One Year Ago, Today…

As much as Facebook might drive me bonkers sometimes, I am a huge fan of the “Facebook Memories” feature. Today, for example, it reminded me that exactly one year ago today I posted the pictures from my trip to Prague. Thanks, FB!

To be perfectly honest, I went to Prague as an afterthought, a quick weekend addition to a Eurotrip, but it turned out to be one of my favourite places I’ve ever visited!! I got extra lucky because the city was all decked out and set up for the annual Christmas Markets! Yay for festive fun!! 🎄

Last year, my friend Passportunities planned an awesome Eurotrip to Berlin, Cologne, and Amsterdam (we were visiting a German friend who did an exchange trip in high school – I hadn’t seen her for TEN years! It was awesome). I had a couple extra days off, due to my wacky shift-working nursing schedule, so I figured I’d go somewhere else that was close to Berlin and good to visit for a weekend. My minimal online research, and word of mouth from friends, told me that Prague was the place to go, and so I did!

It was my first foray into solo travel, and although very different than travelling with others, I quite enjoyed it! So without further ado, on to the memories (well mostly just lots of pictures actually, it’s such a beautiful city)!! Let’s take a tour of:

Prague, Czech Republic 🇨🇿

Prague is the gorgeous little capital city of the beautiful Czech Republic! Some main tourist features are the Charles Bridge and the Vltava River, pictured above (taken from the ramparts of the Tower Bridge. I was super glad I climbed up (for a fee), the 360° view of the City, and the few calm minutes away from the crazy crowds, were well worth it! Prague’s architecture and cobblestone streets are really something to fawn over. And fawn I did! 😍🤩 here’s some pics (and descriptions) of Prague.

Okay, so I’m sure you’ve heard it before and you’re wondering what all the fuss is about but oh my god, TRDELNIKS ARE LIFEEEE. Truly one of the best things I’ve ever tasted. I’m not usually one for sweet treats, but I would go back to Prague simply to get another one of these heavenly desserts. The best soft ice cream you’ve ever had, inside of the most delicious pastry you’ve ever had, and somehow a million times better than you’re imagining. I’m drooling just looking at this picture haha. Don’t leave Prague without getting one, you’ll regret it!

Wenceslas Square is a cute little outdoor shopping mall of sorts, with information plaques and benches erected all over the street.

The Astronomical Clock. Located in Old Town Square, the clock puts on a little show each hour.

Prague Castle! The architecture is intriguing and jaw-droppingly beautiful. Inside is a chapel that will take your breath away! And outside is a great view of the city, too.

Views of/from Charles Bridge. It’s beautiful but busy as all hell!

The “Dancing House” – an architectural phenomenon, and tourist attraction. It’s so trippy but so pretty too! The whole street is lovely!

The John Lennon wall. Apparently in his day, John Lennon loved Prague, and visited it often. It’s said that he wrote many songs here and owned a home in town as well. This block-long graffiti wall is dedicated to his memory, his songs, and especially his wishes for peace. It’s constantly changing, so you might get totally different pictures than I did when there! (I think dad jokes are hilarious, so when posting this pic to Insta, I captioned “Imagine all the people, living life in… Prague! ☮️” tehehe.

Old Town Square is really the hub of the town. There’s government buildings, restaurants, buskers, public events, churches, and so much more! It’s also usually the meeting place for most tours too. It’s also a perfecttt place to hangout an people-watch, which is a guilty pleasure of mine!

This amazing art installation (made completely of books) is located at the Municipal Library. I went there to hangout, warm up, and snipe some free Wi-Fi, oh.. and to nerd out & gawk over all the beautiful books!

Random street in Prague, the name of which I can’t remember, but it took my breath away.

