Prague was the first european city that i set foot in. I had always imagined going to europe for as long as i can remember, but I wasn't particular about prague as the first choice. It just so happened that i got the opportunity - and i couldn't have been happier.
My first connection to the Czech republic, unknowingly though, must have been when i had read Sherlock Holmes in my childhood - The famous story where holmes meets his match, Irene Adler - is called 'a scandal in bohemia'. Bohemia was once an independent country, but today it is one of the three regions of the Czech republic, the other two being Moravia and Czech Silesia. Prague city, once the capital of bohemia, is also the capital of the present day Czech republic.
If your childhood involved growing up on a steady diet of fairy tales with towers and turrets, then prague is most definitely the city for you. With stone paved streets, numerous towers, churches, cathedrals, buildings from various time periods standing next to each other, a 14th century bridge spanning the river across the city, it is like a pop-up story book come to life.
the powder tower, or the prasna brana, near old town square in prague.
One of the most pleasant sights in prague is the vltava river which quietly flows through the city. You can stand and watch the river from one of the many bridges spanning it, walk along it or take a cruise on one of the many boats that go up and down. The 430 km long river flows 31 kms in prague alone, and has 18 bridges across it in the city. The most famous among them, Charles bridge, is of course the oldest, and most crowded any time of the day.
view of the vltava river across prague
The other must see spots of the city are of course the castle complex, the mala strana area, and the old town square. If you walk up the stairs to the prague castle entrance from the mala strana side, you can take in a gorgeous view of the iconic red roofed buildings all around. Prague's old town has architecture dating back to the 12th century, while the modern side of the city is very much a 21st century capital in keeping with the times. The 'keeping with the times' is important in the context of prague, because one has to keep in mind that this is a country that reeled under the iron grip of communism till the early 90s. Given such a background, it is definitely interesting to see how quickly the city has embraced capitalism and how modern it is today.
And speaking of modern, the public transport network is easy to use and excellent. Trams, metro, & bus - one card to use them all :) (which is of course a system common in most european cities) - i am partial to the trams because they're the best way to gawk at prague's beautiful buildings as they go about trundling through the town.
tram in prague
I'm not a foodie so i don't really have specific restaurant recommendations, but prague definitely has a great international food scene, and pretty much every kind of cuisine is easily available. I'm the kind of person who thinks of magnum bars as a food group, but at the very least i ate thai, mexican, lebanese, indian and of course pizza among others while i was there. You'll of course find all the popular chains like starbucks, mcdonalds and kfc everywhere if you do want.
And then there is the whole 'beer is cheaper than water' thing, which may sound unbelievable but it's true. Prague (and Czech republic itself) is beer capital. Czech towns have apparently been brewing beer at least since the 13th century. An interesting trivia is that the popular american brand Budweiser is itself named after the Czech town of Ceske Budejovice - which in german is called budweis - and which has resulted in copyright/trademark battles for the american brand in the region. The country's popular brands are pilsner (from the town of plzen/pilsen) and staropramen, and these two are probably more omnipresent in the czech republic than god, they are literally everywhere.
One another thing that's everwhere in prague - smoke. Smoking seems to be so common, the roads are so full of people puffing a smoke as they hurry about their day - this was kind of the only thing i found a little unpleasant about prague, that i had to inhale quite a bit of passive smoke. It's interesting to note that cigarette packaging in europe comes with very graphic warning images of the health risks, but don't know really how much of a deterrent it is.
The other interesting thing seen a lot in prague is 'weed' based products. There are a lot of signs everywhere in the streets announcing weed or cbd based products like chocolates or cookies. This is clearly some sort of touristy gimmick, because although these are commonly, openly sold, recreational usage is still illegal in Czech republic. Don't know if they just get by on some technicality (how many mg etc) or how it works - but it's an amusing sight to see, just an industry of tourist trap weed 'souvenirs'.
'weed' chocolates & beauty products - was amused that one of the chocolate 'brands' was even named "mary & juana" !
Czech republic is part of the european union and comes under the schengen visa, but for currency, it does not use the euro. The local currency is the Czech 'koruna', or krone, denoted by czk. 1 usd or eur is roughly equal to 23 or 25 czk . One thing to keep in mind when you're visiting prague is to be careful when you're changing currency. Make sure to use legit and safe money exchanges or atms or use cards as far as possible, and never trust people who might approach you on the streets and offer to change currency. This is supposed to be one of the tourist traps of prague and you're likely to be cheated with fake notes etc.
Other than a little caution in things like the above, Prague is of course a very safe and beautiful city, easy to go around, well connected with most countries inside and outside europe, modern and cosmopolitan and yet more affordable compared to many other european cities - all of which makes it a great starting point for a european holiday !
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