
Prague (picture: sunset over the Vltava River with Charles Bridge)
I’ve recently returned from spending a week over Christmas in Prague, with a day trip down to Český Krumlov in the south of the Czech Republic. Although I didn’t get the white Christmas that I had hoped for, I still had a great time! Highlights included:
- The best hostel breakfast ever, although it was an extra €4 it was more than worth it, and we ate so much every morning that there was no need for lunch!
- The view of Prague from the castle and cathedral
- The way the Czechs have adopted English words into their language simply by adding a ‘y’ to the end, Caitlin and I were continuously amused by menus with ‘steaky’ and ‘kebaby’, and ads for cameras with ‘mexapixely’…
- Charles Bridge and the Vltava River at sunset
- A first-hand experience of the famous Czech Christmas tradition: fresh carp on Christmas Eve. Scattered over Prague, there are rough salt-of-the-earth types selling live carp out of big plastic tubs. The guy catches the carp in a net, weighs it in front of the customer (whilst the fish is flopping around like crazy), then ceremoniously clubs it on the head… The customer takes the whole fish, or the guys fillets it, and it’s dumped into a plastic bag (blood dripping) ready to take home… ew! Apparently the real traditionalists take the live carp home and keep it in their bathtub before killing it themselves on Christmas Eve! Needless to say Caitlin and I avoided all the carp specialties on the menus after that incident.
- Trying and failing to make it midnight mass on Christmas Eve, and ending up in the old town square with a bunch of crazy Australians from our hostel, drunkenly singing ‘Silent Night’ and ‘Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer’ to a crowd of bemused tourists… then pinching some Christmas decorations on the way home to put on our tree!
- The day trip to Český Krumlov, despite the bus drivers with a penchant for blasting the air con and playing bad Czech renditions of Elvis Presley and the Beatles! A beautiful old town on a meander of the Vltava River in the south of the Czech Republic (near the border with Austria and Germany), it has a castle with a moat that used to be filled with bears! There was only one there when we went…
I’ve put some more photos up on Flickr. I hope that everyone had a very merry Christmas, and will have a wonderful New Year!