Life in the Golden City
Written: Nov 25 '02 (Updated Nov 25 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Diverse, ever-rewarding city.
Cons: Can be taxing - language barriers, finding your way around, etc.
The Bottom Line: Come to Prague and find out a bit more about yourself.
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| rocktadgers's Full Review: Prague |
Border control comes at dawn. The coach driver moves up the aisle and collects passports from his passengers. The sun burns low and cold through the coach windows, and people either try to resume their cramped sleep or peer out anxiously, eager to get going. I always fall into the second category - once the passports are stamped, it's only an hour or so until the coach rolls into Prague.
Once the formalities are out of the way, the driver gets you moving again quickly, while his co-driver moves back up the aisle, handing out the passports from an old cigar tin. The drivers are Czech, and often have difficulty with those tricky western surnames - on this occasion, a pretty 11-year-old Belgian girl accompanies him, helping with the pronunciation.
Shortly across the border comes another stop. Irritating for those who've taken this slog across Europe before, but great opportunity for newcomers to sample those low, low prices.
An hour later, the coach trundles into Prague, and the first thing you see is grafitti, everywhere, anywhere within reach. The buildings look murky and soot-stained. The splendor comes in a while, when the coach's route to Florenc coach station takes you across the river, the Vltava opening out either side, the castle hunched low on its hill. This is why you're here, and the beauty of riverside Prague can't help but get you excited, even after the 26-hour ride to get here.
I first came to Prague in search of something else, something I couldn't quite define. I came not knowing what to expect, with only one word of Czech - 'pivo' - in my vocabulary. In my six months there, I discovered a city where anything goes, a city of great diversity, surprises, warmth and culture. More importantly, it proved to be the place I imagined - somewhere where you can reinvent yourself, an inspirational place where you can pack up as much of your old life as you want, or become someone new.
Florenc is the first port of call for coach travellers. Here, coaches unload passengers from England, France, Holland and Germany, as well as setting off for more obscure outposts in Eastern Europe. It's not the prettiest place to start a trip to Prague - the ramshackle station looks as though it's being excavated for a bomb crater.
Like many ex-pats, I intended to make my living through teaching. To do this, I had to obtain my TEFL certificate first. Winter 2002 was my second stab at the qualification, after I'd panicked and quit back in the summer of '01. After this, I was grimly determined to make it second time round.
I'm a person of ritual. I dumped my cases in my basic room at the Hotel Dum, a towering concrete monstrosity way down in the Modrany region, and headed across to the local bar for my first beer. It was only ten in the morning, and I sat nodding heads with the old guys who were waiting for the bar to open when I got there. The pivo was the first, the first of many, but it slipped down beautifully. That was one of the best beers I ever drank, back in the Czech Republic for the first time in six months. It was a bit early for alcohol, but the long journey created an effect like jetlag - it felt like late afternoon.
After that, down to Wenceslas Square, to sit on the steps of the National Museum and ponder about things. The Square, Vaclavske Namesti, is the heart of city life. A broad boulevard about half a mile long, everything passes through it on the day to day grind. It was here in 1989 that a quarter of a million Czechs gathered to usher out the Communist regime. Near the steps of the Museum lies a memorial, looking like a half-submerged headstone. This marks where 'Torch Number One' Jan Palach set himself alight in protest of Soviet rule.
Now the square is buzzing, alive, vivid, vulgar, flanked by fast food restaraunts, fashion boutiques, change counters, populated by people of every nationality, as well as the beggars, hare krishnas, prostitutes and ticket touts. Yet beneath all this post-communist bedlam, sitting on the steps of the museum with St.Wenceslas marching stridently above it all, it's still possible to sense that resonance...this is the place where it all happens.
Prague is a small city. It's quite normal to bump into people you know on the street. On a cold winter's night, I've often had the whole place to myself, walking down the Square, braced against the bitter wind, Christmas lights still twinkling in the trees. Moments like this, you feel like it's your own personal discovery.
Transport is provided by Prague's efficient network of trams, buses and Metro. The Metro, comprising of three lines worked by a mixture of new hi-tec trains and battered Soviet relics, is the easiest way to get around. The pity is, because it's so simple to use the Metro, it's easy to shy away from the more complicated network of trams, which will take you through the streets, across the bridges, and give you more of a sense of what the city is like.
The whole system operates on trust, so feasibly you could travel around the whole time without ever buying a ticket and not get caught. However, an hour transfer only costs an insignificant 12kc, and it's simply not worth the hassle of dealing with inspectors and coughing up 400kc if you get caught. Which you probably will, because they tend to home in on anyone looking foreign and/or gullible.
One of the chief factors in forcing people underground is the language. On first contact with Czech, it seems a bizarre, alien and unforgiving proposition. The letters are all familiar, but what to do with all these consonant clusters and weird accents? It's a tough call at first, but once you've persevered and figured out what all those accents do - or at lest, are supposed to do - it's a rewarding experience. Simply because it's so difficult, you'll get a buzz out of saying "Ctyri rohliky, prosim" and actually recieving four bread rolls!
Czech cuisine is much-maligned, and finding somewhere decent to eat is a very hit-and-miss affair. First there is the difficulty of finding places - even if you find the right street, there's still no guarantee you'll actually find that restaraunt your friend recommended. Then, for every decent meal you eat, there'll be three or four average to awful ones.
It all depends on what you expect to get. Czech food isn't just Gulas and Dumplings, although over a period of time you'll eat quite a lot of it. In defence of Gulas and Knedliky, there can be nothing better than a decent one, especially on a bitter day in a warm pub, washed down with a couple of glasses of your favourite beer.
