Hello from the sewers of Praha (Prague) city!

Blitzkrieger

Actually I've been home almost a week, but I managed to avoid the usual boards trap of spending more time online while on holiday than at home

If you're looking for a quiet holiday with lots of tourist sites to see, Prague is the place to go. Loads of castles, bridges, cathedrals, theaters, etc.
We promised ourselves we wouldn't go to the Irish pubs, but with the all-Ireland final on we couldn't avoid it. The James Joyce is hard to find and fiendishly expensive. We took to a local beer called Gambrinus which could be found outside the city centre for 13K (approx 30K = €1). A pint of it at the James Jouce would have been 130K.
Rocky O' Reily's is much easier to find and is really more of an English pub. We spent a lot of time there watching the premiership (live Satureday afternoon games) before heading out on the piss. The prices were slightly inflated (about 15%) but it was a lovely pub. An Irish barman and lovely Czech barmaids, always with a big smile and those magic words : "Would you like some more beer?"
Most nights we had dinner in a restraunt near where we were staying outside the city centre (god knows the name of the place). The food was lovely, cheap, and arrived in copious quantitys. One night I had a huge dish of spagetti (about 4 platefuls) with ham and cheese, which I wouldn't have finished in three meals for 75K.
We went clubbing every night, and this is what spoiled the trip for us. All the clubs were full of underage foreign kids on school tours. The music was two years out of date and the drink was watered down. Other than the people behind the counter, the local Czechs seemed to disappear after dark.

All in all a lovely place to visit if you want a quiet holiday with plenty of culture and/or beer, but far from a clubbers paradise.

Wook

how long would you need to cover the city and see the important bits?
Loads of choice in hotels? expensive or rather cheap?
They have no nightlife?

Blitzkrieger

You could see the major tourist sights in one day, but three would allow you see everything, and make a trip outside Prague, where there's loads of towns with "interesting sights". If you stay in the city centre with all the tourists, you'll pay a fortune for a hotel. If you're willing to get trams/underground (if they ever repair it) you'll find some nice hotels for little money.
There is no nightlife to speak of. The Czechs didn't seem to go to the clubs at all, and there was very few of them around the pubs. The "big night out" just doesn't seem to be part of their culture, with most people having a few drinks after dinner before heading home. Maybe it's different in the height of tourist season, but the town seemed dead at night.

Dun

Did it dry out okay after the floods. Any obvious damage?

Blitzkrieger

The tourist part of the town survived unscathed, and the rest is only a little muckier than usual. The underground is wrecked though. A lot of fatorys/businesses were under-insurered though, so there is fears of inflation and unemployment.

Wook

thanks for the post, was always interested in visiting this place once.

roxy

I was there in august (we left literally the day before the floods hit) and I found it a bit of a mixed bag to be honest. By about day two I was thinking oh my god I have to get out of here it's like bray (albeit much much prettier and warmer). There were just so may tourists you couldn't hear yourself think. I realise that's a bit hypocritical considering that's exactly what we were too but still......All the tourist shops yadda yadda...so tacky. Then we bought the Prague Post, found some good stuff going on in the evening time and went to them. Found another side to the city. A prety cool, laid-back side.

Oh and if anyone is considering busking in Prague I warn you not to do it before 10pm coz da fuzz will get ya. We were singing away merry as you like, raking it in to boot when a couple of scary dudes strode up and slammed down the guitar case lid. They weren't mild-mannered with well-pressed trousers like the Gardai either. Big black combats and baton swinging. Pretty imposing. But they all go home to bed at about ten so it's safe to do it after that.

Do go to Prague. The tourist take-over is a down-side but not serious enough to stay away. If you know what I mean

It was so sad: we left prague and returned to berlin and the next day turned on the television and saw the city under a sea of brown water. Well the first thing we thought was thank fook we got out of there when we did.