, while Budapest definitely does not reek of being a huge tourist attraction. Prague also seems fairly easy to navigate, with the Old Town in such prominence and the Charles Bridge as a good guide. I’m definitely excited for the next few days!