Prague can definitely be a late-night party city on the weekends, if that’s what you’re in to! The bars are open super late compared to what I’m used to in sleepy ol’ Ottawa! Prague is also known for having extremely cheap and easy-drinking beer, yay!! An easy way to win me over? Beer. Well done, Prague, we’re off to a good start! Haha. I did the Beer Museum tour, which included bottling my own beer, making a custom label, enjoying four half-pints at the end – talk about a good deal, I loved it! However, the real highlight and intro to Prague’s night life was a Pub Crawl that I booked online. We went to five different pubs and had a pint in each place (sometimes two half pints). It was a great bargain and a fun way to bar hop, especially when travelling alone! The people in my group were tons of fun, and from all over the world, which was so great!

This is the “Franz Kafka head” sculpture – it moves!!! Rotating layers originally make it looks like a randomly moving metallic structure, but once in a while, they line up perfectly to show off the bust of Franz Kafka (a famous Czech author), so neat!!!

So the churches in Prague are next levelllll fancy! The details are so intricate, no picture will ever describe how insane and awesome they are!! Mostly done in the Baroque-style architecture, there’s easily a hundred churches just in Prague alone! (Not a real fact, just an observation, but it can’t be far off – they are everywhereeee). They are all beyond stunning, and mostly all in active use! The Czech Republic is a very religious (Christian) country, I noticed.

If you’re travelling with kids, pleaseeeee do them (and yourselves) a favour, and bring them to Hamley’s. I couldn’t deny the child at heart in me, so I went inside and it’s amazing!! Legit the place every child dreams of, straight out of some Hollywood movie. And for my visit, it was all decked out in Christmas cheer, so I was in heaven!

My Experience In Prague

I stayed in a cheap, but amazing, hostel on the outskirts of town (luckily the town is quite compact), so I got my workout each day walking back and forth from Old Town to my place. Gotta love that active travel! Made bingeing out of European cuisine guilt-free hah. My hostel also had little events each night in the common areas for people to get to know each other – how adorable! But most importantly, they had free breakfast (before 8am, yikes) and a reallyyyy good Happy Hour deal! Two beers for 25krona each ($1.50CAD)!!! You know I hit that up! Haha. To be frank, I’ll never understand spending a ton of money on accommodations (a pricey hotel or AirBnB for example) when I’ll only be there to change and sleep! All I need is a shower, a clean bed, and somewhere to lock up my belongings, and every hostel I’ve been to has all of those!

As a woman travelling alone, I felt VERY safe in Prague! I can’t say this for every city I’ve travelled to, but I never once felt uncomfortable. I often walked to and from my hostel at night, and was never worried. The city centre itself if very dense, so you should not be nervous about being attacked. The most likely thing would be getting pickpocketed, which thankfully didn’t happen to me, because I’m super anal and always wear coats with zippers, and lock up my backpack with coded bag locks! I do recommend this, as I’ve heard the Charles Bridge is a popular place for pickpockets. To be honest though, I felt extremely safe for my entire trip, and that’s saying something considering I was a young female travelling for the first time by herself!

I attended three guided city tours (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). I figured that was the best way to see the sights, and introduce me to places I’d like to further investigate. I was right – it was great! The tours are free, and you just pay a tip at the end if you wish. I recommend it, that’s the only way the guides make money! They bring you to different sectors of the city, and give you a history of the city and country in a way that resonates a lot deeper than reading about it online. I also found it quite useful for finding my bearings! Typical to the female stereotype, and much to my father’s dismay, my sense of direction is not the greatest haha. I also recommend free walking tours because they can help introduce you to other travellers! I met another solo traveller from Turkey, and we hung out together a couple times after the tour.

There are so many amazing things to see and eat and do in Prague (see pics above for deets). My biggest recommendation is to walk around lots, I ended up stumbling upon some of the prettiest cobblestone streets totally by accident. Oh, & try the local food – it’s often cheap and delicious, and a fun way to get to know the country better! I did a little bit of research before visiting, but I’m glad I didn’t do too much, because I learned a ton about Prague and its history during my walking tours and pub crawl!

So overall, Prague was easily one of the best places I’ve ever had the pleasure of travelling to, & definitely my favourite European city (I’m usually a fan of countryside travel, rather than the city) so far!! … I recommend everyone Czechs out Prague at some point 😜❤️🇨🇿