Saturday, December 27, 2014

Central Europe: Dobrý den Praha!


We left Budapest in the arvo and reached Prague at night. Before boarding the train in Budapest, K visited Omorovicza, a luxury skin care products from Hungary's famous thermal baths. A brand that I have only heard of when she said she wanted to drop by to grab a couple of things. In the meantime, I had my first visit to a pharmacy in Central Europe to stock up some meds to soothe the persistent annoying cough that seem to be getting worse.


We had 4 days to spend in Prague, one of the day was planned for a day trip away from Prague.

Prague has all the characteristic of quaint, old-world feel, though I wish it is less crowded, especially the Old Town. I like it that Prague is divided into four towns - Old Town (Stare Mesto) and New Town (Nove Mesto) on the east side of Charles Bridge (Karluv most). On the opposite side of the world famed bridge are Little Quarter (Mala Strana) and Castle Quarter (Hradcany).

Hostel Mango which we booked prior was located in Little Quarter. The closest metro is "Malostranska" on the green metro line and 5 minutes on foot. The best bit about it's location was it is also about just 5 minutes walk from Charles Bridge. The room we booked was a dorm room for 8 females with ensuite bathroom. One of the facilities on offered that I have fully embraced and totally in appreciation of was the spacious cave-like kitchen together with eating place furnished with couches and TV. The bonus part was nobody really use this area. This ended up as my retreat place on my marathon coughing night as it was totally uncontrollable and I didn't end up disturbing people's sleep.


We started our first morning in Prague with an English breakfast (K had craving for it) and I have not issue having one, followed with walkabout till it was time to join a free walking tour. We joined SANDEMAN's free walking tour, apparently the most famous one on offered in Prague. I did enjoyed it though I prefer the one in Budapest (and yes, this is almost like comparing an apple with an orange...). Mind you, there were heaps of free walking tours around in Prague. Of all the cities we have been, Prague is the most popular (read: crowded) by miles. There was a point where I was walking behind some tour group and I think even if I stopped walking, the people behind me would have easily herded me along.

Transportation wise - mostly on foot, except for commuting to and fro train station, and maybe once on a tram as we took a Prague castle tour.


Side note: Dobrý den (pronounced as DO-bree DEHN), means (a more formal) "hello" in Czech. 

3 comments:

  1. 1) "We left Budapest in the arvo." Arvo? YOU ARE SO AUSTRALIAN! (^0^)
    2) Manhole covers! I wonder if Lina has seen that photo yet. She and I are both a wee bit obsessed with Japan's manhole covers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 1. Grin - got to embrace the Aussie slang! :p
      2. This one doesn't have colour like some of Japan's manhole covers though. Japan has beautiful manhole covers, its quite hard not to obsessed with them!

      Delete