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Europe 2007 – Day Sixteen

August 23rd, 2007 - 11:41pm

Day Sixteen
Prague
23 August 2007 – 23:41

We slept in this morning, and after breakfast (and being informed that there are no laundromats in Prague) Justine washed our clothes in the bath while I wrestled with the terrible internet connection which we paid 5€ for and is pathetically flaky.

Just as the afternoon hit, we left to go to Prague castle, again wandering the streets aimlessly. On the way, we grabbed an ice cream each (15Kc for one scoop, about $1) and sat in a well-manicured park, completed with fruit trees.

We climbed a large set of stairs up to the castle, which offered a great view of the city before heading into the castle — but not before looking at the “well fed” guards trying to stand still. We walked right past them.

There are a lot of old buildings inside the 1,000 year old castle, St Peter’s Basilica, which is just as old and a few other bits and pieces.

We entered a large cathedral and after marveling at the two storey pipe organ, the massive silver burial thing and the sheer number of people buried there, we climbed the 287 steps to the top of the tower. The stairway was so busy that condensation was forming on the walls. Yuck.

The view was OK, the trip down was just as awful as the one up. We then saw St Peter’s Basilica which houses St Ludmila’s bones in plains sight.

Next was Prague Castle which is so large inside they used to hold jousting tournaments there! Unfortunately, the castle isn’t that interesting so we left and descended the long hill.

We grabbed dinner at an Italian restaurant “Donna” something-or-other, where I had tagliatelle with deer ragu. Justine had porcini risotto. That and three drinks was around 360Kc, or $22.

Food in supermarkets here is incredibly cheap; especially beer. A 500mL beer costs 19Kc (or $1.13) and a 10x500mL slab of Staropramen beer is 89Kc (or $5.30!). If you buy the right products a lot of things are this cheap. In the touristy areas a 500mL water jumps from 15Kc (in a convenience store) to 65Kc or more!

Beer in pubs is as low as 25Kc for a good quality beer (500mL, as usual), which is a bargain too.

P.S. C’mon guys, where are the comments? Plenty day one, then nothing for ten days and nothing for six more?

Tags: beer, cheap, czech republic, europe 2007, prague, st ludmila, st peters basilica, staropramen, yuck