Being a tourist in Prague
Speaking a number of languages and easily picking up on similarities between languages has enabled to find my way easily in most parts of the world I’ve visited. The last time I was in a country that didn’t use a language in any way similar to English, French, Dutch or German, I was in Egypt. Even then, most of the signs were also in English, if I recall correctly.
But when I arrived in Prague (Czech Republic) on Friday, I realised that I was at a total loss. Czech isn’t anywhere near any of those languages, so I sometimes had to become something I hate being: a true tourist.
Let me define “tourist”. A true tourist, in my opinion, resembles the stereotypical Japanese who takes pictures of every building, the stereotypical American who has never seen buildings more than 100 years old, the stereotypical person who walks around with an unfolded map, …
Whenever I go abroad, I try to avoid being anything like that. I take a look at the map rarely, and try to use signs and tourist flows to get around. And the rest of the time, I just walk about and see where my feet bring me.
In Prague, however, this wasn’t always possible. More than once, I had no idea of where I was. The signs aren’t just in Czech, they’re also incredibly rare and unhelpful. And once you leave the tourist flow, you get lost very easily. Until you get lost so much you’ve done every alley and back road. At that point, which I believe my brother and myself reached, you know the city, and you can’t get lost anymore (everything is suddenly familiar).
But apart from having to be a “tourist” every now and then, I must admit I’ve liked Prague a lot.
So here are a few impressions.
First off, the city was bigger than I would have thought, and we were bathing in sunlight 90% of our stay, which is already a big change when you come from Brussels. The “tourist zone”, the Old Town, was huge, and the flow of tourists was never ending.
Once you leave that zone, prices, already cheaper in some aspects than in Belgium, drop a little, and people in shops and restaurants only seem to speak Czech. Still, with basic signs and words, it was possible to get what one wanted fairly easily.
Now, the food, that was something. Belgium offers great food in general, and that’s one of the reasons I love that country, but the Czechs seem to be also incredibly good at that. My first Czech meal was the best meals I’ve had in a long time, soft, tender, delicious and juicy (a veprové & knedliky meal with little sauce compared to other times I ordered Czech meals). And later on, my brother & I stumbled upon the most delicious pizzas we’d had in ages.
Public transport wasn’t as grand, but that’s because I live in Brussels, which has many very modern and efficient trams, metros and buses. However, while Prague’s public transport isn’t the most “state of the art”, it was incredibly efficient, and I was surprised at how often the trams arrived on schedule (in Brussels, they could learn a few tips from Prague).
We did a few visits, notably the Prague Castle and another castle further south-west (Hrad Karl…tejn), and they were very nice. Not fabulous, but I can’t remember the last time I found a museum or historical building “fabulous”. An interesting thing was that scores of young Czech couples (aged 20 to 35-40) went to visit Karl…tejn as a romantic outing. I would probably not have chosen such a place for that (steep hill, very hot, and a neutral castle), but it’s probably something to do with culture.
Shopping was something special in Prague. Bohemia is known for its crystal and glass, and it’s scary how many crystal shops you find in the city, even within the Old Town. And boy, are those crystal shops something. Especially when you realise that end of August – beginning of September is the sales season.
So this means that now, I have finally got some birthday/wedding presents to distribute to a couple of my friends. Ladies, this is the place to suggest to partners/boyfriends/friends/… Gentlemen, beware of such suggestions.
Overall, it was great going to Prague with my parents and my brother. We kind of abandoned my sister, because she had exams, but she seems to have enjoyed the absence of noise.
And now, it’s back to university considerations. Ah, life goes on.
4 September 2008 at 04:06
Ah, travel. I haven’t been anywhere outside the U.S., Canada, or Mexico. My sister has, though. She’s been all over Europe. Rome, London, Paris, Venice (her personal favorite)… I’m really jealous of her. Hopefully I’ll have a chance to get her back, though. I’d like to visit Europe sometime.