Also wonderful with beer is the unappealing looking Utopenci, or 'Drowned Man' - pickled sausages. It beats peanuts and pretzels out of sight as a drinking snack, accompanied by the ubiquitous dense grey Czech bread.
There are many varieties of food available, from Tex-Mex to Indian, and the lower end restaraunts tend to be pretty mediocre. Chinese buffets serve up fairly decent grub for a cheap price, although I'd stay away from the street corner Cinske's, which basically operate out of a garden shed.
Plenty of fast food is available, and for snacks in the centre, I can't get enough of the hotdogs - fat, juicy, and full of gristle, slapped in a bun and topped off with sweet mustard, it's one of those guilty pleasures. As is the Smazeny Syr, or fried cheese, with a massive dollop of tartar sauce and ketchup. If you don't mind risking a trip to hospital with salmonella, you can try the potato pancakes with lumps of chicken breast, which is great if it's cooked properly.
Also great for quick bites are the mini pastries, which come in many sweet and savoury varieties. It's worth a trip to Namesti Miru metro station just for the pastries, where the scent wafts down to the platform and entices commuters up the escalators like mermaid's song.
Good food is available, if you know where to look. But for the first time visitor, who wants to eat something decent in laid-back but elegant surroundings, I'd recommend the Cafe Louvre. Simply head down Wenceslas Square, make a left, and keep walking until you see the big 'CAFE LOUVRE' sign on a building to your left.
While Czech food has a bit of a bad rep, the same can't be said for the beer. It is justifiably famous, making more familiar lagers and beers such as Fosters, Carling and Budweiser seem like the weak, tasteless urine they are. Famous brands worth trying are the Staropramen, Pilsner Urquell, Kozel, and my own favourite, Gambrinus. They usually come in huge glasses with massive, frothy heads, at a variety of temperatures. The best beer is usually served in smoky wooden pubs with crusty table cloths, for whatever reason. Beer is part of Czech life, so wherever you see a group of middle-aged, dishevelled Czech workmen drinking, you know the beer is going to be good and cheap.
The dreaded Absinth is more than a gimmick here - surprisingly easy to swallow, the heat explodes in the stomach rather than the throat, before radiating out through the body. It's a great way to kick start a night out, and for maximum effect and respect, do it the proper Czech way: pour the sachet of sugar into the little spoon, dunk it, set fire to it, let it bubble away, before plunging it in and stirring. Then knock it back - "Na zdravi!"
Other spirits worth trying are the Becherovka, a sweet and surprisingly potent herbal liquour, which is also pretty good for your stomach. Fernet, a bitter tasting concoction, and Slivovice, a plum brandy of varying potency.
After all is said and done, Prague is a night time city. Once the sights have been marvelled over and photographed, you're going to spend a lot of time in the pub. One drawback is during the summer, where it's hard to find places with outdoor seating, unless you want to pay through the roof to sit outside on the Old Town Square.
Otherwise, many pubs and bars are in dark, cosy cellars - perfect for those long winter nights drinking with friends, but not so good in the height of summer.
Nightlife is surprisingly diverse, catering for every kind of club goer. The most worthwhile of the mega clubs is Karlovy Lazne, a four-storey former bath house right next to the river. Each floor plays a different kind of music, and the decor is pleasingly ramshackle. In the basement, it's like dancing in an old boiler room, while higher up, you'll find yourself in a drained swimming pool.
For the posers there is Mecca, but for me, the most fun night out is the 80's Night at Lucerna. Situated in a shopping mall just off Wenceslas Square (just look for the upside down horse - trust me, you'll know it when you see it), the club plays testament to everything great and awful about the decade that taste forgot.
Surprisingly cheap for such a central location, there's no aggro or attitude, just a mixed bunch of expats and Czechs looking to have a good time. It's got a real party atmosphere that clubs sometimes lack, and it's great fun to take over the stage and camp it up.
Homesickness can be a problem. For me, it always sets in about three weeks in. It's not so much that I'm missing home, it's just that everything is an effort. Trying to understand your new friends, and trying to be understood. Trying to find what you want in the supermarket. Even the subconscious strain of being totally surrounded by a foreign language, and trying to tune in and make sense of it.
Days like that, I just want to go for breakfast in Tower Ramparts, the shopping centre in my home town, read the footie news in the paper, drink lots of coffee, and smoke a couple of cigarettes. I want bacon. I want Pot Noodles. I want brown sauce, none of which I can get easily in Prague. Just for one day, I want to go on holiday home, a holiday from this extended holiday.
On days like this, I go for a walk in the local cemetary. It is bright, sunny and well kept, nothing like the abandoned, ivy-shrouded graveyards of back home. It's peaceful and the sun is getting the first warmth of spring. I see old women tending the graves of men who have been dead for over fifty years.
I spend a lot of time by myself in Prague. It pleases me that way. While I've got lots of friends here, I like to be able to sit in my favourite pub, drink a few beers, and do some reading and writing. I can't do that back home. If I try opening a book in my local, I can guarantee that within a minute, someone will shout "Good book, is it, mate?" In Prague, it's natural to see someone reading by themselves in a pub. Back home, it singles you out as a lonely geek.
I'm back in England now, and I think about my life in Prague every day. I miss my friends, the lifestyle. I miss the great nights out, the hush in the streets that comes with the snow. Prague, despite the growing tourism, still has a touch of magic. I want to live in a place like that - I'm still young enough to want my breath taken.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Singles
Best Time to Travel Here: Dec - Feb
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Epinions.com ID:
rocktadgers
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Location: Praha, Ceska Republika
Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 1 member
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