EuroTrip - Day 43

The Three Point Plan to a Perfect Day in Praha

They say the most beautiful girls in this world are of Czech origins. It was time for us to validate this hypothesis. It was going to be a tough task as their Scandinavian counterparts had set a really high standard for us. Germans and French beauties did not lag behind much too. We all anticipated a very good day ahead. Mind you, A1 and Bansi were there with us, so be assured that we would be in our decent best behavior.

There are very few countries in Schegen treaty that don't use the Euro as their currency. Czech is one of those. Our dog sense told us that the best rates can never be obtained at the railway station and it turned out to be true too. One piece of free advice - get your money changed only at the exchange counters near the central district (where most of the places of tourist importance are) and do ask about the commission in advance. They might charge you exorbitant fee if you don't keep an eye.

We started our 'tourist day' in Praha (Prague) with a walk around the State Opera and the Powder Gate (it used to be the storage space for gunpowder once upon a time). There are a couple of big malls and some hostels in this area if anyone is interested. While waiting for the market to open, we sat near the Vltava river in one of those beautiful gardens that mark the riverside beauty. The sunny sky was a good respite after the chills of the early morning.

A quick breakfast (super market visit for Bansi and company) and we were almost set to walk longer distances. We are not yet used to walking long distances with our backpacks on. The left-luggage & lockers on the station come to our rescue at almost all the places. Today it required a visit to the Centrale station. Some waste of time, but the effort was worth considering that we were planning a walking tour to city.

On our way we saw a Synagogue and knew it from the first glimpse that it was going to be the first place we enter today. A Synagogue is a jewish worship place and acts as a community center for most of their activity. The one we visited is called Jerusalem Synagogue. This beautiful building also contains a permanent exhibition dedicated to the jews who contributed to build the society and state during and post world war. It is a great place to visit, a must if you have not seen any synagogue (In India, I know of one that is located in townside in Mumbai).

'Following the Patwa' we reached the Czech Natioal Museum and walked along the grand promenade in front of it. Outlets of some of the biggest brands share the space with some luxury hotels in the historical buildings along both sides of the road. It's a tourist mela here, so beware.

Our next stop was Starbucks Coffee near the The Old Town (Staré město). We had to join the gang for the Free Walking Tour by New Europe Tours. Isaac was to be our guide today. The tall Hungarian is a world traveler (he had traveled to most of the countries the group member belonged to), has picked up most of the languages and culture traits during his journeys and is a history enthusiast. Needless to say, he is a good storyteller and actor too. A deadly combination for a tour-guide. The next 3 hours or so in his company we went through the past, present and future of this small country and its capital in particular. He told us stories of the kings, the priests, the scientists and the beer makers. The stories were never ending and his way of narration made us want for more. For record, we visited most of the popular tourist destinations in town during the tour. The highlight was the visit to the JTown (the jewish town, he calls it the JTown). It has Josefov the Jewish Ghetto and other Jewish monuments. It is said that the design idea for the world famous Holocaust Memorial in Berlin came from the Jewish symmetry in this city. The tour ended near the Charles Bridge with the story about the war events in Praha and how it was surprisingly untouched amidst the ruins of all the other big towns in eastern Europe.

Our next destination was Beas - the Indian dhabha (http://www.beas-dhaba.cz/) located close to the cathedral. I intend to write a separate post about this restaurant soon. For records, let me tell you that it served us the best Indian food we have had in Europe (even better than what we cook at our home in Paris) that too at very affordable rates and most important of them all in a really caring and homely way. Get to know more about this place here soon.

The sun sets early in late October days and that meant we had to wrap up our day faster than we had expected. A walk near the Prague Castle and then along the Charles Bridge convinced us that we had not yet seen even half of the town. We had to come back here. With this plan, we reached the railway station. Praha Centrale station - this modern looking station lacks some of the most basic amenities such as a good waiting lounge. So keep that in mind while your planning to/from Praha.

Our date with Praha was not yet over. We would be back to Praha in a couple of days after covering Vienna.

PS: I was tempted on one more than occasion to write about the day in just three points:
1. Reach the central place, get money exchanged and then walk and soak up some sun near the river.
2. Take the Free Walking Tour with New Europe Tours. It starts at 1:45pm near the Starbucks Coffee.
3. Treat yourself with a lavish lunch cum dinner at Beas.
Trust me, it will be a perfect day. You can not ask for more if you plan to stay for just one day in Praha.

PS2: As I look back now, taking the train to Vienna was not such a wise decision. Praha offers a variety of affordable hostels and an amazing night life (pub crawls and ghost tours to say the least). Do get indulged if you are interested in those activities.

PS3: New Europe Tours runs Free Guided Walking tours in various cities. The guides are young travel enthusiasts and offer you much more than a normal sight seeing experience. They work on tip basis and you are free to decide your contribution. I would highly recommend them. I had an amazing tour of Praha with them. I look forward to do some more walks with them (next one being in Berlin ad per our plan). Do check out their website for more information.

PS4: oh did I forget about my task regarding the Czech girls?? No not at all. In just one day I could not gather sufficient evidence to prove the hypothesis. My (statistically insignificant) verdict is that they are nowhere close to German and French beauties. I think the next challenge is waiting for me in Italy. I am so eagerly looking forward to it.