Our SEP Adventures: Czech us out 🇨🇿

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After Poland, I crossed over to Czech Republic via Flixbus (For those who are new to Europe travels, do look out for buses as an alternate transport to train and car – they are cheap and convinient)! I visited Prague, Cesky Krumlov and Brno in 3 days.

Prague

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Taken on a clear day at Charles Bridge @ 8am
The capital of Czech Republic, Prague is also well known for being a romantic city for honeymooners and tourists. The end results? 3 wedding couples having their Charles Bridge shoot at 8am, tons of people mobbing the town centre from 10am-8pm, restaurants packed and only reservations can be taken. Prague is a really beautiful city and it has a lot to see/offer but the tourists are really making the place too crowded… But i guess we don’t have a choice cause this part of Central Europe is where everyone stops by in their tour haha.

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Romantic Prague
Anyway, abit of information about Czech Republic – Czech and Slovakia used to be a nation called Czechoslovakia. Before World War 2, they were one of the flourishing states in the world and they even invented beer. This explains the strong beer culture in Czech! This however, went on a decline when Czechoslovakia fell into German hands during World War 2 and became a communist state when Russia liberated them. In 1993 (the year I was born!), the country split into Czech Republic and Slovakia peacefully.

 

Fact: Prague consumes the highest amount of beer (38 gallons per person per year) in the world, not Munich nor Berlin!

These information above, I got them by joining the SANDEMANs/New Europe tour! The tour guide is really friendly and she helps to explain a lot of Czech history to us:) During the tour itself, I met this businessman from Moscow who told me that he didn’t really like staying there but instead he would love to migrate somewhere else. I recommended him our sunny island, for the food and never-changing season:P

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Enthusiastic tour guide (She’s from Manchester, but she loves Prague so much, she moved!)
Also to mention that I got to stay in this cheap and cool hostel called Charles Bridge Economic Hostel. It is actually a tourist centre at the ground floor and it operates the hostel in the other floors of the building. This place is located just beside the bridge itself and they offer a lot of discounted tours. Ah and they have free flow of hot drinks and you can request at the reception, a pretty sweet deal:)

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Cheeky car near Pachtovsky palac
One place to visit would be the Prague Castle. You don’t need to enter the castle, it’s overcrowded and quite expensive as well. But after going up the hill, you will get to see the panoramic view of the city:) There’s a balcony owned by Starbucks, but do feel free to enter, take some pictures or just admire the view. It’s the best of the city you can get:) Go around sunset time for the best view!

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View I got on top
There is a few other places to visit but I was too tired to check them out! There is the jewish quarters, slightly north of the old town square. You will be able to find some pretty chill architecture and jewish graveyards as well. However, this place is closed on Saturday for their prayer sessions, so try and avoid going then.

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Astronomical Clock
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This shows the names and on the day where the name is on top, it will be the name day of that name.
In terms of food, Prague is famous for Trdelnik too (compared to Poland). However, the Trdelnik here is much more touristy priced and the quality of the cake is not as good as the counterpart in Krakow. Therefore, I feel that trying once is good enough:) Had the famous Pork Knee at Restaurace Mlejnice! Must say that it is the best Schweinshaxe I have ever eaten! The pork is so juicy and the skin is flamed till perfection with a hinge of beer taste. It is really big though and I would recommend two people to share one knuckle or you will probably not finish it! Other than that, Prague is also famous for its soups and I wanted to try at this place called Loxal but it was full house:/ Do remember to call in to reserve as most restaurants will be quite packed from 6pm onwards!

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HUGE ASS PORK KNEE

Cesky Krumlov

On Saturday, I met Xin Yi and we headed to this less known town called Cesky Krumlov, south Czech Republic. This place was recommended to us by this Hungarian girl we met at Montserrat. Known for its medieval beauty, this town is another replica of a fairytale town!

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When we arrived at the town, it was snowing and it was really beautiful experiencing the snow falling gradually onto our jackets, body and the streets, lest cold! It made the place even more magical:) We would recommend to travel up to the castle (again) and head towards the viewing platform for the postcard view of the place!

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The view of Cesky!
The town is not super touristy so the number of shops opened are quite minimal. We went to a cafe that sells only breakfast menu for lunch and it was quite cool that the cafe owner has a second job as a seamstress. In fact, she opened the cafe so she can use the place as her workshop to sew:) And she even made the cafe tailor-theme, having sewing machines as the tables! The lunch wasn’t super impressive but it is still worth it to have it there!

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Grilled to perfection!
Walking down the town, we went into a chocolate speciality shop that sells all sorts of chocolates, hot wine and honey. It is also a Czech thing to drink hot wine and even though we did not try, I would recommend the experience to do so if you want to experience the local culture! We also entered a woodcraft shops that sell all sorts of woodcrafts, from decorations to children’s toys. It felt really christmasy and the shop lady was nice enough to demonstrate how some of the toys work:) We bought ourselves a couple woodcraft and they look so cute hehe!

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She looks her gift! Sucessful!
Snacking on the Czech fried cheese (Smažený sýr), it tasted really normal too. Do not get it in Prague once again cause they are known to prepare it only at the street stands just for tourists and the sources of the cheese may be quite dubious! Having it at Cesky Krumlov was alright!

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And for dinner, we went to Cafe Blue, a local pub that serves really nice grills. When I said grills, I meant that the meat are really grilled over a fire place, how cool was that? We came relatively early and they were just setting up the fire place – so we got to see our meat being grilled to perfection, YAY! The meat is really tender and juicy! Highly recommended to get the chicken one cause the sauce they used really complemented the chicken really well:)

Brno

And finally, I went solo on my last place in Brno, where I caught a flight in the afternoon back to London. This place has quite some places to explore if you are ever going there and have time to spare. Due to the lack of time, I have only been to the Freedom Square and bought my lunch there! You can check out Xinyi’s blog for more recommendations:)

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And this marks the end of my solo trip in Prague and Brno, as well as a short day trip to Cesky Krumlov! It’s really a blessing to be given this opportunity to see the world while we are still young and willing to travel without comfort. Maximising this time around Europe makes me learn a lot and drawn me a step ahead to look forward to new travels in the upcoming weeks:) Hopefully, Spring Term won’t be so hectic and I can travel a bit more:)

 


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