We last left off with us boarding a bus from Kraków, Poland to Prague, Czech Republic. We arrived to Prague at 7am and caught the subway to our hostel: Sophie’s Hostel. Luckily we were able to check in right away, so we took a couple hours to get some proper rest. After waking up we followed the routine of planning our time in Prague on a map and head out for the day.
We spent some time walking to the Old Town from our hostel, passing the famous Wenceslas Square on the way, and as usual stopping at souvenir shops and famous monuments. We caught a free walking tour from the Old Town that afternoon which ended up being about 3 hours long. The tour covered quite a lot of the city, including Old Town Square, Wenceslas Square, Astronomical Clock, House of the Black Madonna, St. Jacob Church, Jewish Quarter, Franz Kafka statue, The Spanish Synagogue, Old New Synagogue, Jewish Cemetry, The Powder Gate, and The Rudolfinum. By the time the tour finished we were a little cold and tired, so we grabbed lunch at a food stall in Wenceslas Square and head back to our hostel for a break. We spent some time catching up on some work (sadly travelling isn’t an excuse for not doing assignments).
Coincidentally two students who had recently graduated from my program at the University of Waterloo happened to be in Prague that evening as well as part of their grad trip. We met up at a restaurant that uses model trains to serve food and drinks instead of waiters. What better way to end the day than with model train service and cheap beer in Prague, right?
The next morning we woke up, got ready, and left the hostel at by 8am. We got some pastries in the nearby train station for breakfast, and walked through the city towards Charles Bridge, passing the Dancing House on the way. We crossed the bridge to the other side of the Vltava river and went to the John Lennon Wall, a wall covered in graffiti inspired by music by the Beatles.
We then walked to Prague Castle, which is apparently the largest ancient castle in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records. With an area of over 70 000 square meters, Prague Castle is one of Prague’s most visited attractions and is also the official office of the President of the Czech Republic. We spent some time wandering the massive castle grounds before heading to the nearby Petrin Tower. The Petrin Tower was constructed in 1891 and was inspired by the Eiffel Tower. That would explain why it looks very much like the Eiffel Tower. People in Prague are very proud of the fact that despite being only 63.5m, the placement of the tower on a hill actually makes the Petrin Tower taller than the Eiffel Tower. The 300 step climb to the top was definitely worth the incredible 360° view of Prague.
After descending the tower we walked back to our hostel, grabbed our bags, and left the hostel to catch our 4pm bus back to Gdańsk, Poland. The journey back home was incredibly long. It consisted of a 12 hour bus ride to Gdańsk, a 45 minute bus ride to the Gdańsk airport, a 3 hour wait at the airport, a 1 hour flight to Turku, a 9 hour wait at the airport in Turku, and a 9 hour bus ride back to Oulu. While we had an incredible trip, I think we were so happy to finally be home after such a long journey.
I was looking forward to spending the next, and last, couple weeks of my exchange term hanging out with my floormates, finishing up my courses, and planning my end of term trip. More on all that in my next couple posts!
As always thank you, or děkuji (Czech for thank you) for reading!
-Pallavi